It’s National Dog Day!

Today is National Dog Day – who knew?  This gives me a great opportunity to celebrate the dogs in my life!

After my parents were married but before I was born, a beautiful collie named Bruce was the first dog to join the family.  I don’t know why but I’ve always remembered that his registered name was Elesko’s Golden Bruce.



While Bruce (or Brucie as we sometimes called him) was great around my sister and me, when little brother joined the family he couldn’t be trusted around a new baby, not to mention our friends who liked to come play in the back yard.  So we built a separate, fenced off area for him to stay in when we were outside or friends were over. 

I don’t recall what happened to Bruce (or when) but next to join the family was Silver Penny, a miniature poodle.  Quite a change from a collie!



I will always remember Penny’s dainty feet.

Once again, we were dogless (I don’t remember the details) and Buffy, a silver poodle, joined the family.  If I remember correctly, she was named after the little sister on Family Affair played by Anissa Jones.

See the resemblance?



At that point my parents decided that while one dog was fine, two were even better and a little apricot poodle joined our family.  Shortly after we brought this little pup home, my mother visited the beauty parlor for her weekly “do” and told her long-time hairdresser that we hadn’t come up with a name yet.  The hairdresser, who had become a dear friend, said we could use her name and we did.  Meet Tinka!



Unfortunately, Tinka had some health issues and after just a short year or two, the epilepsy became unmanageable and we had to put her down.  So it was time for a new dog. 

I’m guessing that because my parents missed their beautiful collie, yet weren’t ready for a big dog, they decided on a sheltie.  I remember driving the 30 minutes or so to check out a dog, about 7 months old, and discussing on the way there what we should name her.  We thought and thought and were having difficulty coming up with a name when Dad said “let’s name her Tinka”.  No, we couldn’t possibly do that even though we all loved the name.  We arrived at the house, knocked on the door, and the owner greeted us with the beautiful sheltie by her side.  And when she said “come in and meet our dog, Tinker” we knew we had just met our new family member.



It wasn’t long before I met my soon-to-be husband.  I’m not sure why we thought it would be a good idea to get a dog (and I’m sure my future mother-in-law agreed) but we brought Tanya, a german shepherd, into our lives.

Once we were married and living in an apartment, Tanya stayed with my mother-in-law but we did take her on outings whenever we could.



By now we were living in a house which made it the perfect time to bring some dogs into the family.  And one by one they came, and one by one they left for one reason or another.

First up was a yellow lab that if I hadn’t seen this picture of me with the puppy in the house, I would never have believed we ever owned one.  She must not have stayed with us long because either she never got a name or the years have erased it from my mind.

I don’t know, maybe we were just puppy sitting?

Then came Tasha, our golden retriever.  We drove at least an hour, in the middle of the gas crisis of the 1970’s, to pick up this cute little girl.  The breeders had marked each of the dogs by shaving a small spot in a different location so that the prospective buyers could identify which one they wanted.  I believe Tasha was right hind leg but she was more easily identifiable by the muddy paws she had here.



I spent a LOT of time with Tasha going through obedience training, and even a few shows.  And she spent a lot of time going on outings – she even went with us to pick out our Christmas tree.

I guess the “two dogs are better than one” gene didn’t stop with my parents and we became the proud owners of another golden retriever pup, Quiche.  I don’t remember much about Quiche other than she had some sort of growth on her head and was bandaged for what seemed like forever.



Tasha and Quiche, along with a cat, hamster, and four tortoises made the big move from California to Washington with us, all riding in our Toyota station wagon we towed on the back of the U-Haul truck.  What a wild sight that must have been for people as they passed our mobile pet store on the highway.

I don’t remember all the specifics but somehow Quiche was placed in a new home and Tasha went off to a breeder who was anxious to have her lineage in their kennel. 

And for a short time, we were back to one dog, Kodiak.



Cute little dog but I remember NOTHING about her other than her name.  What happened to her?  Where did she go?

