Happy Thanksgiving

Whether you are self-isolating somewhere or spending time with family, however you celebrate the holiday, I hope you have a wonderful time and do it in a safe way.

As for us, it’s going to be a quiet day at home with just the two of us. Terry is cooking a turkey breast and making a pumpkin pie, and as for the rest of it, I can take it or leave it.

I’ve never really liked turkey all that much because it was always so dry. That is, until the first time Terry made a turkey. Hers is always moist and delicious, and while I won’t say it’s my favorite food, I do enjoy it a couple of times a year.

Several years ago we were with a group of RVers at Christmas or Thanksgiving, I forget which, and someone fried the turkey. It was delicious, and I would eat that on a regular basis. I keep saying that we need to get a fryer and try it sometime. Reader Johnny Miller set me a link to the Orion smoker website for recipe for smoked turkey. That looks very good, too. We haven’t used our Orion in a long time, and we need to get it out and fire it up one of these days. It makes absolutely the best baby back ribs you will find anywhere.

So what do you have to be thankful for? I know it’s easy to be negative with Covid and politics and everything else that’s going on, but we all have things to be thankful for. Not just today, but every day. We are celebrating a big one this week. Twenty years ago this week, Terry was proclaimed cancer free after a terrible two month long battle with stage four cervical cancer and a brutal regime of daily radiation and weekly chemotherapy. And she remains cancer free today.

The night she was diagnosed, she began hemorrhaging and lost 2/3 of her body’s blood supply by the time I got her to the emergency room. Her veins were collapsing, and they couldn’t find a way to get a needle into her to start transfusions. They finally went through her neck to get blood flowing back into her. The first doctor told her that she had cancer and that she had six weeks to live and advised her to go home and start saying her goodbyes and making her final arrangements.

Terry fired him on the spot and found another doctor who said he could keep her alive, and he did. He also said it would be very rough on her and that there would be long-term complications because of how radical the treatment would be. He didn’t lie about that, and she does have quite a few problems still today. But she’s alive and happy, and we’re celebrating every day we share together, not just on Thanksgiving.

I don’t know if you plan to do your Christmas shopping online or at retail stores this year. If you are heading out to get the Black Friday deals tomorrow, be careful. This gentleman got much more than he bargained for.

It’s Thursday, so it’s time for a new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of The Three Pirates – Famous Murderous Pirate Books Series: The Islet of the Virgin. This is book 4 in my friend Ken Rossignol’s pirate book series. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.

Thought For The Day – When I say, “The other day,” I could be referring to any time between yesterday and 15 years ago.