Pre-Thanksgiving Greetings

I want to wish each of you a great Thanksgiving Day. I will not be posting for a few days, so this is our last visit this week. I do have so many things for which I am thankful, certainly more than I have time to enumerate. Of course, MBH has to come out at the top, as does my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Then, kids and spouses and grandkids and parents and in-laws and cousins. As I think through things to list, it is interesting that it is people and relationships and not possessions that come to mind. What is the first thing that comes to your mind? Take a look at the sheet music for "I Am Loved," by the Gaithers. I thought of that song as I typed the above paragraph.

Are you driving anywhere these next few days? If so, you are already aware that gas prices are down to around 2008 levels. Our prices locally are around $2, but I will take that. How about you?

Hey, are you going to be smoking over the holidays? No, I am talking about smoking your turkey. If you are, be sure you follow all the preparatory steps to make it the most moist and flavorful that it can be.

If you have any idea what this travel poster refers to, then you probably are already a Game of Thrones fanatic. A woman on etsy.com (Teacup Piranha) has created a series of posters for famous locations in the George R.R.Martin book series Game of Thrones (GoT). This one is for King's Landing, home to the Stark family. The etsy site also has travel posters for famous Star Wars sites. And she offers some Disney-related posters such as Ice Palace, Rapunzel's Tower, and Neverland.

Speaking of Game of Thrones, how about a Risk game using GoT sites? Just $75.

Wait. How did I end up with a GoT theme when I was writing a Thanksgiving-themed blog post? I do like the show, but it is not something for which I am overly thankful. Oh yeah, I came across a link on Yahoo for an ugly GoT sweater.

Back to Thanksgiving, do you like cranberry sauce? If you do, do you prefer the gelled version or a more salsa-like consistency? I came across a recipe to make your own cranberry sauce that they claim would be preferable to any canned or bottled version. And it supposedly only takes 10 minutes to make. Even so, I know that I wouldn't do it. And BTW, I prefer the chunky-style of cranberry sauce.

I know that it is easy to get stressed out preparing for the big family dinner. Guess what? There are some things you can do beforehand to make Thanksgiving Day a bit easier to navigate. One example: make your mashed potatoes early, then rewarm them with some fresh butter in your slow-cooker that morning. Take heart, though. And here are some 5-ingredient-or-less recipes to help make everything easier for you. It’s still cheaper to cook than to eat out. The average price of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table for a 10-person meal is $50.11, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, which is a 70-cent increase from last year’s average of $49.41. If you want to eat out, though, Boston Market is ready for you.

UPDATE: I am adding in a story about piecaken to go with your turducken.

I just saw a cool article talking about a never-completed subway system in Cincinnati. I like those type of photos. The article says they hold tours twice a year, but it is not very convenient for me, so I will just look at these photos one more time.

Here is the photo in this month's wall calendar at my desk. I am fairly certain it was taken on CO 5 just outside of Ridgway, CO. Do you agree?

And I think this one is near Animas Forks Ghost Town. I am sure you agree with me on that (since the photographer helpfully labeled it for us).

Let's check in on how holidays and elections seems to start earlier every year.

I do wish a great holiday season for each of you. Thanks for still reading this blog.