This was written for my Close to Home column in the Prospect-News, the local weekly in Doniphan, MO.

Technology is brainwashing us! Extensive research indicates we do not multi-task successfully. Performance all around suffers. Before you start squawking that talking on the phone does not affect your driving so surely scrolling through the contact list doesn’t either, realize that the ones who squawk the loudest are the ones who are the worst at multi-tasking.

Only 2% can say, drive and text and do a complicated math problem with no slacking involved. In that 2% performance actually improves. That baffles brain experts so continued research will perhaps discover why it works that way among those 2% and we will all benefit. ( I am puzzled why anyone would want to do a math problem any time)! Now, don’t go hopping in the car to prove you are among that elite group; simulators are used so no life is in danger during the studies.

It has nothing to do with how well we think we drive, or how neat we are when we eat, if we chow down on a burger while cruising thru town, something has to give. It’s a brain thing.

That explains why mowing my yard puts my well-being, or the well-being of my mower, in jeopardy every time I do it. I can either focus on missing the rocks and stumps and other outcroppings and be able to finish the task without interruption, or I can keep an eye out to avoid those pesky poison ivy vines that seem to pop up overnight.

So I am experimenting with a new poison ivy prevention method. It requires washing with soap and water 3 to 4 times in a row within 8 hours after exposure. Blue Dawn dishwashing detergent is the recommended soap and washing must be done with a washrag, being sure to get between all those fingers and exposed toes each time and not forgetting the ears and face- any place the hands touch.

I drove into a vine on a cedar. I will keep you posted.