[SerpentSun]

I have a hobby of just watching other animals and sometimes going about their daily routine with them. I have a good Alaskan malamute friend that I frequently observe, wandering about the woods with her as she patrols her territory and does the things that doggies do. One day the clever ***** gave me a great idea for a tasty way to groom myself.

Like several humans have learned, dogs and other animals can chew on bones, sticks, and other hard objects to clean their teeth and exercise their jaws. The dog does this frequently, and kindly tries to share her slobbery hairy chew-bones with me. I politely refuse. So instead, I acquired several ounces each of various warm, spicy, tough, and/or antiseptic herbs to chew on at intervals. Dried chili peppers, ginger, mace, cloves, cinnamon, allspice....I seem to crave those kind of spices and they really perk me up. But the flora from so far away should be a rare exotic treat, so I only limit myself to about a teaspoon total of nibbles throughout the day. It replaces my nervous habit of biting my nails as well as everything else.

Fun Fact: When my older brothers were teething as babies, my mom supposedly gave them bones to chew on. Since she's been a total neurotic germiphobe my whole life, I can't even imagine her doing something so "primitive", but she admitted it herself. My Granny always did say "don't tell your mother this, but she didn't used to be such a clean-freak."