1/1/09 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I bet there are a lot of hung over people in this RV today. I know I'm living with one. I bet Bob didn't get out of his chair all day!

I just watched TV all day until late afternoon when I met most of the other Activities Staff at the Cantina for the "day after feed".

Since we had quite a bit of food left over we decided to serve it today to get rid of it. Now of course we didn't have enough to feed all 144 again but this morning we told people as we saw them to bring a paper plate to the Cantina at five for snacks. All told, probably 40 people showed up and the food was eaten, no leftovers. We re-heated the meatballs, the chicken wings, got out the dips and veggies, the beer bread and garlic dip, the desserts and everything else we had leftover and we did it all again. So it was all good. Next year, we'll make a dinner. This appetizer thing is too much work.

Did you ever wonder it was like a hundred years ago? What it was like for the people of 1909? Here are some facts from that time to ponder.

• The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years old.
• Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S had a bathtub.
• Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
• A three-minute call from Denver to New York City Cost $11.
• There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads
• The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
• Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California; with a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.
• The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!
• The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour.
• The average U.S. Worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
• A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,
  a dentist made $2,500 per year, a veterinarian $1,500 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
• More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at HOME.
• Ninety percent of all U.S. Doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as "substandard."
• Sugar cost four cents a pound.
  Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
  Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
• Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
• Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.
• Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:
  1. Pneumonia and influenza
  2. Tuberculosis
  3. Diarrhea
  4. Heart disease
  5. Stroke
• The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.
• The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!!
• Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.
• There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
• Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.
• Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
• Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."
• There were only about 230 reported Murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A.!

1909 vs. 2009 I'll take 2009, they didn't have RV's back then, or Pepsi's or M&M's.

It's that time to look at the stats for last month.

We had a total of 1,468 visitors and they read a total of 2,340 pages.

Readers were here around the clock, maybe not every day but at some point in the past 31 days, every hour had someone reading.

Visitors came from 21 foreign countries.

The busiest day on the blog was Sunday, December 28th.

The most visits came from:

• New Jersey - 266 visits (Livingston -221) Thank you Livingston!
• California - 234 visits (San Jose - 75) (San Bernadino - 71) (L.A. - 66)
• Arizona - 153 visits (Arizona City, where we are, 138)
• Virginia - 79 visits (Reston - 58)
• Pennyslvania - 45 visits (Philadelphia 42)

New York, you're slipping this month, must have been all the holiday parties cutting into your blog reading time.

Once again, family, friends, loyal readers, Bob and I wish you a HAPPY, HEALTHY, PROSPEROUS New Year!