I made salsa last night. I was drowning in peppers we’ve grown out in the garden (along with cucumbers and squash that I’ve been giving away as much as I could). Yet I’ve only been able to harvest one tomato. One. That is sad–but I know enough about gardening I can blame it entirely on the weather. I’m still hoping.

My mom sent me a few tomatoes, and I bough a few more (they are cheap right now, even if I can’t grow any) plus some onions and garlic. I got out the food processor and made tons cups of homemade salsa, with help from Joe. I cut up a jalapeno and put it in, and later had a small cut on my finger and licked it. Advice for the day–jalapeno peppers are hot and make everything they contact with hot. My mouth and lips were burning. Milk took away the mouth, but the lips kept burning and burning. It eventually went away–but most of the jalapeno peppers were not used. Neither Joe and I like too spicy stuff anyway.

Later that night, Joe went to take his contacts out and discovered that even after hand washing, the japeno hotness remained. His eyes were bloodshot for a while, and he lost a pair of contacts due to persistent jalapeno juice.

Joe and I were wondering what made peppers hot, thinking it was some sort of acid. I’ve looked it up and it’s actually the opposite. Here’s an explanation, “Capsaicin is an extremely powerful and stable alkaloid produced as a crystal by glands at the junction of the pepper’s placenta and pod walls, according to Dave DeWitt, known as the “Pope of Pepper” and publisher of Fiery Foods & BBQ magazine. The chemical is found only in chili peppers.”

I read too much. Since last Saturday I’ve read three books, and that’s with school and work going on. I’m horrible at putting away a book while I’m in the middle of it–I put off everything else and go and finish it. 

I think because I like reading so much, I also like to go to the library. I was there Tuesday night, and looked at a book, and though, “Heather had that book and it looked good. Maybe I should read it.” I checked it out brought it home, and started to look through it a bit and realized I had already read it. Guess I wasn’t paying too much attention.

So the last book I read was King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner. This is the third in a pretty good series. I think Turner likes to leave the reader wondering what in the world is going on until the very end. I’ve found myself wading through the beginning of the book, thinking this book’s okay, and then getting to the end thinking–wow that was amazing. King of Attolia was a little more straightforward then the first two, but still had the same feel.

So I’m back in school taking 18 credit hours, working two jobs, and I just got a calling as gospel doctrine teacher. I suppose life could be busy but I read somewhere that a lot of people say their life is ‘busy’ and it’s more a state of mind than an actual state of being. I don’t feel that busy right now.

It’s weird to think that this is the last year of school for me. I’m really good at school, and quite enjoy it, but at the same time, I won’t mind moving on. It’s strange to to look at career jobs, not just an hourly job that works around school. And I have no idea what I really want to do with my degree. Can I just say have a good garden?

My siblings came over yesterday. They rock. We had a great time, it rained but we still were able to go outside and play Frisbee golf and volleyball. I am horrible at volleyball compared to what I could do in high school, but I still enjoy playing.

Speaking of rain–the weather has cooled off considerably hear. I was outside for a class this morning, and discovered that sandals are no longer ideal shoes early in the morning. My feet were freezing. I hope it doesn’t turn into winter for quite some time yet, but there was snow on the tops of mountains yesterday morning. Good old Logan and its winters that last too long.

So I am working for the agroecologist (who studies organic agriculture) on campus, and it is turning me into a farmer. I am currently working on a research project which involved planting my own strawberry patch. So for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been laying out my plot for the strawberries. I laid out compost, tilled, and laid the plastic in the plot before planting the strawberries. The tilling and plastic was great fun because I was able to drive a tractor. It also meant that because it was my first time driving a tractor, the row did not end up straight. It was still pretty fun, and I found out that driving a tractor is pretty easy–it’s just like a slow huge car.

Planting the strawberries was nice–I actually ended up planting a minority of them. For the first half of the day, I had a bunch of freshman help me for part of their class, and the second half the grad student I work with helped. Because my plots are randomized and I have five varieties scattered throughout the plots, I ended up putting the strawberries down where I wanted them and having the other people plant them. And with all the help, I got it done in six hours. Haven’t been back to check on them–hopefully they are all still alive.  

This is after I laid compost before I tilled and planted.

My advice for the week–Wear a Helmet!

So there I was riding down 400 N on my way to work on the beautiful cool morning of Tuesday. I had just started to whizz through the intersection–just like I am supposed to, right off the side of the road, with the light green, and this lady in a maroon Volvo decided to make a left turn. I try to brake–but I know it’s too late, and the car slams into the front of my bike, throwing me off it and onto the ground. I’ve a little dazed, but still alive, and get up and try to assess the situation. The driver–an elderly lady–insists on taking me to the hospital in her car, but luckily a passerby in this huge black truck tells her he called an ambulance, and she needs to stay until the cops come. I moved off to the side of the road–feeling kinda woozy, but alright considering. Soon enough the cops come, and the ambulance. They asked if I wanted to go to the hospital, and I said no at first, but with enough people telling me to go I went. In a backboard–kinda crazy, not like my spine hurt anywhere, and I had been walking around before hand.

So at the hospital they took some x-rays of the arm I banged up–it was fine. Nothing wrong with me besides abrasions, which they wrapped up in enormous amount of gauze, and some bruises. The entire time the hospital staff and I were trying to get a hold of Joe–and no luck. He had forgotten his cell phone. So I ended up calling Nate, who got Joe, and they picked me up from the hospital. I don’t think they would let you leave the hospital without a proper ride.

Anyway–moral of the story was I was wearing a helmet, and I think because of that I am fine. I have found quite a few bruises. They also decided to give me a tetanus shot in the opposite arm where the road rash is, so now both shoulders hurt. I still don’t enjoy straightening my arm–I have a large bruise there. But nothing too serious. The cops said they would drop my bike off at the apartment, but I have yet to see it–I’m kinda hoping I might have an excuse to get a new one, except I might only have to replace the front wheel.

*New note: I did get a new bike. The old one was broken beyond repair.

Go to earlyrise.wordpress.com. There might be something new there.