These Feet Were Made for Walking

Meet Bob.  Bob is a Bourbon Red turkey which was donated to us one week before we opened for the 2014 season.  A very nice lady called and asked if we would like a turkey.  Not being a stranger to having animals donated to us, I said sure.

When I met with the couple that donated Bob they explained that they ordered 40 different eggs from Ebay, and incubated them to hatch themselves.  To their surprise Bob was the ONLY egg that hatched.  Apparently the eggs weren't fertilized.  I always tell people who want to buy eggs, be sure to use a repuatable source like McMurray Hatchery that way you know you are getting quality product.

Bob was quite pampered at his home being the only turkey.  I do beleive they said they kept Bob in the house. However, they lived in the city and were not able to keep Bob.  They had intended to raise the turkeys and release them on some property they had north of town, but with Bob being the only bird.......they were worried he wouldn't survive and kept him at home.  So in an effort to find a place for Bob, they called and asked Grandma's Pumpkin Patch if we would take him.

When Bob came to us he was about six months old and probably weighed 15 pounds, he was a scrawny bird compared to our full grown turkeys.  When I put him in the turkey pen our turkeys started walking over to him all puffed up with their feathers out.  Apparently this sared Bob because he turned and slipped between the wires of the pen and got out.  So I put him in the pen with Mrs. Peacock and her roomate Mr. Chicken.  Well they were not too keen on this new bird in their pen.  When animals are in groups or with poultry, flocks, they have to establish a dominance hierarchy.   Mrs. Peacock and her roomate started pecking at Bob to let him know that they were the boss.  We left Bob and his roomates to work things out.

Later in the afternoon when I checked on Bob, I could not find him.  I did not see him anywhere in the pen, and looked in the coop and did not see him either.  I thought maybe he escaped, and started yelling his name, which seems ridiculous because how could a turkey know it's name?! To my surprise,  Bob replied with a small little cluck that sounded sad and scared.  I looked again in the coop and found Bob hiding behind some old plywood we had leaned up against the wall for storage.  I moved the plywood and Bob came running out to us, he was obviously very accostome to people.  I looked Bob over and saw that Mrs. Peacock and her roomate apparently ganged up on him and broke his wing.  Bob needed a new home.  He was too small for the turkey pen, not wanted in the peacock pen, he had no where to go.  That is how Bob became a free range turkey.

Bob got a "Presidential Pardon", he
was not Thanksgiving dinner

If you came to the pumpkin patch during the 2014 fall season you probably saw Bob running around during the week.  On weekends we had to lock Bob up in the barn because people were rather currious and got a bit agressive with Bob.  Children were chasing him, adults tried to catch him, poor Bob was getting picked on.

Now that the season is over Bob has full range of the pumpking patch.  He was given a "Presidential Pardon" by my dad and escaped being Thanksgiving dinner.  Every morning Bob meets my dad at his workshop and walks around the patch with him doing chores.  Bob also greets Aunt Sue when she comes over to feed the goats and lets her pet his face.  Bob loves to have his eyes rubbed.   Bob keeps a close watch on the patch, if a car happens to pull into the patch, he will immediatley chase after it and even down the road.  Apparently Bob thinks he is a watch turkey.

Bob chasing my car out of the driveway

Well Bob is getting quite brave in his free range travels and even made it 1/4 mile up the road to the local bus stop.  It was a quiet, sunny December afternoon and I was working in the store down the road from the pumpkin patch.  All of a sudden I hear a lot of laughing and screaming from the other side of the store. One of the clearks comes over to my desk and said "Bob is out at the bus stop chasing children."  I jumped up and looked out the window, and the school bus is still at the stop.  The kids are getting off the bus, and Bob is fully puffed up chasing the kids.  It was the high school bus, so these children are teen-agers running from a turkey.  Needless to say, it was hillarious, but also scary at the same time.  As the bus pulled away, cars started to fly by, narrowly missing Bob.  I took off on a dead run out the door, and of all the days I wore dress shoes insead of my sneakers. Trying to run with a smooth bottom shoe is difficult.  I yelled Bob's name as loud as I could and he turned to look at me, recognized who it was and immediatly smoothed his feathers and ran to me.  I think in his travels he got lost and stumbled upon the children and wasn't sure what to do so...... he stared attacking them.  When he saw me, he was relieved and ran right to me.  The only problem was, Bob was in the middle of a VERY busy road.  I had to wave my arms and flag down some cars to stop so I could pick Bob up.  I can only imagine what the drivers of the cars were thinking seeing a grown woman run to pick up a turkey.

