Fish and Flowers

Yes, that was Mark's trout. He tasted a lot better than he looked. And the other picture is Mark BBQing up Mr. Trout. Whenever I go fishing, I end up naming the fish we catch. It's usually the same few names: Charlie, Bob, George and Frank. I'm not too sure why I do this. I have always been told if you name an animal, it makes it harder to kill and eat it. This does not prove true with fish. I've eaten many Bobs and Charlies and I haven't felt the least bit weird about it. I guess I like to name them because it adds to the fun. Maybe if I give it a personality and name then I don't feel as bad about torturing it and eating it later. I know that's a little backwards but it actually makes me feels better. If I give it an ounce of respect while it's alive, I feel okay with cutting its life short. I'm strange, I know but whatever works right?

So yesterday while Mark was BBQing Chuck, he pulled up one of the poppies in the backyard. There were a bunch that we thought hadn't bloomed. Well, it turns out that they weren't unbosomed flowers but seed pods. As in poppy seeds. As in poppy seed bread. So we collected all the ripe pods and cracked them open. We got about a half a cup of seeds. Apparently not only seeds live in the pods. So do bugs. Big bugs. Every once and awhile when I cracked open a pod, a bug would fall out. I was kinda gross. And then I'd have to dig out the bugs out of the seeds. Yuck. The pods are really neat.

I hope you can see. On the top where the "crown" is, just underneath it there are small holes where the seeds fall out of. The crown prongs create a type of slide to evenly distribute the seeds. When the pod is ripe, the stem falls over and lets the seeds fall to the ground. It's kinda neat to think about. Inside the pod there are sections that hold the seeds and spread them out evenly inside the pod. So much work for a little poppy. I'm going to look for a recipe for poppy seed bread or muffins. wish me luck.
P.S. This entire blog, I have been having trouble spelling poppy. My fingers want to double the o instead of p. Please forgive me if I missed fixing one. But it has provided me with a few laughs.