And then we were back to the two-dogs-are-better-than-one mentality and Christmas brought us sisters Chelsey (buff) and Maddie (black).  We felt like our kids were finally old enough to really enjoy (and help care for) dogs so two dogs it was.



The pups were cute but having two puppies at the same time was probably not the best decision.  They sure loved going out to our property on the Cowlitz River.



But as so many sisters do, these two sisters fought like we couldn’t imagine.  So as hard as it was, one of them needed to find a new family and, fortunately, a friend was only too happy to bring Maddie into their home.  Perfect solution!

Out of all the dogs we have had as a married couple, Chelsey became the dearest addition to our family.  She loved to lay by the fire and just be close by at all times.  Until she got sick and her life was cut much too short.



Our hearts were broken and it seemed that the best medicine would be to get a new dog to fill our lives.  We decided on another cocker spaniel but the new pet couldn’t look like either Chelsey or Maddie but needed to be an individual.  Enter Kylie!

I know she looks a lot like Chelsey but in reality she was buff and white.  And she grew into a beautiful dog – one who, apparently, wasn’t too photogenic except when she was sleeping.



Unfortunately, we learned the hard way that cars and dogs don’t mix well and we lost Kylie all too soon.  Which should have been the end of the line but for those of you with kids, you know that no matter how old they are they can’t stand to be without a dog.  And what kids don’t like a cute little dalmation?



I will admit that Zoey was an adorable pup but I have NO idea how the family in the Disney movie could have handled not only Zoey, but her 98 brothers and sisters.  That girl was active and mischevious…..but we loved her just the same.  And she grew into a beautiful, loving dog who was happiest when we were camping and playing in or near the river.



And yes, you guessed it – back to the two-dogs-are-better-than-one thought and Payton the border collie came to join us.  Payton was named after my favorite basketball player, Gary Payton.  Boy was she a crafty one and she taught Zoey many tricks, the worst being “watch me climb this fence”.  While a border collie has no trouble scaling a fence, it’s not a good activity for a dalmation.  But they did have fun playing at the river together.



But Payton needed to be on a farm herding sheep and cattle so off she went to live with a friend on a farm to do what she did best.

And then we saw Quincy waiting patiently to be adopted.  He had been returned to the shelter because the owners decided he was just a bit too large for their one bedroom apartment – no kidding!



Once Zoey was gone, Quincy was alone – he really needed a family with kids to keep him active.  And was he ever lucky when we found a family with not just one but THREE kids to love on him.  And as he drove away, he never looked back.

We’ve been dogless now for about 10 years but what great memories we have of the dogs in our life!

Eclipse Fever

There is so much talk about the eclipse tomorrow – people are flooding into the areas of totality, special glasses have flown off the shelves long ago, and there is great interest in what our animals will experience as day turns into night.  Here in my area, we’re expecting about a 92% eclipse.  The last total eclipse in the Seattle area?  1979.  The last total eclipse that spanned the country?  June 8, 1918.  I wonder what the excitement was like nearly 100 years ago as they prepared for the eclipse in a time without social media and instant access to information.

I’ve heard that in 2017, animal shelters are providing special glasses for pets.  Is there a danger that a dog would look directly at the sun to take a peek?  Did they provide special glasses in 1918?  Was this dog, perhaps, getting ready for the eclipse in 1918?

Photo by Abraham Gunzendorfer, Monterey, California

The path of the 1918 eclipse started south of Japan, went across the Pacific Ocean, and then across the United States. The largest city to see totality was Denver although many could theoretically see it as the size of the shadow was between 70 and 44 miles across as it travelled across America. The longest duration of totality was in the Pacific at a point south of Alaska. The path of the eclipse finished near Bermuda.  ^{From wikepedia}

My family was in California (Fresno, Monterey, Santa Cruz) at that time and I wondered what they were hearing and seeing.  Big newspapers of that time were in San Francisco and Oakland and from what I found with a quick search, much like today there was a lot of hype about the upcoming event.

