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Fwd: EPISODE 438 IRISH PICTURES AND STORIES… COWS WERE A NIGHTMARE




NOTE TO MY READERS:   I WILL BE OFF LINE FOR SEVERAL DAYS I FEAR.  COMPUTER PROBLEMS BIG TIME.
SO THERE WILL BE NO MORE EPISODES FOR A SHORT TIME.

 EPISODE 438     IRISH PICTURES AND STORIES…  COWS WERE A NIGHTMARE…THEY ATE OUR BASE LINE


GROUP 9    CURIOUS CATTLE … LOTS OF PROBLEMS … ATE OUR BASE LINE






OUR biggest problems in Ireland were the herds of cattle.  The cattle were curious and omniverous.  And stupid!  They thought our copper base line looked good to eat.
And practically every day we had a sudden cessation of signals as a cow chomped through the yellow sheathed base line and
then gobbled up a few feet of wire before regurgitating the wire in round balls about the size of baseballs.   When the signals
stopped we had to send crews to find the cut and repair the line.   This happened often.  Sometimes several times in a day.

The farmers were angry naturally.  Some claimed their cattle were knocked out  by the live wire.  I do not believe that
happened…never saw a flattened cow.   But we found lots of balls of copper wire that had been vomitted.   I think someone
paid the farmers for damages…but I don’t know if it was Dr. Stam or the Irish government.

Sometimes breaks in the line were caused by cars and trucks but most of the time it was cattle.   

In the Canadian wilderness we rarely had problems like this.  Moose, deer, wolves, wolverines did not like a diet of copper wire it seems.
Red squirrels might nibble a bit.

CALF CONVERSATION

“MY that long line of yellow spaghetti looks edible.”
“Ouch…bit of a sting to it.””
“Let’s gobble up a chunk.”
“Look at mom…over there…she’s vomiting the yellow stuff in big balls.”
“Spit it out”
“Here comes one of  the lads with a big roll of spaghetti on his back.”
“He’s not chewing.”
“Let’s take a chomp just for the hell of it.”
“Wait until he moves along.”
“Now!”
“Ouch…hot…stings”
“Here comes the lad running back here yelling like a damn fool.”
“Look innocent…look like you are not interested in spaghetti.”
“Too many hot chill peppers in the spaghetti.”



Our base line was a mile or more in length.  Straight of course which meant the cable was put down on many Irish fields where cattle

roamed/

Calves were just as curious as their mothers but  not as hungry for swaths of our base line cable.

GROUP  10    THE CASE OF THE COW THAT DISAPPEARED A CENTURY AGO

We heard quit a few stories about ghosts and mysterious happenings.  It seems the 19th century miners, some of them, spread a story
about ghosts in part of the mine.  Apparently that was intended to keep curious people away from a ‘high grading’ operation where
rich chunks of copper ore were hidden.  True or not?  Who knows.  John Hogan told tales of such High grading in Canada.  And a
few years later I worked in the Yukon where and immense amount of silver ore was stolen from an abandoned part of the Elsa mine.
(see Episode – Fell from the Moon).

One story told to me by Barney Dwan and others turned out to be true. We had a large anomaly when working an area near the Mahon river
… a small valley (boreen is the Irish term I think) angles away from the river.  Let me say what happened in dialogue form.

“Alan, there is an old story about this boreen.?”
“Ghost story?””
“No…just a story passed down from the old times…the mining days…the 1870’s or later”
“Interesting story?”
“Apparently there was a mine entrance up here long ago and a cow
wandered in and got stuck so the farmer filled in the opening with trash and dirt.”
“About where we got the high readings?””
“Yes, that’s why I thought you might be interested.”
“Do you know the exact spot?”
“I do…right over there where the  gorse patch grows.”
“Let me see what Dr. Stam thinks.”

“We could dig out the hole.  We are already digging trenches down to bedrock where we have
got high readings.”  
” The story may or may not be true.”
“Let’s just hire a man ….have him dig out that patch of Gorse.”
“Sort of secretly?”
“Yes,  I don’t know what Norm Paterson would think of us spending money on a story that is 100 years old.”


The patch of Gorse was about 4 times larger than this patch.  It seemed to be a waste of good farm land.  Not used as a fence line.
Just a patch on a slope.

The floor of  the adit after the draining ceased was covered with pieces of timber. This was the first skull we found…a young calf perhaps.

Why was the skull here?






This may or may not be the boreen.  The location was very nondescript;   Look in the far distance where a patch of Gorse is growing
on the valley slope…tiny in the distance.  The location was much like that.



Here we are inside the hillside adit.  Barney and John Hogan (whose picture is not flattering) … both are studying the wet sides of the

adit looking for oxidized green copper staining.   If I remember correctly  this bit of exploration helped Dr. Stam determine

the workings were so badly faulted that there was no point trying to reopen the mines.  A great disappointment to the local people
who were hoping Bonmahon would see boom times again.




