One Hot Chica

Sweetsie had a little run-in with hot peppers last night.

I was picking red raspberries in the garden when Sweetsie came out to join me. She picked some berries and then started poking around the garden, chattering all the while. I noticed she was looking at the long, red banana peppers, but I didn’t think much of it. Next time I glanced up I noticed she was handling them, examining them with her fingers, but I still didn’t think much of it. When she started screaming and rubbing her eyes, I still didn’t put two and two together. I thought that she probably got stung or maybe a grasshopper had jumped up and hit her in the face. She had to repeat herself several times before I could make out what she was saying—Oh! She got peppers in her eyes!

I took her in to the house and flushed out her eyes with cool water and washed her hands good. I gave her a cold washcloth to press against her eyes and went out to finish picking my berries. She was still fussy, so Mr. Handsome washed her hands again, this time using some of his special, heavy-duty soap.

It wasn’t until supper time that she started complaining about her mouth hurting and we noticed that her lips were extra red and the area around her mouth was red and puffy. We told her not to rub it, and we gently washed it, and then put her to bed.

By the morning she looked like this.

I made her step out on the deck so I could get some pictures in the natural light.

She still looked about the same this evening. I made her stand still for a little photo shoot.

She wasn’t too pleased about it.

She was tired.

Really tired.

She was getting fed up.

And then she got mad.

And madder.

So I quit.

She says it doesn’t hurt too much anymore, but I don’t think she’ll be playing around the peppers plants anytime too soon.