Tom Turkey

Not for nothing, tomorrow is of course Thanksgiving and rather than fill the space with mind numbing financial talk (although the new unemployment filings are down a bit so that is good news and consumer spending is up slightly (does that include fuel and food???).  Speaking of food, I have a home in the Hamptons on Long Island and shop at the only place in our little village. ..  have for 20 years.  Each summer, with the influx of summer rentals etc. from the city (NY) the market jacks up the food prices and they used to lower them a bit when the big business rush went home and left us alone.  Not so the past 4 years at least. We have restricted diets in our household and we notice the change and it is acute. But back to Thanksgiving...and Tom Turkey... 47 million of the birds will bite the dust to satisfy the holiday.  So here are some tidbits for the table-talk after Uncle Ed tells his boyhood stories for the zillionth time and someone complains that the white meat is too dry.

1. Benjamin Franklin wanted the wild turkey to be the national bird of the United States instead of the bald eagle.  When Jefferson won the argument, Franklin called the Turkey "Tom" - hence tom turkey.
2. Domestic turkeys (turkeys raised for eating) weigh twice the amount of a wild turkey; most are even too heavy to fly. On the other hand, wild turkeys fly and spend their nights in the low branches of trees.
3. Wild turkeys are the largest game birds located in this part of the world.
4. Male wild turkeys act much the same as peacocks when it comes to finding a mate; they puff up and spread their tail feathers to attract females.
5. Turkey eggs are tan with specks of brown on them. The eggs take only a month to hatch and when they do, the poults (baby turkeys) stay with their mother for up to a year.
6. The skin on the head and throat of a turkey can range in color from gray to a bright red depending upon the level of excitement or stress in the situation.
7. The turkey acquired its name by mistake; the English thought it was another bird that came from Africa through Turkey. The birds were not the same but the name stuck with the bird anyway.
8. The skin that hangs over the turkey’s beak is called a snood. The skin that hangs from the turkey’s throat is called a caruncle.
9. The scientific name for a turkey is Meleagris gallopavo.
10. Turkeys can have heart attacks and can drown if it’s raining and they look up.
11. A wild turkey’s field of vision is about 270 degrees.
12. Turkeys can run up to 20 miles an hour with short flight bursts up to 55 miles per hour.
13. Male turkeys gobble while female turkeys make a clicking sound.
14. The biggest turkey ever raised weighed a whopping 86 pounds!
15. Adult turkeys have about 5,000 feathers.
16. Over 45 million turkeys are cooked for Thanksgiving.
17. North Carolina produces the most turkeys annually at 61 million.
18. Most domestic turkeys love to have their feathers stroked.
19. Wild turkeys live to up 12 years while the domestic turkey is slaughtered at 5 months.
20. Turkeys have full color vision and a turkey’s gobble can be heard up to a mile away.
21. The ballroom dance called “the turkey trot” was named after the movements of a turkey.
22. Wild turkeys inhabit every state but Alaska.