Sodbuster Kids - Thanksgiving

TURKEY TROUBLES

Hi. I'm a turkey. My name is NOT Tom, as so many call me. Tom is my brother. I'm the smart one. My name is Alfred.

ALFRED

You know, it was bad enough when those creatures with the long, black hair started chasing us. They have feathers, too; so you'd think they'd know better than to go around picking on other flocks. But, then, they invited their friends from overseas to come after us, too.

I'm talking about those friends shipped in on the big hollow log. The ones wearing those strange, brown leaves on their heads.

Hollow Log Creature's Head Leaf

They go around saying things -- something about May and flour. Maybe they eat us most of the year, then give us a break and eat flour in May. Who knows!

Those odd creatures who chase us.

Anyway, those hairy, feathered creatures did a lot to help the hollow log sailors. Sure, the feathered ones taught them how to hunt us, but they also taught them how to plant corn.

I like corn. It was a good thing the hollow log creatures did, too. They were dying off fast until the feathered ones showed them a thing or two about living here.

I like the long-haired, feathered ones. They eat a lot of corn and toss sticks around. Here, I'll show you:

Cranberry Cornbread

("Johnny cake" or "hoe cake" is what the hollow log creatures call the feathered ones' cornbread.)

1 cup unbleached white flour
1-1/3 cups yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 large eggs
1/4 cup honey
1 cup plain soy or nonfat milk
2 tablespoons sunflower oil

Preheat the oven to 400° F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan. In a bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Add the dried cranberries, stir them in, and set this dry mix aside for a few minutes.

In another bowl, beat the eggs, milk, honey, and oil together. Add this drippy combination to the dry mix you already made and mix just until blended. Do not over-stir it or it your bread may not raise very much when baked.

Pour this batter into the greased pan. Bake until the top is lightly brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. It will take about 30 minutes.

This will feed about 12 of your hungry friends, critters, and family members.

Creating and playing the feathered creature's stick game

You will need:

3 popsicle sticks
crayons

With your crayons, make two of the sticks look like a snake on one side:

Leave the other side plain (uncolored).

Color the third stick like this:

Leave the other side plain (uncolored). This is the way some tribes symbolized "man."

To play:

A player tosses all three sticks into the air at once and keeps score by how the sticks land. The sticks, then, get passed to the next player to toss. The winner is the first player to get a score of 50 or more.

To score:

All plain sides up = 4 points
Two snakes and man up = 4 points
Two snakes and one plain side up = 6 points
Two plain and one snake up = 6 points
One plain, one snake, one man up = 0 (zero, zilch, no) points