Sale-A-Bration

 For a while, there was a festival in the mountain town of Nederland, just up the canyon from where I grew up called "Frozen Dead Guy Days." It continues its celebration of "life" in the slightly larger tourist haven a little further up the road in Estes Park. This three day fiesta centers around the story of Grandpa Bredo, whose frozen remains were shipped to the United States from Norway back in 1989 to a cryogenics firm in Oakland, California. Eventually Grandpa was moved to Nederland, Colorado where he was cared for by locals. As much as a frozen dead guy needs care. It was in 2023 when the still very stiff Mister Bredo was moved to the old ice house at the Stanley Hotel, the inspiration for the Stephen King best seller, The Shining. 

So?

It was Grandpa Bredo to whom my thoughts began to wander as I approached Presidents Day. Most of these guys are dead. As far as I know, few if any of them were kept on ice. And yes, perhaps more to the point, these were all guys. Hopefully it won't be too long before this epithet needs some sort of inclusionary reworking, however it should be pointed out that I am one of those people who routinely refers to a group of people of various genders as "guys." 

Sue me.

But after years of celebrating the Best of the Best, Washington and Lincoln, it was decided in 1971 that we should acknowledge the dozens of guys who had held the office with the inclusion of such luminaries as William Henry Harrison, who only managed thirty-some days in the Oval Office before succumbing to pneumonia. If you're keeping score at home, he was the ninth in a series of chief executives of the United States, but even his stubborn insistence to brave the elements at his inauguration without a coat still doesn't qualify him as "frozen." Joe Biden loved him some ice cream, but his choice of dessert does not qualify him, especially since most reports suggest that he is still alive.