This is NOT the Irish adit I am describing. Later in the 1960’s the company sent me to the Yukon territory where we entered this abandoned

mine site which was half filled with ice. These ice crystals formed in the absolute stillness.   The Irish adit that we broke
into never froze but filled completely with water.  Pressure. No release of that pressure until our man opened the adit with his pick.  That last
swing of the pick triggered a deluge and a roaring noise as the water gushed forth.  Our man ran.  It took three days to drain
the adit before John Hogan, Dr. Stam, Barney Dwan and I entered.   And that is when we made a big discovery.


There she lay.   The cow.  At least her bones.  Her head  especially.   Some bones must have washed out as the adit drained but

her head and other bones were trapped in the mud and pieces of water logged timber.  So the story must be true.   The cow wandered
into the adit…got her hips sick…could not turn around…and died or was humanely killed there.   Something like
that.   A kernel of truth…the skull.

GROUP 11    THE FOLK MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN IRELAND

Several years later, Marjorie and I toured the southern counties of Ireland and were given an escorted tour
of this folk museum…agricultural machines were a big interest…at least to me.   

When that dead cow was
alive the machines below were brand new.  And the farms were small except for those owned by the huge estates
whose owners were often English.   The great disparities in wealth were a prime cause of the civil war that raged
in Ireland in the 1920’s.  Many big estate homes…almost castles…were put to the torch.














END OF PART 3:  NEXT EPISODE WILL BE  A) THE CLIFFS OF MOHER   B) EXPLORING OLD MINE ADITS ON HANDS AND KNEES


Posted on

Fwd: EPISODE 438 IRISH PICTURES AND STORIES… COWS WERE A NIGHTMARE




NOTE TO MY READERS:   I WILL BE OFF LINE FOR SEVERAL DAYS I FEAR.  COMPUTER PROBLEMS BIG TIME.
SO THERE WILL BE NO MORE EPISODES FOR A SHORT TIME.

 EPISODE 438     IRISH PICTURES AND STORIES…  COWS WERE A NIGHTMARE…THEY ATE OUR BASE LINE


GROUP 9    CURIOUS CATTLE … LOTS OF PROBLEMS … ATE OUR BASE LINE






OUR biggest problems in Ireland were the herds of cattle.  The cattle were curious and omniverous.  And stupid!  They thought our copper base line looked good to eat.
And practically every day we had a sudden cessation of signals as a cow chomped through the yellow sheathed base line and
then gobbled up a few feet of wire before regurgitating the wire in round balls about the size of baseballs.   When the signals
stopped we had to send crews to find the cut and repair the line.   This happened often.  Sometimes several times in a day.

The farmers were angry naturally.  Some claimed their cattle were knocked out  by the live wire.  I do not believe that
happened…never saw a flattened cow.   But we found lots of balls of copper wire that had been vomitted.   I think someone
paid the farmers for damages…but I don’t know if it was Dr. Stam or the Irish government.

Sometimes breaks in the line were caused by cars and trucks but most of the time it was cattle.   

In the Canadian wilderness we rarely had problems like this.  Moose, deer, wolves, wolverines did not like a diet of copper wire it seems.
Red squirrels might nibble a bit.

CALF CONVERSATION

“MY that long line of yellow spaghetti looks edible.”
“Ouch…bit of a sting to it.””
“Let’s gobble up a chunk.”
“Look at mom…over there…she’s vomiting the yellow stuff in big balls.”
“Spit it out”
“Here comes one of  the lads with a big roll of spaghetti on his back.”
“He’s not chewing.”
“Let’s take a chomp just for the hell of it.”
“Wait until he moves along.”
“Now!”
“Ouch…hot…stings”
“Here comes the lad running back here yelling like a damn fool.”
“Look innocent…look like you are not interested in spaghetti.”
“Too many hot chill peppers in the spaghetti.”



Our base line was a mile or more in length.  Straight of course which meant the cable was put down on many Irish fields where cattle

roamed/

Calves were just as curious as their mothers but  not as hungry for swaths of our base line cable.

GROUP  10    THE CASE OF THE COW THAT DISAPPEARED A CENTURY AGO

We heard quit a few stories about ghosts and mysterious happenings.  It seems the 19th century miners, some of them, spread a story
about ghosts in part of the mine.  Apparently that was intended to keep curious people away from a ‘high grading’ operation where
rich chunks of copper ore were hidden.  True or not?  Who knows.  John Hogan told tales of such High grading in Canada.  And a
few years later I worked in the Yukon where and immense amount of silver ore was stolen from an abandoned part of the Elsa mine.
(see Episode – Fell from the Moon).

