Pumpkin Bars.....These are so good:)

In the spirit of the season....here is our family Pumpkin Bars....I make these for Christmas too. Happy Thanksgiving, Mary

Pumpkin Pie in the oven and a Turkey story

Before I start my little story...I read Julie's tails of Thanksgiving past and found myself thinking of this......It was 1963....many moons ago. We were living in Placerville, California with my parents since we were trying to save money for a place of our own. There was about 4 foot of snow in the flats and much deeper as you went up the hill. My Dad, my cousin and Arney decided that they would hunt and kill the Turkey...they looked like mountain men....not like we didn't have a market full of Birds. But off they went. On this same day the news came that President Kennedy had been shot and soon had passed away. My Mother's face was white as snow as we tried to take this in. I never felt so lost, and somehow knew that we would never be the same. Dad had shot his bird and we would be having Thanksgiving...
The Bird was large, and when they took the feathers off they found that the Bird had some kind of little mites. With company coming it was decided that the Bird would be skinned. Now at the age of 18 I had had some really good Turkey's, but this would not be one of them. It looked awful and was dry as a bone. No one said a word since Dad seemed to be so proud of his catch and cut it with the pride of the hunter with his game. So with a smile and a tear, this was the Thanksgiving we will always remember. That was Dad's one and only trip in the woods for Turkey. Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours!

Not a Turkey story......

I would never want to offend the Turkey especially at this time of year. But while looking at some graphics of the beloved Turkey, I thought of our Guinea Hen. It was a fall day on our little farm when I heard a sound that was not familiar in any way. My parents were visiting so we all looked to see this ugly Bird of another kind. Mama being a person to search out and find an answer went to check out this critter that was making such a racket. Mama came back with, "It is a Guinea Hen." I had no idea what a Guinea Hen was or what to do with it, and had hopes that it would be found or go away. It made such a awful sound. So for the next 3 days it screamed and ate the bugs out of our orchard. Mama and Dad went back to California, and I had a new friend. The 4th day it stopped making allot of noise and came into the back yard. It seemed to be adopting us and had no problem being in our world. So we started calling her Guinea as a endearment. She seemed to find me gardening her delight and would help me with gathering of sticks, leaves, and ate a few bugs right under my nose. To Arney's surprise and delight she found his lap, he showed her off to anyone and everyone who came over. She would jump right up on his lap and set with sweetness and blink and look around like it was second nature to her. Often falling asleep. She was a really active watch Hen. She would chase after their cars, and make a awful fuss. She scared the heck out of guests because this farm now belonged to her and no one had seen such a ugly Bird. With time family and friends understood that she was a greeter too. She was so ugly that when she got in my face I could hardly believe how much I loved her....So I leave you with this thought, I am so glad it is Turkey day and not Guinea day, I would probably just have pumpkin pie! Happy Thanksgiving!
I am sad to say that in the time we were honored to have her, we never took a picture of her....that is foul!!!!