Why Did The Turkey Cross The Road

Why did the turkey cross the road?

Thanksgiving Day in America is a time to give thanks, of family gatherings and family food. It is a time for turkey, stuffing, and sweet potato pie. It is a time for shopping, football and marks the unofficial beginning of the winter holiday season. A day is set side to give thanks in many other parts of the world also. The date and customs vary from country to country but the desire to take time to reflect on life's blessings remains the same.

It all started when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter at Plymouth Rock was devastating. By the beginning of the next fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who set sailed on the Mayflower. The crops they harvested in 1621 were bountiful. The remaining colonists decided to celebrate the harvest with a feast. The celebration included 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives. The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance. It lasted three days.

Question: What kind of music did the Pilgrims like?

Answer: Plymouth Rock

In the spirit of the Pilgrims, this year Yogi’s Gang has will to travel to Madison to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with me and my family. Like the Pilgrims, we have also lost most of our original colonist. Many in our family members will not be with us at this gathering and a very special “kudos” is shouted out to them. We didn’t harvest any corn, cotton or other crops this year but our spiritual harvest is bountiful, like the Pilgrims’ second year harvest.

We have much for which to be thankful. We are thankful for Daddy who had the courage, wisdom and will-power to move us from the plantation. We thank him for his stamina and endurance to work two jobs to take care us. We are thankful for Mama who worked in the fields along with Daddy but she was also always there to take care of our physical and emotional needs; encouraging us to do well in school. We are thankful to both of them for their undying and unconditional love for us.

We are also thankful for all of our original colonists who celebrated with the natives in 1621 and all the years following. They have come and gone before us. For it is because of all of them that life in this place is better for all of us remaining colonists.

I remain relatively symptom free from my prostate cancer and optimistic that the radiation treatment will be successful. I am thankful that my doctor detected it early. In addition to all the good food, Thanksgiving will also be a time for my family to celebrate my retirement.

This will be the first time in many years that most of us have spent Thanksgiving together. For some of us this will be our first Thanksgiving together. Bettye, Vivian, Ken, Deloris, and Dawn are coming from Tallulah. The Racine clan of Steve, Cheryl, Nathan, Nicholas and Nolan will be here too.

Jeremy and Emily are coming as well as Jon and Jeff. Kara Lyn and Breanna Elizabeth are coming from Minnesota. (Breanna is Jeremy daughter) I expect that things will be rocking on Starker Avenue by Thursday. The house will be full, lots of good food (pinto beans, gumbo, caramel cake, corn bread, turkey, dressing, sweet potato pie—oh, yummy), lots of pictures, football and shopping.

Answer: It was the chicken's day off.


How sweet it is. Life is good.

Later!

Life Is Good, Isn't It?

I haven’t blogged for about three weeks. And it feels good to be back at my keyboard again. I have so much to talk about but will restrict my thoughts, for right now, about how things are going with me.

It’s been two weeks to today that I had my last radiation treatment. As I said before, I went and left there with mixed emotions. First, I was glad to get the ordeal over with and second, it was like ending a fight that you don’t know if you won or lost. I will have my first PSA test on November 3. It’s pretty early and the test will probably be inconclusive because it will be only thirty days after my last treatment. My doctor doesn’t expect a significant drop in my PSA but over the next six months it should be near zero if the radiation worked. That’s the hard part, waiting.

While the last day was filled with mixed emotions, I had a really good time with my therapy team. The night before, I baked one of Vivian’s signature caramel cakes. Now, for some strange reason if you haven’t heard, Vivian makes the best caramel cakes in Louisiana, maybe the whole world. People have been known to fight over the last piece. It wasn’t as good as the one she makes but my therapist team thought it was pretty good stuff. It wasn’t as much about how good it was as much as it was about it being my way of saying to them that I appreciated all that they had done for me. (I still don’t like that damn rectal balloon. That’s why I didn’t bring it home with me)

The week and a half after my last treatment was harder than I thought it would be. I spent a lot of time in the bathroom doing number one and number two. It was like trying to pour a glass of water through a straw. Most difficult it was. Besides that and feeling a little worn out around 2 PM, I felt generally good. The symptoms are getting less obvious as time goes by. This week has been a good week.

Last Friday I met up with a few people from school and had a few beers at the Harmony. That was nice because it was all the people who have been concerned about me and who have watched my back all the years I was at East. We had a good time and a lot of questions were answered. They thought that I would look sick and have no hair. They all said that I looked great. (But my back side was really burning. I had to go before I left home, that’s why I was late. But maybe I would have been late anyway, as usual) Thanks guys, I love you all.

I want to send Kudos to my fishing buddy in Tallulah, Mr. Ken. I know you are/were worried about me and I love you for that. We spend a lot of time together in a boat. While not many words shared, except “You got a bite” we share some wonderful fishing stories and have a good time when we are together. Ken, besides Nikki, you are my sticky Louisiana mud.

As a reward to my getting through treatment, I went to visit Ron and Patty in Iowa for a couple of days last week. I spent time riding on the combine with Ron cutting beans and corn. It’s always a treat for me to go there to slow things down a bit. It’s about as close to going to Tallulah as I can get. When I was working, I went there to hunt but mostly to get away. Ron and I were in the truck going back to the combine when I said, “You know what?” and he said “what” and I replied, “I can come hunting anytime I want to. I am retired.” With all the stuff that happened this summer, it was the first time that I realized that I don’t have to hunt just on Saturday and come home on Sunday. I can hunt as long as I want to, heh, heh, heh. Life is good, isn’t it?

Oh, I forgot to tell you that I got a new dog while I was in Iowa. It’s a chocolate Lab and I named her Caity. She is a fine dog of fourteen weeks and a lot of work. When Beau was here, he went to his corner and I went to mine. Caity needs a lot of attention and I had forgotten just how much. I don’t know who’s training who.

Well enough for now. I will holler at you later. About what I do not know, but I will holler back

Later!