Well, today is my 65th birthday and that kind of takes me aback when I think about it. I guess that I am now officially a Senior Citizen. As my father always used to say about getting older is that „it sure beats the alternative.“

OMG! Old Fritz is really old, old Fritz. Sheesh.

I don’t feel any different today than I did yesterday, when I was a young pup all of 64, or for that matter, ages 60, 50, 40… 10. I still enjoy playtime and goofing off every now and then. The only difference is that now I know when it is time to act responsibly. Sigh.

Lady Emma Cuddleston-Smythe and I spent Sunday afternoon doing daughter-dad activities, first and foremost of which was building a gingerbread house. One would imagine that a skilled modeler and craftsman (ahem, me?) would be able to decipher instructions and build a professional looking gingerbread house. Then again, maybe not.

I was having trouble manipulating the icing cone, from which one draws a bead of icing onto the gingerbread parts with the icing acting sort of like glue. The application should be as easy as using a caulking gun (can’t recall the last time that I actually used one), but I was having problems getting a nice straight bead of icing on the walls of the house.

Needless to say, I shant be competing in the National Bake Off Competition anytime soon. Once the walls and roof were assembled, I turned the job over to Lady Emma Cuddleston-Smythe forthe decorating part of the task.

The obligatory Golden Retriever:

Mrs. Fritz decided that since it was my birthday on the morrow, that I had earned some painting time in the Man Cave. For that I was most appreciative and so I put my time to good use. I painted and based a Russian officer stand vignette and did the same with a Prussian munitions wagon.

Next on my Russian to do list, paint limber horses and riders to lead the Russian 2-wheel and 4-wheel wagons that Ed Phillips made for me.