F86D

Zeke and Armed Forces Day

Today is Armed Forces Day. The holiday was created in 1949 by President Truman to celebrate the patriots in the armed forces. Today I decided to show a vintage F86D “Sabre Dog”. I took the photograph at the JBLM (McChord) Air Museum. Something about this picture does not look right. Anyway, The Sabre Dog first flew in 1952 and could go as fast as 700 miles per hour. It carried no guns. It had four missiles inside an internal weapons bay. It was an interceptor designed to shoot down bombers.

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F86D Sabre Dog 317th FIS

This sabre dog is painted in the 317th Fighter Interceptor Squadron colors, which all of their airplanes had.

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cat and game

International Table Top Day Today & Yesterday

About three years ago, actor Wil Wheaton (Star Trek the Next Generation)  started International Table Top day.  The point is to celebrate the joy of playing table top board games with your friends. 

Zeke yawning

Time to wake up!  It’s International Table Top Day

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Winter Tales II / Hello Kitty hat

Today we shall view an old German winter scene, and a photo of my cat in a hat!

It was one year ago that I showed a woman using an ice-skate running frame. This print comes from my vintage German Annual of “Die Gartenlaube” (Garden Arbor) magazine for 1868. 

The picture depicts a lady riding on an ice sled, who is going to church.  She is traveling over one of the “Oberbayerische Seen” or upper Bavarian lakes.  Note the spikes on the end of the poles the man is using, to propel the sled along. In the background, see a man propelling himself along the ice, standing on a sled, like a gondolier in Venice, if the canals were frozen over! People in the Northeast might want to build a few of these.

SnowSled 1868 Gartenlaube 1 BW

Below, Zeke is keeping warm wearing his Hello Kitty hat, and sitting upon his wolf blanket.

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Thanksgiving postcard 1921

Happy Thanksgiving / Christmas tree 2014

When my father was only a child, he saved the holiday postcards he received. There is a large collection which are mostly valentines and Christmas cards. Today in honor of Thanksgiving, I present a postcard from 1921:

1921

1921

In the upper left corner, we see a “pilgrim” girl waving at the turkey, while she holds what appears to be an ear of indian corn. Bye, bye! To the dinner table with you!

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Previously, we were complaining about having nothing to do around here. Instead of lying about, we decided to put up a Christmas tree and other holiday decorations. A small artificial tree was put together. Opie supervised the placement of the tree, and declared the position to be satisfactory.

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We finally finished most of the tree decorating, but not all. There is no shiny tinsel. The cats like to play with tinsel and eat it! Tinsel is not allowed! There are a few more special ornaments I must find, and place upon the tree. Overall, Opie was satisfied with the results of our labor so far.

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This does not smell like a REAL tree!

Zeke

Zeke

You need to add more dangling things at the bottom for me to bat around! (Will do!)

Marigold

Marigold

Why are the lights off?

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I did not ask for the camera flash!

Thanksgiving Day we prowl about as the holiday turkey is being cooked. After we eat, we groom and sleep, while the humans watch football.

American Road Trip Motel Postcards (1950’s – 1980’s) / “Tiger”

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Near Montgomery, Alabama 1950’s. Free TV, Spring Air Mattresses, Heating, combination bathtub and shower.

There is nothing I like better than going on a long road trip. If you need to get somewhere quickly, airplanes are the way to go. If you want to have fun, you need to travel by automobile. Motels used to leave postcards in the room for guests to use. It was a good way to advertise their establishment. I would always take them, and mail them to people. Sometimes I had a few left over. What you will see today, are a few of my leftover post cards. They range in age from the 1950’s to the 1990’s. Most, but not all, of these motels still exist today. I was always wanting to stay where they had a swimming pool. If there is a pool in the photo, I swam in it! Having a large sign which could be seen from the highway was very important. Fasten your seat-belt as we travel the highways and byways of America on the open road, and look for a nice place to spend the night.

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