Taking on the Azalea

With nothing on the calendar yesterday, it was time to clean the house. I drafted all the children and let them choose their jobs, which went surprisingly well. Note: midstream pancake break rejuvenates children. With the house in pretty good shape (the health department would probably only condemn under Megan's bed and the basement) we were left with a free afternoon.

The weather being about 70, albeit extremely windy, we headed outside. Andy got the kids seeding and spraying the weeds. (Don't worry about the kids with the poison, we trusted only the oldest. Plus, we have lots of kids.) Then they attacked the LONG neglected garage, which now is walkable.

Meanwhile, I was out back on weed removal detail around the pool. I hesitated when I got to one corner but decided to push on. Why, oh why, did I think that this was a good idea? The azalea got me again. This happened ever time that I went near the darned plant last year. I guess that I thought that it looked half dead and I would be OK. I was careful to not touch it much. But before I could progress to the next section, there it was - itchy red hives covering my forearms. I'm back to a non-swollen itchless state now. The upside is that I don't think that a dead plant could cause that type of reaction.