The other morning as I was getting the kids ready for school, I looked out the window and saw this.
Or rather, I saw these.
Seven wild turkeys pecking their way across the yard. We watched them out the window for 10 minutes as they made they way across the street, and over a neighbors fence. Meanwhile, Maggie the Wonderdog and the Indomitable Moxie were beside themselves.
BOSS! BOSS! TURKEY! LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT…
I have to admit, the wild version of the turkey has always looked more appetizing to me than the plumped up domestic versions. Seriously, one look at the Butterball in the freezer and you’d be hard pressed to figure out what kind of animal it was.
Which got me to thinking. With Turkeys so closely associated with Thanksgiving, how come we don’t have an anthropomorphic turkey mascot giving us stuff?
Why doesn’t Tom the Turkey, and his Pheasant Helpers pay a visit to good little boys and girls homes on Thanksgiving eve, with a bounty of treats? Of course, he’d peck the eyes out of the naughty ones in their sleep, because you can’t have a good holiday without some primeval terror to keep you on the straight and narrow.
Sweet Dreams kids!
20 Prospect 
Turkeys in the back yard week before Thanksgiving? This would appear to be either divine providence, or at a minimum, astoundingly fine luck. It is obviously time to equip yourself with a small hunting hide and a brace of light fowling pieces. Hastily.
Then I probably shouldn’t mention all the Cranberries I found growing in the garden.
HA! I wrote about a turkey running through a park in Northeast Mpls last week and no one believed me!
Apparently ya gotta have pictures these days. đŸ™‚
Pearl
Did he stop and ask if you had $5 he could have?
That thing is the H.R. PuffinStuff of the animal world.
Please tell me you all ran into the backyard caveman style and caught one of these things for thanksgiving. If not I’m lending you my crossbow so next time you can take one out from the bedroom window.
What? Kill the Thanksgiving Turkey, and risk not getting treats in our Pilgrim Shoes this year on Thanksgiving morning? No way.
I am guessing you don’t watch Showtime’s The Big C? This past season they decided to kill the family Thanksgiving turkey. Hilarity and hijinx insued.
I am so used to seeing these things, I just immediately start itching whenever I see them.
Google turkey mites. Little bastards.
I thought the only Wild Turkey’s you had in Kentucky were 101 Proof.
The really bad thing about that is you have to watch the 101 Proof Wild Turkeys, they are often closely followed by 120% Raging Hangovers. Things best left to the woods and back country.
ah yes, those of us with a catholic upbringing are quite familiar with holidays that must incorporate some primeval terror. why can’t there just be dancing horses and gifts!
And booze. Don’t forget the booze.
I just did preliminary stuffing run wherein I ate an entire 50lb bowl to make sure I remembered how to cook it. I’m a little distended.
It’s vitally important. To stretch your stomach ahead of the big day so that you can truly gorge yourself properly.
I totally agree: the lack or inability for the retail industry to sell/market a cute mascot is the downfall of Thanksgiving. The wild turkey looks so much better than the fattened ones. This one does not have testicles hanging down its throat!