Focus on Tiny Poison Oak

The bank next to the 'Spike Walk' trail is always full of interesting little still lifes (lives?) at this time of year. I was looking at the fiddleheads on the new ferns when I noticed the tiny poison oak leaves sprouting. This toxic plant is very versatile. It will turn green and  develop into great shrubs or vines climbing high into the trees before turning red in the autumn and losing its leaves. Even in winter when it is reduced to sticks, coming into contact with them will produce an insanely itching rash. I discovered this to my great cost when answering a call of nature in the bushes in the Berkeley Hills.

The frogs were in full throat in the newt pond in the meadow. There are a lot of them in there, judging by the deafening sound emanating from the bullrushes, but they are completely invisible. We've spotted one or two in our own pond at night by shining a flashlight in there and they are only about the size of a thumbnail...a real one, not the blipfoto kind.

John stopped by the pharmacy to pick up some prescriptions for both of us but returned sans one of mine. We go to the only privately run pharmacy left in town and Robert, the pharmacist, is a character. He arrives on his motorcycle, eschews a lab coat for a plain t-shirt, and works long hours. The odds are stacked against him by most insurance plans, but the fact that he is so busy is a testament to the fact that he can be relied upon the follow up on anything out of order and a lot of people are willing to go to a bit of extra trouble to go there. I'll have to go tomorrow to track down the missing prescription.

I finally finished Empire of Pain about the Sackler family who developed and agressively marketed OxyContin, the opioid pill that is generally considered to be the cause of an epidemic of addiction and death in this country. They had secreted the majority of their massive wealth offshore and declared bankruptcy in order to avoid paying reparations for the massive harm they had done. They were fined and forced to sell their pharmaceutical business, but they never admitted any wrongdoing and none of them ever went to prison. It is estimated that the interest alone on their offshore holdings has been enough to pay the fine while their $100Billion fortune remains intact. 

It makes me want to stop taking all drugs...particularly the ones that are still under patent and can be sold for whatever the drug company feels like charging for it. 

It was another sunny, almost warm day today. and the weeds await....

Thanks to dbifulco for hosting the Tiny Tuesday challenge this month.