Turkey Tales

Hi Folks:

As we celebrate this day of of appreciation for family, friends and all that we are blessed to have, we thought we’d share a few turkey stories with you. 🦃

First off, if you’re a Vinyl Café fan you may have well have heard Stuart McLean’s turkey stories: Dave Cooks the Turkey and Dave Raises the Turkey. If not, feel free to wander over to CBC to listen to a recording of them!

Okay, now for some stories that are a little closer to home:

1) When Mike was about 4 or 5 his family lived in southern Manitoba, about 45 minutes or so NE of Winnipeg. Lots of snow in the winter, and deep cold… – 40° is where the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales converge and that was a good day. One day Mike’s dad and a friend of his were driving down a lonely country lane miles from anywhere, without a building in sight, when they saw a turkey sitting on top of the snowbank at the side of the road.

They couldn’t believe their eyes so they stopped the car and got out, but there it was… frozen solid in the snow. There were no farms nearby and no way of knowing from whence it came, so after much deliberation they opened the back of the Pontiac Laurentian station wagon, tossed the giant fuzzy snowball in and returned to the warmth of the vehicle – surprised at their good fortune. They headed back to town.

It was good and warm in the car, and as might be expected the giant snowball in the back of the car started to melt. And move. It wasn’t quite dead. And it wasn’t happy. 🦃

2) Back in the 80s Mike was doing some field work with the government in southwestern Ontario, and the crew had rented a house on a farm property. Theirs was a secondary house next to the main house, a barn, and a construction trailer they’d set up as a lab. In addition to the gardens there was a flock of white turkeys that had the run of the yard, and the owners had a spaniel-sized dog, good-natured, that also roamed the grounds.

Well, just before Thanksgiving the family took off on a trip, leaving the dog behind. Mike and the crew didn’t think anything of it, but whatever plans the family had made to feed the dog must have fallen through. It wasn’t obvious at first, but it all came to a head when she successfully chased down and killed one of the turkeys in the yard. It was too late to save the bird, but it was collected anyway and since the dog’s distress was laid open, a bag of good dog food was procured. The crew ate the turkey for Thanksgiving; nobody brought up the topic of the ‘missing’ bird. 🦃

3) In the 90s Marcia and Mike lived for a while on a 200-acre property in southern Ontario. This story is from Marcia, a part of her collected Swallowtail Walk stories. This one is Nearest Neighbours:

Seems to me it was autumn that first year when we met our nearest neighbours. It must have been, since I recall the grasses grown high on either side of that long driveway from country road to our newly adopted 5-car garaged-home.

We had two visitors staying with us that late fall day. Both had come to check out the new place. The women were lifelong friends of ours. C. I had known since I was pregnant with my eldest child. T. was one of the children Mike had babysat for when in his teens and with whom he had kept in touch over the passing years. Both women had met each other at various functions we had held and each was pleased to know that the other would be visiting at the same time.

C. chose to reside in the downstairs granny flat we had furnished. There was a massive wall of floor to ceiling windows and the view of, and access to, the valley at the back of the house. And C., like us, loved that huge shower stall. T., in addition to her curiosity, had an alternate purpose for her sojourn with us. Working toward her Master’s degree, she needed a quiet place and space to think and write, to spread her research notes about for accessibility, to match her thought processes to her work. Our offer to allow her a stay at the cottage by the lake was readily accepted.

It was on one of the days when Mike was in town and T. was on an apparently productive writer’s roll and still at the cottage, when our neighbours stopped by. C. and I had just finished breakfast and were still sipping at our by-then-cold coffees when we decided to step outside for a bit of warmth and fresh air. Both of us being city born and raised, it was always a delight to be able to hear the wind, the birds, the crickets and cicadas, the bees. C. couldn’t seem to get enough of it. I really do think she’d have moved in with us if we had made the offer.

On this day the quiet was appreciated and we both soaked it all in. No words were needed between us. The shared awe was all that was required to connect us. Until …

Suddenly there was the oddest sound emanating from the far eastern field across from the drive at the front of the house. The tall, dry grasses were rustling in what seemed like an unusual pattern. We watched as a slither-like movement wended its way slightly south-west and toward the driveway rather than further south to the road. Thinking it was maybe neighbourhood children due to the fact that we couldn’t see anyone’s heads bobbing along this route, we waited until they, whoever they were, came into view. And as the wave of grasses bent closer and closer to the open area by the drive, we anticipated seeing whom we had (by this time having discussed a variety of options between us), assumed to be some of the neighbours’ kids out on a hike.