One story told to me by Barney Dwan and others turned out to be true. We had a large anomaly when working an area near the Mahon river
… a small valley (boreen is the Irish term I think) angles away from the river.  Let me say what happened in dialogue form.

“Alan, there is an old story about this boreen.?”
“Ghost story?””
“No…just a story passed down from the old times…the mining days…the 1870’s or later”
“Interesting story?”
“Apparently there was a mine entrance up here long ago and a cow
wandered in and got stuck so the farmer filled in the opening with trash and dirt.”
“About where we got the high readings?””
“Yes, that’s why I thought you might be interested.”
“Do you know the exact spot?”
“I do…right over there where the  gorse patch grows.”
“Let me see what Dr. Stam thinks.”

“We could dig out the hole.  We are already digging trenches down to bedrock where we have
got high readings.”  
” The story may or may not be true.”
“Let’s just hire a man ….have him dig out that patch of Gorse.”
“Sort of secretly?”
“Yes,  I don’t know what Norm Paterson would think of us spending money on a story that is 100 years old.”


The patch of Gorse was about 4 times larger than this patch.  It seemed to be a waste of good farm land.  Not used as a fence line.
Just a patch on a slope.

The floor of  the adit after the draining ceased was covered with pieces of timber. This was the first skull we found…a young calf perhaps.

Why was the skull here?






This may or may not be the boreen.  The location was very nondescript;   Look in the far distance where a patch of Gorse is growing
on the valley slope…tiny in the distance.  The location was much like that.



Here we are inside the hillside adit.  Barney and John Hogan (whose picture is not flattering) … both are studying the wet sides of the

adit looking for oxidized green copper staining.   If I remember correctly  this bit of exploration helped Dr. Stam determine

the workings were so badly faulted that there was no point trying to reopen the mines.  A great disappointment to the local people
who were hoping Bonmahon would see boom times again.




This is NOT the Irish adit I am describing. Later in the 1960’s the company sent me to the Yukon territory where we entered this abandoned

mine site which was half filled with ice. These ice crystals formed in the absolute stillness.   The Irish adit that we broke
into never froze but filled completely with water.  Pressure. No release of that pressure until our man opened the adit with his pick.  That last
swing of the pick triggered a deluge and a roaring noise as the water gushed forth.  Our man ran.  It took three days to drain
the adit before John Hogan, Dr. Stam, Barney Dwan and I entered.   And that is when we made a big discovery.


There she lay.   The cow.  At least her bones.  Her head  especially.   Some bones must have washed out as the adit drained but

her head and other bones were trapped in the mud and pieces of water logged timber.  So the story must be true.   The cow wandered
into the adit…got her hips sick…could not turn around…and died or was humanely killed there.   Something like
that.   A kernel of truth…the skull.

GROUP 11    THE FOLK MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN IRELAND

Several years later, Marjorie and I toured the southern counties of Ireland and were given an escorted tour
of this folk museum…agricultural machines were a big interest…at least to me.   

When that dead cow was
alive the machines below were brand new.  And the farms were small except for those owned by the huge estates
whose owners were often English.   The great disparities in wealth were a prime cause of the civil war that raged
in Ireland in the 1920’s.  Many big estate homes…almost castles…were put to the torch.














END OF PART 3:  NEXT EPISODE WILL BE  A) THE CLIFFS OF MOHER   B) EXPLORING OLD MINE ADITS ON HANDS AND KNEES


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EPISODE 437 FUNGUS DISEASE…OR DINOSAUR HANDS

EPISODE 437   FUNGUS DISEASE OR DINOSAUR HANDS


alan skeoch
end sept. 2021

Marjorie and I have avoided  the pandemic so far but we have picked up some
weird disease that is changing our bodies beginning with our hands.  Warning
to readers…be careful what you touch.   And never ever shake hands.  Even
touching elbows may be dangerous.




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EPISODE 435 IRELAND PICS #2


EPISODE 435   IRELAND PICS  AND STORIES #2 

alan skeoch
sept. 2021

GROUP NUMBER 7:     MEMORY TEST  AFTER 61 YEARS:   SHORT PRIMER ON THE TURAM….A SWEDISH GEOPHYSICAL SYSTEM TO FIND UNKNOWN PHENOMENA (ANOMALIES)
                                    USING ELECTRO-MAGNETISM


Farmers were not too pleased to discover our crew tramping down barley.  This side view shows
the discomfort of Turam exploration .. battery pack on my back, heavy copper coil on my right leg,  console on
my stomach, earphones on my head…and, unseen, a notebook to record readings every hundred feet.  
In the distance is our lead man who also had a copper coil hanging from his belt.  We were able to
detect anomalies…unusual blips beneath us.  Our motor generator was hooked to a  mile long copper wire base line 
that was grounded at both ends setting up a loop emitting readable signals.  At least that is how
I would explain the system.

