I saw some turkeys crossing the road yesterday. I did not stop to ask them why. Besides, they seemed to be on an important mission. I don't know if anyone told them that Thanksgiving is early this year and that it might be a good idea to avoid crossing the road in front of hungry drivers.
These turkeys seemed unconcerned with calendar dates or anything dealing with platters. They were headed into the Wood's field, probably to get their own stuffing ready. My brother's cartoon in the current issue of The River Journal turned the tables. Instead of raining cats and dogs, the cat and the dog were looking outside the window watching people fall to the ground.
With that in mind, I was speculating that maybe those turkeys had found themselves a finely fed, pleasantly plump homo sapien. Possibly they'd hidden their turkey-day dinner out there in Wood's woods to thaw out underneath a fat spruce tree. After all, Wednesday is thawing day.
Now, it's Thursday, Thanksgiving, 2006, so it's probably best that I go no further with my imagination about what those turkeys might be doing this morning to prepare for their Thanksgiving dinner.
I'll just move on with my own plans for Mr. Butterball. He's been thawing off and on since Tuesday night. I put him away while the crowd was here last night eating lasagne and Cyrus O'Leary's pumpkin cheesecake while cheering on the Zags.
Don't you hate it when those sports announcers from the East Coast call 'em GonZAHga. Can't you imagine folks on the West Coast yelling out in their living rooms, "Go ZAHGZ!" I don't think so. Somebody needs to tell those announcers who've never once heard "Go ZAGS" to get it right. After all, the ZAGS left "Cinderella Team" status several years ago, and they have yet to turn into a pumpkin.
Okay, so I got off topic. Back to Butterball. After the happy Zag revelers left, I brought him back to the kitchen, and he's been sitting in that kettle all night. Pretty soon I'm gonna go over there and perform my surgery on his innards. I'm hoping he's thawed out enough by now. The innards will go in a saucepan to simmer away while I wait for Annie to get up and prepare the stuffing.
She's got six boxes of Stove Top basics, and she's going to use Grandma's recipe. I don't know if we'll eat six boxes of Stove Top plus Grandma's ingredients during today's feast, but folks around here like that stuffing. So, it's better to have too much than not enough.
Today there will be ten hungry mouths to feed: five Loves, four Tibbs, and one Julie. I don't know Julie's last name. I don't even know what Julie looks like, but she's driving up from Spokane today. She's one of Debbie's friends from the YWCA and she was going to spend turkey day alone, but not anymore.
Maybe, while Mr. Butterball is roasting away in the oven, the kids (almost 30 year-olds) will go outside and make a snowman. We have snowman style snow falling on the ground, about three inches so far. We've never had a snowman at our new Lovestead, so that will be a nice thing to do on this first Thanksgiving here.
And, we are thankful. Turkeys and snowmen aside, I'd say I'm feeling about as thankful as ever, knowing we're living in this peaceful, pastoral setting, surrounded by the best neighbors anyone could ever order. And the day after a monumental ZAGS victory over No. 2 North Carolina, it doesn't get any better. Today will be a happy day of cooking, vacuuming, enjoying the outdoors and most of all, enjoying family along with Mr. Butterball. Plus, I must let my favorite Napa Valley reader know that the special wine is chilled and will be on the table.
May you all have good turkey, ample stuffing, hotdogs or beans. I've been told that the latter are on the menu at some gatherings today. And, may those turkeys who didn't take time to tell me why they were crossing the road enjoy their celebration wherever they choose to gather out here in Selle Heaven.
Happy Thanksgiving.
No comments:
Post a Comment