Picking cherries and picking goatheads

When plants reproduce, it's usually benign.

Sometimes, however, they can reproduce in either benevolent or malevolent ways.

My sister has a cherry tree in her backyard, and cherries are an example of benevolent plant reproduction. Cherry trees surround their seeds with a beautiful, edible substance. So I spent a day this week picking cherries from her tree. I picked a lot to use in various desserts and dishes.

See, I don't feel completely comfortable eating them plain, because many of the cherries have fruit fly larvae squirming around. I know they're harmless, but my brain has been conditioned to think "Eww! Gross!" But as long as I'm cooking them up in something, I can pretend they're not there.

A widdle ladybug!

That's my sister's dog, in case you forgot I'm not a dog person.

Cherry crisp! This one used a citrus topping.

But goatheads, on the other hand, reproduce nefariously. There is no tasty fruit. Instead, there are nasty seeds that look evil, and they are evil. The seeds, which look like the head of a goat, get incredibly hard, and the "horns" are sharp enough to puncture flesh, pop bike tires, and stick to shoes. They are utterly diabolical. So every June, I search out the plants so I can pull them up. I wish these plants had feelings so they could feel me torture them. I haven't been able to do as much as I would have liked to this month so far.

Goathead plants surrounding an anthill.

In other news this week, it was on my bucket list that during the Fourth of July season (which is right now), I would go to some American historic site. So I went with my dad to Fort Douglas on the U's campus. It was built during the Civil War for US troops to keep an eye on the telegraph (and the Mormons). The museum has some interesting artifacts, including a flag that went up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War, and a smoking pipe shaped like Millard Fillmore. There were various military vehicles, mostly from World War II and the Vietnam War. My dad enjoyed that part. But me, I'm not into cars, and I'm not into military history. Before I got a job in history, it was my worst and least favorite subject. It was interesting enough to go to; it seemed like a fitting thing to do at this time of the year. It was actually Fort Douglas Day, and they had special exhibits and people walking around in period clothing from different eras of US (and Celtic!) history.

I liked the tiny windshield wipers on these periscope things on this tank.

This is a relic from the World Trade Center.

I don't have a whole lot of time to visit historic sites when I have to be out eradicating goatheads and making cherry desserts!