This is Barney Dwan laying our base line which was usually a mile or more in length with
3,000 foot “lines” set up at right angles to the base line.   This base line was a pain in the ass
in Ireland. But absolutely necessary. The reason?  was at times funny …. at other times troubling…and always frustrating. Why?
The cows…yes, the cows were our biggest problem.
At one end of the base line set up our motor generator after driving grounding rods a couple of feet into the earth.  The set up
pictured above was not a good one.  Loose sand meant weak signals.   
we also used a volt meter to make sure the base line was working as it should.  The base line broke so often in Ireland  that
we hired extra men just to patrol the line and ensure the generator was fine.

DANGER SIGN.   The Irish government insisted we get this danger sign in both Irish and english.  That was difficult but I managed
to find a sign painter n Dublin.  The Irish cattle could not read the sign so many of them got a rude shock…some were knocked
over according to some Irish farmers. I never saw that happen.

SCIENTFIC EXPLANATION OF TURAM
The Turam method is one of the oldest geophysical electro-magnetic methods used for mineral exploration, devised by Erik Helmer Lars Hedstrom in 1937.[1] Its name is derived from Swedish “TU” (two) and “RAM” (frame), referring to the two receiving coils.

Method[edit]

An insulated cable a few hundred meters to several kilometers long is laid parallel to the geological strike direction. The cable is either grounded at both ends or laid out in a large loop, and energized at low frequencies (less than 1 kHz). Two receiving coils are moved on lines outside of and perpendicular to the long side of the loop or grounded cable and two components of the resultant field are measured. The primary field generated by the large loop or cable interacts with the soil and subsoil and with a conductive body if present which could be a mineral and creates a resultant electromagnetic field. The electromagnetic field is measured according to two values: the Field Strength Ratio and the Phase Difference occurring between the two receiving coils . It is a fixed source horizontal loop method. Separation of the two moving coils is usually from 10 to 30 metres. Using an AC bridge (also called compensator bridge), Field Strength Ratio is measured in percent and Phase Difference in degrees. In-phase (Real) and quadrature (Imaginary) values can be calculated from these data. Observed field strength ratio readings are used to calculate reduced ratios using a formula determined by the loop size and shape or the grounded wire length and the position of the receiving coils relative to the loop or grounded wire. The Turam method is a frequency domain method and in a way is the precursor of the time domain fixed loop methods. It is claimed to have detected large flat lying conductors to a depth of 400 metres.

References[edit]

  1. ^ 1937, Hedstrom, E.H. Phase Measurements in Electrical Prospecting. AIME Tech. Publ. 827

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This young boy was severely handicapped due to a blow on his head when he was young.  He was the perfect guard for our motor generator.  Cute
to see how much he loved the job.


GROUP NUMBER 8    THE IRON LADY… THE KENNEDY FAMILY…OUR HOSTS IN BONMAHON



Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy in front of their (her) general store…only store inthe village.  She rented the
floor above the store to us for the summer…bed rooms and huge sitting room.  We dined in a small
dining room on the main floor.  Mrs. Kennedy made my lunch everyday.  For the first few days I found lobster sandwiches in
my bucket.  Never had lobster before.  

“What is this sandwich, Barney?”
“Lobster.”
“Never  had that before…couldn’t she make peanut butter and jelly?
“Ask her…Mrs. Kennedy thinks lobster is special.”
“Could you make peanut butter sandwiches, Mrs. Kennedy, please.”
“Peanut butter…never heard of it, Master Skeoch…I will get some from Waterford or Dublin…order it.”
(She called me Master Skeoch for some reason…flattering)

Mrs. Kennedy was the leading lady in Bonmahon.  A very determined lady.  She had strong opinions on most things
including the two pubs down the road from her store.   Mr. Kennedy rarely spoke.  He ran the farm behind the store.  I was
never sure how much acreage…  He was a quiet…very pleasant..man whose wife was
the driving force in the family.


Mrs Kennedy did not drink nor did Mr. Kennedy.   She quietly accepted the fact that John Hogan and I got in the habit of downing a pint or
two of Guinness at Kirwin’s pub.    She let it be known, however, that a previous group of Canadians had caused a lot of trouble
by hard drinking.   We were not hard drinkers.  Yes, we were afraid of Mrs. Kennedy as were others in the village. 
She was the ‘Margaret Thatcher’  of Bonmahon…the “iron lady”.   She was also a very nice woman as you can tell from
the smile on her daughters face.



