I never have really traditional Thanksgiving dinners. Although I have family around, they never seldom come to my house to eat. I usually have a collection of 'onlys' that come to feast and I like it that way. The last few years my dear friend, Rich, has come to dinner. Rich is a big game hunter, and he always brings something to 'share' with me.

One year it was a 20 foot stuffed Crocadile that he killed in Africa. He only brought it in as far as my front door- cuz Crocks give me the creeps!

Last year it was a babboon head, and this year it was this elephants foot.

This is the OD-standing with both of her feet inside the Elephant foot.

Let me tell you all that I am NOT a hunter, I AM a shooter. But I do understand that these animals are culled and it is better for the health of the herds to do so. I also know that not one ounce of this animal went to waste. The natives cannot own guns or use them to kill food, so when a hunter takes a beast there is a kind of relay system that goes out through the nearby villages. The head men of the village come and take as much meat as they can carry back to their families. They take every scrap and bone. The hunter gets the feet and the tail( if they want it) and the hide.

It makes me appreciate our good old fashioned farm raised tom turkeys!