Two Barking Dogs

Again, a found photo with no further information other than it came from a group of photos that came from Michigan & Wisconsin.  I’m guessing at the date, and taking a wide guess as coming from the 1950’s, again based upon the dates on the other photos that came in the same batch.

I have been fishing in my life, but having grown up in Florida, my experiences were very different from this one!  I really can’t imagine why anyone would do this on purpose, but these guys do look happy in a frigid, frost-bitten way.  Maybe they’re out looking for a suitable fish to make into Lutefisk?  (Hint: If ever offered Lutefisk, just say “thanks, but no thanks.”)

What is Lutefisk you ask? Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

Lutefisk is made from dried whitefish (normally cod, but ling is also used), prepared with lye, in a sequence of particular treatments. The watering steps of these treatments differ slightly for salted/dried whitefish because of its high salt content.

The first treatment is to soak the stockfish in cold water for five to six days (with the water changed daily). The saturated stockfish is then soaked in an unchanged solution of cold water and lye for an additional two days. The fish swells during this soaking and its protein content decreases by more than 50 percent, producing its famous jelly-like consistency. When this treatment is finished, the fish (saturated with lye) has a pH value of 11–12, and is therefore caustic. To make the fish edible, a final treatment of yet another four to six days of soaking in cold water (also changed daily) is needed. Eventually, the lutefisk is ready to be cooked.

In Finland, the traditional reagent used is birch ash. It contains high amounts of potassium carbonate and hydrocarbonate, giving the fish a more mellow treatment than would sodium hydroxide (lyestone). It is important to not incubate the fish too long in the lye, because saponification of the fish fats may occur, effectively rendering the fish fats into soap. The term for such spoiled fish in Finnish is saippuakala (soap fish).

Can you say yuck?  Kind of puts a whole new spin on sitting out in the freezing cold and hoping that a fish doesn’t grab the line!

One of the things I like the most about postcards is researching something about the subject or era.  When I came across this one, I thought about the times I have driven my own car along Daytona Beach, however, never at the speeds these men raced.   I also grumbled under my breath about having my 1977 Pontiac Firebird towed off the beach when I wasn’t looking! Racing on the beach at Daytona stopped in 1958.   I’m not totally sure of the date of this postcard.  The subjects, however, are from the 1920’s to 1930’s.

A little bit of background,

• Over his 25 year racing career, Sir Malcolm Campbell broke the world Land Speed Record nine times, five of those were in Daytona Beach between 1928 and 1935.  Racers have long been attracted to Daytona Beach, originally racing along the wide flat sand beaches on the East Coast of Florida.  Sir Malcolm’s most famous run at Daytona was in 1935 when he drove Blue Bird V, a supercharged V-12 (Rolls Royce engine) vehicle at a speed of 276.82 mph.  His futuristic designs are said to have influenced modern car designers.  Can anyone say Batmobile?
• In March 1927, Sir Henry O’Neal de Hane Segrave drove his Mystery Sunbeam across the sands of Daytona Beach at the never before heard of speed of 203.79 mph.  This was the fastest any human had ever travelled on land!  Sir Henry later set a new land speed record of 231.36 miles an hour at Daytona Beach on March 11, 1929 with the Golden Arrow.
• The White Triplex was driven by Ray Keech and on April 22, 1928, Keech set a new land speed record of 207.55 mph at Daytona.  This simple vehicle had no clutch or gearbox, and once it was given a push start, it had to keep rolling in order to keep running.

This is a video of Sir Malcolm Campbell in the Bluebird on the sands of Daytona Beach.

That is Mr. Moe on the left, and me on the right, c. 1960-ish.  Mr. Moe was made from an old pair of my dad’s pants, an old shirt, both stuffed with scrunched up newspaper, a plastic pumpkin for his head, an old hat, corncob pipe, and great-grandpa’s old bamboo cane.  I don’t know where the idea of Mr. Moe came from, but he was a Halloween prop for many years, right up there with carved pumpkin, and lots of candy for trick-or-treaters.

I think I’ll make a Mr. Moe this year.  I just hope the neighborhood kids don’t set him on fire or kick the stuffing out of him.

I really like this photo — the look of innocence on the young girl’s face, hands folded neatly in her lap, ankles crossed, knees together; the look of slight impatience on the young man’s face with his slicked-back hair and big ears.  Were they boyfriend and girlfriend? Or, brother and sister?  Who took the picture? Mom? or Dad?  The only thing I know for sure is that the license plate reads Virginia – 1939.  There’s a very pretty rose arbor, white picket fence, and is that a Coca-Cola sign over there on the building behind the car (left)?  Another time, unknown people,  in an unknown place.  Very Capraesque.

I have a collection of vintage photos and post cards, and for a while I was posting them on another blog called “Daily Vintage Square.”  It all got to be a bit too much keeping track of two blogs, then another third photography blog, and then another personal journal.  Yikes! Talk about overextending to the point that everything suffered neglect.

I really like vintage photos, and they make me wonder about the people, places, and things from long ago.  I love the old styles, hairdos, smart looking cars, and furry little critters.  So, starting today, I’m going to post a vintage photo here once a week on Tuesdays.  The photos and postcards might be something that you already saw on the other blog if you were checking it out back then, but bear with me.  This might be more fun!

Here’s the twist: instead of posting the photo for all to look at and move on, I think it would be fun to make conjecture and wonder out loud.  Everyone is invited to comment, make up a story, wonder out loud either by leaving a comment here, or cross-posting on your own blog.  Feel free to copy the photos to your own blog with a mention to Two Barking Dogs.

If I know anything definite about a photo like a name, date or place, I’ll share it with you.  For instance, this photo was from a collection that I bought on eBay and came from California.

Originally, I liked this photo because of the shadows that the pine trees project onto the little bungalow in the background.  Now, looking at this lady’s face, and her clothing, I wonder if she was on her way out for a night on the town?  One of my grandmothers used to have a fox stole like that one, and it creeped me out as a little kid.  Can you imagine wearing a stole like this in public today?  I love this lady’s smile – she seems so relaxed and happy.

My ideas?

Her name is Gladys.  She moved to California 10 years previously from Chicago or Milwaukee.  She drinks sloe gin fizzes, and she cheats when she plays gin with her next door neighbors.  She has two small yappy dogs, and she likes to sit on the front porch in the evenings.  She never married, and she likes to go to parties with her girlfriends.  She works as a secretary, and she hates going back to visit family in the mid-west because they don’t understand her, and because she would miss the California weather too much.