The Oven

It is Thanksgiving.
The first Thanksgiving after graduation from college and getting a job related to my degree was spent going home, meaning not home.
The next year, was the first after buying our house.  When we moved in, the house had a stove/double oven.  The lower oven was very large and the upper was a small "bun" oven.  The bun oven is all we used.  It was enough to fit a small sheet pan, but not much else.  The only element in it was an upper element, that was missing some support so it hung very low.  Putting anything in it of any height at all was not really possible.  That first year in the house, we got a fresh (not frozen) bird from a local meat market.  They don't sell small fresh birds so it was a ridiculous size for two people.  The day before Thanksgiving, I tried the larger lower oven for the first time.  It did not work.  The problem was traced to a faulty regulator.  The oven was antiquated at best, and really beyond useful life, but I was able to find a used regulator at a junk shop in a nearby city - in a very bad part of town.  After securing the part on a rainy evening, the oven was fixed and turkey roasted the next day.  As I recall, it was excellent.
The next year there was another fresh bird.  However, the "new" regulator had only been used a few times and failed "on" this time.  Regulation of the heat was done manually, turning the oven on and off and paying attention to the small removable oven thermometer.  I believe that was the last time the larger oven was used.  Although those fresh birds were wonderful, common sense has prevailed and the foul has gotten smaller, including chickens and capons for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
That kitchen had originally been a porch at one time.  It felt fitting that it had very close nap carpet when we moved in, and actually appeared to be indoor/outdoor carpeting.  There were holes and stains in it, like other places in the house.  Not too long after moving in, that was replaced by linoleum - an improvement, and the final home improvement before moving was its replacement again.
As that stove/oven was beyond useful life when we moved it, it was surprising how long we used it.  The little bun oven worked for may years.  One stove burner quit working at some point, and the appliance was replaced at the same time as the fridge (with mismatched doors that came with a dog...).  The oven and fridge were unceremoniously dropped (legally) behind a big box store on the purchase of a new and basic oven and fridge.  So the ovens have gotten bigger and better over the years.  The birds have gotten smaller.  We gladly pay more for a smaller bird, despite how good those fresh birds were.  There is often nostalgia for a poor car owned early in life.  It seems like there should be something similar for that appliance, but there really isn't.  On this holiday (Thanksgiving after all) perhaps happiness should be derived from better things but probably not from things at all.  There is only minor nostalgia for the past, or any kind of acknowledgement that the stove in this new house is really better.  Which in itself is probably something to be thankful for.
As this ends, I'm ready to put a turkey in the oven.  A sub-10# bird in a working oven, not significantly different from where I was 15 years ago.