How To Recognize Poison Sumac

Learning how to recognize poison sumac is something I had to do recently.  I've lived in Missouri most of my life and suffered terribly with allergies to poison ivy and poison oak.  Now that I live in Maryland, how awful, we have all three poisons!  I have sensitive skin, so I blister terribly and I've already had it 3 times this year!  Identifying it was half the battle.  I had a hard time finding many pictures of Poison Sumac.
The first thing we did after moving in was cut down a sumac tree, due to the roots going into the foundation of our house.  Then I have all these plants popping up. I was worried about these and come to find out, they aren't even poisonous.  

This is NOT Poison Sumac.  It is a Staghorn Sumac. It has a hairy like stem and jagged leaves.
A very invasive plant.

 Identify Poison Sumac by leaves numbering 7 to 13 but who wants to stand that close and count anyway. The best way to tell is the smooth, bright red stem, then the smooth edge of the leaves and then the hanging white berries.

This is Poison Sumac.  It is growing about 10 feet away from the Staghorn Sumac.  The stems are smooth and so are the leaves. you can see red in the stems. 

Most websites I've been on, I read that poison sumac cannot grow in your yard because it usually grows in swampy, wetland areas.  The nearest water is a tiny creek at least 50 yards behind our house.  Notice the sandy ground, this plant gets shade so it is making it, this very hot summer in Maryland.  

Poison Sumac: Notice Red stem, hanging white berry/flowers and smooth leaves.

A smaller poison sumac tree. 

Another bright red stem!

This plant has the spot of sun on it and is starting to wilt because of our hot weather and lack of rain. 

Poison Sumac mostly grows in the northeast, the southeast, including parts of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Lousiana, and a small bit of Texas, the Carolina's and the Great Lakes Region of the United States.
  What luck, to live where all three poisonous plants grow!

Getting Hacked

Have you had your e-mail Hacked?

I received an e-mail today from someone at my church.  I normally get a message from them once a month.  This time however, I noticed there was nothing in the subject line.  There was only a link to click on at the bottom of the e-mail.  I noticed some other recipients of this e-mail were familiar to me but some I didn't recognize at all.

Okay, first red flag: NO Subject!

Second red flag: only a link, no personal message.

Lastly: I only recognized some of the recipients.

I don't know why anyone would get any joy out of hacking into someone's personal e-mail account just to send viruses or try to steal other info from you.  They may be working for a company who is desperate to get their name out there.

I had my e-mail hacked once, they sent a bunch of my contacts a link. My ex-husband called me up early one morning and said, "I think your e-mail's been hacked into. I got an e-mail from you and I clicked on the link and it was a penis enhancement ad."
Oh my Goodness!  Could you just imagine if that had been sent to my father or my pastor!  How embarrassing that would have been!

If you get one of these e-mails, do not click on the link.  You may get a virus or they may be able to get your personal info.  Let the person know that their e-mail has been hacked.

If you are the one who was hacked, go to your e-mail account A.S.A.P. and set up a new password.  Setting up a new password is easy.  Go to your account settings and you will probably have to type in your current password and then your new one twice.  If that doesn't work, there is usually a 'help' or 'menu' on most e-mail pages, so click on one of those and find a way to change that password before the hackers do!
If someone has hacked your account they can see not only your contacts, but also any personal info you have including all of your sent messages!

Password Strength:
Do Not use the word "Password" as your password.  That is the most common password used and apparently hackers try that first.  Next if you have any information online, everyone can figure out your birthday, also common.  If you were born July1, 1970 and you use July1970 as your password that is too easy.
Make sure your password contains at least 1 capital letter, 1 lower case, 1 number and 1 symbol or punctuation mark.  For example: LolaLoves2E@t  That would be a strong password.

The best way to prevent having your e-mail getting hacked is changing your password often! And by often, I mean every 2 or 3 months.  I know, it's hard to remember. Sometimes, I change mine and then forget it, those days it gets changed even more often!