Hope the following is a warning to help someone avoid what I went through. Last week, on a sunny day I mowed some property of my wife's family and the leaves of a fig tree brushed against my neck as I was cutting around it.

A little while later, I felt a funny prickly feeling on my neck but didn't think much about it. Twenty four hours later I had welts all over my neck that itched, kept me from sleeping, and about drove me crazy.

After 4 days of Benedryl and Cortisone it's starting to fade away. Turns out that for some people and I am evidently one of the 'lucky' ones, exposure to the leaves or sap of fig trees can cause an allergic reaction especially when followed by exposure to sunlight. There are lots of really horrible stories and pictures online of what others have gone through.

Never did like figs or fig preserves. Now, I don't like the trees either.