Well, were we in for the shock and delight of our lives. We are so grateful we didn’t call out to them or they would have fled in every imaginable direction – never to have returned again, I am sure!

The first to pop his head out from between the grass blades was a very stately wild turkey. I determined him to be in the middle of his years in age. Plumage full and fluffed up to make him look larger than his skeletal body alone, this regal bird stood sentry. As though a human crossing guard near a public school area, he looked left, then right, then left again before moving ever so slightly to the side to grant permission, if you will, to the next surprise – another wild turkey. This one was younger, also a male. And he made the same motions. It was as though ensuring for his own peace of mind that there was safety from both sides before he stepped out from the grasses and onto the gravel drive. He was prompt in his departure from one space, across what would have been to him a vast openness, to the sheltered other side. It was on the west side of the driveway that he then took the second sentry role. It was a few seconds before our third surprise poked her head through to brittle grasses.

A female emerged, with her muted tones and small build. Gathered around her feet were five mini versions of herself. Too young to have taken on definitive gender feathering, they all looked alike from our perspective. The five all had the same small stature and relatively cowering behaviour, at least initially. But then one of the chicks seemed bolder than the others and almost stepped out onto the gravel by himself when the hen made a squawk that had him running back toward her. Nothing happened for a moment. Then, with a head bob by the Eastern Sentry, mother hen and chicks collectively made their way to the other side and were whisked into the invisibility of the undergrowth of bushes beside the Western Sentry.

Bird after bird followed the same path. Each was given permission to cross. Each strutted or rushed or sauntered from one side to the other. We started noticing not only gender differences, but also age variances. Seemed we could tell a teenager from an adult by the confidence or the excitement displayed in its presentation. After the first few appeared, we began to count the number of birds in this family. There were more females than males. And we were shocked to notice that there were several domestic female turkeys in among this family. Likely having gotten out from whatever farming pens they had been caged in, these females had been adopted into the Wilds community and were now part of the collective.

In total we counted 29 turkeys. What an exciting adventure and we didn’t even have to leave the front of the house! C. still tells the tale to this day.

Yet how is it that Mike and I had been living on this property for several months  only to find out that we had a huge resident population of wild turkeys? In the days and weeks to come we determined that the clan made exactly the same route every single day, rain or shine, without exception. We followed their trails so that we knew where they called ‘home’ and what paths they took, in order for us not to disturb their daily run. 🦃

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. One more for you, this one from Mike’s Auntie. Mike’s grandmother, once married, moved from Toronto to a homestead farm in southern Manitoba. There she raised her seven daughters, and had more than her share of adventures. This is one of them:

I can (dimly) recall an incident that happened on the farm when D. was there. Seems he looked out the kitchen window and spied this turkey strolling through the yard. He says to Momma, “Hey! There’s a turkey out there!” And Momma said (kidding, I’m sure!), “Well, go get it and I’ll cook it for you.”

Well, no sooner said than done, he presents her with the dead bird. Oh-Oh! This was not our turkey (we had chickens, not turkeys!) What to do? What to do? Well, the damn thing’s already dead, there’s no use wasting it. May as well cook it and eat the evidence, right? Best be quick about it and all, so the deed was done, turkey in the oven smelling wonderful and Mom probably wishing it was eaten already but so far, so good. Oh! God forbid, who should come a calling but old John (whose turkey this just happened to be!) Talk about, “Be sure your sin will find you out!” Well, old John parks his fanny like a bump on a log on a chair in the kitchen… and stays, and stays… Mom is seeing visions of him being there until the damn turkey burns to a crisp because she obviously can’t baste it with him sitting there, now can she?

He finally left and I guess we ate the damn thing but I don’t think Mom enjoyed her meal. She wasn’t cut out for a life of crime. 🦃

The Thanksgiving Reader

Hi Folks:

This Thursday is Thanksgiving Day for our neighbours to the south, but every day is a good day to live with gratitude. Since Thanksgiving is about more than eating turkey (or tofurky for those vegetarian types) Seth Godin has made the following Thanksgiving Reader available to everyone. For free. Click on the image below to go to his Thanksgiving Reader page, and you can download the .pdf from there (but be sure to read the entire page 😉 ).

And to Seth, thanks for providing this for all of us!

Hugs,
M&M

The Thanksgiving Reader

It’s Pumpkin Time!

