Misty Zaugg's Blog - Posts Tagged "identification"

Hi friends,

Thank you so much for all your well wishes as I recovered from covid! They were very encouraging and made me smile. You're the best!

I'm pretty much recovered from everything but a bit of lingering tiredness that is getting better every day. I heard from some of you about "long-covid" symptoms, and they sounds horrible. I hope those of you suffering from it are able to find some relief.

My husband's work encouraged him to stay home from work while I was sick. He figured it was a great chance to catch up on all the yard work that had been accumulating.

Long story short: we have a bit of a poison ivy infestation among the row of trees at the back of the yard, which he decided to clear out along with the small 'sucker' trees that have sprung up everywhere we don't mow.

Here are his arms a week later:




Now, before you ask, he did wear gloves and a long-sleeved shirt. But obviously, the oils were able to make into the gap there and over a few days, the rash worsened and began appearing further and further down his forearms where we theorize his sweat carried the oils.

A few fun facts to help you avoid this itchy mess yourselves:

1. Identify! Learn to recognize poison ivy in all it's forms so you can avoid it. (I'll get some pics to help with that and put them in another NL)
2. Wash, wash and wash! If you even suspect you may have come in contact with poison ivy (or oak or sumac): Simple soap and water or an alcohol based wipe are enough to clean off the dangerous oil from the plant. Once the rash has shown up, it's too late.
3. Be careful of surfaces that don't get cleaned regularly. Remember, it's the poison ivy oil that causes the reaction. As an oil, it will just sit on surfaces for a long time. This means shoes, work gloves, tool handles, a soccer ball that was kicked into the bushes, etc. Pour a bit of alcohol on a paper towel and wipe them down if you can't run the items through the washing machine.
4. Poison Ivy doesn't spread even if it seems like it: The area with the biggest exposure to the oil will react first, followed by other areas with less exposure. So the rash can get worse over the course of a few days, seeming to spread. Another possibility is re-exposure. For example, putting on the same work gloves every weekend, which might result in a never-ending "spreading" rash.

I'll report back in another newsletter with the list of the treatments we're been trying and how they are working. Feel free to send me suggestions! We have plenty of rash to experiment on! Poor guy! :(

May your week be poison ivy free!

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Misty's Writing Update:

I'm writing again this week! Yay! Not every day and not my usual 2k a day, but I'm making progress.

The tiredness left by covid also gave me a headache after a couple of hours of writing, so I've been taking it easy when that happens.

I also got the third version of my new cover back and it looks so amazing! Other than one little font brightening I asked for, it should be done.

That means I need to go back through my to-do list for book 1 and make sure I don't have any plot or magic system stuff left to tweak. And then I'll be chopping the book up into 80+ chapters and working out a release schedule for the Royal Road web serial site.

I've also been working on getting my Patreon page set-up and learning how to use it to release early chapters ahead of time for my patrons. It's a whole new way of publishing for me, but I'm excited to try it. Wish me luck!

Enjoy your books this week!

— Misty :)
Misty Zaugg Website

Hi friends,

I've got great news for my deal-loving readers. If you haven't had a chance to read the 6-book Aftermath series Steph and I wrote last year, now's the time.

Our publisher just combined them into two boxsets of three books each. Even better, they're 99c for a limited time!

That's a combined total of 2k+ pages to read. A hefty chunk of story to keep you entertained for under $2.
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No food. No shelter. No way out but through.

A calamitous pair of storms.

Two women on the run from their past caught in the whirlwind.

They'll either stand and fight - or be consumed in the aftermath.



Boxset 1: First three books!


Boxset 2: Last three books!
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Oh, and I have a quick request for any of you who have already read the series. Since the boxsets are treated as new books, none of the awesome reviews you've posted on the individual books are transferred over.

We'd really appreciate anyone who could take a moment to post a review with your opinion of the series on the boxsets.

Even just a rating would be awesome! So far we have one lonely star rating on the first boxset and none on the second - eek!
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On to a bit more info about poison ivy and an update on my husband:

Clues to identify poison ivy:

1. Leaves of three. Let them be. This little rhyme lets you know that poison ivy has clusters of three leaves that come off a stem together.
2. These sets of three alternate up the main stem, never directly opposite each other.
3. Look for a notch at the lower edge of the two bottom leaves: like the shape of your hand with a notch where your thumb lies against the rest of the hand.
4. Leaf edges are relatively smooth and no thorns on stems: jagged edges with thorns on stems can be wild raspberry
5. Color: Usually green, but can have red/brown tinge and during fall will dry up and turn yellow (still has the dangerous oil)
6. Beware the fuzzy or hairy vine: This is an ivy and it will climb up tree trunks leaving a thick main stem with hair like projections that dig into the trunk. This will give you a rash, too even when the leaves have all fallen.

