Pickles, Cucumbers Peaches Or Beets?

Today in class we watched a video all about Galileo and his trial, and i have come away thinking that i am really glad that we no longer burn people alive for free thinking.
Then I got back to my room and got distracted with thoughts about Freud, horses, and thorny rose bushes. Feel free to try to unpack any of that if you wish. :D But here's my thought for today, why is it that of all the things you can pickle cucumbers get the default? I mean, why doesn't anyone call pickled peaches just pickles? And for that matter, why not eggs or ham--can you pickle ham? But it is it just that cucumbers change so completely, or is there some other reason?
lol This is what happens when I sit around with too much time on my hands. But seriously, if you do have an answer, feel free to post it, I'd love to know. Or maybe we'll make a contest of it and whoever comes up with the best answer is the one we'll go with hahaha. Ok, that's it from me for now,
TTFN!

Something I find Fascinating

I don't remember when I actually first learned about them, but guide dogs for the blind have always interested me. Recently I found myself on one of the guide dog school's websites reading up on those wonderful animals. I know that labs, goldens and shepherds can all be guide dogs, but I recently heard that some places train boxers. Now isn't that interesting. Also, a friend of mine who's raised guide dog pups before said she once had a husky.I honestly thought huskies were sled dogs. I had a husky once and she was the last thing I would have picked to guide the blind.She was a good dog and very friendly, but some combination of hyper and an inate desire to pull sleds--even human ones--would have made me nervous about it. Of course, this may just have been my dog. A speaker at a convention I once attended said something about huskies that I very much agree with. huskies ... are psycho. It's true, they really are, but in the most loveable way.
I've also heard of pigs and horses of all things being guide animals. horses are supposed to live longer and pigs are supposed to be pretty smart. I really haven't spent enough time with pigs to gage their intelligence and I feel like horses would have to be trained specially not to shy from traffic, but hey if they work, they work. I have never met a guide horse or pig, but I've met several dogs and they're very good. Once when i was leaving the hospital after surgery a big lab golden mix tried to jump into my wheelchair with me. I don't think they're supposed to do that, but i think his harness was off so he was not in working mode. I think he was trying to comfort me and was just a friendly dog in general. I didn't mind at all.
One other kind of service animal I'm particularly interested in is a seizure dog. I've never met one my self, but I watched a program on them once and fell in love. I truly think my dog--this would be my cocker--should have been a seizure dog. I find the way they're able to be so intuned with their humans so as to detect signs of a seizure is the neatest thing. Dogs who are trained to use the phone in case their human is in trouble are pretty awesome too. it's truly amazing how much humans have been able to work with animals to serve different kinds of useful purposes.