[CH] Stupid People
Calvin Donaghey (gdonaghey@bitstreet.com)
Sun, 19 Sep 1999 15:15:48 -0500
Here in Texas I see what I call the "TEXAS MALE EGO SYNDROME". Every CH
I know has stories like this.
Example:
I was out starting a job in the oil patch, munching on a couple of
particularly fiery peppers, enjoying a good sweat-and-cry session with a
taco on the side. I was cutting off slices of the pod with my knife to
eat it because my lips were sunburned already. We had laid about a half
mile of irrigation line to a farmer's water well to get drilling water
for the rig, and were standing around waiting for the first water to
reach the end of the line and fill the pits. ( The line, in 40' joints,
had been laying in a field out of use for 2 years, and was full of dirt,
grass, nests, and your typical assemblage of varied small mammals and
their refuse.) One of the roughnecks asked "What's that you're eating?"
***Should have been a sign right there-- anyone could see I was eating a
taco and hot pepper.**
I said it was a really hot pepper and a taco. (Here's your sign.)
He said "I love those habalero(sic) *** peppers, you mind letting me
try one of yours?"
I said I could give him a slice of this one, but I did not have any more
with me, and was he sure he wanted to try it, as it was not a normal
pepper and was really hotter than most???
"Well, YOU'RE eatin' it, aren't ya?"***
I said yes, but it WAS making me sweat and cry, and I had built up some
tolerance to hot peppers.
He said "I eat those little bitty chilipetins(sic) *** all the time,
and they're the hottest peppers in the world. Let me try a bite."
I said OK, and sliced him off a half inch slab, delivered with another
warning. I recommended he try a little bite first, to see how he liked
it. He smiled and tossed the chunk in his mouth and munched it up. The
peculiar red tints started on his face, spread to his forhead and neck,
deepened, and turned him into a cartoon character right before my eyes.
About that time the first water reached the end of the line, festooned
with a rich, deep brown color, grass, dried out mammal carcasses, nests,
and a significant number of small brown cylindrical items. When I
turned back to see how the roughneck was doing, he was on his knees at
the first joint coupling sucking the brown water from a leaking gasket.
Any port in a storm, I always say.
Calvin