Is there any place in the entire State of Texas where it’s safe to go barefooted? I know not to even think about going outside with no shoes – sand spurs or cockle burs . . whatever you call them . . they hurt bad!
We don’t wear shoes in the house or in the sewing room so I know we’re not tracking them in and Speck . . if he even thinks he’s stepped on one, he just falls out on the ground with his paw sticking straight out waiting for help so I know he didn’t bring them in.
Saturday I spent the entire afternoon in the sewing room and stepped on two of the burs. Later that evening, I thought I had stepped on another one and couldn’t find it because it was camouflaged in some fabric pieces.
Then Sunday, I felt it again and decided to find it and sure enough . . it was the third one I’d found in the sewing room in two days.
Then later on Sunday evening, I stepped on a fourth one stuck in a rug in the house!
And besides the cockle burs, there’s stinging weeds in the garden. I thought I knew what stinging nettle looks like and I don’t think it’s that but the first two times it happened, I was pulling weeds and thought a bee had stung me. I keep an epi-pen with me and waited to see if I needed it but I was fine. Then over the weekend, I pulled one weed and the same thing happened again so it has to be a weed.
Just about the time I start wondering why anyone would live here, I see my house and remember how much I love our land and our house and our garden and our chickens and that makes me almost love the cockleburs and the stinging weeds. Almost!
If you’re wondering about the boxes on my porch . . the boxes that have been sitting there for months . . yep, I’m wondering about them too. One is a picnic table that’s only been there a few weeks. The other one . . the bigger one . . that’s patio furniture and it’s been there for at least three months. I dare not ask . . Vince has been busy, but I surely would like to be using that furniture!
Deb says
Could be the dog bringing in the burrs on their coat, rather than their feet. I have two doxies and they do the same if they step on them, fall to the ground and wait to have them removed, but they will bring them into the house occasionally on their tail or coat – ouch!
Mary P in TX says
I confess, I haven’t found any place to go barefoot either. And my poor dogs suffer from the stickers too.
Erin says
I would be wearing my Uggs around the house all the time other than sewing! then I would be taking them off just for sitting at the machine! those look too painful! and the stinging..yikes! But looking at the house…just makes it all worth it!!! a little sacrifice for all that is so worth it.. 🙂
Becky (central oregon) says
You know those buggers also travel in on the hems of your pants and on the coats of pets…
Sorry to say it… but its true…
Love your site.
Diana in TX says
We keep doggie boots in the car. If we have to stop some where for a break they go on the feet. Even then they still manage to get some in their hair. They are hard to get out of curly poodle hair!!! They jump out and attach themselves to just about anything, pant legs you name it. Those and fire ants I could do without!
Mary C in WA says
Guess you got a burr in your saddle then. Better tuck your pants in to your cute rubber Boots when you’re out in the garden. Imagine those in your laundry? When my boys were at home I had to wash their socks separate from my underwear…I think you can figure out why that wasn’t fun.
Jo says
Same here in NC. I know they come in the hems of our jeans. But rather cockle burrs than those dang ticks! I’m totally covered in tick bites….like 37 of so far this year. Course, you have scorpions…no thank you.
Shirley S says
Ouch! Stickers! We have ’em too here in East Texas and it seems the plants congregate near our sidewalks. They catch on our pants hems and shoe laces to be re-distributed in the house. We’ve eliminated all carpet because of ’em and I ALWAYS wear shoes. I’ve been told they are a sign of nitrogen deficiency in the soil and a high nitrogen fertilizer will eliminate ’em. I haven’t tried it.
Marilyn says
Yes, the grass burrs have been plentiful. Just wait and see what comes up after your rains. That’s when ours “appeared”. Stinging nettle is no fun at all. Once you identify it you learn to steer clear of it. Happy canning and harvesting.
Linda says
If you will tie a rope on a large scrap of carpet and drag it around the yard either by hand or attached to the ATV it will really help get them under control. Each little sticker is a seed for a new plant! Be sure the plush, loopy side faces down! I saw this really help a soccer field.
Sherry Moran says
I think they creepin at night while we’re sleeping!
Cindy B says
Those burrs hurt! We wear shoes in the house, no carpet, so the floors are easy to clean.
Sandy says
Sandspurs were a fact of life in the summer where I grew up in Florida. We were always picking their sharp points out of our bare feet, but that didn’t stop us from going barefoot all summer! The soles of our feet toughened up, so even hot sidewalks and roads didn’t bother us. Today I’m barefoot all the time inside my house, but wear shoes when I go outside, even though I don’t think sandspurs grow where I live now.
Rosalie says
I agree that the burrs come in on clothing and pet hair…we used to have a lot in our yard, but over the years I have hand dug most of them up….you can also use old carpet and drag it over the area to pick up the burrs and then burn or trash that carpet – otherwise you will get a new crop with next rain! I also have some kind of stinging weed that reaches out and gets me occassionally – have never identified it.
Charlene says
I love the picture of the house!