It is Sunday, November 15 and there are only 11 days until Thanksgiving.  You should have started thawing the turkey by now if you want it ready to cook by then.  And hey, don’t forget to take the bag of organs out before you cook it.  Today we remember the birthdays of Sir William Herschel, Georgia O’Keeffe and Mantovani.  On this day in 1777 the Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress, in 1806 Explorer Zebulon Pike sighted Pike’s Peak and in 1920 the League of Nations held its first meeting, in Geneva.  In Belgium it is King’s Day, in Brazil it is Republic Day and in Japan it is 7-5-3 Festival Day.

For those of you who are wondering, the Articles of Confederation was the first written constitution of the United States.  Stemming from wartime urgency, its progress was slowed by fears of central authority and extensive land claims by states before was it was ratified on March 1, 1781. Under these articles, the states remained sovereign and independent, with Congress serving as the last resort on appeal of disputes.  Congress was also given the authority to make treaties and alliances, maintain armed forces and coin money.  However, the central government lacked the ability to levy taxes and regulate commerce, issues that led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 for the creation of new federal laws.  So you can see that even back then the government wanted more control.  I hope you will find this information useful the next time you are at a party making small talk.

Big news!  The stairs have been completed.  The permit has been signed off.  Now we just have to wait for the town to give the CO and then we are completely done with the old house and can move on.  I know you are all waiting to hear about the experiences we had in getting all this taken care of, but it will have to wait until everything is official.  I do not want to take the slightest chance that something I write could screw things up.  Stay tuned.

This past week, I celebrated the 36^th anniversary of my 30^th birthday.  People always ask how it feels to be whatever age you are.  I always tell them I don’t know, I just got there.  I am not really sure how I feel.  Part of me never expected to ever be this old.  When you were a kid, you thought about being over 60 and you figured that if you got there you would be an old, decrepit guy with no hair, hearing aids, and a cane or walker.  You pictured yourself wearing plaid shirts buttoned up to the collar and wearing pants with the waist band pulled up to just under your nipples.  I was always sure that I would be a nice old guy who had no teeth, couldn’t hear and just sat around waiting for my next trip to the bathroom.

As I matured (even though some would argue that I haven’t yet), I realized that I might not be as bad off as I originally thought.  True, I do not hear as well as I used to, but I am not ready for hearing aids yet.  While I do not have as much hair as I used to and some of it stops at my nose and my ears, I still have a decent amount and not all of it is gray.  I am nowhere near as bad as I thought I would be when I was a kid.  To be honest, when I was a kid I had a hard time thinking this far into the future.

When I was 12, there is no way you would have convinced me that I would see the turn of the century.  “The year 2000?  Are you kidding?  I’ll be dead long before that happens.”  I don’t know if I was just dumb or if I really believed that I would not last that long.  It was hard to imagine, back in 1961 that I would ever experience something like that.  But here I am, 15 years past the turn.  I am 66 and still standing.  If I had known that I was going to make it this far, I might have taken better care of myself!

  But seriously, I still have a lot of things I want to do.  I intend to hang around for quite some time.  I think the key is to keep active.  They say that you are only as old as you feel.  While I do not feel like I am in my twenties, I also do not feel like I am in my eighties.  I actually feel like I am 66 and that’s a good thing.

This week I have a series of facts for you, more small talk fodder.  The average human bladder can hold 13 ounces of liquid.  This would explain my multiple trips to the bathroom on Veterans Day.  I had my usual two cups of coffee at breakfast.  Add to that three stops at various Starbucks because they were giving away free 12 ounce coffees to veterans.

The average person spends 12 weeks a year “looking for things.”  If the average person has just moved into a new home, like we did, they will spend more time than that just figuring out where they put stuff after they put it away.

The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.  I usually fall asleep as my head hits the pillow. 

The average American looks at eight houses before buying one.  Does that include the ones you view on-line?  We looked at a lot more than eight if it does.

The average US marriage lasts about 9.4 years.  The lovely Elaine and I have been married for over 42 years.  I guess we are above average.

The average North American will eat 35,000 cookies during their life span.  Please!  I beat that number a long time ago just eating the cookies my mother used to make at Christmas.

And finally, the average person spends about two years on the phone in a lifetime and most of that is done listening to lousy hold music and being told that my call is important.