Talk of the Town: Let’s talk turkey Online!

For years, I telephoned the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line to chat with the folks manning the telephones to answer turkey questions every season. This year, it’s all Online.

Butterball’s “Turkey Talk-Line,” the reliable backup plan for millions of first-time turkey chefs, is going Web 2.0 by way of blogging and “turkey texts.”

“We know that consumers are looking for information on the go and on demand,” said Bill Klump, senior VP-marketing, Butterball. “This includes the new audiences we want to reach, such as first-time cooks.” So far, he said, responses to the enhancements have exceeded expectations.

The hotline, which was one of the first national, toll-free consumer help lines, started in 1981 when a staff of six was overwhelmed by 11,000 callers. Now a staff of more than 50, the team coddles more than 100,000 consumers each year. Of course, it has served as an unparalleled marketing tool for the company, even playing a starring role in a Thanksgiving episode of NBC’s “The West Wing,” in which Martin Sheen, as President Josiah Bartlet, called the hotline for advice.

Now the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line puts holiday help just a click, blog or text away. The Butterball experts discovered that as a new generation of Thanksgiving cooks emerge, Butterball has had to upgrade the Turkey Talk-Line providing expert holiday advice the way new cooks want it — online, “on demand” and on the go.

This year, talk turkey with the experts during weekly Web chats on Butterball.com, visit a revamped Web site, check out a new mobile site with easy viewing and easy-to-find turkey preparation information or sign up to receive helpful turkey text messages throughout the holiday season. Butterball is also adding three well-known mommy bloggers to the Turkey Talk-Line to share personal tips and stories with holiday cooks.

“Over the years, the Turkey Talk-Line has helped families celebrate one of life’s most memorable occasions by offering bilingual assistance, answering e-mail questions and launching informative TurkeyTalk podcasts,” said Mary Clingman, director of the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line. “This holiday season, the advice Americans have trusted for years is even more accessible with turkey tips, reminders and alerts sent straight to your mobile phone, a new mobile Web site, Web chats on Butterball.com, or live expert advice at 1-800-Butterball.”

Gary and Annette Mahnke moved to Green Valley four years ago and now reside as full-time residents in Madera Reserve. The couple enjoyed a rare event in Green Valley this week — a double baptism.

Their daughter Lisa and husband Ned Nelson of Lawrence, Kan., (avid University of Kansas fans) had a son, Cash Jennings Nelson, on June 25 this past summer.

Their son Troy Mahnke and wife Miki, also of Lawrence, Kan., (also avid KU fans), had a son, Ryker Elwood Mahnke, 11 days later on July 6. (Sounds to me like they’re starting their own football team!)

Both Kansas families flew to Green Valley to spend Thanksgiving week with the new grandparents. It was decided to have a double baptism for the cousins, with grams and gramps at their Green Valley church on Nov. 23. The ceremony was carried out at Desert Hills Lutheran Church by the Rev. Martin Overson. The family then went to Coach’s for a celebratory lunch and Kansas City Chief’s football.

Gary and Annette say that Pastor Overson “made the entire event both fun and memorable for everyone — even the congregation.”

They also want to thank their dear friend Shirley Johnson for all the photography.

Former Green Valley resident Elsie O’Ferrall celebrated her 100th birthday Nov. 22 with more than 100 friends and family at Grill on the Green at Canoa Ranch hosted by her daughter, Sharon Miller.

Elsie has a great sense of humor and at age 100, remains upbeat cheerful, and still good with a joke to tell.

Always active, she returned to the East Coast and attended her high school reunion in Jarrettsville, Md., in 2003, graduating as Elsie “Campbell” O’Ferrall in the class of 1926.

She was the youngest of 13 children in her family and is the only one living today.

Elsie said she loved her senior year in high school. She recalled that one of her friends had a Model-T touring car so she actually got rides to school, although she said, “the car got quite a few flat tires.”

She later married, had nine children and went on to become postmaster at Barclay, Queen Anne’s County, Md. in July 1961.

Elsie retired from the U.S. Postal Service in 1978 and then moved to Arizona, settling in Green Valley at that time, and most recently, moving to Tucson to live with daughter Sharon Miller, where she resides today.

Many Happy returns, Elsie. Joey Lessa sends his best wishes, too!

Thanksgiving jokes for the grandkids:

How did Albert Einstein celebrate Thanksgiving?

He was very thinkful.

What did the mother turkey say to her disobedient children?

If your father could see you now, he’d turn over in his gravy!

How many cooks does it take to stuff a turkey?

One, but you really have to squeeze him in!

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740