Such eloquent posts! Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. Ranchersnet and other similar places where we have the freedom to express our thoughts is high on my list.
First is being born in a nation built on freedoms of worship (or not), choice, expression, association, and more.....and people willing to fight and even die to preserve those freedoms.
Family and friends, home and communityand 'enough' are all blessings I'm thankful for.
So is health and the ability to do work I at times don't really appreciate....such as last Saturday when the day started great with dinner preparations for 10 cowboys well underway due to pre-cooking major ingredients for a casserole of spaghetti chicken.......then having a call catch up with during visits with people at two businesses and a home in town, to tell me the plan was changed. Luck was with me as I still was in town where I could get the sandwich ingredients needed. Get home and just about to start....see, I was again blessed, as I hadn't started the sandwiches.....when a call came to put the sandwiches on hold, as it looks like the non-gravel part of the road thawed too much to get the calves trailered out and to wait for another call as to what the decision is. Some time later, the call comes.........and it is a request for the original sit-down meal for 6 guys instead of 10! And could it be ready in about 45 minutes? It was....almost....and no complaints and some help from the guys with filling glasses and pouring coffee and getting the bread on the table was appreciated.
Recipe for those interested: Spaghetti Chicken.......Ingredients are approximate. One or more chickens (one probably would serve 8 people or more) seasoned with salt & pepper or Mrs. Dashs' and an onion and a lemon (optional) sliced into the pan. Baked or boiled till done, drain, defat, & save broth, cut into pieces of size you prefer from dice to chunk. Cook a pound of spaghetti, broken into 3 pieces, per chicken. Drain and rinse. Combine chicken and spaghetti. Add a cup, more or less to taste, of stuffed olives, or ripe olives as your family prefers. Combine a can of cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom, and cream of celery. Fry a cup or more of chopped celery in olive oil and add. Use some of the chicken broth and a large can of diced tomatoes to make the mix relatively juicy. I did use half cup of flour stirred in to thicken it to a gravy-like mixture. Stir in 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese and bake or heat in microwave till very hot. Baking slower in the oven probably results in best flavor, but in a pinch, it works in the microwave, too. I undercooked the spaghetti so it wouldn't be mushy, but keep it's texture. Cooked it maybe 6-8 min. versus the 12 I usually cook it to eat without baking in a casserole. The guys did approve, even though most of them don't really care much for chicken other than home fried.
The original recipe, which I adapted, was in a Belvidere, SD cook book from a few years back and was used back in the 1930s by the Presbyterian Church Guild women as fundraiser. They cooked and served the meal in the homes of various members. People in the community came and paid 15cents per meal. I was mistaken when I told the guys it was 35cents. I sure wouldn't want to go to that much work, considering they probably had to 'harvest' and dress the chicken to start with THEN go on to prepare the meal. The little story in the book didn't say what they served with it, or for dessert. I served green salad and rolls with peach cobbler for dessert. The story did mention that one woman used a short cut of canned spaghetti she bought at the store. I don't know if that was in the era of the church dinners, or a more modern day convenience.
Wonder if it would work with left-over turkey? Think I will try it when I fix a turkey sometime later in the year.
Happy Thanksgiving, all!
mrj
I'm Thankful for My American ranchers.net friends,heres hoping you all have whats important on gcreeks list. 
i'll be 38 dec 21.So much to be thankful for could be alot worse.HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone and may your families be Blessed this holiday.Lets eat! 