The first twist happened as soon as we woke up Thanksgiving morning and checked the turkey cooking in the roaster oven at Mark's parents' house. Mark's Mother is the Thanksgiving master chef, and she had started the turkey cooking the night before. Instead of the expected hot turkey, we were greeted with a slightly warm turkey. It seems that the roaster oven quit in the middle of the night. Now we had an 18-pound bird that had been a questionable temperature for a questionable number of hours. Not wanting to serve up food poisoning to our Thanksgiving guests, we shifted into Plan B. We drove into Beaver to do a little holiday meat shopping, glad that the little hometown grocery store was open Thanksgiving morning. We were greeted by the owners, telling us that we were the second customers with this problem today. We bought a sizable roast and a spiral-cut ham, talking to yet another customer that was buying a replacement ham. It seems her husband had forgotten to bring the ham she purchased several days ago into the house. They discovered this morning that it was still in the back of his pickup. Who knew that Thanksgiving meat emergencies were so prevalent!
The second twist to our Thanksgiving plans had to do with a forecasted ice storm. It meant that Luke and Jordan were unable to make the trip from Kansas City. We had been watching the forecast for ice and snow, and it was determined that they couldn't make the 12-hour round trip without getting iced in. Luke had to be back in Kansas City for his scheduled medical rotation, so being iced in was not an option for them.
That same forecast meant that our other son, Blake, had to change his plans. He made the 8-hour round trip to join us for Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, and had to leave very soon after we ate because of the weather. He made a valiant effort to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family, and we appreciated getting to see him one more time. He was sporting his no-shave November facial hair, and we can't believe that we forgot to take a picture of him! This seems like a good time to share Mark's end-of-no-shave-November beard. For some reason, he seems to have more white hair than dark hair on his cheeks.
We had 21 for Thanksgiving dinner, and we were happy to see them all. We ate, played games, ate some more, and played more games. Denisa laughed so hard at times that her head hurt. She wasn't sure if the games were that fun, or if it was just the goofballs she was playing with. Anyway, we had a fun holiday. When all the locals were leaving, their car doors were frozen shut, and the trip back home was treacherous on the ice. The weatherman was right about the predicted ice storm that would bring this area to a standstill. Our motor home seems to be shivering with a blanket of ice all around it.
Our plan was to be leaving within the next day or so, but we were glad to have a warm place to spend some extra holiday time with Mark's parents instead. The roads were coated with a sheet of ice that stayed for three more days. Walking up the drive way to the mailbox was a skating adventure. This picture of Mark in his ice storm gear indicates the temperature that didn't get out of the 20's for those three days.
We couldn't believe how slick the gravel driveway got. On Sunday afternoon it was still impossible to walk on it, as evidenced by the following video.
Those extra days also left time for some projects around the ranch. We were glad to be there to witness cleaning out the cellar, which was known to be full of snakes. A 23-degree day seemed a good day for this task, as the cold should slow down the snakes considerably. Sam is holding up one of those very cold bull snakes that was in the cellar.
We also enjoyed watching the little birds out of the living room window. They were happy to find a place to eat seeds once every thing else was covered with ice.
In an earlier blog, Denisa mentioned how intelligent turkeys are. They disappeared a week before Thanksgiving. If they were still around, we probably would have shot one for dinner after the roaster oven left us turkey-less. Those smart turkeys returned on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, having been gone for ten days in a row. They must have checked their calendar to be sure the visiting hunters and turkey-eaters had all gone home.
They were flocking around the bird feeders intended for smaller, more agile birds. Those clumsy wild turkeys still found a way to get to those delicate seeds. The ones on the ground scratched through the ice to get to the seeds dropped earlier.
One of the Tom turkeys even fanned out his tail and puffed up his chest right in front of the living room window. By the time we got the camera, we only got a side shot.
His tail feathers weren't as perfectly fanned in this picture, but we kept it anyway. You can see the living room window curtains and indoor plant just to show how close these huge birds came to the house. We had a ring-side show of their antics in the ice.
This one was pecking on the glass, so Mark snapped a close-up of his ugly bald head. This is truly a face that only a mother turkey could love. 
He looks like he could be the spokes-turkey in a commercial extolling the virtues of eating more pork and beef for Thanksgiving. We certainly took his advice and went cold turkey this holiday.
That is one turkey of a blog.
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