Why is That Tiny Turkey Talkin' Trash?!

Our holiday run proved to be not only a fun, but FUNNY, event!

Episode Transcript

Julie Jackson (00:02):
Hey, welcome to Happy Tales of Happy Tails, the
podcast where you'll hearstories of the way pups have
touched our hearts and ourlives. So for the next few
minutes, let everything else goand just listen and smile. I'm
your host, Julie Jackson.
Welcome to the first episode of2024. I can't believe we're

(00:26):
already here. I hope your newyear is off to a good start. I
know sometimes there's so muchexcitement and anticipation. And
then sometimes there's a littlebit of that kind of let down
that you know what it was justanother day. But no matter how
yours is going so far, I hopeyou're still finding so much joy

(00:46):
in that sweet little furryperson that you share life with.
And just hope in the in thepromise that everything can
change in a day. So I have justa quick story to share with you
today from over the holidays.
But I wanted to let you knowtoo, I have a lot of great
stories coming up this year. Alot of people graciously did

(01:08):
stories with me months andmonths ago. And I just apologize
that I'm so slow at record atexcuse me not recording, but
editing. I'm still kind oflearning and new at this. And I
want it to be something thatbrings joy to everyone,
including myself, and I don'twant to be stressed out about
it. So I'm just giving myselfsome grace and allowing myself

(01:30):
to get this done as soon as Ican get it done. But today is a
story from over Thanksgiving,the day after Thanksgiving, so
Black Friday. One of our localrunning stores (shout out to
Bear Creek running) did a funrelay on the trails in the park
in our community. And it wascalled Rest in Pieces and the

(01:54):
theme was turkey pieces. And itwas a ideally five team relay 10
miles, each person ran two onemile legs. And the baton was a
plastic bowling pin that lookedlike a turkey leg was really
fun. So they just had theexchange setup at kind of an

(02:15):
intersection of the trails inthe park and everyone, you know,
brought their lawn chairs, theyhad speakers and food for
everyone. It was really a goodtime. It was a lot of fun. And
since it was out of the parkdogs were welcome. So I use the
term "run" loosely anymore, butget out on Saturday mornings and
do some kind of moving. And nowthat the weather has been cool,

(02:40):
the floofs love to go, but Icannot take them both at the
same time because they are legitsled dogs and they're strong.
And they're also, I know you'regonna find this surprising, a
little bit unruly. And I youknow, one squirrel catches their
attention and I could be agoner. So I've been alternating
with them. Well, as you'veprobably heard me say before,

(03:04):
Barney is very busy. And Chuckis very chill. So when Barney is
out on the leash, he's kind ofall over the map, he has to
smell all the smells and do allthe things. Chuck does not take
long to get settled in. And thenhe just he kind of gets into his
stride and he's happy to justtrot along and enjoy the day.

(03:26):
Well, I take Barney on mySaturday morning runs. And when
I take Barney and leave Chuckbehind, Chuck is fine. He may go
to the window and watch us leaveand he may make a few little
sounds or noises but then he'sokay. Barney, when he gets left
behind and it's Chuck's turn togo. He just goes ballistic. He

(03:46):
not in an angry way, but a sadway. He just sings the song of
his people, and he will scratchat the window and he goes to the
door and he's almostinconsolable. So Barney gets to
go on the Saturday morning runsprobably more often than Chuck.

(04:07):
Just for that reason, Chuckkinda doesn't care. But the
morning of this relay, Ithought, you know, Chuck, it's
Chuck's turn, he deserves a turnand there's going to be a lot of
people and a lot ofdistractions. And so this is a
much better environment for him.
So Chuck was my running partnerthat day, I run with a waste

(04:28):
leash, so I'm hands free. Andthen also it's great because I
can use my full body weight if Ineed to, to, you know, lean back
and kind of help slow them downif they're really excited. So we
pull up and we were in theparking lot people are starting
together. There's a few otherpups there. Mind you, Chuck is

(04:48):
really chill. He's a laid backguy. He likes to meet people is
not necessarily going to go upand meet them though. He's just
kind of kind of a chill guy. Andwe're walking through the
parking lot. And there's anothergroup that has their dog with
him. And this guy, I'm prettysure was maybe a min pin, a
miniature pinscher. He was in aturkey costume. He looked

(05:13):
adorable. He looked adorable. Sowe have this tiny Turkey. And
Chuck is really indifferent. Hecould care less, and we're
walking up. But as we're walkingup, this men pen sees Chuck and
does not like him. Heimmediately reacts to him. And
he's barking at him and lungingat him. And Chuck and Chuck is a

(05:36):
big guy. He's mind you, theseare Husky Malamute, Shepherd
wolf mixes. And they're not asbig as their fluff makes them
look but they're still big andstrong. And this guy's a
fraction of Chuck size, but hewas very bold, I've got to give
him that. And so Chuck was agood boy, he just, you know,

(05:58):
kind of looked that Turkeys wayand went on his way and we were
fine. So we're running our legsand the way it worked. The first
person ran half a mile out tothe West, and then half a mile
back to the exchange, secondrunner half a mile to the east
than half a mile back to theexchange. So each person ran

(06:22):
each leg once. And our first legwe were running out to the West.
So we had the West leg firstand, and Chuck was doing great.
He just he was having a goodtime. And he got settled in. And
honestly, I have not beenrunning consistently for a long
time. I I've been getting out onSaturday mornings fairly

(06:43):
consistently, but not excuse mejust a minute. Farney like
overhead, okay, sorry. But hewas pacing me to the best pace
I've run in a long time. It'sstill slow, but it was the best
pace that I'd run in a longtime. But then he had to poop,
which, you know, I guess that'sjust one of the one of the

(07:03):
things you run into. So my pacerhad his poop. So we stopped and
took care of that. And then wegot back to the exchange and
waited our turn for the nextround. And these teams are all
varying levels of speed. And soit's staggering out where you're
not running with the same peopleevery time you know. And it's
it's a small enough thing tothat we're all well staggered.

