My high school crush and I both moved to the big city after graduating. It was then that we started seriously dating. We attended the same university and eventually tied the knot. We have been married for 38 years since then. Her family lived on a farm about twenty miles from my hometown. One weekend, she decided to take me to the family butchering. I had never been exposed to any such thing and did not have a clue what I was getting into. First we got into the hog pen and separate the one they wished to butcher. Then I being the guest had to shoot it between the eyes. Next we hung it up and removed all the intestines. We saved the tongue, the liver, the lites, the kidneys, and the head to make hash. Then we carried it over to a huge black cast iron pot full of hot water. We placed the hog in the pot and had to turn it from side to side. Then we pulled the hog out of the water onto a long table. Next we took knives and scraped off all the hair. After a thorough cleaning, we finally placed it over a pit of hickory embers. Next the pudding pot was fired up. When it was time to start the hash it started raining and the pot had to be placed under a shed. After restarting the fire under the pot, my father-in-law began to make the barbecue hash. It started to get awful smoky under the shed. My wife's dad, grandfather, grandmother, great-grandmother, brothers and sister plus a couple of neighbors were working under the shed. Her dad added large cans of tomatoes, butter beans, mustard, corn, and worcestershire sauce. He had cheyenne pepper in a milk carton from the previous year and it had gotten hard as a brick. Her dad headed for the house to get a new box but instructed me to dispose of the milk carton of hardened red hot pepper. When my father-in-law returned with the new pepper he was shocked that everyone under the shed was crying and eyes were watering. It was then that he realized that I had thrown the carton of red pepper in the fire. He was furious and asked my wife, "Where did you find this idiot?" He would not look at me for the rest of the day. That day I was introduced to butchering and my wife's family was introduced to tear gas.
