Preparing a turkey dinner

I blogged a few days ago about getting a turkey with Carl's daughter Pamela's certificate (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2022/04/catching-up-on-last-couple-of-days.html). On Wednesday, it had finally thawed completely and we made turkey dinner!

First - some of the local residents (deer) right outside Gracie (that's Gracie's shadow just in front of them).

Carl mixing up the dressing while the turkey was baking. We decided to make the dressing in the slow cooker (Instant Pot) since the oven was full, and the two burner electric stove top would be making gravy and mashed potatoes!

We think it is done! You may notice that it is upside down - when the breast was done, the thigh meat was not yet up to temperature, so we turned it over in hopes of getting the underside better cooked through...

Carl, the carving machine! We really like the pull-out counter when we're making a big meal!

Slicing the breast meat

Beautifully cooked and cut breast meat!

Turkey dinner with green beans, dressing, mashed potatoes, and gravy

We went for a walk in the afternoon (looking for a trash bin as our trash can was filled to overflowing)... you may be able to see the ground squirrel in the middle of the picture...

... here's a zoom in on that picture -- you can see the one sitting up in the foreground, and you may be able to see the head of another near the top left of the picture. They are all over the place, and have tons of holes dug all over the grassy areas, and in the roadways too!