Gerald was the family charmer. Their son was overjoyed to have us living in the house with
him.  He was a very busy little boy despite his handicap.   My room had a thin wall so I could hear
Mr. Kennedy every evening trying to teach Gerald to read.  I was deeply touched.  Gerald had a
guard that looked after  him…a black Labrador dog who was very gentle even allowing Gerald
to ride him.   On one occasion I saw Gerald bite the dog on the ear.  Not maliciously really.  The
dog knew that and did not flinch.  The dog was trained to keep Gerald from the sea.  Gerald could
walk in the shallows up to his ankles.  beyond that and the dog would push…”herd” is a better word…the
dog would gently herd Gerald back to shore.   People who have handicapped children often have touching
heart warming lives.   The Kennedy’s never once mentioned Gerald’s handicap. He was a ray of sunshine in our lives.



Mr.Kenned was very proud of his potato crop grown on the former enclosed yard that led to the old stables.  They kept no farm animals…except
for Gerald’s Labrador dog.


GROUP NMBER 8



I could be wrong but I believed this indented land was once the original coast road that ran along only a few feet from the
cliff face.  In the evenings Many Bonmahon residents strolled along places like this.  I got in the habit of doing that as well..always
meeting local people.  It was very hard to talk to each other however due to the local dialect.  




Barney Dwan and I got along like a house on fire.  He was my right hand man.   In the evenings he planned some very dangerous
but exciting explorations of the old mine adits.  In the photo he is resting near an almost hidden mine adit.

something rare in this photo…a fence along the cliff face.  Below, at sea level, is one reason for the fence…dead animals.


IN order to fit in I bought a cloth cap and an ‘over the head’ shirt that the locals wore.  I was beginning to feel Irish…like John Wayne in the Quiet Man



Some animals fell off the cliffs.


This old mine opening was at sea level.  Deep below The miners tunnelled under the sea for some distance. Very dangerous.  Sea water
and fresh water leaked into the stopes requiring a pumping system.   Once the mine was abandoned the sea water filled
the deep workings which means the old mine could be reclaimed by water pumps.  The sea keeps Knockmahon copper
mine intact.


This was the adit we used most of the time.  Sometimes we had to crawl on our hands and knees at other times we could
stand in a kind of crouch.  The walls were beautiful  painted with the green of oxidized chalco pyrite and also a bright pink
in places.   More about that later.

MORE COMING NEXT EPISODE


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EPISODE 433 BONMAHON, IRELAND, AS SEEN IN 1960…and subsequent visits to rural ireland

EPISODE433  BONMAHON, IRELAND, AS SEEN IN 1960 (Could the old Knockmahon mine be opened?)

alan skeoch
Sept. 2021


NOTE: THESE EPISODES WILL PRESENT AN UNUSUAL SERIES OF PICTURES
OF SOUTHERN IRELAND, EIRE.  OUR CANADIAN MINING EXPLORATION CREW
WAS BASED IN THE TINY VILLAGE OF BONMAHON, WESTERN EDGE OF
COUNTY WATERFORD.   SUMMMER 1960

Group One:  The Nature of our job…THE TURAM GEOPHYSICAL INSTRUMENT

I HAD TO WAIT 13 DAYS IN DUBLIN FOR OUR CRATED TURAM TO ARRIVE.  Count the crates…7 big crates plus smalls.
That is a lot of equipment to keep in operating order.  Lots of things happened .
TURAM OPERATED IN 1959 ON THE BARREN LANDS OF WESTERN ALASKA.   IRELAND WAS NOT ALASKA.

This is the Turam console … the receiver.   The long white thing is a vertical coil of copper wire which was very heavy like a third leg
with no boot.  Bashed my ankles.  Back in Toronto in 1960, Dr. Paterson wondered why we needed so many employees in
Ireland.  You can see the difference below.  Ireland was not Alaska.  Irish farms had tiny fields with fences made of stones covered
with Gorse.  Gorse?  Think of death by a thousand cuts and you will get an image of what it was like to climb oner Irish
fencerows.  I needed Andy Dwan just to lift me through.   In Alaska there was worry about Kodiak bears but we were armed
with 30-06 rifles and had helicopters to move about.  In Ireland we worried about pigs and Gorse and ticks and farmers whose cattle
we stunned with electricity. 



This is a Gorse hedgerow.   Lovely yellow flowers encased in a bed of countless needles.  Perfect places for hedgehogs to
live but  Hell to try and penetrate.   Our grids had to be dead accurate…straight.  We had to climb through these damn hedges
somehow…to slice holes..precise, arrow straight no matter what the resistance .


In this picture Barney Dwan is showing the way through a rotodendron forests on a large Irish estate.  “Try not to cut the plants…the
owner of the estate is not happy we are here.”


Need I say more.  Ireland was not Alaska.   But there were similarities when crossing rivers or streams.


GROUP 2      THE IRISH HEDGE CLIPPING CREW…a job aided with Guinness.



