The COVID Chronicles #69: Happy President's Day

 Today, we celebrate President's Day in here the U.S. of A. President's Day is a holiday created to honor the birthdays of two of our most revered presidents; George Washington & Abraham Lincoln. 

George Washington was our very first president, serving from 1789-1797. He died two years after leaving office. George Washington is one our most revered presidents because many of the traditions and precedents for the office during our country's infancy were created by him. He refused a lifetime appointment to our king and voluntarily stepped away after serving 2 elected terms. 

Abraham Lincoln is our 2nd most revered president because he was president during the American Civil War. He was elected to 2 terms, but only served one because he was assassinated only weeks into his 2nd term and just days after the Surrender at Appomattox effectively ended the Civil War. 

Both men were born in February, so to honor both of their contributions to our country's history, a national holiday of President's Day was created. Some people, like myself, are lucky enough to get the holiday off from work, while many others must work on this day. When I was in elementary school, I remember getting president's day off, but not later in my school life. In college, we were never given president's day off. 

It has been an interest couple of days here in our house. On Friday I committed a major cooking fail and faux pas when, in an effort to mitigate the smoke from chicken juice dripping into a glass pan while I was roasting it at 450 degree, I poured cold water into the pan. Bad idea! The glass pan shattered causing the cooking chicken to fall flat on the oven grates and glass to go everywhere in the oven. The chicken had to be thrown out along with the roasting potatoes that were in uncovered dutch oven next to the chicken. Wife and I ended up eating Burger King where we shared a Whopper Jr. Meal for 2 for $5 using a special coupon. We at our dinner for $5.48. Probably the cheapest meal we've ever had together! 

On Saturday, at Wife's request, I made 2 large sheet carrot cakes with cream cheese frosting using a recipe from Tasty Of course, we gave most of the cakes away to friends and neighbors. Wife wanted me to make the cakes as a tribute to our neighbor who during the holidays, who really like that version of carrot cake I made for Wife's birthday back in October as a way for her to have closure on his passing. We still have some cake left in the fridge...

Yesterday, Wife and I went with a friend & former co-worker of mine to an area called "Whitewater Draw". At this time of year, there are thousands of Sandhill Cranes wintering there. Those are the true meaning of snowbirds. Here are some pictures!

Today, Wife and I went to The Home Depot to get tools and supplies for 2 projects we're going to be working on. The first is some drywall repair that I need to do in our bedrooms, so I bought a drywall saw, a Stanley retractable knife, a carpenter square, a drywall repair patch, some compound, & drywall screws. The other project we bought materials for is to build a stand for the Japanese festival known as "Hinamatsuri" or Girls Festival, when dolls are displayed on a stand. Wife and I got home and had enough time to cut out one side of the stand, which will be made of plywood connected by 4 support posts. Pictures are to come once we get the stand built and the dolls arranged for the festival, which takes place on March 3rd.

All for today. Have a great week!