Zihuatanejo and Hope: Strays for Thanksgiving

Friday, November 28, 2008

One of my favorite things to do is to pick up strays for Thanksgiving. Mom is always careful to clarify..."strays...you mean...well, umm. You mean people you know right?" Yeah. It's always people I know who for one reason or another don't have anything to do on Turkey day, but there have been years when I was tempted to just pick someone up off the street. Never truly brave enough, but tempted :-) I can't always find strays to bring home on Thanksgiving, but this was a truly blessed year and we had some FANTASTIC ones!

April and Matt were missionaries for a year in China and we love getting together with them over good food, or tea, or board games anyway. What better day for all of the above than Thanksgiving?

Then there's Miss Beth.

Could she be any cuter? Beth is a sign language interpreter at Juniper Elementary (a vocation that I find really fascinating for some reason) and also my dear "Michla's" new roomie! She had other invitations and chose us...how lucky are we? She did end up on the losing Taboo team, however. I hope she won't hold that against us :-)

But we had one other stray this year, and I'm sorry to all my human friends, but this particular one...was my favorite.

This little love is my new friend "Fluffy". Yes. I know Fluffy is a ridiculous name for a dear, and I was actually teasing when I started calling her that. She just stood outside our back window all afternoon in her fuzzy winter coat. She would never run when we came out or made loud noises, but just stood there looking longingly in. So as I stood at the kitchen window doing dishes I started to talk to her, like I do the strange "bird" characters that Mom and Dad get at their place too. "Oh hi Fluffy. Fluffy! You're just standing there so lonely. I'm going to call you Fluffy. Fluffy you can be my pet...are you hungry for turkey Fluffy?" And that's when the idea struck me. I grew up out here and we've had deer in the yard all my life, but never once have I had the inclination (or opportunity) to try feeding one (on anything but the newly budded spring tulips). But this little sweetie was a stray on Thanksgiving day. I couldn't resist trying. Opened the door, tossed out a carrot. She took it gladly. Tossed out another, then one more on the deck this time. By the fourth carrot I was sitting on the deck reaching my hand to her. She had the tiniest little teeth and wouldn't just snatch the carrot. She would put her little nose in my hand and lick me a few times. She likes me. The boys got to feed her a couple carrots too, but she wasn't as crazy about them. You shouldn't feed wild deer. It makes life dangerous for them around hunting season. That's sad. But I have a feeling this one has been fed before. And still, she chose our house for Thanksgiving. We were very glad to have you, Fluffy!