Imagine this: “Here’s a few half pints of Guinness lads. Can I take your picture?”
THESE fellows were hired to slash the thorny Gorse (like brier only worse) hedges that intruded into the roads of Ireland.  I think It was
a make work program to relieve Irish unemployment . They used hand tools that dated back centuries.
If I remember correctly we bought the boys a bunch of Guinness bottles to make the job easier. Quite a
cross section of ages.  All giving looks of good will.  Can’t imagine handing out beer to DHO employees
beside our highways.   I should not have done that.

Look at those beautiful hedges behind them…but do not touch …thorns like needles by the thousands.

GROUP THREE:   HURLING ON AN IRISH BEACH WITH A VERY FRIENDLY LITTLE BOY



This picture was taken many years after my job in 1960…decades later..in the 1970’s when Marjorie and I took our boys, Kevin and
Andrew on  a tour of Bonmahon and region.    The friendly gesture of this young boy was heart warming.  He handed his hurling
stick to Andrew and a game began.  Hurling is much like lacrosse only the weapon is harder should a player get a good whack
At your knee.

In 1960, the lads took me to an evening hurling match played on a farm field.  Quite a crowd gathered as the two teams beat a 
little ball back an forth.  I remember the toilet best.  At the far end of the field several sheets of corrugated iron had been
erected as the backboards of a simple urinal.  I do not remember any facilities for women.

GROUP FOUR:   THE IRISH “BEE HIVE “ HOMES…ANCIENT TIMES ON THE DINGLE


IRISH BEHIVE HUTS  (freestone, no masonary)


BEE HIVE HUTS FOR IRISH MONKS

On a drive around the Dingle on the southwest corner of Ireland there are a number of these stone buildings where
long ago Irish monks lived and contemplated things spiritual…or so it was believed.  Place yourself in these stone
structures…no cement , just the careful placing of stone.   The long stones on the roof were placed should repairs
be necessary I suppose.  ImagineTaking a few days to marvel at our place in the cosmos. Sitting in a bee hive stone hut
marvelling at our tenuous presence on this planet is not a bad idea.   Some decision makers might be advised to do that today.
 Most of us crawling into a bee hive hut would  fear the roof collapse and think of little else.



‘It is worth remembering though that the beehive hut may have had uses other than as a monastic cell. Peter Harbinson [6] makes this interesting suggestion in a discussion of pilgrimage sites associated with Saint Brendan:
By far the greatest concentration of these clocháin in Ireland is on the Dingle Peninsula, and almost all are found west of Mount Brandon.. the fact that these huts are found in such great numbers to the west of Brandon, yet are very much rarer in other parts of Kerry and elsewhere throughout the country, strongly suggests that these clocháin were the temporary habitations of pilgrims waiting for sufficiently clement weather to climb Mount Brandon. In a similar vein, one can explain those in the Glenfahan area, between Ventry and Slea Head, as temporary shelters for those awaiting the right wind to waft them to the Skelligs. If this explanation is correct, then the clocháin could truly be described as Ireland’s first and oldest surviving bed and breakfast establishments.”

A SURPRISE

 I punched up St. Skeoch in hopes of discovering who this sixth century saint really was…if she ever existed.  MAYBE the records of these bee 
hive huts would help my search. Surprise! Up came 
Episode 145:  LEGEND OF THE SKEOCH NAME…OCTOBER 21, 2020 BY TERRAVIVA.  My own musings. Did a saint or a monk by that name ever sit in one of these
ancient bee hives.  Silly.  Waste of time;  

GROUP FIVE:     STRANGE OBJECT ON BONMAHON BEACH


“WHAT IS that big round rusty ball?”
“Decommissioned floating mine from World War II.”
“Any other reminders of the war?”
“Some.  German bomber crews tried to land damaged planes
in Ireland.  One landed nearby.  The crew survived, were
kept here then returned to Germany when the war ended.  The captain
and his family came back here on a holiday a while back.”

(IN 1915 The passenger ship Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine near Kinsale…west of Bonmahon.   Many hundreds of civilians drowned)


GROUP NUMBER SIX   WHY WERE SO MANY OLD STONE HOUSES ROOFLESS?






In 1842 a German writer and geographer called Johann Georg Kohl travelled around Ireland, publishing an account of his journey the following year. “Of all the countries in the world”, he observed, “Ireland is the country for ruins. Here you have ruins of every period of history, from the time of the Phoenicians down to the present day… each century has marked its progress by the ruins it has left.

MORE TO COME IN NEXT EPISODE

alan skeoch
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EPISODE 434 GARDEN FLOWERS AT THEIR BEST…THE FROST IS COMING SADLY

EPISODE 434   GARDEN FLOWERS AT THEIR BEST…THE FROST IS COMING


alan skeoch
Sept. 21, 2021

Gardens everywhere are stunning as September fades slowly into October and
the evening frost hovers somewhere down the time tunnel. .   Makes the flowers Something to cherish.

But first a task.  See if you can find this little tree frog on the leaves below.





