Salt, Pepper, and Dirt

The last time that my mom was out in California visiting her mom, my grandma gave her cacti salt and pepper shakers. Grandma told her they had no value, she had just bought them somewhere because she thought they were cute, but my mom took them and offered them to me. I always like having things that have been "passed down" so I took them. I opened them up today to wash, in order to use. Well, the video tells what happened.

I stood at the sink for a good 20 minutes trying to scrape the dirt out of the pepper shaker with a chopstick. It did eventually all come out, in huge chunks, and they are happily sitting in my dishwasher waiting to be washed.

I have no idea how all that dirt fit in there.

Because I cannot conceptualize that my sweet grandmother would stuff dirt inside a pepper shaker, I am led to believe that, given enough time, pepper must turn into dirt.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Dad!