My mom took us for a hike the other day, and we noticed that the usual summer weeds had morphed into those “stupid sticky pricker-y things” that pester us dogs every fall. I find it interesting that my mother - considering the fact that she has been decently well-educated - continues to refer to these abundant plants based more on her own description (stupid sticky pricker-y things) than actual accepted botanical vernacular (Virginia stickseed).
The stickseed weed is more annoying than dangerous, but Mom once found an American Redstart trapped in a large clump of stickseed and had to help dislodge the poor bird. This plant grows in the woodsy part of our yard, and Ellie and I have come out with prickers clinging to us after snooping for mice and other critters. Mom spends a few minutes every week during the summer searching out and removing the immature plants in an effort to minimize our family’s (negative) interactions in the fall.
But even her vigilance is not enough to remove all of the offenders.
Luckily, they are relatively easy to comb out and, if you ask me, anything that brings about human touch and contact is a bonus, so I don’t mind coming inside with a few stuck in my coat.
Another weed that can be annoying in the fall is the burdock. These are round and brown, grabbing onto and making a tangled mess out of any tail that passes by. Golden retriever tails seem to be a magical magnet for burdocks, and my mom can recall hours of her childhood spent brushing and combing burs out of her horse’s mane and tail.
Some dogs try to chew the burs out of their own coat, and can get some of the sticky plant material in the back of their throat. My mom has examined dogs because they keep licking, gacking or pawing at their mouth. Sometimes all she has to do is sweep her finger over the tongue or along the back corners of the mouth to remove the irritating pieces of the plant.
“If you’ve ever had a popcorn hull stuck on the back of your tongue, you might have a sense for what this feels like to dogs,” she tells the owners. Sometimes she has them feed a big wadded up piece of bread in the hopes it will sweep away the offending irritant as the dog swallows. Occasionally the dogs have to be anesthetized so my mom can really look deep into their mouth and the back of their throat.
For me, burdocks have never been a problem, and I think of them more as an opportunity to draw attention to the lovely contours of my head
Cockleburs are also very sticky and prickly, a bit longer and narrower than burdocks, and fortunately less common here in Minnesota. There is a large cocklebur plant along one of our hiking trails, however, but once again it is less annoying and more a natural source of adornment.
Foxtails are a plant that can cause big problems in dogs. Luckily Ellie and I have never encountered them, but it is a serious concern for dogs along the west coast. The foxtail is a grass awn that dogs can pick up on their feet, or even in their nose or mouth when running through a field of them. The plant awn has little barbs on it that cause it to migrate, and it can go deep into the body including the lungs or even the brain.
Here is a picture of a foxtail, and I hope my dog friends are able to steer far clear of these!
While I tend to think of Virginia stickseed and burdocks as a mere annoyance, my sister, Ellie, approaches life differently.
If she has ONE little pricker on her, she goes to her bed and mopes like the world is about to end.
“Eleanor, what is wrong now?”
My mom will shake her head and go over to her on the bed, then begin looking for whatever is bothering her. It could be the tiniest thing, so I just come over by them and try to lend assurance by simply being there. For my mom, assurance that she will find the itsy-bitsy weed seed that is causing all of the misery and, for Ellie, assurance that she is not going to die before the sun goes down.
My mom says that if Ellie were a person and you sat by her on an airplane, this is how she might sound. “Oh, hello there! This? This is my lucky rock. I’m a little nervous about fly…WHOA! What was that? The wheels? They sound old and rusty. Okay. Okay. That's normal, you say. Fine. I’ll just hold my rock and…PHEW! What’s that smell? Are they gassing us to death? It smells like the exhaust pipe is broken on the plane. We should leave, EXCUSE ME. I need to get off the…oh. It’s just a normal smell. Okay. I’m good. I’ll just sit down with my rock. Everything's good. Everything's fine. Kum-ba-yah. Oh, of course. I'll stop singing. What was that? We're moving? That’s good, right? Would you like to see my rock? Oh. I see. Yes, I understand. I’ll just be quiet and hold my rock.”
Mom says the reason I don't always understand Ellie is because - if I were on a plane - I’d be that person who puts their headphones on and promptly falls asleep.
As we move further into fall, I will continue to support my sister through every sticky situation, whether it be caused by stupid sticky pricker-y things or some less-prickly but equally as scary imaginary foe. Since Mom tells me that Ellie is less nervous about things when she sees that I remain unperturbed, I will carry on...well, like I normally do.
Pretty much unperturbed.
Comments