There was a pretty good description of what to expect on page 4 of the June 7, 1918 edition of the Oakland Tribune.



Looks like they were anticipating a 79% shadow in the Bay Area.  Lots of excitement for an event that would last somewhere between 45 seconds and 2 minutes.  Hope my ancestors had their smoked glass ready!

And on the day of the eclipse, June 8, 1918, the San Francisco Chronicle got people even more excited with more information on page 3.

I can just imagine people standing together with their glasses on.  No instant communication back then – you either saw it or you didn’t.  Tomorrow I imagine many of us will be streaming it into the comfort of our own home.



And the day after brought us more pictures as seen here from page 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle, June 9, 1918.



What an exciting time that must have been.  And then it hit me – I have letters that my grandparents wrote back and forth to each other in 1918.  Could they have talked about the eclipse in their letters?

A quick scan of Loraine’s and I found nothing of interest.  But there in the box of letters from Sig to Loraine waiting to be transcribed, his letter of Sunday, June 9, 1918 caught my eye.

After some sweet nothings and explanation of how business was going, he got to this:

"Did you see the eclipse of the sun yesterday.  It was absolutely perfect down this way.  I looked at it through smoked glass – you know we only see that once every hundred years so I guess you and I won’t see many of them.”

So he was right – they didn’t see any together.  But did they ever in their wildest imaginations envision their grandchildren, great grandchildren, and even great great grandchildren experiencing one a century later?

Enjoy the eclipse tomorrow and if you’re planning to watch in person, be sure to wear your special glasses (if, in fact, you were actually able to score some).

National Aviation Day - 2017

Who knew there is a National Aviation Day, which falls on Orville Wright’s birthday, August 19?  It was established in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to encourage interest in aviation in the United States.

I’ve learned that my grandfather, Sig Levy, had a fascination with aviation.  He was training to be a Flying Cadet in 1918 when the war came to an end.  And through his scrapbooks, I’ve found more evidence of his fascination.  I wrote about Glenn Martin HERE after finding some interesting things in Sig’s scrapbook.  And then about Lincoln Beachey HERE. 

So in honor of National Aviation Day today, I went through some boxes to see what I could find in the way of photos of flying machines.  First up, Sig Seeing San Francisco!



This is a postcard with a postmark (actually two postmarks) of June 10, 1913.  But in another place it shows it came from the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915.  Plus it clearly says 1915 on the flag above San Francisco.  So not sure where 1913 comes from.  Anyway, that’s Sig driving on the left – not sure who the young lad is with him.

I’m not sure what to make of the large manilla envelope filled with 8x10 glossys of airplanes I found in his things.  But a couple of them stood out for me.

Maybe this photo fascinated him because of the mention of Flying Cadets.



Flying Cadets Witness Aerial Demonstration

Flashing overhead in wave after wave, 250 low wing monoplanes of the Gulf Coast Air Corps Training Center at Randolph Field, Texas, recently demonostrated the might of Uncle Sam’s expanding air force to 25,000 spectators and the 900 future pilots, now in training at the “West Point of the Air.”  An involuntary cheer went up from the Flying Cadets, formed in ranks along the field’s edge as veteran flying instructors flashed across the airdome wing tip to wing tip.  The occasion ---- gala press preview of “I Wanted Wings,” motion picture of Flying Cadet Life, made in cooperation with the Air Corps.  3-26-41

Another one from Randolph Field.

Prized Skyships in the Hands of Experts

There’s an old saying in the Cavalry, “The horse eats, drinks, and sleeps before the soldier.”  While the Flying Cadet of Randolph Field, Texas, the U.S. Army’s huge basic training school, has a sleek, high-powered low-winged monoplane for his mount, it gets the same loving care.  Only the most skilled mechanics can approach one of these swift trainers, to keep it in shape for its hours in the air.  Here the carefully trained men check over the basic trainers after a day of flying, pump in gas and oil before “bedding it down” in the hangar for the night, tuned up and ready for another day of perfect performance.  11-23-40

This shows passengers and equipment being loaded onto a Douglas Transport, C-39, Selfridge Field, Michigan.  Not sure why this might have been important to him, other than because it is a plane because heaven knows, he didn’t have enough photos of planes (I’m sparing readers the other 50 or so that I have with no identification).



