Saturday, November 27, 2010

turkey talk...and beyond


...so, the turkeys are safe now...
'til next year.
just kidding...i'm not trying to be cruel or insensitive to the turkeys.
but...really...the only time of year you can find turkeys in the market
is between thanksgiving and christmas.
so what are turkeys doing the rest of the year?
do they know their time is limited?


after leaving a client's home last tuesday...i saw a family of turkeys
on the side of the road. i felt like yelling "RUN! RUN for your lives!"
but i didn't.
who knows, but one of those turkeys may have been OUR turkey...
since i buy ours from a market that only sells FRESH and LOCAL meats and produce.

our thanksgiving turkey takes the plunge into the deep fryer.
it's a tradition.
for years...the day before thanksgiving,
sam's 'job' at work changes from 'machinist' to 'expert fryer'.
he spends all day frying turkeys
for his boss, coworkers...anyone involved with their company
who wants a deep fried turkey for thanksgiving.

sam's boss buys the (peanut) oil. sam might fry 5 or 6 turkeys on wednesday...
he brings everything back home...and we use the oil again for our turkey on thursday.
yum. fried turkey is the best.
it only takes 3 minutes per pound.
the juices are sealed in...and it's the tenderest...best tasting turkey ever!

at least sam's turkey is the tenderest & best tasting ever!
i'm sure it can be overcooked...or undercooked.
but sam's THE MAN when it comes to deep frying!

for turkey day...my two sons...and the oldest one's girlfriend & her son...and sam's mom...
came over to spend the day!
we gave away ALL the leftover turkey...so sam and i bought another one yesterday...
and we'll use that 'seasoned' oil one last time today!

well...enough turkey talk.

BE SAFE turkeys...
o~o~o~o~o~o

a couple of years ago, i downloaded gimp.
it's an image manipulation program.
it's free.
every now and then i play around with it.

here's one of flower my pic's...

and here's the same picture after 'oilifying' it and adding a border:

here's a picture of a visiting red-shouldered hawk:

and then the same picture after transforming it into a 'tile mosaic':

you can morph...stretch...twirl...blur...distort...enhance...

pretty cool, eh?
there's probably lots of programs out there that do the same thing...
but since 'gimp' is the one i use...that's the one i'll pass along...
o~o~o~o~o~o

our weather here has been really strange. 
we've had 'the hottest day on record'
AND
'the coldest day on record'
within about a week and a half!
one day the little critters and bugs are out and about...foraging for food...
the next day they're gone! no butterflies, frogs and lizards...oh my!


and so...i  leave you with a few pictures i've taken during the past week.
a checkered skipper

the underside of an orb weaver
they're nocturnal. 
this one comes out just after dusk...frantically building its web.
then sometime before dawn...she will take down the web, eating most of the silk.
we won't see her again until night time.
for some reason, she left her web up one day!! 
maybe she ate too much during the night...was too stuffed to take it down. 
i don't know...but at least i was able to get a picture of her web!

"The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line."
Alexander Pope


grasshopper

barred owl.
she's like part of the family...
her & her mate hang out in the yard all the time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Do not go where the path may lead; 
go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson 


'til next time...
stay cool...travel safe...
laura  :]



13 comments:

  1. fried Turkey sounds YUM, but I've never had it ;-(

    I use gimp too! love it!

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  2. great blog as usual , love the mosaic hawk. I use Picasa from google a free one to play with too.
    weird weather here too. saw violets blooming 2 days ago (in the press now)
    Peace

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  3. Laura, are you kidding me?!?! We've been doing the fired turkey thing for years!! Isn't it THE BEST?! See, we have so much in common because I, too, see the turkeys here in the woods and say...head for the hills!...:)JP

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  4. Sounds like you guys had a yummy Thanksgiving. The spider and web photo are cool. Hope your weather straightens out.

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  5. I will have to check out Gimp. Love the owl photo. Must be really cool to have the pair hanging out in your yard!

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  6. poor turkeys. That's the only part about Thanksgiving I can't stand. Just the thought of all those poor birds losing their lives... makes me sick. I did a pretty cool post on a "special" turkey you might like laura! :)

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  7. Cheers to fried turkey! I've only had it once, and loved it. Can't wait to have it again. Like you said, they'll still be around at Christmas. Like your manipulated photos. I have a similar program, but the oil impressions aren't as good as yours. I'll have to look into gimp. Happy Day, Laura!

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  8. Love the grasshopper! I like the way his bottom feet come togetheras if in prayer or meditation...

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  9. Oh, the fun I have with GIMP :)

    Love all the snaps, especially the spider .

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  10. hmmmMM! yummy turkey talkin'! your pictures are really wonderful Happy Thanksgiving!

    by the way, i'm hosting a housewarming party from Nov 24 to Dec 15 4pm PDT 'coz we're moving to our very own website.. I would like to invite you to come around and visit.. it would be a pleasure to have you around! Cheers! ^_^

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  11. THANKS EVERYONE for stopping by...now if i can just make the days a little bit L O N G E R...so i have T I M E to fit in all i need to get done!

    i'll be wandering to your part of the world...any time now...

    laura :]

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  12. Beaut post Laura - ha ha, chuckled at the BE SAFE turkeys cartoon :)

    Sounds like you've (or, rather, Sam's) got the turkey cooking all sew up. I've only ever known dried out turkey - so never touched it again!

    Especially love the piece about the Orb Weaver - such a busy spider.

    Cheers :D

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  13. i love your blog. what a dream.

    xo,
    v

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thanks for stopping by! it's always nice to hear from fellow wanderers!