Here's your test - can you find the poison ivy in the image below?



The answer: Red is poison ivy, including the hairy roots snaking up the trunk. Blue is wild raspberry.



Do you have any other tips for identifying this stuff?

And thanks for all your suggestions for treatments! We've been trying a bunch of them, and I'll report back when the rash is healed.

Here's what it looks like now, and he's got two more huge patches at his waist that are progressing up his torso as well as one knee and both ankles. :(



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Here's hoping it gets healing faster!

All the best and thanks so much for your support!
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Misty's Writing Update:

I just finished writing the sixth chapter in book 2 and hit my usual 2k words two days in a row. This puts me just over 11k for the start of my new book!

Take that, Covid tiredness! :)

I still have touches of extra fatigue but am improving every day, and I anticipate being back to normal soon!

I'm still waiting for the last little tweak of my book cover, but am excited to show you the final product once I have it. Good thing I'm not in a rush for this!

Now I just have to decide when I'm ready to do the launch on Royal Road. Thankfully, the interface lets me schedule the chapters ahead of time, so they will automatically release for the date and time I set.

That being said, it means a lot of cutting and pasting to chop the 80+ chapters out of book 1 and make them each a separately scheduled release on the web serial site. This also involves adding a title to each of them and entering the dates and times.

I'm actually wondering if it's worth figuring out how to program a script to automate the process. Or just get a good audiobook and spend a few hours clicking away. :)

Hopefully you enjoy these behind-the-scenes peeks into some of the other things authors have to do besides writing fun stories.

Enjoy reading this week!

— Misty :)
Misty Zaugg Website

Hi friends,

This is the final installment of our Poison Ivy saga: a list of ideas to treat it. Thanks for all the suggestions you sent in. We tried most of them! :)

Treatments for poison ivy:
1. Avoid and wash if you suspect any exposure at all. This has to come first. Simple water can dissolve the dangerous oils and wash them away, preventing a rash. However, this also means sweat and porous clothing can result in exposure. My husband kneeled down in wet grass with poison ivy. The dampness allowed the oils to get through his pants = rash on his knee. Eek!
2. Calamine lotion: Relatively inexpensive, this traditional standby helped a lot by drying out the rash during the weeping stage and decreased the itch by a medium amount.
3. Hydrocortisone ointment (OTC) - Great for fast itch relief, but wears off quickly.
4. Hot water - My husband used this the most for longer lasting itch relief. The idea is you run hot water over the rash which releases the histamines all at once making it itch a ton, but then giving you itch relief for a few hours. Caution: should be the temperature that would redden your skin like a hot shower, but not hot enough to scald.
5. Technu poison ivy wash. We used this a week into the rash and it was probably too late to help. I expect it would be helpful closer to exposure. Had minimal effect.
6. Fresh Aloe Vera - We should have done this sooner. A thanks to readers Vet and Tom who suggested it! I have a plant in the kitchen window and after putting it on before bed, my husband woke up with all the redness in his forearms gone by morning. It came back later, but this versatile cactus had visible benefits.
7. Rhus Tox Homeopathic remedy (Be Gone Poison Ivy) - We ordered this on Amazon, but by the time we got it, the steroid had calmed things down a lot, so we don't know how well it would have worked earlier.
8. Zanfel - a cream suggested by Dayna and Gerald as a miracle for relief. We weren't able to get a tube in time to use, but are keeping it on the list for the future.
9. Oral prednisone - 5 -day course. Despite wanting the non-medical routes to be enough, my husband turned to this short course of steroids to halt the full body inflammation that kept spreading. Thankfully, this stopped the spread and got his body to start healing. The rash wasn't gone by the five day mark, but it was healing instead of spreading angrily.
10. Prescription steroid cream. This was a nice stop-gap measure as new patches kept showing up, allowing spot treatment instead of needing to hit the entire body with an oral medication.

This is a couple of weeks into the poison ivy adventure:





And here is the 3 1/2 week mark after a 5-day course of prednisone steroids.





And today at almost seven weeks, he has just a little bit of redness left in a few areas, plus an occasional new sore from continuing to do yard work, despite being super cautious and washing immediately when he gets near the weed of death.

Thank you sooo much for all your suggestions and hopefully these tips can help someone else out there.

All the best and thanks so much for your support!

— Misty :)
Misty Zaugg Website