Skipping ahead a few years, I found a couple of photos of interest from the scrapbook my dad kept (yes, he scrapbooked too) during his time in Europe as World War II was ending.

Dad captioned this Gen. Spaatz comes to call.  And from the dates of other photos, I know this is 1946.



That would be Gen. Carl Andrew Spaatz, 1891-1974.

And he captioned this one Gen.. Carl Spaatz, then commanding the USAF, and Colonel Stewart bid each other fond goodbyes.  “Well, Tooey….”



Turns out Gen. Spaatz’ nickname was Tooey.

This photo of the United Airlines plane was in my dad’s slides.  At first I thought I could be the girl in the back with what could have been my brother in front of me.  But as I look closer I’m wondering if the man at the back of the line is my dad and I’m the little one in front of him. 



If that’s true, this could have been from about 1960 when we flew to Las Vegas.  I have a horrible memory of flying into Las Vegas with severe turbulence.  I remember getting so sick that I um, um, you know….got sick all over my clothes.  When we finally landed mom got me out of my clothes and wrapped me in one of the wool blankets that the airlines provided.  Wool?  In Las Vegas?  I just remember feeling mortified as I was led through the airport WRAPPED IN A BLANKET so that we could get to the restroom and get my clothes changed.  So maybe this was the plane.

What’s this?  Mom at Kemayoran Airport?  I’d never heard of it before so looked it up – it was the principal airport in Jakarta, Indonesia from July 8, 1940 to March 31, 1985.  My parents went to Indonesia????

In 1986, we headed north for the Expo in Vancouver which featured, coincidentally, transportation and communication.  I’m not sure what happened to the rest of this plane!



Not to forget other modes of aircraft, I came across this photo of a supply helicopter from one of my husband’s fishing expeditions to the Queen Charlotte Islands.  I think I’m happy I wasn’t there.



Okay, so I had to also throw in something that was a little more tame.  Our daughters rocking that plane in 1980.  Seems like just yesterday……..

Scrapbook #3 – Sig Levy

Time to move on to Scrapbook #3, the next of Sig’s scrapbooks.  I love that he scrapbooked so diligently, especially when he added interesting photos and newspaper articles.  So he started this scrapbook here.



No question who the scrapbook belongs to and in his own handwriting, he confirmed his date of birth.  I really like this photo of him.

A few other photos on the first page – a couple of which are ones I’ve seen before.  No telling if he added these to the scrapbook because they were his favorite photos or maybe he just had extras.





This might not have been one of Sig’s favorite photos but it sure is one of mine.  He looks cool as a cucumber as he walks down the street.



And then came the newspaper articles.  Interesting to see that the population of Tokyo wasn’t all that much different than it is today.  But North Korea, a country top of mind right now, has gone from a population of 10,089,000 at the end of 1960 to 25.37 million in 2016.



Boy have things changed at Coca Cola!  Revenue in 1961 was $500 million compared to $9.702 billion in 2017.



I don’t know much about the Sciots organization and nothing about D.A. Deeter, but it was interesting enough in 1961 for Sig to add it to his scrapbook.  Although I will admit that Sig found pretty much everything interesting enough to add to his scrapbook.  Maybe one of Mr. Deeter’s descendants will find my blog.



And, of course, no scrapbook would be complete without some articles about Sig.  I love hearing about his 50th high school reunion – I probably shouldn’t admit that mine is just five short years away.



There were only 16 people attending?  Although that’s a pretty good turnout for a class with only 31 of 46 graduates still living.  I don’t recognize any of the names mentioned.



And look – an article with a photo!



