A turkey - but no Thanksgiving
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (339464)
Rockingham, Australia
November 30, 2019 4:40pm CST
Today is the day Vince’s siblings will be getting together to celebrate the birthdays of three of his brothers. One will turn 70 today and on Tuesday, the others will be 80 and 83. We are going to a niece’s place about two miles away for a casual lunch under the trees then some of those will be coming to our place for a barbecue tea.
I came across this photo of another, much smaller celebration held some years ago. Australia doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving but with all the discussions about it, I thought this photo quite appropriate.
We were living on a five-acre property and on the far side of our boundary the owner had quite a collection of poultry including the turkey you can see in the photo. For some reason, the turkey visited us and attached itself to Vince. It joined in the croquet game then sat under the shade with us. We gave it a bowl of water and eventually it toddled off home. It was almost eerie to have it stay there for no reason that we could fathom.
In the photo is our son pretending to hit Vince on the head with a croquet mallet. The others are a brother and two nieces.
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22 responses
I am glad that your son did not hit Vince on the head.@JudyEv (339464)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 Dec 19
It stayed around for ages. It was a tradition that on New Year's Day we'd have a water fight. Our niece and her family drove up to our place and we were all hiding waiting to throw water at them. They drove in with their car windows up and trying to catch sight of us. It was quite funny. No one was there to welcome them. Later we played croquet.
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@crazyhorseladycx (39509)
• United States
2 Dec 19
i bet all 'njoyed the celebrations, hon. how fortunate to've all come together fer such. critters 're jest funny, some 're quite keen fer human companionship. great pic!
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@crazyhorseladycx (39509)
• United States
4 Dec 19
@JudyEv we ended'p with a peacock years 'go. nobody claimed him fer some reason? stayed out here 'bout 8 yrs 'fore disappearin' without a trace. closest place that 'twas raisin' 'em 't the time 'twas 'bout 6 miles from here'n they swore they'd none missin'.
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@crazyhorseladycx (39509)
• United States
5 Dec 19
@JudyEv most definitely! noisy? we 'found' this'un out'n the boxcar 'bout 2am-ish. sounded like a lady screamin'! we went out armed 'n ready fer battle. flung open the boxcar door 'n flashed the light. there he sat, lookin' 's though we'd invaded his privacy, lol. 'xcellent watch dogs fer certain. he hung out with the baby calves'n 'twas quick to sound the alarm if'n somethin' 'twas not right. 'twas sure a purty thing. got purty friendly the last few years.
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@amitkokiladitya (171927)
• Agra, India
3 Dec 19
@JudyEv I'm glad..it is always good when we have a good company
@wolfgirl569 (105820)
• Marion, Ohio
1 Dec 19
He just wanted to be in on the fun.
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@wolfgirl569 (105820)
• Marion, Ohio
3 Dec 19
@JudyEv Hope she didnt end up dinner.
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@moffittjc (121546)
• Gainesville, Florida
1 Dec 19
Turkeys are very smart birds, and they're also very curious.
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@moffittjc (121546)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 Dec 19
@JudyEv It's very important that everyone--including fowl--learn the proper rules of croquet!
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@JudyEv (339464)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 Dec 19
We felt quite honoured that it chose to spend time with us. 
@FayeHazel (40243)
• United States
1 Dec 19
Ha! A turkey visit, that is funny. Odd though, like you say.
Are2 of Vince's brothers born on the same day?
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@JudyEv (339464)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 Dec 19
Yes, one was born on December 1 and two on December 3. Now a sister's grandchild has been born on December 3 too.
@DocAndersen (54402)
• United States
1 Dec 19
i hope you have a blast today!!!!!!
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@DocAndersen (54402)
• United States
3 Dec 19
@JudyEv sounds like a busy but fun weekend!
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@snowy22315 (180378)
• United States
1 Dec 19
I guess the turkey wanted to play too.
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@JudyEv (339464)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 Dec 19
It certainly seemed like that. It wasn't a bit shy about hanging around.
@Alexandoy (65308)
• Cainta, Philippines
1 Dec 19
How long did the turkey stayed with you? This reminds me of a pigeon that landed near our doorstep a day before Christmas. We gave it some grains and didn't mind until we discovered that it was in our garage the next morning.
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@JudyEv (339464)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 Dec 19
That's for sure. We enjoyed having a live turkey that seemed to enjoy being around us.
@andriaperry (116936)
• Anniston, Alabama
30 Nov 19
That is so funny, have a wonderful time making memories, take a million pictures.
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@JudyEv (339464)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 Dec 19
Thanks. We didn't take so many photos this time as they had a professional photographer. But we got a few down at our oak tree.
@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
1 Dec 19
You have turkeys down under? Are they indigenous?
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@JudyEv (339464)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 Dec 19
They're not indigenous. We have two birds known as 'bush turkeys'. One is also known as a 'bustard'. This is a bush or scrub turkey.
Photo courtesy: Jim Bendon from Karratha, Australia [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]
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