Day 4354 - Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I wish all days were this relaxed. We got up late and had a nice early walk with Dawn. I ate a light breakfast and then went out walking again. It was chilly outside, but I kept up a good pace with seemingly little effort. I completed my walk with the best time I've had in over a month. There were a lot of families in the park this morning. I think it is a tradition in some families to take a Thanksgiving walk before sitting down to a huge meal.

When I got home there was a message from the Kickstarter project I backed many months ago. The project is finally finished and getting ready to ship. I think this project was supposed to ship in June, but there are always delays with Kickstarter projects. Today's message was actually a request for more money. Evidently shipping rates from Asia have gone up dramatically since the project started and the amount I had already paid was no longer enough. The project I backed was an advanced computerized star tracker that many amateur astronomers thought couldn't possibly work. I'll be curious to see if it does.

Janet and I both wondered whether there would be many people at our Thanksgiving brunch. This was the first full scale buffet we've heard about since Covid began and it could have easily gone either way. Would the fear of big platters of commonly shared food keep people away, or would pent up demand for a delicious all you can eat meal pack the place? When we arrived, it was obvious that pent up demand won. The Mercury had doubled in size since the last time we'd dined there and the place was packed. There were hundreds of people enjoying their Thanksgiving feast and not a mask in sight. It's pretty clear that Dallas has decided Covid is over.

The restaurant was extremely efficient. They must have hired a ton of extra help for this event. Even though there were lots of people, nothing seemed rushed or hurried. There was always a waiter nearby to refill our drinks and the buffet tables were constantly being replenished with fresh food. We usally make three trips to the buffet tables. First for a plate of salads, sushi and hors d'oeuvres. Next comes the main meal. I'm not a big fan of turkey and dressing, but I love prime rib. Finally, even though we are stuffed at this point, we go back a third time for dessert. I'm glad the Thanksgiving buffet is back. We missed this once a year extravagance last year.

Years ago we would always go up and feed the rescue dogs after our Thanksgiving dinner. We cooked each of them a fresh chicken breast and they loved it. After their dinner, we took the dogs on a walk. We no longer do this anymore. A lot of things have changed over the years. We used to have up to seventeen dogs at a time. Now we have three. We used to have keys to the facility too, so we could come and go as we pleased. The new kennel is a lot cleaner and the dogs get treated extremely well. There are times when I miss the old days though. I still remember all the names of the dogs we helped take care of in the early 2000's. Today it's all a blur. I can't remember any of the dogs from 2019.

We were stuffed when we returned from the restaurant, so we decided if there weren't any kennel dogs to walk, we'd walk Dawn instead. Dawn needs to lose a little weight, so we're trying to walk her two times a day now. It's too bad she won't go along with me on my long walks. She'd get plenty of exercise then.

I seldom watch football, but today's Cowboys game was really good. I thought the Cowboys were going to win, but in the end there were just too many penalties and errors. 28 penalties is a lot. Anthony Brown racked up four pass interference penalties all by himself, including the one that lost the game. Oh, well. It was still a good game.

I almost forgot to take the trash out to the curb tonight. It felt like Thanksgiving, but it didn't really feel like Thursday.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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