Hello everyone, and happy December!
I successfully completed this year's
NaNoWriMo on November 27, with a final word
count of 50,123!
This was the first time I have ever
finished my writing early, and it was worth it to have the last three
days of November off!
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| A sketch of my main character and her cat friend. |
Once I finished writing and had a quick lunch,
Zach and I got ourselves packed up and headed to his parents' house, bringing Mystery
along with us. That night, I
finished the last sketch for my "Respect turkeys. Go vegan."
album that I had been putting together on Facebook. Here are my final
turkey sketches and their captions.
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| "Turkeys
are able to adapt to a wide variety of habitats. However, most wild
turkeys are found in hardwood forests with grassy areas." (http://www.veganpeace.com/ [sketch based off of this photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/ |
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| "Like
cats and dogs, turkeys are intelligent and sensitive animals who form
strong social bonds and show great affection to others." (http://freefromharm.org/ [sketch based off of photo from here: http://animalplace.org/ |
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| Domestic
turkeys being raised for food are "routinely 'beak-trimmed' (also
called de-beaking or partial beak amputation).... Beak-trimming is
performed using sharp shears, a heated blade, or a high-voltage
electrical current. Turkeys' beaks, loaded with sensory receptors, are
highly sensitive, much like human fingertips, and this painful procedure
severs and exposes nerves. Some birds starve to death before they are able to eat again with this painful disfigurement; some die of shock on the spot." (http:// [sketch based off of photo from here: http:// |
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| "In
natural conditions, baby turkeys would stay with their mothers for up
to five months, but turkeys on commercial farms never experience the
safety or warmth of the nurturing presence they instinctively long for. …
Eggs are collected from breeding hens and hatched in incubators. The
unmothered, frightened hatchlings are transported to larger facilities
where they spend the remaining portion of their brief, miserable lives."
(http:// [sketch based off of this photo: http:// |
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| Turkeys
raised for food are "slaughtered at only 4-6 months of age. They still
respond to a recording of a mother turkey hen's cries for her lost
chicks. Birds are slaughtered young on both large and small farms." (http://animalplace.org/ [sketch based off of this photo: http:// |
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| "Detoeing is cutting off the ends of a turkey's toes." (This is done without any anesthetic.) (http:// "Young Petunia had quite fortunately not been debeaked, which is a sad but all-too common practice in the highly exploitative poultry industry where birds' beaks are burned off without any pain relief, often rendering them unable to eat. She had, however, had another cruel and common procedure performed – the cutting off of her toes." (Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary) |
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| "Between
250 and 300 million turkeys are raised for slaughter every year in the
U.S. – more than 46 million are slaughtered for Thanksgiving alone." (http:// |
For Thanksgiving, we went to my
cousin's house; my contribution to the meal was a cider roasted root
vegetables dish (red potatoes, gold potatoes, shallots, & carrots
roasted first in olive oil and then in an apple cider/apple cider
vinegar/brown sugar mix). I didn't take a picture of the one I
prepared for Thanksgiving, so in its place is a photo of the
leftovers of the first test batch I made.
My sister made a vegan version of our
Poppy's corn and mac bake. Other vegan foods at Thanksgiving dinner
included corn and applesauce, as well as plenty of snacks (potato
chips, pretzels, tortilla chips, vegetables, and fruits). We also
brought along some leftover vegan goodies from my birthday (cake and
chocolate peanut butter cups made by my mom). So it was a good feast,
and while my sister and I were the only vegans, there were others at
the table who did not eat any turkey, including Zach. I had a fun
time hanging out with my little cousins, especially since they wanted
to do their kitchen experiments with us again (creating new recipes
in the kitchen and then bringing out the results for everyone to
taste-test). This year, the main ingredient was clementines (last
year it was cranberries).
On Friday, we headed over to my
parents' house and had a nice relaxing day.
Saturday was the harvest dinner with
Zach's family. Vegan snacks included tortilla chips, salsa,
guacamole, and pickles. For dinner, I had a burrito with peppers,
onions, brown rice, and salsa, with corn on the side. And for
dessert, ginger snap spice cookies with apple cider. Another great
feast and lots of fun! Zach and I got a workout chasing his little
cousins around in circles inside the house for the majority of the
time we weren't eating. After that, it was time to pick up Mystery
from my parents' house and head home.
Enjoy the new layout for the holidays (I'll have a post soon with photos of our decorations),
and here's a (blurry) sleepy Mystery to bring this post to its close.
Peace. :)
