Presidents' Day

Mount Rushmore
When I went to school, sometime shortly after the dark ages, we had Washington's Birthday and Lincoln's Birthday. The south never celebrated the latter for various not-forgotten-history reasons. And at some point the federal government thought it made sense to put holidays on Monday. The only holidays not effected by this move to maximize the three day weekends available in any calendar year were the 4th of July (which for obvious reasons is always on the 4th) , Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.

Commerce loves this trend because it gave rise to the Monday sales event. And so on this day ads abound for Washington Birthday Sales. Lincoln has been forgotten because it does not promote well in the south. And perhaps it is appropriate that this day be known for huge sales in the name of our first president because he was also the father of the expense account . . . and padding the expense account. Lincoln, btw, was our 16th president and the first Republican President. He is famous for being assassinated at Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth during a performance of Our Country Cousin. All that is part and parcel of his defeating the south in the bloodiest war in history and freeing the slaves and ergo why the south never celebrated his birthday.

Presidents Day is great for ski resorts. The town of Angel Fire is full of skiers from the surrounding states. Most notably Texas which would not be here if we called it Lincoln's Birthday. In fact, most skiers don't know it as Washington's birthday either unless they read the ads for sales over coffee before hitting the slopes. Since women shop and men don't maybe we should really call this First Ladies Day. Washington, after all, was known to have slept around a great deal. So maybe there is a point to all this needless spending on a Monday.

I am staying home. Certainly not going anywhere close to a retail outlet. My sister and I were thinking of taking a few photos of this land of the free and home of the brave the presidents have governed to better or worse degrees but there is a winter storm advisory including 40 mph hour winds and wind chills of -10. That could be a bit off putting to our skiers too, but there is fresh powder. We got about 4 inches here, which if you are a powder hound isn't real powder, but it is possible to ski without a great deal of special skills.

I don't think Washington or Lincoln skied. Though Washington had a lot of experience with winter storms during his days at Valley Forge while he was perfecting the expense account.

And so with a bow to the Rocky and Bullwinkle show and Fractured History I wish you a pleasant Presidents Day.

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