The best thing I ever ate, according to George, Alan and Lucy

It was raining Friday night when I headed out to find the herd and remove fly masks, so I cheated and took the Ranger. Could someone please explain why it's taken me six years to figure out that this makes more sense than wandering around 80 acres on foot when it's getting too dark to see? Aye yai yai yai yai. Sometimes I need supervision.

Anyway, it's a good thing I drove because when I did find them, I needed tools.

Yet again, George was wearing cactus on his nose...

and Alan was sporting a few pieces on his chin.

Me: What would you have done if I hadn't shown up?

Alan: Suffered.

So I remove the cactus and start to head back to the house, when what do I see?

A veritable feast in progress! Lucy, Alan and George had made a beeline to the nearest cholla 

and were chomping it down with gastronomic gusto as if it were chips...

...rain-marinated cholla chips.

If y'all knew how painful this stuff is when it gets stuck to your skin, you would be aghast and appalled.

There's a barb at the end of every needle, and I draw blood each time I pull a piece out.

What in heaven's name was the cholla doing to the insides of their mouths? And intestines? And parts beyond?

Lucy: Nomnomnomnomnom. Oh so good. Best thing I ever ate.

The rain makes it extra juicy...adds a layer of flavor that can barely be described.

Sweet, with just a hint of savory goodness. Ambrosia, I tell ya.

Me: I thought you knew better than to eat something so evil.

Lucy: I know better than to let you see me with it stuck all over my face. What you don't know won't hurt you.

George: Show me your technique. She's always getting mad at me when she has to yank it out of my nose.

George: I think I've got it! I need to bend my head at a 45-degree angle and go in from below.

Alan: Technique be damned. This stuff is too good to worry about etiquette.

Lucy: It pays to be tall.

For the record, Hank ordered the grass, medium rare.