Germs, bacteria & marital discord...any advice?? (Read 881 times)

That's why you're gonna come run the GR Marathon with us next year, right?! I know there are a few other RAers who are already thinking about it. Sure could be a fun excuse to drink beer! k

I think I may want to do Detroit next year. We'll see. GR would be a blast as well though and it would be really cool to hang with you and other RA'ers. As far as the beer goes, lets just say that I was not a "have a couple of beers" kinda drinker which compelled me to essentially quit drinking a number of years ago. A few too many blackouts and brushes with drunken death... I'll just leave it at that.

OK, so here is my time line update. Apparently, my SIL was supposed to give me a letter from my MIL when I picked up the birds, but I didn't receive the letter until yesterday. The birds were butchered on 10/31/07 late afternoon/early evening. They were thrown in tubs of ice, then transported to MI in the middle of the night. They remained in tubs of cold water & ice until I picked them up early Fri morning at which time I rinsed & repackaged them & placed them immediately n the freezer. I did address my concerns with my husband and he was less than thrilled with my attitude. He reminded me that, for years, his parents have run a butchering business (currently semi-retired) and plenty of non-Amish people are still alive & well after consuming meat butchered at his parent's house. He also reminded me that we are feeding a considerable crowd of people & purchasing the amount of turkey required to feed said crowd could be rather expensive! My argument is that I don't know that I have a container large enough to cook the bird in. He said, "find one." So here is what I'm thinking: I cut the massive bird (it's so big, I'm thinking we are having Thanksgiving ostrich, not turkey anyways!) in half & roast it. Then I purchase my favorite Honeysuckle White from Meijer & roast that separately. I'll cite the need for a whole bird to be able to stuff and the need for massive amounts of turkey so everyone can take home leftovers (Zoomers, you get the Meijer bird leftovers). Unless, of course, someone would like my home address & has the ability to lift the ostrich out of my freezer while I'm out for a run in the next week!! Trent, thank you for the excellent information. I knew you could at least attempt to make me feel better about my MIL's bird. In her defense, I have been to several commercial turkey farms & they are a million kinds of nasty!! And her birds do roam around happily pecking at the ground & sometimes a person. I'm slightly comforted by knowing that there was only approximately 36hrs from butchering to freezer. As I said, my standards on disinfection have relaxed tremendously. I'm trying to accept germs & bacteria in to my happily disinfected home. Strangely enough, I'll eat while grooming my horses & have occasionally shared food with my equine friends, never fearing contamination! And Trent, I'd be happy to send you butter any time! As long as I know when the cow was milked & the butter churned, I do sometimes partake in that delicacy! My MIL has even had me help churn butter a couple of times, and I was present for the cow milking too, so I know it was safe. I'll send it packed in the coldest container possible, of course!! And I'm serious...if you ever want butter, email me at backroadrunner@gmail.com and I'll be happy to give you the hook-up! And the SIL's do make some mean pumpkin roll!

Claire: I like your husband's compensation rate! But if that works both ways, I would be washing dishes, giving a back rub, and folding laundry - all at the same time.

I saw a news report a few months ago about a guy who turned 100 years old. He smoked for 40 years of his life and still drinks whiskey every day.

I hope I live to be 100 and lucid, if for no other reason than the hope of being interviewed on TV (or mind projection hologram, or whatever they have in 2070), so that I can say that the secret to longevity is excessive amounts of running, alcohol, and sex.

I can't help but put in my two cents here. There are many people who pay enormous amounts of money for organic meats. Many people would probably never eat meat again if they saw the process that got their meat to the table. Remember that profit and efficiency are always top concerns for agriculture. My advice would be to trust your MIL in this case. Make sure the bird is done and all will be well. I agree completely with Trent's comment.... and I wish I had a MIL who would send me large amounts of poultry