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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Canning Beets Makes Me Laugh

Yep, it does.  If you've ever canned beets, you're probably trying to figure out what's so humorous, since they really aren't a funny vegetable.  Nor is the canning process particularly entertaining.

It's one of those you had to be there kind of things.  You see, years ago, when DD1 was about twelve or so, I didn't grow beets.  But we had a neighbor down the road who had a stand at the end of her driveway where she sold her excess veggies, and I would buy a bag of freshly harvested beets from her for just a dollar.  The first time I did this, I gave DD1 the dollar and instructed her to jump out of the Suburban and get me a bag of beets. We were on the way home from my kids' parochial school and I just pulled off the road in front of the neighbor's house, not wanting to park the truck and shut off the engine to get them myself.

Feeling very important for transacting business, DD1 did just that, and when she got back into the passenger seat, she was grinning from ear to ear.  She held out the bag of beets for me to examine.

"Look!"  She said proudly.  "They even still have their testicles on them."

Dead silence, until her 13yo brother started snickering in the backseat.  And her 9 year old sister asked him  what was so funny.

"Their what?"  I asked, trying not to burst out laughing myself.

"Their testicles.  You know, like an octopus."  She said, pointing to the multiple thin roots on the bottoms of the beets.

More snickering from the backseat.

"You mean tentacles."  Her brother informed her, deadpan, when he had regained his composure.

It was then that she realized her faux pas. At which point she turned as deep red as the beets.

So, yesterday, when I was cutting off the roots I couldn't help laughing.  And texting DD1 in college to tell her I was currently neutering beets.  This time, she thought it was as funny as I did.  We still haven't decided if we're going to text DS2 at his college and let him in on the joke.


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