My oldest friend, Russ Vanstone, cannot understand why gardeners grow giant pumpkins and twisty gourds.  They cannot be eaten.
Neither can the flowers be eaten.  But Russ would say flowers are beautiful.  So are the giant pumpkins, I might respond.

I put two tomatoes on the pumpkin skid just to show how huge these pumpkins have become.  The pumpkins are
so big that they cannot be lifted…just rolled ono a skid for the Bob cat to lift.   What can be done with them?

Can someone explain how to cook these things.  Are they  a kind of sushi.  I seem to remember wedges being sliced and weighed
in a market in Switzerland.    I grew them by accident this year.   Are they consumable?  How?  Were they Random seeds…or
did I get them as tiny plants without a name tag.   I have no idea.   As the story goes, “they just growed!”

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EPISODE 428 “THE QUIET MAN”…through the mind of a 22 year old Canadian who had never heard of the movie

EPISODE 428      “THE QUIET MAN”…through the mind of a 22 year old Canadian who had never heard of the movie


alan skeoch
sept. 2021




“Alan, why don’t you go and see “The Quiet Man”? said my Dublin host, Kevin Behan in a Dublin pub one evening.
“The Quiet Man?”
“Yes, you have been here in Dublin over a week waiting for your machines to arrive, you need
a break…and you will learn something more about Ireland.”
“Who are the lead actors?
“John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara and Barrie Fitzgerald.”
“I thought John Wayne only did Western movies.”
“True.  The Quiet Man was an exception…it is a wonderful movie, Alan.”

So I went.  The John Ford movie had been running continuously in Dublin since 1953…seven years
non stop.   Must be good and I had nothing better to do.  So I went.  Turned out to be one of
the best things I could have done.   John Ford got an academy award as director of The Quiet Man.
I did not know that.  Lots I did not know about the film.  One thing I did know however was  that
the film plot and life I was about to lead were congruent.

 The film was so green….John Ford had argued that the movie be made in Technicolor.
Would the Ireland that I was about to discover be as green as the scenes in The Quiet Man.?










Would Bonmahon be as real as the imaginary village of Inisfree in The Quiet Man?
Would there be a pub that served Guinness with people as full of joy as those in The Quiet Man?
Would the local people like or dislike the sudden visit by a Canadian mining exploration crew?
Would the hatred and violence that plagued Ireland in Time of the Trouble be apparent today?
Would Bonmahon be a rural jewel?   Would there be singing?  Would there be abandoned
castles and ancient fairy circles?   Would Bonmahon change my life?








The pub in The Quiet Man and Kirwin’s pub in Bonmahon were similar as were the people
and the pints of Guinness .  Of course I did not know that until I got to Bonmahon but
I wished it would be so…and it was.


This cottage is the original used in the movie.   Since 1953 so many people have stolen stones from the
foundation that is was in danger of collapse so today tourists are directed to a replica.


Memories of The Quiet Man are preserved in wax…not John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara 

MY PLAN FOR THE NEXT EPISODE(S)

I WILL TRY TO PRESENT BONMAHON THROUGH THE PICTURES I TOOK WHILE WORKING THERE IN 1960.
YOUR JOB?  FIRST , TRY AND FIND THE MOVIE OR THE SCRIPT OR THE SHORT STORY BY WALSH.
SECOND, YOU WILL SEE THE SIMILARITIES .


Note:  The plot for The Quiet Man was taken from a short story written by Maurice Walsh   in 1933.  John Ford got the
rights to the movie for $10 .  It took years for him to persuade Hollywood to make the movie which became
a hit that is still played and remembered.  The movie was romantic.  The original short story was quite different.

The Quiet Man and Other Stories

 4.02  ·   Rating details ·  234 ratings  ·  29 reviews
In the 1930s, Irish novelist Maurice Walsh placed the moors and mountains of Ireland firmly on the literary map with this celebrated collection of stories. Since then, readers have continued to be charmed by these accounts of the simple and common activities of the characters in 1920s rural Ireland. The lives of Hugh Forbes, Paddy Bawn Enright, Archibald MacDonald, Joan Hyland, and Nuala Kierley intermingle as the themes of nationalism, human dignity, honor, and love are given full play. Made famous by John Ford’s Oscar-winning film The Quiet Man, starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, these remain humorous and poignant tales set against a backdrop of intrigue and Irish civil unrest. (less)
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Fwd: EPISODE 432 STRANGE LIGHTS IN THE MIDNIGHT SKY


EPISODE 432   STRANGE LIGHTS IN THE MIDNIGHT SKY


alan skeoch
sept. 2021

Not quite dark enough yet…and looking south where lights can be explained…civilization.

Turning around and looking Northwest, we did once see strange lights above the horizon where no lights should be.

