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WHO AM I? I'M GHOST SPOKESTURKEY FOR ALL THE TURKEYS OF YESTERYEAR.. |
JUST CALL ME GOBBLE...GOBBLE... |
WOW! A PRESIDENTIAL PARDON... |
WELL, IT'S TIME FOR THE ANNUAL TURKEY REUNION OH, THERE THEY ARE NOW...LOOK! |
NOT NOW, SHERMAN! |
LET THE NICE ADVENTURERS LISTEN TO THE MEETING.... |
Hmmmmm........ let's explore that a little more, shall we? |
As for Presient Lincoln, maybe he recalled the time when he was 8 and shot and killed a turkey. But once he gazed on the beauty of the bird whose life he had ended, he was very upset. He was known to love animals. |
As the story goes, the first Presidential Pardon was in 1863 by President Lincoln himself! As customary, a turkey was presented to the President for what else? Holiday dinner: |
Tad Lincoln, the son of the President befriended the bird and taught the turkey to follow him as he walked around the White House grounds. The turkey was named Jack, and Tad fed him as a pet. |
Time was drawing near and very short for Jack to become the Christmas meal!. |
PoorTad was beside himself, this was his friend! |
What could he do? Well.....this is what he did! |
He got a temporary delay from Jack's "executioner" so he could put his friend's case before the president.. He burst into one of his father's Cabinet meetings crying.. |
Tad said, "Jack must not be killed; it is wicked." |
President Lincoln replied, "Jack was sent here to be killed and eaten...I can't help it." |
Tad, still sobbing, said, "He's a good turkey, and I don't want him killed." |
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, paused in the midst of the Cabinet meeting, took out a card, and wrote an order of reprieve. Jack's life was to be spared! |
Jack lived out his life at the White House and was seen many times parading around the grounds. |
In Lincoln's own words, he never again "pulled the trigger on any larger game." |
Since then, the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation is a ceremony that takes place at the White House annually. Every year,.the President has granted the turkey a "Presidential Pardon". The turkey is then taken to a farm where it may live out the rest of its natural life. For many years, the turkeys were sent to Frying Pan Park in Fairfax County, Virginia. But many turkeys didn't like the name Frying Pan Park, so starting in 2005, the pardoned turkeys have been sent to live in Disneyland and participate in the Thanksgiving Day Parade.. |
True or not? Who really knows? But during the 2001 ceremony, President Bush related this story, claiming this was in fact the tradition's origin. Would be nice to think so! |
DO YOU KNOW SOME OF THE NAMES OF THE PARDONED TURKEYS? |
2006 - Flyer & Fryer 2005 - Marshmallow & Yam 2004 - Biscuit & Gravy 2003 - Stars & Stripes |
NO? WELL HERE'S A SHORT LIST |
TO VIEW THE ACTUAL WHITE HOUSE CEREMONY FOR MARSHMALLOW & YAM JUST CLICK ON ME! |
TO GET TO KNOW ALL THE PARDONED TURKEYS,... HERE'S A SPECIAL PHOTO ESSAY OF TURKEYS PAST.. JUST CLICK ON HILDA.... |
SHE'S BEEN PRACTICING HER LITTLE DANCE FOR SO LONG,.... SO MAKE HER HAPPY, WILL YOU? |
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME TURKEY HUMOR AND FACTS? |
A spooked turkey can run at speeds up to 20 miles per hour. They can also burst into flight approaching speeds between 50-55 mph in a matter of seconds. |
A wild turkey has excellent vision and hearing. Its field of vision is about 270 degrees. This is the main reason they continue to elude some hunters. |
Turkeys have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead. |
Benjamin Franklin wanted the national bird to be a turkey |
Wild turkeys spend the night in trees. They especially like oak trees. |
Turkeys can see in color |
Turkeys originated in North and Central America, and evidence indicates that they have been around for over 10 million years. |
In Mexico, the turkey was considered a sacrificial bird. |
Mature turkeys have 3,500 or so feathers. |
The Apache Indians considered the turkey timid and wouldn't eat it or use its feathers on their arrows. |
WELL.... MY TURKEY TALES ARE DONE FOR NOW.... HOPE YOU'VE HAD A GLOBBLY GOOD TIME! UNTIL NEXT YEAR! |
BETTER SEE WHAT CAPTAIN BOOTSIE AND THE REST OF THE CREW ARE DOING.... I'M SURE THEY'RE BREWING UP SOMETHING SPECIAL! |
This article uses material excerpted from WikipediaŽ. This article and photos are distributed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License |
Music from the Album Galaxy by Just'in Space Distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported |
