White Lightning Axiom: Redux

Things are still going well. I got a last minute bug to work on just before quitting time, so the last hour went quickly. Launched the process just in time to hit the road. After doing the evening toddler routine, I decided to knock down the jungle that my front lawn had become. It was a monumental task given that I had not mowed the lawn in three weeks. With all the rain we got, it was starting to fall over and retain water. That made it that much more difficult. I could manage about two passes before I had to empty the bag. That involved trudging around the side of the manor and all the way back to the Agricultural Sector. I was using the clippings for weed control where the peas used to be. Since the pea season is well past, I had removed the withered stalks. This gave the invasive clover a perfect opening to infest the open ground.

After the closing bath salvo with Jacob and Alexis, the Mrs and I got down to the nitty-gritty. She started contemplating the much-overdue birthday thank-you letters whilst I waded through my pepper harvest. Soo many peppers, so few preparation routines. I decided to bottle 3 jars as sweet/sour/spicy and puree the rest and boil it down. The sweet preparation involved me slicing the peppers into rounds and required me to find the least blemished within the scores of pitted fruit. It was nearly 2330 by the time I finished the task. The puree was pretty simple: toss in food processor, dump in slow-cooker. After some time, I noticed a tingling in my fingers. The first time this happened, I thought I was having a MS attack. That was until I put a finger to my lips. Searing hotness, peeling away my skin. For some reason, the peppers that grow in my neck of the woods have a peculiar trait of being uncommonly potent. Strong enough to be felt through the most callous and leathery hands. Of course, I put my finger to my lips again and spent the next few minutes telling the Mrs how hot it was. Dufus.

This morning was good. Kids got up at about 0600. No blowouts, not overflows, no fevers or un-explained rashes, no additional limbs or bizarre psychic powers. Got garbage to the curb just as the lumbering giant disposal truck rattled up to the end of the mile-long manor causeway. Commute to work was easy. Some congestion, but I never came to a grinding halt. Greeted my fellow zombies at the Alter of Caffeine, Temple of the Coffee gods. Any more mild days like this, I'll have to start putting on a smile in the morning. I guess my intense dislike for my current work assignment has more to do with the old axiom: "Familiarity breeds contempt".

# posted by mdmhvonpa @ 7:03 AM