Hi Folks:

Last year we did our Food post on pumpkins (A Plethora of Pumpkins) after Hallowe’en but we thought maybe this year we could be proactive.  With Thanksgiving recently behind us, what better time to talk about pumpkins?  In last year’s post we offered up some of our favourite pumpkin recipes; we’re going to add some more this year but with Hallowe’en still before us we thought we’d also add in some links to sites that offer free pumpkin carving templates.  In the past several years pumpkin carving has evolved into an art form unto itself and none of these templates approach that level of intricacy, but they do give you an opportunity to get creative and messy with your kids (or just you, if you don’t have kids):

Have fun with them!  Remember too that if you’re going to be cooking your pumpkin(s) after Hallowe’en, use a beeswax or non-toxic candle inside.

Okay, on with the recipes.  I like to give credit for recipes where I can, but I also think it’s fascinating that recipes are like stories, passing from friend to friend, from generation to generation, sometimes getting modified/adapted along the way.  I’ve had these recipes for a very long time and I don’t know who the authors are, but our thanks to you, whoever you are! Continue Reading →

A Plethora of Pumpkins…

Hi Folks:

Since Canadian Thanksgiving and Hallowe’en have come and gone and American Thanksgiving is just around the corner, this time of year there are a plethora of pumpkins about.  Most often used to make Jack-O’-Lanterns and then either left to rot or offered up in tribute in some form or another to the musical group ‘Smashing Pumpkins‘, pumpkins can be cooked and made into many wonderful treats.  It is a bit time-consuming, but much better (in our opinion) than purchasing canned pumpkin from the store when there are so many real ones laying about. Continue Reading →

It’s Our Birthday!!

Hi Folks:

Happy 2nd birthday to our blog!  Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the US, it seemed appropriate to offer some thanks here as well.  After all, we have a lot to be thankful for.  So, in no particular order:

We Give Thanks for You: While this little corner of the ‘net is our own window on the wider world, it wouldn’t mean much without you, our readers.  You’re really the reason we’re here!  Both of us are writers, but a writer without an audience speaks only to himself, or herself as the case may be.  According to Google Analytics, in the past 2 years we’ve had nearly 40,000 page views from over 15,000 different people.  That may be small by some standards, but we’re both amazed and delighted by your continued presence!

We Give Thanks for Family: Together we have the usual number of parents and an ever-increasing number of relations, from sisters and brothers to nieces, nephews and beyond.  We have two wonderful sons, and two wonderful nieces who are like daughters.  We also have two grandsons and one great-nephew who counts as a grandson too.  The little ones bring such joy to our lives!  There’s a saying that one can choose one’s friends but not one’s family; even if we could we’d stick with the ones we have!  Special thanks goes out to our son Nick, not only because starting this blog was his idea to begin with, but because he continues to do a lot of the ‘behind the scenes’ technical support for us.

We Give Thanks for ‘Family’:  Ever since the invention of Facebook, the words ‘Friend’ and ‘Like’ will never be the same again.  Nonetheless, our connection to others around the world through Twitter, Google+ and several forums has opened doors for us that would be possible in no other way.  Because of that we’ve made ‘friends’ with some remarkable people!  We give thanks for your presence in our lives!

We Give Thanks for Each Other: A few days ago we celebrated our 225th Monthaversary of the day we met.  Earlier this month we celebrated our 17th Anniversary of being a couple, and last month we celebrated our 9th Anniversary of being married.  In truth, we celebrate every day together.  We are both truly blessed to have each other, and we acknowledge it in every way we can.  In the movie ’50 First Dates’, Drew Barrymore plays a woman who is incapable of making new memories, and Adam Sandler plays a man who devotes himself to having her fall in love with him every day.  We treasure all of the memories we have, but it’s easy to say we fall in love with each other every day. 😀

And with that, we thank you for coming by; we’re serving (virtual) coffee and cake (two candles ¡¡ ) in the living room!!

Hugs,
M&M

Being Green – Thanksgiving

Hi Folks:  It’s Thursday as I write this week’s ‘Being Green‘ post, even though you won’t get to read it until tomorrow.  It’s just that tomorrow also happens to be the birthday of someone very special to me, and, well, we have other plans.

Today is also Thanksgiving for our friends south of the border, a day where everyone takes time to reflect on that which is important to them.  By some strange twist of fate tomorrow is ‘Black Friday’ in the US, which I understand is like Thanksgiving Day for retailers and credit card companies.  Here in Canada we celebrated Thanksgiving last month, a topic that Marcia and I covered in our weekly ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post, but one can never have too many things to be thankful for! Continue Reading →