Dead Bird

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving

Jerome and his lovely daughter are on the way, we are having turkey and game
hens, all the fixins and wine and tequila (had one of each already), and
tomorrow we are all going to dive for bugs with our new family member, Ryan.
Ryan served in the Balkans, Somalia, Dominican Republic, Afghanistan and
Iraq. He is 33, has two purple hearts and is retired. A Godless, gutless
suicide bomber almost got him in Iraq. Almost. Heh, heh. No virgins, no
paradise, mission failed. Except that he did manage to remove his shadow
from the ground, which We consider a success.

On this day We give thanks for being blessed to live in the greatest nation
on earth, and We give thanks for the grace and courage of Americans like
Ryan. People like Ryan serve, strive and sacrifice to bring freedom and
prosperity to all the people on earth.

Years ago one of my grandmothers sent us a 12 pound ham. We are loathe to
eat ham, except in a sandwich, so we took it to the local women and
children's shelter. It became a tradition.

Each Thanksgiving and Christmas (sorry, I know it is un-pc to talk about
Christmas) we buy an extra (you know, 10 to 20 whole bucks so drop the noble
thing) and make a batch of cookie dough (let them cook it, that's the best
part after all, hot cookies) and drop it at the local shelter for the
babies.

Some places you have to meet the chick and hand over the goods, some places
you have to take it in to dispatch or hand it off to a deputy, some places
where you can actually get to the shelter, you'll likely have to enter and
exit through a sally port (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_port) and
leave it on a bench.

I invite each and every one of the readers here to do the same.

Oh.

All those of South American, Eastern, Middle Eastern, European and Canadian
fabric; just do it once or twice a year anyway just for shits and grins.

Pick a holiday, or just a day.

All you gotta do is see or imagine a kid with a warm cookie and you'll get
it.