Tuesday, January 09, 2007

The Besmaya "Animal Farm"

Let's flash back to Thanksgiving, but not for the reasons you might think. There was some question as to whether we'd get our Thanksgiving meal delivered on time. (We did.) One of my interpreters heard about our dilemma and offered to bring us a turkey. I thanked him for his offer and assured him we had the situation well in hand. Being the nice fellow that he is, he brought us a turkey anyway.





Of course, this particular turkey was not quite ready for the dinner table!! Yes folks, we now have a live turkey at Besmaya!! This is Lt Hopkins and "Chicago" delivering the turkey to my door on Thanksgiving morning.



Myself and Col Abbas discussed the matter and decided to grant the young tom a pardon. Here's the pardon ceremony. Col Abbas is checking the bird's neck size in case we have to rescind said pardon. He was a bit on the scrawy side anyway. (The turkey, not Col Abbas.)

The other men in the picture are some of Col Abbas' officers.




We weren't entirely sure what to do with a live turkey. After a day or two of the turkey living on a short leash, we decided to let him roam the inner camp. There's only one way in and out, so we informed our crack Iraqi Army guards to keep him contained. One of our medics feeds him daily. He's putting on weight and getting quite full of himself, to be perfectly frank. He struts around like he owns the place. I suspect the pardon may not last thru the next holiday season!

We have a couple of cats who live with us too. They were born back in July. The medic has also adopted the kitties and has just about got them tamed.

The picture at left is an example of a little "feline detente". The turkey and the cats have reached an uneasy truce. The next few minutes after I took this picture, the turkey jumped down chased the cat off the lower bench. The cat jumped on the table in the rear. Tom the Turkey followed and the cat jumped on the top of the near bench. This slow motion chase scene continued for a 3-4 minutes and was quite entertaining.

The turkey provides me no end of entertainment. It just so bloody random to have turkey running loose. He hangs out just outside my office. Every time I here him gobbling it makes me laugh.

I promise to delve in to some of the more serious topics soon, but I thought you might enjoy a bit of the whimsy of this place.

David

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