Volt

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Poison ivy rash does not spread on your body through scratching or fluid from your blisters. The rash itself is simply a localized allergic reaction to urushiol oil. If the rash appears to spread, it is typically due to lingering unwashed plant oils, delayed immune reactions, or repeated contact with contaminated items.

Why the rash appears to spread

Lingering Oil: If urushiol is still on your hands or an unwashed item (like clothing or gardening tools), touching other parts of your body will transfer the active oil and cause new rashes.

Delayed Reaction: Areas exposed to smaller amounts of oil, or places with thicker skin, can take longer to react, which makes it seem like the rash is moving over several days.

Blister Fluid Myth: The clear fluid inside poison ivy blisters does not contain urushiol and cannot spread the rash

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We've all known people who think they need to stay away from people with an ivy "rash". I've seen too many mommas keep their kids out of school for fear that their kid would "spread" the poison ivy.

I've heard some say that every time they work in the yard, they get a poison ivy rash. It's because the oil is on their tools, gloves, boots, etc. and it can it can continue to recontaminate them for years.

The company I work for used to staff the medical clinics in Yellowstone.

A few years back when I was on the phone with my manger in Mammoth, I asked him how things were going there. He said, "well, we haven't had our first bison goring yet."

Yet

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Just ordered these for pre-teen daughter.

Was told "it's volleyball thing". Wireless noise cancelling headphones

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Ahh yes, keeping up with the Joneses.

In the 1978 picture, I could find the street and location of the house I grew up in for 13+ years.

We were there from '76-'89.

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Are there only like 40 people on the island? Are you bored out of your mind?

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As of today, there's 48 people here of which ~30 are from Thailand.

This place has its ups and downs. There's a workout gym, basketball gym, pickleball (we even had a few tournaments), bowling alley with three functional lanes left (barely), pool tables, ping pong, shuffle table, the beach, snorkeling.

2018 was like a non-stop beach party. The female volunteers were party animals. Karaoke all the time. Too much partying honestly. I'm on call 24/7 so I participated lightly, but it was fun.

2020-21 through winter into summer was sometimes miserable due to constant raining, very windy, and cold. Bicycles are our main transportation, so always a wet butt. Although, it was definitely less stressful than being in the medical field on mainland during covid.

2023 - A lot of people throughout the summer here for a big project. Up to 92 and a lot more ladies. Beach, summer, ladies, kinis...it was nice.

Now - its back to blah. At least its warmed up and there's the beach and snorkeling.

Starlink had been a game changer here for the obvious reasons, but it's made almost everyone very lazy as they mostly stay in their rooms outside of working hours.

TD is on the island. Took the first pic yesterday. The second one was on a clear day.

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Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; Hawaiian: Kuaihelani, lit. 'the backbone of heaven'; Pihemanu, 'the loud din of birds')[3][4] is a 2.4 sq mi (6.2 km2) atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the United States and is an unorganized and unincorporated territory. The largest island is Sand Island, which has housing and an airstrip. Immediately east of Sand Island, across the narrow Brooks Channel, is Eastern Island, which is uninhabited and no longer has any facilities. Forming a rough, incomplete circle around the two main islands and creating Midway Lagoon is Spit Island, a narrow reef

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Yes, it is loud. Albatrosses make a helluva lot of noise. 99% of the adults are gone now and the chicks are everywhere and starting to die off by the 100s, then 1000s per day.

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Of the 1.5 million Laysan albatrosses that inhabit Midway during the winter breeding season, nearly all are found to have plastic in their digestive system.[74] Approximately one-third of the chicks die.[75] These deaths are attributed to the albatrosses confusing brightly colored plastic with marine animals (such as squid and fish) for food

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Stomach contents of dead chick. The black marker was just like one of the big permanent markers many of us have used.

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The Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, encompassing 590,991.50 acres (239,165.77 ha)[5] of land and water in the surrounding area, is administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)

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Pics of the island and a few memorials.







Graves of three unknown Japanese soldiers that died during the attack.



Interesting story about Marine Lt. George Cannon, the first Marine awarded the Medal of Honor in WWII, and a “bombproof” building that wasn’t.
This is the building still standing today. I’ve been in there a few times.





I’ve got 100s of photos from here and need to put them together in an album for all to see.

I’ll swim out and give y’all an update.

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We just had two ships pass by yesterday that didn’t report that they would be close by.

One of them had both a Japanese flag and what the FWS manager thought was a US flag. He said he could see men lined up looking towards the island and thought they were paying their respects.

When I heard FWS talking about it on our radios, I jokingly said pirates were coming for us.

Once I went with my dad and older cousin to see a double feature, Prom Night and The Exterminator.

I was 8 and yes, I had nightmares that night and had to go to the parents' room to be able to sleep that night.

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like he is stuck in some uncharted island in the middle of the Pacific

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Yeah, like me

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