It's Official

     Yesterday was the best day ever. Got up early, did my morning cardio, 20 minutes of meditation, and then read. Yeah, some of those 100 day goals are still going. I also took Baby Girl Gauge to the shelter to have a check up with the hopes that her stitches would be removed. Mom and I got there early, so we had to wait outside in chilly breeze. I didn't mind it much, since I now see cold as an ally instead of a foe. Brown adipose tissue and all, I'm sure I explained cold therapy before. Anyway, It wasn't much fun for my mom, but she toughed it out. When we finally got to go inside, they took Baby Girl back and about 10 minutes later, she came out with no stitches, and the final ok to finalize her adoption. Baby Girl Gauge is officially a member of this family. She really already was, since day 1, but now it is official. All the paperwork has been signed and she never has to see the shelter again.

     That's the picture they posted on their Facebook page. They put a photo of each new adoption up to encourage others to adopt. This is where I get on my soapbox about adopting a pet. It's the holiday season, and that means a ton of pets are going to be bought with only the thought of how cute said little animal is. In a month, shelters are going to be overflowing with those pets, because people didn't realize there is a hue commitment to owning a pet. This is where you come in. If you are looking for a pet, don't go to a store or a breeder, go to your local shelter or rescue. There are hundreds of dogs and cats in each one, just waiting for a home. Give a second thought to picking an adult animal, they don't need training and are real eager to please a new owner. If you are looking for a specific breed, work with the shelter, the more than likely have partnership with other rescues throughout the state, and can find the animal you are looking for. It is far cheaper than buying a pet from a store or a breeder. You only pay a nominal fee and maybe some shots, that is it. It should be less than $100. A breeder or store is going to charge you hundreds if not thousands of dollars for a new pet. Here is the best part of all. You get to rescue an animal, and there is truly nothing better than that. So please, adopt, don't shop. You can find your furever friend.

     I gave my mom a little bite of Chocolate Habanero yesterday, and I think she reached her limit. She did not like the heat at all. I ate the rest of it, with what seeds where left. I took a bunch of them out so that I could plant them, and that thing hit hard. The heat from that attacks your throat, lips and tongue. It really had me rethinking this whole idea of teaching myself to eat hotter and hotter peppers. The pain did go away, but it will be a while before I eat another Chocolate Habanero. I did eat an Ani Guyana yesterday. It was really mild, the SHU puts it at 35,000, which is around 4 times that of a jalapeño, which hits at 8,000. The next pepper on the list is the Brain Strain. That is over the 1 million mark, which makes it higher than the ghost pepper I had the other night. I haven't talked to my buddy about it yet, but I kind of want to do it tomorrow night. I will shoot a video of it, so that you can watch and get a giggle out of me losing my mind. Since you missed out on the ghost, I will tell you, that it affected my speech for a little while. I had a hard time speaking for a minute or so, which was even funnier to me, when I watched it back.

     Since we are still on the discussion of peppers. I did repot a few of the peppers my buddy gave me today. I took the biggest ones and put them in some slightly bigger pots, so that I can get them used to sunlight. I have them sitting in the window outside, where they will only get about an hours worth of direct sunlight in the morning. New plants don't really like a lot of direct sunlight, peppers especially. You have to gently introduce them to it, but once they build up that tolerance, it is all good.

     I do have one more up there, that isn't in the picture. I repotted it after taking the picture. I'm really excited about a few of these, because they look insanely cool. I looked up images of all of them, and peppers are incredibly unique. If you don't know much about peppers, you are only used to seeing red peppers, or jalapeños. There is a whole other world out there, and I'm going to bring it to you as they grow and produce.

     I also transplanted the Junebearing strawberry plant today. It was not happy about being cut off from it's mama. The leaves are a little droopy, and I put it in filtered sunlight for the time being. Even though it had a lot of direct sunlight when it was attached to its umbilical cord, it doesn't have the strength for it on it's own right now. Not to mention that it has its own runner coming off of it, so it is trying to feed itself and a baby plant as well. I'm hoping for the best, but my luck has to run out some time. Oh, a jump back to the pepper talk for a second. The Scotch Bonnets are getting huge. I thought they were beginning to lighten in color. They have to go from green to yellow, but today it looked like they darkened up again. That leads me to believe that these things are going to be the top end of their heat scale. That still a lot less than the Ghost pepper, but it's going to be spicy.

     A little update on my shoulder. This has been going on for a lot longer than normal, but I'm finally getting my full range of motion back. It has sidelined me for most chest and back movements though. I ended up having to lay off the dips as well as pull-ups for the time being. The pain was just too much. I have been able to do other smaller upper body movements, so I'm still getting my workouts it, they just aren't as intense and full as I would want. I'll get back there once this all heals.

     I've already gotten my workout done foe the evening and I'm going to sit back and relax before hitting some cardio before bed. Remember adopt, don't shop, and go out and get yourself healthy. Peace in and goodnight.