Gobble, gobble, gobble

I hate it when people call Thanksgiving "Turkey Day". That is not what it is about. It is about thanksgiving. It's origins are about thanking God for survival and bounty. We have gotten a little off the track when we think it is about food, football and planning the shopping for the next morning.
Turkey will be on the dinner table of most of Americans. My sister will serve leg of lamb. I think I like her thinking. No gravy to make, to stuffing to stuff, to monster leftovers to fit in the refrigerator. The rest of us will savor the turkey. I am not the cook this year. Our newlywed daughter and husband are doing the bird. Thank you Mike and Mary. I tried to be helpful and forwarded a new recipe I got in my email yesterday. It directs you to stuff the bird with equal amounts of bread stuffing and unpopped popcorn. You know the turkey is cooked when the oven door blows off.
All this turkey talk reminded me of a funny event that happened to Jon and I a few years ago. Now I use the word "few" loosely. It happened when we still had a maroon Ford station wagon and we got rid of that in 1986. If you were my age you would understand. The years fly by. Anyway, we were driving on a back road outside of Osceola, WI. Jon stopped the car abruptly when he spotted two wild turkeys in the ditch. It was a rare siting at that time. Now we often see large groups of wild turkeys in western Wisconsin. He then rolled down the car window and gobbled. The hen turkey came to his call and hopped on top of the station wagon. The tom pursued and begin to run around the vehicle in circles. He ruffled his feathers and strutted his stuff circling over and over. We thought this was funny. Jon, always curious and still making gobbling noises, opened the door and tried to get out of the car. He was charged by the large male turkey. We watched for a while captive in our car and then very slowly pulled away while being chased by the large tom. The hen hung on for a while and then flew off the car. Now I ask you, who was that turkey chasing? Jon or the hen? He is a regular Dr. Doolittle when it comes to talking to the animals. I'm not sure if he does the calls accurately or is just that cute, but don't ask about the horse or the St. Bernard. This could develop into a second career. There probably are some duck and pheasant hunters who would like him to come with them.