REALTORS HONORED.  C.S. (Doc) Colhouse, past president of the Fresno Realty Board, gives certificates designating these real estate men as honorary presidents.  Left to right, O.S. Fassett, who joined the board in 1922, George Peterson, 1920, and Sigmund Levy, 1912.

No, Sig is not sitting down nor are the others standing on steps. 

And once again he is the proud dad of Robert Levy, my dad’s only sibling.



Come back next time for more from Scrapbook #3.

Machines and roadsters and cars…..Oh my!

While looking through the hundreds of photos I have, I started to notice a theme – CARS!  It seems like my family had a fascination with cars, which I would never have thought much about if it weren’t for these photos.

As I’ve transcribed the letters between my grandparents, I’ve learned that my grandmother referred to this form of transportation as a machine.  I guess when you’re a high school student/young adult in the early 1900’s, it sure must have seemed like a machine.  If only she could see where we’ve come today.

I don’t know the date of this photo but I’m guessing it to be about the “machine” days that Loraine referred to.  If you look closely, I think that might be my grandfather, Sig Levy, in the middle seat on the right side.



I have no idea if any of these folks are family members as the only notation on the back says Tire Troubles, by Ben Epstein, 1910.  I found some references to a Ben Epstein in Fresno about that time but without further research, I don’t know how, or even if, he is in some way related to my family.  Even in 1910, someone had a camera ready!



This photo is of Loraine’s father, Abraham Gunzendorfer, posing in front of a car.  I think the little guy on his knee is my dad’s brother, Rob.  If I’m right, since Rob was born in November, 1920 this photo must be from about 1921.



Here’s a handsome car, and one that someone was apparently pretty proud of.  It looks like this could be in front of Abe’s house.



What do you think – same house?  I think it is!



I think this looks like the same car in front of a different house.  While my grandmother didn’t tell me the identities of the people in most of these photos, she did tell me the dates.  This is from March 22, 1922.



I think it’s fun to see the people peeking out from inside so, of course, I had to enlarge it to see if I could make out who they were.  Sure enough, that’s Loraine in the passenger seat!  I wish I knew who was in the back – the baby doesn’t look old enough to be Rob as he would have been 17 months at that time. 



By June 28, 1926, there was a new car to take a photo of.  Nothing here looks familiar – wish I had more details.



Another photo of Abe, this time with his wife, Birdie Schwartz, in front of a car.  Was this another new one?  Unfortunately grandma forgot to date this one for me.



By April 5, 1936, Grandma was taking photos in front of a car.  Was this a new car?  And who is the woman with her?  Maybe a cousin or sister-in-law?  I can tell it’s in the back of the house in Fresno my dad grew up in but that’s about it.



Christmas Day, 1937 shows Loraine in front of a car – is it the same one as above?  Or, could it have been a Christmas present from Sig?



Based on other photos I have with Birdie dressed like this, I think this photo might have been from 1942.  Love that she had her white gloves in her hand!



This is probably from the same ‘event’ – that’s Abe Gunzendorfer (Loraine’s dad), Gordon Levy (my dad), and Sig Levy (his dad).  This could have been in any number of cities.



Now who are these lovely ladies?  I do know that’s Loraine on the right and the date was March 12, 1943 but nothing else looks familiar.  But there they are having a laugh in front of a car!



How about this car?  That’s Loraine driving and since she didn’t go far, this would have to be in Fresno.  I remember having a car like that when I was very little – it makes me wonder if at some point the car was passed down to my parents.



Loraine posing again in the back of their house in Fresno – the photo is dated October 9, 1955.  She looks pretty proud.



I know nothing about this photo other than that it’s my dad, Gordon Levy.  I don’t know where he is but I’m guessing he’s on vacation somewhere.  And it looks to be the late 1950’s or early 1960’s.  I wish I could see the front of that bag he’s holding but it looks just like the Pan Am bag that was filled with “stuff” that we pulled out of a closet at their home a few years ago. 



I’m sure I’ll find more photos with cars and other modes of transportation.  Between that and houses, it seemed like a good back drop for a photo!