       LIGHTS THAT COULD NOT EXPLAINED IN THE MIDNIGHT SKY


“When it gets really dark, let’s stroll the beach and look for those strange lights in the midnight sky.”
‘Sounds a bit wacko”
“You saw them a couple of years ago, did you not?”
“I did…but there must be an explanation other than alien spacecraft.”
“But lights out there in the empty vastness of Georgian Bay…in the midnight sky…where
nothing exists in daylight…how is that explained?”
“Some screwball out there with a flashlight.”
“More than one light,remember…and well above the horizon”
“A screwball with friends in helicopters”
“Alan, sometimes you can be irritating.”
“OK, Penny, I did see those strange lights.”
“And other people have seen them…remember the person we interviewed…she
took the lights for granted as normal at night.”
“Let’s just go for a midnight walk in on the beach and keep
our eyes focused northwest.”

“No lights out there tonight.”

“Are there really strange things seen in the sky?”
“President Jo Biden promises to release UFO sightings recorded by pilots and 
listed as unexplainable….doing it right nw, this year.”
“Maybe we can invite Biden to visit Concession 12 for coffee ad a stroll along
the beach.”
“Nope”
“Why not?”
“American border is crossed only with caution due to Pandemic…the virus…Joe just cannot pop up here.”

Footnote: UFO sightings can usually be explained as natural phenomena.  One of the
latest explanations is that drones or sophisticated weather balloons can account for many
sightings.  Hallucinations also may be factors.  We love to dabble in the unknown
and then hook explanations to what we do not know or understand.  Best to keep
our feet on the ground but our minds open.  In our case we have had a lot of
fun speculating.  Keep it that way.  The Internet is loaded with conspiracy theories
so be careful.


A LITTLE BIT OF MYSTERY PUTS SPICE IN OUR COFFEE CUPS

  

    Well, no sightings that night … but a lot of conversation about the night sky and the universe
and the limitations of our human species.  Years ago I asked my Grade Ten class to predict what the
world would be like 50 years from 1999.  The results were fascinating.  One boy, however, wrote
a comment that was very sobering.  “Fifty years from now, sir, we will have explored our solar system
and beyond using technology unknown today…and we will discover that we are in fact alone.”
Alone!   Likely so…but then again do not shut the door completely

Alone!  If  true, then we damn well better take care of our planet.  It is a jewel in the cosmos.

alan skeoch


   




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EPISODE 432 THE BIG CHUTE…white water rafting at its best…if you have the guts.

Note:  I will get back to Ireland once I am sure my computer is working well.
Meanwhile take a look at what happens to a pond when  the bottom falls out…
and slip your cabin cruiser on to this dinosaur of engineering.


EPISODE 432    THE BIG CHUTE…white water rafting at its best…if you have the guts.


alan skeoch
sept. 2021



Just in case you think Canadians are not capable of constructing mega machines
take a look at this ‘boat carriage’ hidden away near Highway 400 on the Canadian shield.


So you think you are a white water rafter…





George and Penny Barr took Marjorie on this short trip from placid Georgian Bay … Mega-trip for the mind.

This is not a modest piece of engineering.   A short railway line that can carry a whole fleet of boats from a high point to
a low point.   And it does so with passengers all aboard.
Watch what happens a placid piece of pond water when it finds a crack in the earth.



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EPISODE 430 TURQUOISE ARM CHAIRS ON AN EMPTY BEACH

EPISODE 430    TURQUOISE ARM CHAIRS ON AN EMPTY BEACH


Alan skeoch
sept. 3021



So inviting.  Two empty Muskoka chairs on an empty beach on the east shore
of Georgian  Bay.  On private property..  Not our chairs.  So tempting.

“I am going to sit on one of those and contemplate how the universe is unfolding.”
“Then I will join you,” said our hostess Penny.”

And George along with Marjorie and our dogs arrived.  A little much.  Very
nervy invasion .  Squattng on chairs without permission.





Then along came Dave!   The owner of the chairs….the owner of this part of the beach.
Not a good sign.  I felt a confrontation coming. 

But that did not happen.

“Sit down, no problem.”
“What magnificent chairs…and the view…wonderful”
“Yes, we think so too…I was just coming down for my breakfast.”
“Sorry,we could not resist those chairs.”
“Precisely how I feel each day here on the beach…so glad you feel the same.”
“Why is this huge stretch of beach so empty?”
“Summer nearly over…”
“Your cottage back there in the forest?”
“Yes…you can get to the road on our boardwalk if you wish…you will
find our cottage, and I bet I know which one you will admire most.”







Dave had a large modern cottage…an artistic structure with many rooms nestled into the forest. But he preserved
the old cottages as well.  There was a time long ago when these tiny buildings were all there was to cottage life.





I could say a lot more about our visit but those words would be wasted.  Scroll down…enjoy.