We’re all for crazy holiday traditions but you’ll have to file this one under “that’s so Florida” – one Clearwater native says it’s become a yearly routine to thaw their thanksgiving turkey in the pool. While plenty of folks have their own way of preparing turkey, Mark O’Donnell says thawing his bird in the pool has been a Thanksgiving tradition for a generation.

“One Thanksgiving we realized we forgot to take the turkey out of the freezer, and our uncle was here from up north. And we just said, ‘hey let’s throw it in the pool,’”, O’Donnell told reporters.

Each year, a different cousin in the family is chosen to hurl the turkey into the pool in order to defrost it.

“Honors to chuck it in the pool are kind of the ridiculousness of it,” O’Donnell said.

Uncle Chuck received the award last year in 2020.

Bullock stated, “I threw it in the water and let it fly.”

The previous year, Aunt Mary Frances had the honor in 2019.

“And that ladies and gentlemen is how you thaw a turkey,” you can hear in one of their videos.

This is obviously an uncommon practice and one you’re bound to only find going on when searching for this type of content. Don’t judge us, we’re into weird holiday traditions. Whether or not thawing your turkey in the pool is completely safe, O’Donnell seems to think it’s legit and it doesn’t seem to have harmed his family in the 18 years they’ve been doing it.

Should You Thaw Your Turkey In The Pool?

O’Donnell said that folks have a lot of questions about the practice. “The turkeys are sealed and we always check for any leaks. So far in 18 years, we’ve only had one that we’ve had to double bag, so there’s no blood in the pool or chlorine in the turkey.”

While we don’t know if we’ll be thawing our bird quite the same way as Mark, we can certainly say that we were quite amused by their holiday tradition.

“If we made somebody smile, good for us. Hopefully they’ll smile Thanksgiving, too,” said O’Donnell. Their family dinner is bound to create lasting memories. His plans to create his ultimate thanksgiving feast will commence after the turkey has a chance to towel off.

Are We Advising You To Thaw Your Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner In The Pool?

Is this method of thawing your holiday bird FDA approved? Absolutely not! Is it hilarious to watch, it absolutely is. If you’re thinking about making this one your holiday tradition let us remind you that the safest approach to thaw your frozen turkey is to put it in the refrigerator and leave it there for one full day for every five pounds of bird (per the U.S. Department of Agriculture).

Whether O’Donnell and his family will be holding their annual tradition this year, time will tell. Their thanksgiving ritual went viral last year. Guess we’ll all just have to wait for Mark O’Donnell to go live again and find out.

Photo Credits: Mark O’Donnell

Pool cleaning companies are creating a huge following on social media. Researchers say they’re getting millions of views on their pool cleaning videos because these kinds of short films satisfy a deeper element within our human nature.

Sociologist and City University senior lecturer Stephanie Alice Baker told the New York Times that pool cleaning videos have a well-established trick of the trade that simply make for really compelling videos. She says that the shock factor of witnessing the complete transformation of a dirty pool into a clean one is something that is very satisfying to viewers on an emotional level.

One popular pool cleaning professional Miles Laflin, also known as The Pool Guy is located in the U.K. and has racked up hundreds of thousands of subscribers and followers along with over 69 million video views on YouTube alone. He’s equally if not more popular on Instagram and TikTok.

“It’s long been known in the fitness industry that one of the most successful ways to build an audience is a before-and-after post,” Dr. Baker said.

She also mentioned that one of the videos’ most appealing aspects was the way it affected the audience’s feelings.

When a pool company is able to revitalize a filthy pool, folks watching may feel some sort of sense of accomplishment, according to Dr. Baker. Baker suggested that viewers may get a sense of success, order, and mastery while watching these types of videos.

It’s nothing new for pools to take the spotlight on social media. We’ve written time and again about videos involving pools that set social media on fire. The fact that there may be some type of therapeutic benefit from watching them is pretty new information though.

@thep00lguy The transformation though! @poolboyb4nners #thep00lguy #hollayaboy #123PandoraME #fyp #satisfying ♬ original sound – thepoolguyml

This new short-form video emphasis that TikTok focuses on has helped propel this particular video genre to new heights with a younger demographic. More than 45 billion people have watched videos with the hashtag #oddlysatisfying on TikTok.

Researchers like Dr. Richard believe that for our ancestors, witnessing someone work with their hands taught them a skill. Richard believes watching films of individuals working activates a region of our brain that, according to him, keeps us captivated.

Dr. Richard thinks that we are hard-wired to look at people’s hands when they are teaching us or explaining something because subconsciously we believe that doing so will help us survive.

Richard said watching pool service videos and the action of someone working with their hands while providing professional advice, coupled with a soothing voice and the sound of flowing water triggers an autonomous sensory meridian response. A.S.M.R videos are said to provide a relaxing, even sedative sensation. Viewers claim the feeling begins on the scalp and moves down the body.

While we can’t vouch for the tingly feelings, we can say without a doubt that some of these pool cleaning videos are absolutely mesmerizing to watch. Today Miles Laflin has gone from a run-of-the-mill pool guy to being approached on the street daily for autographs and selfies by followers. Despite the fame his videos get, he’s not a rock star or a famous athlete. All Miles had to do to get famous was to start cleaning pools.

Photo Credits: ThePoolGuy.uk

On the Spanish island of La Palma, rivers of 1,800°F lava are demolishing houses and forcing residents to evacuate their homes.

Thousands of tiny earthquakes sparked the Canary Islands’ first volcanic eruption on land in 50 years.

On Sunday, it triggered the Cumbre Viejo volcano to spew lava hundreds of meters into the air.

The so-called seismic swarm had warned officials that an eruption was imminent, and over 5,000 people had been evacuated ahead of the crack opening.

The magma has spilled down hillsides in a 20-foot high wall, boiling swimming pools and burning and destroying everything in its path.

The phenomena has drawn tourists, prompting the island’s president, Mariano Hernandez, to appeal to them to stay away.

He said: ‘We are having serious problems with the evacuation because the roads are jammed with people who are trying to get close enough to see it.’

It was predicted to reach the Atlantic Ocean today, where it might create explosions and earthquakes.

A Reuters reporter saw molten rock slowly tearing its way through a house in Los Campitos, burning the interior and spreading flames through the windows and onto the roof.

A volcanic eruption on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma sent lava shooting into the air https://t.co/zHtAdff0Js 🌋 pic.twitter.com/2iaC1PfDey

— Reuters (@Reuters) September 20, 2021

Local officials are concerned that if the lava reaches the sea, it may generate a chemical reaction that could result in the emission of poisonous gases.

Authorities Tell Locals Not To Panic

According to regional emergency director Jorge Parra, people should not fear for their safety provided they follow authorities’ suggestions.

Six routes on the island have been closed, according to officials.

According to the European Union’s Copernicus Earth Observation Programme, lava had covered over 260 acres of terrain and destroyed 166 dwellings and other structures by this morning.

Scientists monitoring the flow, which might last for weeks or months, detected it at over 1,800°F.

Watch as a flow of lava completely fills this swimming pool

There have been no fatalities or injuries reported, but watch this incredible footage of an unstoppable wall of lava overtaking this swimming pool.