GI Joe, Ms. En, and DD Daughter on the Deck of Their New Home - They just went through closing and got their keys yesterday.

Word of the Day

Mangaphile - A person infatuated with manga. Can also be used as an insult in the case of hentai manga.

How long does it take to clean, peel and boil up 24-pounds of prickly pear fruit? Let's see....I started at around 9 AM and I've finally just managed to clean up the kitchen at 4:30 PM. Despite all my precautions, I've got at least six cactus spines in my hands. However, considering how many cactus fruit that I peeled today, I suppose only having six cactus spines embedded in my fingers is a minor miracle.

I took Gypsy for a morning walk around the neighborhood and chanced upon a huge prickly pear cactus, loaded with fruit. As it happens, the woman who owns the prickly pear cactus, was just exiting her house as I was admiring the fruit. I asked her if she was planning to do anything with her fruit. She told me that she was having someone come out on Saturday to prune and discard the fruit. I asked her if she'd mind if I gathered some of her fruit and she told me that I was welcome to as much as I'd care to gather....but I'd have to do it before Saturday and added that I was welcome to pick whatever fruit I'd like in the future without asking. Woohoo! I found a source of prickly pear fruit and I don't have to plant one of those nasty spine-covered cactus in my own front yard...which is something I was considering.

After breakfast, I grabbed my gloves, a tongs, a large knife and a couple of buckets to hold the fruit. It became apparent that I wouldn't need the knife since the fruit was easily removed from the cactus pads with just the use of the tongs. However, I did end up getting stuck by two rather large cactus spines. Gloves didn't slow them down a bit. Ouch! One actually dug right through the glove, through my fingernail and into my finger. Those large cactus spines are lots sharper than you'd think. Regardless, I managed to pick two buckets of prickly pear fruit. I was considering picking more but, thinking back over the day, I'm glad I only picked what I picked.

When I got back home, I weighed the fruit and discovered that I had 24-pounds of fruit. Stickery fruit. One must be very cautious when dealing with cactus fruit. The spines are tiny. I knew this. I was careful. However, as I stated previously, I still ended up with cactus "hairs" in my fingers. Cactus "hairs" aren't easily removed because they tend to be easier felt than seen and the minute you think you've got them all out another one is felt. I suspect I'll be discovering more than the six before the night is over.

So...anyway, I peeled and chopped the fruit. Since I only have two large pots, I had to split up the fruit into four parts. I peeled six pounds, chopped it up, added 1/2 gallon of water and started that pot up to boil while I peeled and chopped up the next six pounds of fruit. While the first batch was cooling, I added 1/2 gallon of water to the second pot of fruit and started that one up to boil. Meanwhile, I cleaned, peeled, and chopped another six pounds of fruit. By this time the first pot of cooked fruit was cooled enough for me to strain it into a large bucket that I use for wine-making. Having thus freed up my first pot, I added 1/2 gallon of water to the pot along with the six pounds of fruit and started that up to boil. While the second pot of cooked fruit was cooling, I peeled and chopped the last six pounds of fruit. More straining, more cooking, more cooling, more straining, and by this time my clothes were liberally splattered with cactus fruit juice. I also could see that my kitchen counters and floor were liberally splattered with the stuff.

All the juice has been strained into the one wine-making bucket and I now have a batch of Prickly Pear Wine started. I sure hope I like this recipe. It's not the same recipe that I made last year. Last year I'd used a recipe that called for white raisins. It turned out just fine but with so much fruit I figured that I'd like to see how the prickly pear fruit would do standing on it's own...without grapes, grape juice, or white raisins.

My Mom told me that she'll pick and freeze some pyracantha berries from her bushes in Nevada. No, they are not poisonous. I'm thinking of experimenting with a small batch of Pyracantha Wine. Oh well...first my folks need to actually return to Nevada. In the meantime, I've got three buckets of wine starting to do their thing. That's a good start for the winter.

Murphyism of the Day

Fifth Law of Office Murphology

Vital papers will demonstrate their vitality by spontaneously moving from where you left them to where you can't find them.

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

When there's snow on the ground, I like to pretend I'm walking on clouds.

- Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata