Did I mention how my garden did this year? yeah, I know. It was doing great, got sorely neglected, then became a feast for the local groundhog. Yeah, yeah. We know all that. But I didn't mention that despite all that, I had three pepper plants grow. And what's the most wonderful thing is they survived from all the way back in March, when I planted seeds! Yes! I grew peppers from seeds, and they actually produced peppers! (FYI: I've had no luck with peppers over the years). So that was a great joy to look out and see those little peppers getting bigger and bigger, amidst the weedy background, untouched by that wicked groundhog. One plant turned out to be hot (jalapeño) peppers.

I found out that our small peppers were hot peppers when DD came running in the house one day, crying his eyes out. He had been playing outside with the kids, and this was not a 'someone hurt me or took my toy' cry. He was seriously crying. He kept saying his eye hurt, and kept rubbing it. I told him to calm down and let me look in his eye. He couldn't stop fidgeting, and crying, and rubbing. I finally said to just look down and keep blinking, and whatever is in his eye will come out. He did it for a few seconds and kept crying. He said he needed ice or a cold rag and his eye was burning. Well now, I was really confused. After a couple minutes. He started saying his lip was burning and he needed a rag for his lip. Was this kid just really scatterbrained? I thought it was his eye? Suddenly, things started coming together. I asked what was on his hands, and what he was playing with, and what he was touching. I can't remember if detective Rose was there to make the unapparent, apparent by filling in the holes of Dominic's story. Either way, we went and washed hands and face, and explained to DD about hot peppers.

Ironically, when I actually used the peppers in a meal, Rose poo-poo'd it for being too spicy. DD just gobbled it up, gulping down milk after each bite!