(07:25):
And sometimes you're on thetrail, and you really don't even
see any of the other runners. Itwas a beautiful day, it was just
it was such a fun event. It wasreally perfect. And it's time
for us to run our lap to theeast, we get up and we start
heading out. And as we'regetting close to the turnaround,
I realized that the turkey andhis mom are coming up behind us

(07:48):
and they're fast. And I knowokay, we're going to do the
turnaround, and they're stillcoming. So after we do the
turnaround, we will be passingthem. So we do the turnaround.
And sure enough, you know, a fewmoments later, we passed and
that Turkey was not afraid. Andhe was yelling all kinds of

(08:11):
smack at Chuck and he's lunchingat him. And he's so I, you know,
we kind of pulled our side ofthe trail and go about our way
and Chuck is looking at him onceagain, like what's going on. And
then sure enough, I knew thiswas gonna happen. I'm like,
she's a lot faster than than weare and they're gonna pass us so

(08:32):
we're gonna have to do thatexchange again. So as I kind of
feel them coming up on myshoulder, I just pulled chuck a
little bit over to the side ofthe trail. And sure enough, here
comes the trash talking turkeyagain, and he is bolder than
ever lunging at Chuck and thisChuck's like, Okay, I've had
about enough of this. And Chuckstarts to kind of lunge at him

(08:53):
and I'm pulling him back, andthey run on and it Chuck has him
now in his sights. And he'slike, that's it. I'm not taking
this and all the sudden, Chuck'sgentle, you know, afternoon
stroll, trot turns into a fullon sled dog gallop. And I'm tied
to the back of him. So the nextthing I know I I'm just praying,

(09:16):
please let my feet keep up andI'm running as fast as I can
check is determined to catchthis turkey. And it was so funny
because the trail had some kindof hairpin turns where, you
know, as the turn loops backaround there, there was all
kinds of trees and things inbetween so you can't see the
trail anymore. So the turkeyrounds the bin, and he's out of

(09:36):
our sights and so Chuck justgoes back to his try and he was
such a good boy. And then weround the bend and all of a
sudden he sees the turkey againand it is Game On. So we are
flying. And I it was funnybecause I mean there was a huge
hill at the end and everythinghe pays me to the fastest mile
that I've had in a long time.
And as we're getting to theexchange I hear my team members

(09:59):
scrambling because no one wasready for me because I think we
were probably at least a good 30seconds maybe longer, faster
getting back than they expected.
All thanks to chuck and thetrash talk in Turkey. So it was
a lot of fun. I have to laughbecause that guy, I should
probably thank him if I couldfind the little trash talking

(10:21):
turkey, I should probably thankhim for pacing me to the fastest
mile I've had in a long time.
And it would have been thefastest two miles if my pacer
hadn't required a potty break onthe way, but that's okay. You
know, it is what it is. And Iwasn't there for speed. But we
were laughing afterwards. And Isaid, I don't know what it is
that set that little guy off.
But he did not like Chuck. Andone of my teammates said, Well,

(10:46):
you know, Chuck's a handsome guywith a lot of presents, and that
guy was in a turkey suit. Somaybe that's what it was. But it
was a lot of fun. It was, it wasa great way to enjoy the
holidays with one of our pups,and just love all those dog O's.
So I hope you all have awonderful week. Please don't

(11:07):
forget to check us out on socialmedia. And honestly, if you
would, please go to the website,happy tails, te a le s of happy
tails ta ils.com. And if youwould, there's a I have a gift
for you is I actually made it.
And it's a definition of dogprint. So it's downloadable and

(11:27):
you can print it, it honestly bea cool gift, you could get a
decent frame, you know, not nottoo expensive frame. And it
would be a great gift for allyour dog loving friends. But
that also puts you on my emaillist. I would really love to
grow that list because that isthe most consistent way that I

(11:49):
can communicate with you. I lovewhat is what is possible on
social media. But with theiralgorithms, a lot of people
never see things that areposted. I promise I don't send a
lot of stuff. I send somethingevery time a new episode is
dropping, or if we add anythingto the site, but I would really

(12:11):
love that to be my primary wayof communicating with people. So
if social media ever makeschanges, where it's hard to
reach people, they're still ableto find out what's going on. And
also I am always excited to getnew stories. I love sharing what
my pups do. It just makes melaugh. They cracked me up every

(12:32):
day. But I really love hearingother people's stories too. And
y'all would probably like tohear from other people besides
my goofballs. And so, I wouldlove it too. If you would reach
out to me. You can do it at thewebsite or on social media. And
let me know that you would liketo share a story. I send you a
link to my calendar, you pick atime that works for you, and

(12:53):
then we just meet on Zoom. It'svery simple. It's very laid
back. Just a fun conversation.
It's nothing fancy. So if youwould please check those things
out and maybe share your email.
I promise I won't abuse theprivilege. And that is it for
this week. But I hope you have awonderful week and remember you
are as great as your dog thinksyou are smooch your boot.

(13:16):
Thanks, y'all.