Asking For Your Help

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the blog post that DH wrote for the Be Good, Be Safe, Have Fun Run that he's helping to organize in memory of his mother.

Well, now it's my turn, and I'm going to ask for your help.

First, go read the post.

As a bonus, you get to see a picture of adolescent DH as well as one where he's standing on his head.  These are not things you get to see very often.

Then, go to my race page and make a small (or large, if you're that kind of person!) donation to the race and to the charity, Supporting Kidds. 

Anyone who has been reading this for any length of time knows that I never ask for favors.  I have never before asked you to donate money, or to vote for my cute kid or dog on some annoying website that you have to register for and then receive endless emails from.

I don't do that because I only ask for favors when it's important.  And now is one of those times.

Please, please, please consider making a small donation.  If 20 people each made a $10 donation, or 40 each made a $5 donation, I would meet my goal (and a few more would send me over it!) Some people are embarrassed to make small donations, because they think that it makes them look cheap.  I disagree.  A $5 donation would tell me that you support our cause, that our blog posts moved you, and that you're thinking about us.  That's means a lot.

And if need more motivation, think about this.  The charity that your donation goes to is called Supporting Kidds.  They provide support and counseling to young children who are grieving the loss of a parent.  Those of us with kids have probably thought about things like life insurance if something should happen to us while our children are still young, but what about the emotional side of a child dealing with grief? Are we as mourning parents prepared to help our kids deal with that and understand what happened?  Probably not.  I'm sure I wouldn't be.  We need organizations like to be there to pick up the pieces for our families should tragedy ever strike.  And whether you have children or not, imagine a small child, crying and asking where his mama is and not understanding what "death" is, and trying to explain that to him - I think we can all imagine why services like this are important. 

So, again, please click over and read my post (and read all of the past posts as well!) and consider making a donation, no matter how big or how small.

Your support means the world to me!

A One-Legged-Turkey Problem

For the past couple of weeks, we have had a problem.  It's a serious problem, but a ridiculous sounding one.  You see, we have a one-legged-turkey problem. 

This stupid one-legged turkey - we now refer to him as OLT. Yep, he's been around long enough to have a nickname - has been hopping around our yard for nearly three weeks now.  I first noticed him on a Thursday morning, stumbling around eating apples that fell off of our tree.  At that point I thought, "Aww... poor turkey got hurt and lost a leg.  I'm glad he found something to eat." 

Now, two weeks and half a dozen dog baths later, I am all "Let's buy a slingshot and kick that bastard's ass!"  

Lol...oh, how my tone has changed.  

To be honest, I am experiencing major internal turmoil over this issue.  The bleeding-heart-animal-lover-side of me is fighting with the Montana-style-"get-off-my-land-and-don't-mess-with-my-dog!" side of me. 

See? When he lays down - which he does quite frequently given how tired his one leg gets - he actually looks like a cute little duck

But I am ready to be more aggressive.  Murph finds great pleasure in rolling around in turkey poop, and I seriously cannot believe how much that bird poops.  I've given him at least four baths in the past two weeks, including one morning before work, it really threw off my morning.

The turkey was still over in the side yard, thinking about coming over for apples when I took Murph off the leash and noticed he was a mess.  In my rage, I ran off of the porch in my bare feet and work clothes and started running up our steep hill, yelling at the stupid animal, who didn't seem phased at all and clearly didn't consider me to be a threat.  He took one hop in the other direction then turned his head around and just watched me make a fool of myself.  In that rage I also neglected to remember that I had let Murph off the leash, so he got all excited about my yelling and his dirty hide ran up the hill, barking away at the turkey, completely unleashed. Fortunately Murphy was distracted enough by the word "treat" (which he did NOT get) that he came back without any problem, and sadly, even with all of that drama the turkey barely moved an inch. 

Day later, the turkey remains undeterred. 

Yesterday he brought an entire hoard of turkeys - at least 8 of them - to the yard with him, as well as three deer.  I felt like we were living in a zoo.  Three days ago I saw him across the street and up the road and thought that surely that was too far of a distance for him to come back any time soon, and I thought that maybe - just maybe - he would get hit by a car if he tried to come back to our side of the street.

No such luck.

So, we still have an OLT in our yard, we still have a dog that rolls in turkey poop, and I have no idea how to get rid of him.

Does anyone know when turkey season starts?