Polish Sled Dogs

Any Polish speakers out there?  I thought about trying my hand with Google translate, but I suspect I'd get some mash-up that makes only marginal sense.  What's really important is that these two photos are dated.  The top, 1976 and the bottom, 1977.

Anyway, I did do some research into Zakopane, Poland.  It's a town, 28,000 people as of 2004, on the southern border of Poland, near Slovakia. It's at the foot of the Tatra Mountains.  The first written reference to Zakopane dates back to the mid 17th century, referenced not as a town, but a meadow.  By 1676, a village of 43.  By 1889, a climatic health resort of 3,000.  (That's when the treatment of tuberculosis was clean, mountain air.)  And then there was the Hitler/Stalin Pact.  People have forgotten, but World War 2 pretty much began with a joint German, Soviet invasion of Poland.  Soviet NKVD agents and Gestapo officers met in Zakopane to formulate a plan for the pacification of Polish resistance movements.  Today Zakopane is a resort catering to mountaineers, Alpine, and Nordic skiers, snow boarders, and ski jumpers.

Now about the dogs.  The guy who sold these to me swore up and down that they're Saint Bernards.  I don't think he's right but then again, the only dogs I've ever had were mutts, so what do I know.  In our pet-centric world, it's hard to remember, but there was a time when dogs that didn't work, didn't get fed.  I'm going to recommend a DVD, Landmarks of Early Film.  From Blackhawk and Image Entertainment, it's an anthology of film shorts from 1886 to 1913, including The Dog and His Various Merits.  Released in France, in 1908 by Pathe, it's pretty much what the title implies, working dogs, working.  If you've ever wanted to see a dog delivering milk, here's your chance.

Winter In Wisconsin

Yet another example of a dealer cutting up a photo album for fun and profit!   I hate it!

Well, now that I've got that off my chest....I had some problems getting a good, centered scan on the two individual pictures.  So, to help out, the caption on the left photo, "How do you like the "Pepsodent" smile?  It's just to keep warm.  Temp. 20 below zero.  Some fun!  Come to "sunny" Wis for your winter vacation!!??"  Both excited and questioning at the same time.  She must be confused.  No doubt caused by the extreme cold.  Down hill or cross country skis?  Which would be a colder sport?

And the other photo..."The right figure is the leaning tower pose.  Alias Hampton Purdy."  It's such a unique name that I decided to give a quick Google search just to see what's to see.  I found two Hampton Purdys on Ancestry.com.  R. Hapton Purdy, born 1890 in Canada, in 1930, residing in Appleton,  Outagamie County, Wisconsin.  And Hampton R. Purdy, born 1917, also residing in Appleton.  Father and son would be my guess.  I'm thinking the photo is the son.  Of course, once Ancestry.com asked for a credit card number, my research into Purdy, father and son, ended.

Snow Shoeing

It snowed in the mountains of southern California.  If my tires weren't on the bald side, if I had remembered to take the chains out of the trunk of my last car before sending it to the junk yard, I'd spend my weekend snow shoeing.  Of course, I'd leave all the gear behind.  Let's see, rifle, giant frying pan, bucket, blankets, and who knows what else.

Where's the Snow?

I don't know when this picture was taken, but I do know where.  It's The Mt. Waterman Ski area in the Angeles National Forest, Los Angeles County, California.  Yes Virginia, there is skiing in L.A. At least, when there's enough snow.

  It's going to a be lean, dry year in California, and for those out there who don't care, a brief reminder.  Half of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States are grown in California's San Joaquin Valley, dependent on Sierra snow pack for water.  Food shortages in America.  Thank you human caused climate change, that as we know, doesn't really exist.  I understand the doubt, but I've never got the right wing conspiracy theories.

Zweierbob

No, I'm not going to translate the text from this German tobacco card.  My one term of college German, forty years ago, and Google translate isn't enough to  figure out what all this says.  Any German speakers out there, have at it, and if you're willing to post a translation in the comments section, I for one will be grateful.

We've all heard of the Nazi Olympics of 1936.  Berlin, Jessie Owens, and all that.  But, there were two Nazi games.  1936 was the third and last time  the same country hosted both the summer and winter games. Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a resort town in Bavaria, hosted the skiers, skaters and bob-sledders.

G-P (No, I'm not going to spell it out every time.) is also the place where Avery Brundage, the only American IOC President, died.  That's an interesting coincidence, because Brundage was partly responsible for an American presence at Berlin and G-P.   The IOC had awarded the games to Germany in 1931, the year before the Nazis came to power.  After Hitler became Chancellor, and well before the games were set to begin, Jews had been expelled from all German sports clubs,and the anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws had been passed.  Kristallnacht was two years in the future.

As a response to the growing anti-Semitism in Germany, a movement to withdraw from the German games began within the American Olympic Committee.  Avery Brundage, at the time a member of the committee and head of The Amateur Athletic Union, became the major opponent of a boycott.  At one point he referred to what was going on in Germany as a minor religious dispute.  In the end, Brundage won the day.

Brundage was also instrumental in Jessie Owens fourth gold medal in the 4x100 relay at Berlin.  Owens wasn't scheduled to be in the race, but Brundage ordered the removal of two Jewish runners from the event.  To Owens' credit, he tried to refuse his placement in the race, but wasn't given a choice.  Ralph Metcalfe, the other replacement, also tried to decline a spot in the relay.  When Jessie Owens left a post Olympic tour of Europe to return home, Avery Brundage stripped him of his amateur status.  Nice guy.

So, how did Brundage end his days in G-P?  At the age of 85, he married a 36 year old German princess, and became a German resident.

I'd say we learned from all this, but current IOC President Thomas Bach is  trying to put on a happy face about Russian human rights violations, including anti-gay laws.  Let the games begin!

Snowed In

Another photo of guys hanging out in the snow.  This time, I'm guessing about ten to fifteen years latter than those in the last post.   Take a look at the guy in the middle.  He bears a slight resemblance to one of the guys seen yesterday.  Not close enough for a sure fire connection, but I did get all photos from this and the last post from the same source.

Idaho Snow

College guys from the same frat?  That's my guess and I'm stickin' with it.  Just a bunch of guys getting ready to go out and face the real world as free and easy adults.  Hanging out with the guys at the cabin.  A little poker, whiskey, and a cigar or two.  I get a late thirties early forties feeling from these pictures, so the world they were about to face would be neither free nor easy.

Winter Sports In the Dolomites

Written on the back of the second photograph, "Selva  Dolomiten, Dezember 1956"

Selve refers to a small community in the Dolomite Mountains in the  South Tyrol region of northern Italy, Selva di Val Gardena, or as it's known in German, Wolkenstein in Groden.

 So why all the German?  Pretty simple, actually.  The South Tyrol was once part of Austria-Hungary.  At the beginning of World War 1, there were two political blocks in Europe.  The Triple Entente, Great Britain, France, and Russia, and the Triple Alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.  When the war started, Italy dropped out of the alliance.  In 1915, the British promised the Italians the South Tyrol if they'd switch sides and declare war on the Germans and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  The Italians didn't do all that well in the actual fighting, but after the war, they were able to annex the South Tyrol.  Despite attempts to "Italianize" the area, the majority of people still speak German.  In Selva, 89% speak Ladin, a local dialect.  The remaining 11% are about equally divided between Italian and German.

Winter Sports

Winter is coming and it's time to think about winter sports.  Why is it that only one person acknowledges the camera?  Are the others just unaware or are they too hip to smile and say cheese?  I'm guessing hip detachment, and  the lady  mugging for the camera is the only fun one of the lot.