In the past five months, western Washington has received a year’s worth of rain. Hahaha. Ugh.

Speaking of Washington, I have had some time to think about the Chernow biography I finished. I dogeared so many pages but didn’t exactly take as many margin notes as I wanted to (don’t often have a pencil handy). Overall I would highly recommend the book as a thorough, comprehensive, and unflinching take on our first president. For every reverent description of Washington’s integrity and courage, Chernow also does not shy away from his lifelong status as a slave owner, “benevolent” or not. He gives us an honest account of all sides of this man, while reminding us that it is folly to view people of the past through the lens of the present.

How about some “fun” facts?

+ In his will, he freed all of his slaves. Which may have been the least he could have done, but bear in mind, he was the only slave-holding founder to do that. Jefferson’s slaves went to the auction block after his death, and Madison did not free his either, despite his being the father of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I’m so conflicted about Madison. Anyway.

+ George Washington died from a rapidly advancing bacterial infection of his epiglottis, something that we would treat today with a simple course of penicillin, and otherwise known as strep throat. As doctors attempted to treat him with primitive measures, he was drained of FIVE PINTS OF BLOOD. I mean, that could have been what killed him. Bloodletting had been around since ancient times, and let’s face it, had never worked. Doctors would continue to engage in this counter-intuitive treatment for another hundred years before figuring out that oh, people need blood …inside their bodies?? Really?

+ Washington basically had no teeth in the latter half of his life. It is unknown why his teeth were so structurally unsound; did he have a sweet tooth, was it genetic? Anyway he kept having them pulled, and dealt with several dentists to create different sets of dentures, which used wire springs and either human teeth (from slaves!) or ivory teeth, and were always uncomfortable. He did not enjoy public speaking. His correspondence with these dentists was carried on in coded language, as he was so self-conscious about his mouth.

+ When King George III was in the throes of his madness in 1789, for a time he was convinced that he himself was George Washington.

Btw, this portrayal of his majesty in the “John Adams” miniseries is so, so good. The crazy eyes.

+ The term “biting the bullet” originated during the Revolutionary War, when soldiers being disciplined for infractions by lashings would bite down on a lead bullet in order to endure the pain of their punishment.

+ Washington had constant financial problems, always lived extravagantly and beyond his means, and when he did manage to live at Mount Vernon, had to entertain constant visitors and guests, which further siphoned away any money he had. Because he refused to break up the families of his slaves, and later would not sell them, their population increased naturally to a number that became increasingly difficult to sustain.

+ On June 6 1790, George Washington went on a fishing trip off Sandy Hook with Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. I literally would have read an entire book about that trip, if there were any surviving details about it.