We're Talking Turkey!

Thanksgiving Day was ushered in with clear blue skies. And because I slept in until 7:45am, it was already daylight when I got up. Early on at least, I treated the day as any other. I put on a pot of coffee then began my exercise routine in earnest. Unfortunately, I still had that queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, but it wasn’t anything that would allow to hold me back. I headed out with Ykraps around 8:10am. By any measure, it was a lovely TG morning. Sure, it was chilly but the brilliant sunshine more than made up for it. It was in the upper 20s. Bella was up and waiting for me at the door when the dog and I returned from our walk. She was bored given that Jacob spent the night with his daddy and her momma was still sleeping. Mindy wasn’t much longer, however. She was downstairs before 8:30am. We were expecting Jimaken and Jacob between 9:30-10:00am to pick-up Bella. They’d be spending the first half of TG day with Jimaken and his family. Mindy made some Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls. Around 9:30am we tuned into the Macy’s TG Day parade already in progress. However, I watched very little. Immediately noticeable was the sunny weather there too. I stuck around the house until about 9:50am when I finally dressed and left for my run. Jimaken & Jacob pulled up just as I was dashing off. I greeted them warmly before running. I ran along Trabue and Hague. I was surprised to see that there were a few hard nosed golfers out for some TG day golf even though the temperature was still sub freezing. The roads were barren. That made my run that much safer, easier. I didn’t see dad’s minivan in the drive. He must’ve been out to breakfast or something. I was back home by about 10:30am. Meanwhile, Mindy was busy decorating for Xmas. After a couple cups of coffee and a nap, I decided to put up more holiday lights. I wanted to get lights installed on the tall Blue Spruce out front. I bought 800 HD white lights exclusively for the job. I alerted Mindy that I might need her help after I got situated. Before getting started, I retrieved my homemade Xmas-light raising pole that I made probably 5-6 years ago. The only trouble with that was, the tree’s grown another ten feet sine. Needing more length, I had to think fast. What to do? Then it came to me. I fetched a 10’ piece of ¾” conduit from the shed. After a little duct tape the Xmas light raising pole was 8' foot longer (2' was overlapped for taping). That worked well except that the pole, when fully extended bent like a fishing rod. Not to be detoured, I stretched two sets of lights end-to-end (400 lights) with an extension cord temporarily powering them on while I installed them. I simply wanted to make sure that they worked prior to placing them on the tree. I also got my extension ladder out and strategically placed it against the house just east of the tree, and then placed my 6’ step ladder just to its west. I went to the door to ask for Mindy’s help. She came out and served as my hey-you, which is a job she does admittedly well. She does a excellent job of taking direct orders under pressure. We struggled at the outset as I tried weaving the lights with my 30’ pole fully extended around the top of the tree. It wouldn't quite reach, plus it kept bending. I ended up having to climb the extension ladder about ten foot up to harness more control. As one might expect, the job got easier as we moved lower on the tree. We purposefully avoided completely circling/wrapping the tree. Instead we zig-zagged back and forth. This not only made the job easier but conserved lights as well. We had just the right amount of lights to finish the job. I was very pleased with the outcome and our team work. Perhaps tomorrow we’ll work on the icicle lights. By the time everything was put away, it was time to get in the shower and ready for TG dinner at Gloria’s. We showered and readied for dinner over the course of the next 45 minutes. We left for Gloria’s about 15 minutes later than originally planned. However, as it turned out, we were still the second group to arrive. Our contribution was a chocolate pie and cheese tray. Brother Craig suggested we all bring our favorite beverage, which is something that doesn’t occur too often at Gloria’s. In fact, I can’t recall it happening ever. Mindy brought a bottle of Yellow Tail. I was going to bring my jug of Barley’s IPA but changed my mind last second. Instead, I poured some Jack Daniels into my ski flask (a used cough syrup bottle). This way, I could sip my Diet Coke like always & get a buzz at the same time all while staying off Gloria’s shit list. Of course this assumes I am not already on it. J Brilliant! Everyone eventually showed save for the two fireman who were on duty. Year’s past, they’ve managed to escape for an hour or two to eat but today they were said to be shorthanded thus wouldn’t be able to get away. Dr Craig showed up with flu shots. And since I missed last month’s opportunity, I took full advantage of this one. This would be my first flu shot ever. I passed up the opportunity last year and ended up getting the flu. I wasn’t willing to risk it again. In addition to the usual family members, Pat & Mel were there too. We typically see them each TG and Easter. They looked happy & healthy. Dinner was served somewhere near 4:30-5:00pm. Gloria did a wonderful job prepping everything. Having done it myself several times, I know it takes a lot of work. Her efforts weren’t lost on me. If I am not mistaken, there were 17 of us. Dinner was delicious. I was careful not to over eat. I had seconds of stuffing only. After dinner and clean-up we played Apples to Apples. There must’ve been 12 of us playing. That made it much more interesting. We had a lot of fun with it. In the end, Craig won. He and Joe were eerily in sync. After a little family time, it was time for TG dessert. We all returned to the dining room for our choice of nut bread, chocolate, or pumpkin pie. I had chocolate pie. It was quite tasty. Word had it that the pumpkin was good too. We stayed at Gloria’s until after 8pm – much later than usual. The kids were tired and getting cranky. But all in all, they were very well behaved. We arrived home to the first citing of our newly installed Xmas lights. They are on a dusk-to-dawn timer. They looked nice. Plus, it made the kids happy. Jacob & I walked Ykraps. It was quite chilly once again. Something was amiss with Ykraps. He didn’t seem to have all of his marbles. I suspect he might’ve had a seizure prior to us arriving home. He seemed lost and confused. Poor Ykraps. Soon the kids were in bed and Mindy & I had a chance to relax a little. We didn’t stay up too late, though. I’ll bet we were in bed by 10pm.