Blackberries....and B---?

OK So I don't have any pictures yet....It's taking longer than I thought to get this new computer all dialed in and my programs straightened out....plus fighting the guys for it ( new toy, they must play) and let's not EVEN begin to talk about how Vista won't let you play ANY of your old CD games..ACK! City Boy now mad that we ever got the darn thing cause he can't play any of his shoot 'em up games.

So until I get some pictures going I'll leave you with this story.........

Blackberries.....City Boy LOVES them. I mean L-O-V-E loves them. And he loves for me to make blackberry cobbler. And because I love City Boy, I make it for him. Simple enough right?

We just happen to live in a place that blackberries grow wild. So in my mind that's a win-win thing.
Now I have a love-hate relationship with blackberries. And it swings back and forth depending on what I'm doing. I love making cobbler for City Boy and seeing him smile....I hate the stains left behind cause... it.... is ....messy.

But seeing as how they're practically FREE around here and Me being into the whole farming -living off the land-mentality ( key word there is MENTAL) I thought I take the kids with me out blackberry pickin'.

I had mentioned to one of our friends about wanting some blackberries. They offered to let us pick some from some patches they knew about growing on their property.
Now, these are WILD blackberries mind you. Not some greenhouse nursery THORN LESS variety with berries the size of golf balls....Nope, just wild falling bramble with thorn ready to suck your blood and rip your clothes and claim you for their prey.
No, really. They ARE.

But I digress,
So with the plan all set up, the kids and I were going to meet our friend early one morning and she would take us to all the patches she knew about. So the kids and I prepared.

Jeans. check.

Boots ( there might be snakes) check.

Long sleeved shirts ( ugh it's August) check.

Gloves. Check.

Bags. check.

Bucket. check.

Bug spray ( ticks) check.

All set and we're off.

We have just finished with a hot spell and this was one of the first "cool-er" mornings and with long sleeve shirts we were thankful.
When we got to the first blackberry patch we found that the heat spell hadn't been very kind to the blackberries. Most of the vines were dried out and brown with loads of dried blackberries still on them, BUT towards the MIDDLE of the patch it was still green and there were blackberries to be had.

So Big Dog, Barbie girl and I put on our protective gear, grabbed a bag and in a last minute thought applied bug spray to our ankles and waist lines to keep the tick from crawling in our clothes.
The bramble was waist high and Big Dog and I ventured our way as far into the middle as we could while I had Barbie girl pick in an area closer to the outside. I didn't want her to get stuck in the bramble and not be able to get out and those thorns HURT.

We picked all that we could reach. I had taken the glove off of my pickin' hand for dexterity reasons and by now my thumb and first few fingers we a lovely shade of fuchsia.
Having picked all we could, we moved on over to another location and met with the same scene. Dried out patches and very little blackberries.
Not to be discouraged we picked and moved to another location and picked all that we could and finally called it quits.

The kids and I went home, changed clothes and started washing and sorting our bounty. We managed to bring home a total of five cups of blackberries. Meager by any stretch of the imagination but just enough to bake ONE blackberry cobbler for City Boy. Washed, dried, flash frozen and waiting for that special time the black berries were finished and we could see the prize of our hard work. But Our REAL surprise came later. About midnight that night.

After such a morning and all the work after, not to mention summer, with two kids at home all day, by the time evening rolled about I was tired, so I flopped into bed and promptly went to sleep.
Around midnight.....I woke up from an itch. Nothing new here. Mosquito capital of the world. But this was different. My belly, groin area ( I mean ALL of it), thighs, legs..were all on fire from itching. I got up and walked to the bathroom. Dropped my pajama pants and gasped.

From my waist down to my toes I was covered in red bumps that itched like there was no tomorrow. I did the best mental evaluation I possibly could at midnight and concluded that NO, I did not have the chicken pox, mumps and measles were ruled out , poison ivy was eliminated too. Then it struck me as I heard the other bathroom door open and close. Dear God, I'm not the only one itching. It can mean only one thing.

CHIGGERS.

In my city girl wisdom, and LACK of country girl knowledge, I recalled that before berry picking the kids and I only sprayed our waist line and ankles for TICKS. It did not even cross my mind to be concerned with CHIGGERS and so unknowing exposed our vulnerable and evidently tasty bodies to the lunch menu of the most vile bugs on earth, chiggers. They must have see us coming and true lunch buffet for all.

Now, chiggers for any of you who are unfamiliar with them, as I used to be, never having had to deal with them in So CA, are a mite. The adults are called red bugs ( real original) and the infants are chiggers. Chiggers get on you, through your clothes or whatever , nothing stops these little buggers and they bite you. They leave an itching bump that will bother the dead. And it lasts and lasts and lasts for MONTHS. As the days go on they do itch less and less, but not enough and certainly not soon enough.
Mind you this was early August, It's now early Sept and I STILL have them and they STILL itch.
Worse yet, both of the kids were suffering too. So now here we are, Suffering, horribly and to make matters worse, after we counted, we came home with more chigger bites than blackberries!

City Boy still hasn't gotten his blackberry cobbler yet. I can't go to the freezer and look at them with out itching.
The kids are healing faster than I am, but that's OK. they whine more.
Blackberries and I still have a Love - hate relationship and right now the pendulum is stuck at HATE.
I'm sure and the itching and memories fade I'll love 'em again, and City Boy will get his cobbler, maybe.

Lesson learned? Check.
V.