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As I said a few days ago, the rumor was that there needed to be a specific way that a turkey is to be slaughtered.  Michael and I had our doubts that there was truth to the claim, but with no knowledge we decided to bring in help.  Unfortunately (but really fortunately), it was as easy as we thought.  He slaughtered it the same way that a chicken is done; by pinning the wings down underneath a foot then slitting the neck.  Being a larger bird, it put up a much greater fight after the neck was cut.  The man did fine by himself and I know that with one cutting and the other holding, we could have done it with no problems.

After the slaughter, the hot water was poured over the bird and it was de-feathered.  A searing completed the process to get off all feathers and then it was time to cut it up.  Neto, the man and I worked together to cut, gut and clean the turkey.  After they were done and left, I boiled it for two hours and the finished it with a quick fry.

All the while, Michael whipped up his mashed potatoes.  Three different kinds to be exact.  With stuffing and green bean casserole from Sue we had a Thanksgiving feast.  Our guests arrived, we ate and enjoyed.

To finish, we had ice cream, Jell-O made by yours truly, rice krispy treats by me as well, apple and peach cobbler by sue, and pumpkin pie by Sue.  All in all it was a nice meal and an easy day.  The work proved to be much easier than I expected.  The whole Turkey work took about five hours from alive to human stomach.  We had no injuries or any mishaps. 

A great Thanksgiving was had by all.  There was something more enjoyable about making the meal from the very beginning.  Sue’s stuffing did not come from a box, the turkey at our house the night before I was able to handle it through the entire process, and Michael used fresh cows milk and vegetables make mashed potatoes that he finally mashed with his hands and a wooden stick.  It was not the easiest Thanksgiving meal, but it was right up there at the top in my mind.

The pictures include most of the turkey process.  There are also pictures after the turkey from the meal itself.  Sorry if it is a bit gory, but I do not think they are all that bad. I turned off auto-play so nobody has to see anything they do not want to.

Thanks Dad.

I have my doubts, but they say it must be slaughtered by surprise.  My research on the internet has shown them to be wrong, but any search for turkey slaughter ends up with mostly videos and articles about the Palin press conference from last year. 

I feel confident in our abilities, but the plan now looks like it will be a surprise attack with our machete.  I do not like this idea and I hope to avoid it.  More to come as I try to learn about it.  Anyone with experience, any help is more than welcome.  I want to do it in the most humane manner possible (yes killing is killing, but it is nice being at the top of the food chain).

The turkey arrives tomorrow and the preparations begin immediately.

African leaders advise Bono on reform of U2

By William Easterly | Published November 23, 2009

An expert commission of African leaders today announced their plan for comprehensive reform of music band U2. Saying that U2’s rock had lost touch with its African roots, the commission called for urgent measures to halt U2’s slide towards impending crisis.

“Our youth today are imperiled by low quality music,” said Commission chairman Nelson Mandela. “We will be lending African musicians to U2 to try to refurbish their sound to satisfy the urgent and growing needs for diversionary entertainment at a time of crisis in the global music and financial sectors.”

Concerns about U2 have been growing in Africa for a while. One Western aid blogger testified to the Commission that his teenage kids found U2’s music “cheesy.” The Mandela Commission proposed that U2 follow a series of steps to recover its Edge:

1) Hire African consultants to analyze U2’s “poverty of music trap”

2) Prepare a Band-owned and Commission-approved Comprehensive U2 Reform Strategy Design (CURSD)

3) Undertake a rehabilitation tour of African capitals to field-test and ground-truth proposed reforms

4) Subject all songs to randomized experiments in which the effect on wellbeing of control and treatment groups is rigorously assessed.

Mandela expressed optimism that the Commission’s report and proposed reforms had come in time to stave off terminal crisis in U2, and restore its effectiveness in the 80s arena rock field.

You can see it on his blog here.

Having only killed a chicken once, I needed to hone my skills and learn what to do after killing it.  I thought of taking some pictures as I worked, but I did not want to spoil all the fun that the pictures from Saturday will provide.

This week we continue to prepare for World Day for Disabled and wind down the last three weeks of the year for the SJC and my time in Malava.  The end is now under twenty days and I still do not feel like I am going home quite yet.  Maybe it will change over the next few days, but I think it is going to take a plane to make it a reality for me.

Here is an excerpt:

In his classic book “Famine Crimes” Alex De Waal observes that NGOs make “habitual inflation of estimates of expected deaths.” De Waal notes that during the pre-Christmas prime fundraising season, ‘One million dead by Christmas’… has been heard every year since 1968 and has never been remotely close to the truth.”

Put into the current mix a credulous Western media that is happy to check the box “Ethiopia = famine,” and is unable to handle subtleties like chronic food insecurity and chronic malnutrition vs. emergency famine. Between unreliable media, NGOs, and government, it is tragically difficult to know when tragedy is happening.

Read the whole post here.