A Funny Story for New Year's Day: ChiaBurst (Don't Try This At Home!)

Welcome 2012!
Today got away from me after a late night last night, so I don't yet have intentions to share. I do have a funny story I'd love to share, though, of how Phil and I ended up with our New Year's explosions a few days early.

It's been below zero Fahrenheit today, and having blithely mentioned yesterday that our water pipe had only frozen twice this winter, it's frozen again, and has been all day. Of course we headed out for a beach hike nonetheless, right after a late breakfast.

The ice encrustations are stunning.

It was almost too cold to take photographs at all, especially as it involved removing a mitten and having just a thin glove between my hand and the icy air. The ocean was literally steaming, so much warmer than the land... In weather like this, btw, it is so advantageous to be a guy, in terms of not having to uncover so much when the bladder demands. Oooh tmi, but my gosh it was a tough decision to relieve myself!

It's a strange experience to go out hiking for exercise and then to need to spend twenty minutes bouncing on the rebounder just to warm up (despite having worn multiple layers, including two hats and two pairs of gloves).

Here's my funny story. Last time we went to Anchorage, I treated myself to three new flavors of kombucha, with chia seeds in them, no less, that were on sale. I loved the idea--super-filling for few calories, delicious, good bacteria... And I enjoyed the raspberry and grape flavors that day and the next.

Then, I did what I often do--I hoarded the cherry flavor. And where are you supposed to store kombucha? In the fridge. Where did I hoard mine? In the pantry, right where the sun shines in when it's actually out...

A few evenings ago, I happened to notice agitated movements of the chia seeds inside that bottle, and thought I'd better open it. I opened the lid a little way and of course it all fizzed up. So, slowly, slowly, I opened, it fizzed, I opened, it fizzed...and I noticed that the lid was actually getting tighter. It got to the point that I couldn't move it at all, even with a cloth over it.

So I called in  the man. But even mighty Phil couldn't shift it, to his great surprise. So...he went and got the pipe wrench. And then he went and got his biggest pipe wrench. And he cranked on that bottle and there was an almighty bang!

And now there were chia seeds all over the entire cabin! There was only one ounce of liquid remaining in the bottle. Zone of greatest impact was our (muslin) ceiling right above:

That's not a blurry photo--it's chia seeds ground zero on a sloping muslin ceiling! But the centrifugal coverage was just incredible. There were seeds (with purple juice around them) on every single window, including those in the loft. There were chia seeds on our comforter up in the loft, on our clothes on the backs of the chairs, on the floor, on the lights, on the phone, on every blade of the ceiling fan (which wasn't running at the moment, thank goodness). Thankfully only one library book got maybe two seeds on it. Thankfully the computers were closed up.

Thankfully, too, the only pain it caused was from laughter: Phil and I stared at each other in silence for a couple stunned seconds after the explosion, and then simultaneously busted out laughing so hard, we were soon doubled over. As we worked to clean up (which needed a ladder), we laughed some more.

Phil pointed out that this should teach me not to hoard things but to enjoy them when they come. Probably good for me to reflect on that, but I enjoy just laughing about it too. I hope it's funny for you as well!