WASHINGTON - PRESIDENT George W. Bush has pardoned his last Thanksgiving turkey and now muses about life after the White House, while aides talk eagerly of books they may pen, vacations abroad, and quiet family time.

Mr Bush has promised for months to 'sprint to the finish' - meaning not that he can't wait for midday on Jan 20, but that he will wring every minute out of his final days as the 43rd president of the United States.

With the finish line closer than ever, the president and some of his close advisers are more willing to talk about life after he hands the keys to the White House to Mr Barack Obama, ending Mr Bush's eight years in office.

'One of the things I'm beginning to realise is that you get prepared for that moment during these final months. Today was my last pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey,' he said last week in the traditional rite of clemency for a bird that might otherwise be the holiday's main course.

'I'm confident I'll adjust,' he told ABC television, evoking the possibility of writing a book, and caring for his presidential library and archives to commemorate his turbulent time at the helm.

Mr Bush, who sits at record lows in popularity, has mentioned other projects, including finding ways to pursue his widely praised efforts to overhaul and expand US efforts to battle diseases like HIV/Aids and malaria.

As for the book, 'I want people to know what it's like to make some of the decisions I had to make,' he told CNN. 'I've had one of these presidencies where I had to make some tough calls. I want people to know the truth.'

But Mr Bush knows he won't stick around Washington: 'I know I'm going be in Texas. No doubt I'm heading straight home. I miss Texas. I love Texas. I've got a of lot of friends in Texas.'

And 'I tell you what I don't want to do, I don't want to draw attention to myself,' he told ABC. 'I'd like to live life without the limelight for a while.'

'I'm looking forward to the more normal daily life,' agreed US First Lady Laura Bush.

While Mr Bush's plans aren't completely set in stone, White House spokesman Dana Perino has the first four and a half weeks mapped out: Leave the night of Jan 20 for a few days in Scotland with her husband.

They will head to the Middle East for a few days, then spend two weeks or so touring South Africa's parks, and then do volunteer work on HIV/Aids, before returning to Washington on March 3, she told AFP in her West Wing office.

Ms Perino said she had signed up with a speakers' bureau but 'from there I don't know what I'm going to do'. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said she will 'get back west of the Mississippi as fast as I can' - to Stanford University, where she taught before becoming Mr Bush's first national security adviser - and hopes to 'write a book or two', but has not decided whether they would be autobiographical.

She also hopes to 'reconnect' with her interest in education.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates, brought aboard after the 2006 elections, has opted to stay on under Mr Obama.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney's penchant for secrecy seems to extend to his post-administration plans. 'He plans on spending more time with his grandkids,' was all spokesman Megan Mitchell would say.

A senior Bush aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, explains that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the global economic meltdown have gobbled up time to figure out what to do in two months.

'There are some people who have an idea what they are going to do, most of us don't,' he said. 'Most people would not have expected to be busy right now. I am as busy today as at any time working at the White House.'

Still, 'everyone's been sort of looking forward to being able to have somewhat of a normal life', said the official, who described working seven days a week, rising at 4.00am on weekdays and sleeping in until 6.30am on weekends.

Mr Bush himself has few illusions about whether Mr Obama will ask for his advice: 'Obviously, one of my parting words to him will be: 'If I can help you, let me know.' Crises 'come so hard and so fast' when you're president', he told ABC, that 'you reach out beyond the White House' but end up relying on 'a trusted group of people'. -- AFP