February snowstorm…truck stuck…colc


TERRIBLE LAST WEEK  OF FEBRUARY 2019

alan skeoch
Feb  25, 2019


“HELLO,  Andrew,  I am stuck at the farm…truck spinning…snowdrifts…so cold  that the brass  monkey story might be true…can you come?”

“Not sure I can get away”

“Put this down  as  an  emergency.”

“Give me an hour.”

And  so Andrew came to my  rescue.  This was  not a  day for travel but I had  a movie crew who needed our
institutional  beds right away…residential school movie being filmed  on Six Nations Reserve…needed  beds
that looked  as miserable  as possible..  Wind  was blowing white outs…70 car and truck  pile up on highway 400
had  closed  highway both ways…lots of others  accidents.   Just getting to farm I passed  three cars in recent
accident smashed  all to hell with air bags deployed.  Under the snows ice  lots  of  it.

I was overjoyed  to reach the farm.  But the joy was short lived.  Truck  spun  off a 3 foot snowdrift into the side of the road  where tires
just spun on  ice and drifted  snow buried back end in no time.  Even  walking to farmhouse  was tough…hands frozen because
I took time to take these pictures.   OK, everyone say it loud  and  clear…”I Told  You So!”

Look at those bed frames.  Beautiful! Chipped paint…so authentic that they could not be replicated by studio art people.   People don’t know
just how valuable things  in this  condition appear to movie makers.  “Alan,  we cannot get this  kind  of set material anywhere else.”

That kind of flattery drive me forward.  Today  I  should  have stayed  home.  

But the effort getting the bed frames to the road  could not be cancelled…nor the effort loading the mattresses and bed boards…It took Marjorie and
I the full day Sunday just getting these  wonderful beds ready for pick  up.  



I sent a  note to Shane…”Do not come, road  impassable”…but he was too busy  holding on to the steering wheel of his rental  van for the and was
blowing between 60 and  100 km per hour…white outs.  He pulled  up … two trucks on an empty road…his  and  mine.  Only his was not trapped in snow.
He could make  a getaway. 


Picture  above shows just how deep drifts  had become…whole farm was being scoured…Until  Andy arrived  with our tractor and  are-end snowplow.



Wind so strong that interior of the green house was  converted  into something for a horror movie


That’s  Shane bracing himself  as we loaded  the beds.


Even the tractor could not pull me out…Andrew had to dig me out first.  Why  did  I not help?  Someone had to
record the event…

Take a close look at the road…under the snowdrifts is a solid  sheet of ice  running down  the Fifth Line.




“Dad, is it necessary for you to get into so  much trouble, so often?”

“Well,  Andrew I just do this so I can get payback fro  all those  years
that I changed  your diapers, piled your pablum, gavelled in front of your teachers,  washed  your  clothes, made the meals…made your  bed…”

“Dad, you never did any of  that…mom did it all.”

“Right, forgot about that.  But I did keep the record with my  camera…and  am still  doing so.”

“Now turn  the truck  around … you are free to go.”

“Did  you see that snowplow…just covered  us with the stuff  you plowed.”

“I will be fine…get moving before you get trapped again.”


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *