the five little peppers and how they grew

Apparently I'm way too proud of our garden and have to keep posting pictures of various plants we've managed to grow. :) These little beauties have been adding some flavor and spice to our meals for probably 3 months now. At some point, I decided I wanted to can some of them to make mild pepper rings. We have no idea how they turned out because they're supposed to sit in the juice for at least 3 weeks (from what I read), but at least I know the jars sealed even though I was improvising with canning equipment (that's another story altogether). Other than that, we eat them in our chicken curry or pasta sauce or give them away to neighbors and friends.

sweet banana peppers

red chile peppers (mighty spicy, even when they're green)

Funny story (it wasn't at the time):
When I was canning the pepper rings, I mostly put the sweet banana peppers in. However, I decided to try one jar with a few red chile pepper rings (1-2 peppers). After cutting them up, I touched the corner of my eye without even thinking. I think I had even washed my hands, but the oil from the peppers was still on them, so my eye started burning. I figured I should probably get my contacts out ASAP, so I headed upstairs. At that point, I knew I should wash my hands really carefully before attempting to take them out. What I didn't know is that apparently the oil doesn't come off that easily (even after wiping my hands really well on the towel). I managed to get one contact out, but that eye started burning almost immediately after touching it to grab the contact. I had tears streaming down my face and was practically bent over in pain, and I still needed to get the other contact out. Obviously, at this point, I knew I wouldn't get the other one out without a struggle, but I didn't know of another way to get the oil off my hands. After waiting a couple minutes for the pain to go down, I unsuccessfully went for the other contact. Since it didn't come out, I had to wait again before the next attempt. I think I got it out on the second try, but by then I was bawling and whimpering. At some point during this whole ordeal, Brian called to tell me he was coming home, and I had to run downstairs, find my phone, and try not to sound too upset/wimpy. I've decided that I essentially sprayed myself with pepper spray, and I don't think I ever want to be in a situation where that happens for real. My eyes eventually felt better that night, but I think they were red for at least a couple hours (and I actually kept feeling the burning on my fingers for a while because I think some of it got under a few of my nails).

P.S. I threw those contacts away.