I picked Bob up, which is difficult because he now weighs around 30 pounds, and is squirmy.  I had to cary a 30 pound turkey a 1/4 of a mile back to the pumpkin patch and find someplace to keep him so he would wander again.  The children were astonished I could pick the turkey up, and kept asking me questions.  "Is that your turkey?!"  "I've never sceen a turkey that BIG before"  "Where does he live?"   After answering their questions and explaining that Bob lives at the pumpkin patch, I carried Bob home.  The whole time Bob was clucking to me, I think he was trying to tell me his side of the story.  I was just thankful Bob didn't try to peck my face, because afterall eventhough he is a pet, he still is a turkey.

Imagine this big guy chasing you off the bus

I loocked Bob in the barn to keep him from wandering back and told my dad about his adventures that day.  I figued my dad could deal with Bob.  It was a cold walk back because I ran to get Bob out of the road in such a hurry, I forgot my jacket.  The walk to the barn I had a turkey to block the cold December wind, but the walk back, I was freezing.  I quickly hurried to the store and called my dad to tell him about his adventourous bird.   We let Bob out of the barn after dark so he wouldn't be enticed to wander, he would settle in for the night.  Bob cannot stay in the barn long term, he poops everywhere and eats the grain.  He is a pesky bird!

Now the neighbors love Bob and think he is hillarious.  The one neighber, whose child was chased by Bob, even feeds him in their back yard.  Bob is definatley a free range bird, if you are ever on Eastman Rd by the pumpkin patch, slow down because Bob is probably out and about.

Bob the turkey is out sunning his feathers today wishing it was warmer

A video posted by Amanda (@pumpkinsandprojects) on Dec 12, 2014 at 10:14am PST

I Figured Out Why Moms Wear Yoga Pants

Today while shopping at Sam's Club with my 1 year old, it suddenly dawned on me WHY moms as a whole tend to wear yoga pants.  It's to make using a public restroom while holding an infant more manageable.  Have you ever tried to zip your pants while holding a 1 year old?  Not an easy task, my friend!

I had to run to Sam's to get some things for our store, and I thought lugging a baby with me would be no problem.  I was wrong.  It's winter in Michigan right now, and as an added bonus, it's also unseasonably cold.  It is very frigid and even has it's own snazzy term, Polar Vortex.  The crisp weather was part of the problem today.  I didn't want to take my baby out of her car seat to carry her inside the store. Because she was sleeping, and I NEVER wake a sleeping baby, and she was protected from the wind in her car seat.  So on top of all the groceries we were getting today, I also had to lug around the car seat.  It took up most of the cart, so I had to be creative in my shopping cart packing.

Ella and I got all of our items on the list and I realized, I needed to use the restroom.  This requires so much work that I debated waiting until I got home, but knew I would never make the 30 minute drive home.  And then it hit me, I was relieved I wore yoga pants that day.  I couldn't leave the baby in the cart outside the bathroom, I knew she would totally be abducted, look at that adorable face.  The shopping cart wouldn't fit in the stall, so I had to hold my very squirmy 1 year old like a football pinned between my arm and side, and try to finagle with my pants.  I was so glad I didn't have the added challenge of a zipper in the mix.  So I have solved the mystery of why mothers around the country wear yoga pants, it is to make using a public restroom with an infant manageable. The only thing that might make it more manageable is this:

I'm not quite sure what exactly that is, and if it is safe, but I am pretty sure it would come in handy!

After we checked out, the Sam's Club cashier stacked the cart differently than I did, and the car seat no longer fit.  I ended up holding the baby while trying to maneuver an overfilled shopping cart with a car seat stacked on top.  It was not an easy task and when I was 10 feet from the car half of the items fell off and scattered all over the parking lot.  I have to say though, a kind passer by stopped and helped me.  She came out of no where, but I was so glad to see her.  With in seconds of my cart exploding in the parking lot this lady showed up and said "let me help you, get that baby in the car!"  The temperature was 0 degrees and windy, so poor Ella was hanging on for dear life while I was trying to pick up my mess.  I was soooooooooooo gratefully for this kind stranger.  She gathered up the items while I packed Ella up.  By the time I got Ella situated, the stranger had picked up all my items and said "Us mom's have to juggle a lot, but sometimes we need help".  Yes kind stranger, I was so thankfully you showed up to help.  I thanked her a million times and she said no problem.  As I was loading items into my car I looked up and saw that she was apparently backing out of her parking space when she saw my shopping cart explode, because her car was in the middle of the aisle, half in a packing spot.  She was so kind to come to my rescue, and thank God no one drove into her car while she was helping me!

So, in recap, wear yoga pants. They will make wrangling an infant on a shopping trip easier.......and they are comfy.

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