I abhor poison ivy. It may be tasty to goats, but there are so many people in the world who are allergic - and so many people who I know who are allergic - that I can't tolerate it in my yard. I especially hate it when it grows in my berry bushes, waiting to trap the unwary berry-holic.

Round-Up Poison Ivy spray is my friend. I've emptied two bottles of the stuff so far this week in both the back garden and the front fence by the power line. The insult going on at the power line is that the ivy is growing around and inside my back-of-the-truck metal goat-box. It is creeping towards my new blue trailer. It must all DIE.

Why didn't I use the goats? Because, while the goats themselves are immune to the allergy, they carry the oil on their hair when they stand in it. We just sheared today. I would never do something like that to my shearer or my friends who come to help. Why not wait until tomorrow? It's supposed to rain.