A Procrastinator's Guide to Deep-Frying a Turkey

Quite possibly one of the most memorable Thanksgivings I have ever had. Of course, it was the first one that I have spent away from my family, so that was tough. But at the same time it was a ton of fun. Let us start from the beginning...

Zach came in on Tuesday night. After talking for a bit with my community members, the two of us stayed up for a while just talking about a bunch of different things, but eventually the conversation steered towards next year and possibly ending up in St. Louis and where we wanted to start to move towards in our lives. It was surprising how much we were on the same page, not only in what we wanted to do but why. But still have quite a few options, and this didn't necessarily make anything that much clearer. But anyway, at 3 I said time for bed, because of work. He laughed and said alright, I guess I am coming with you.

Wednesday was pretty low key. Work was pretty boring. He came to school and to Hanson House with me and met my kids (Two comments: "He looks like Jesus" and "His hair is beautiful, I want it"). It was really low-key at work, except for one conversation I had with one of my kids who had had a rough time. It was the first time I straight up have had nothing to say to one of these kids. I did not have any advice to give; I had no clue what I should say next. That hurt, that I could not say what this kid needed to hear. Blah...

But then we went out. At ten we headed out to the bar, with me saying, "I have to be at work at 7, one beer and I am coming home." Yeah, notsomuch. Met a sweet bartender, had some drinks, got ripped on the entire night by aforementioned bartender. The night ended with a free shot from the bartender called a chocolate covered cherry. Awesome. But it was about 12:30 at this point. We then got home and stayed up for another hour. I mean, it was fun, but waking up the next morning kind of sucked...

I woke up at 6:30, hopped on my Huffy, and made the two mile ride in about 15 minutes. Usually the first few hours of the morning shift are easy because the kids sleep. Well, one woke up around 7:30 and we talked for the next three hours about a bunch of stuff. It was a great conversation, but not one to have when you are exhausted. Then another one of my kids woke up and that was another hour conversation or so. Thanksgiving was my toughest day at Hanson House, by far. It was really hard being there with the kids because they were apart from their families. The mood of the house was just...low. And for good reason. But once again I found myself with nothing to say because really, what could I say? I at least had some choice in being here. I can't imagine what it would be like for them. Nothing really happened all day, but it was really draining to be there. Then I went home and no one was there; we had been invited to a Thanksgiving dinner and they went but I obviously couldn't. I just kind of putzed around for a while then went to the house where we had our Thanksgiving. I was house sitting at this pretty sweet house, so we had it there. It was quite a bit of fun.

I need to back track once more. My community members told me I could deep fry our turkey if I found a deep fryer, thinking that there was no way I was going to follow through on it. Well, I win. Kind of. See, there were some issues. First, we had nothing to set the turkey on. Using hangers and a collander (sp?) we tried to jerry rig something. Fail. We then realized the crab pot we were using was too small for our turkey. Solution? Chop up the turkey and put in in a fish fryer that we then put into the crab pot. Winner! Next, we had no injector to use for the marinade. Solution? Turkey baster with a shish kabob stick inserted in it. Yeah...It worked a little bit. Then, we had no way to put the thermometer into the oil. Solution? buy a candy thermometer and wrap a hanger around it. Yup. We then went outside to deep fry our turkey. With the girls commenting that they had the hospital on speed dial. Well, we deep fried it, and it was fantastic. Next time (and there will be a next time) I will plan it out a little better and a little further in advance. But it was awesome. We had a really great meal and conversation and I was just happy to be there. We then watched a movie and passed out. Good day.

The plan for Friday was to go on a hike. But. We didn't. Watched football and laid around all day. Went out again that night. Tequila and diets...awful. But we had a really fun time. I ended up doing my happy dance(s) for everyone. Z had an interesting end to his night. We closed down the bar in style. Then I chased Z through the streets...well, street of Sitka, with him lying down in a vestibule at one point. Then we woke up on Saturday and actually went on a hike. The highlight? Seeing two pods of whales. It was incredible. They make one of the coolest noises I have ever heard. There were also a ton of eagles out, which was really neat. Then we played Scategories and watched 'Up.' All in all a solid night.

Sunday came and we drove Zach to the airport and went to Mass. Then I got a text from Z telling me that he couldn't take off. He ended up getting a ride to the place where mass was being held (not the church; the bishop always comes to Sitka and says the first Mass of Advent, and they have it at Centennial Hall. It was pretty cool). Why was his flight canceled? Boulders on the runway. But and we got to play some Ultimate together again. We ended up on the same team. It was a good time. Then he actually took off. Sad times. But it was good to see him. Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. Tough being away from family, but it was a great group of people to spend Thanksgiving with. Hope all you guys had a good holiday!