EPISODE 546 SWEET TIME OF YEAR…TAPPING MAPLE TREES FOR MAPLE SYRUP



EPISODE 445    MAPLE SYRUP TIME 

alan skeoch
March 8, 2022





Above all else, March is a sweet time of year thanks to something beyond our
control.

Change ia in the air.  I can smell it.  Those Maple trees in the farm lane are providing
a needed distraction from human affairs.  Will they still be here when we are gone?
We can but hope.

What a beautiful day!   Despite troubles like the collapse of the greenhouse
due to this heavy snow….and the terror that is on all of our minds brought about
by one lunatic, Putin by name.  Despite troubles, yesterday was a beautiful day
as the snow melted.



And the slow then fast …Drip, Drip, drip…drummed the sap pales as our maple trees gave
up some of their sweet nectar.



Andrew: “Dad where is all your maple syrup making eq uipment?”
“Planning to tap?”
“Seems right time.”
“Correct…warm days and cool nights in March.”
“Where are the sap pails?” Spigotts?  Hand drill and bit? Boiling pans? Soft Ball thermometer?
“There are about 200 sap pails in the quonset barn but don’t take them.”
“Why not?”
“Lead soldered…lead poisoning….now illegal.”
“All your syrup kit no longer useful.?”
“Not quite all…search around…I have some aluminum sap pails…maybe a dozen or more…enough
to get a good load of sap.”
“How collected?”
“years ago I used milk cans…those big cans with rounded lids…cleaned them first of course.
I think you bought some new milk cans…use them.”



’Smell the air”
“Nothing like it…just before springtime.”





“Dad, I remember 40 years ago when we all got sap from Saunders bush over on
the fourth line…took the whole March school break.”
“That’s when we had Tara the Coonhound…she joined us.”
“And each night we did the boiling…great clouds of steam from the boiling pan
with a fire from wood gathered on the beach at Sunnyside…truckload of planks and
driftwood.   Remember the picnic bench that floated in and the City Parks Crew
stopped you?”
“The picnic bench was all smashed up.  They helped me get the bolts out…more
wood for the maple syrup fire.”

“Do you remember the colour of the syrup?”
“I think it was black.”
“Right…dark black.”
“The maple syrup in the store is light brown…how come yours was black?”
“Ashes from the fire…couldn’t stop the ashes…gave us a little extra carbon…did not kill us
as we are all alive 4o years later/“

“Do you still have those pictures of the old sap making days?”
“yes, you boys were about 8 and 10 years old back then.”
“How many years did we do it.”
“Two, Three…four?”
“Why did we stop?”
“TROUBLE…BIG TIME TROUBLE…AS YOU WILL SEE IN THE NEXT EPISODE”


















Woody was my partner just as Tara used to be.  He loves to ride beside me on the
ATV….he gets quite miffed if I forget to beckon him…”Get on here, Woody, we are
heading home.”

alan

NEXT EPISODE…GETTING MAPLE SAP 40 YEARS AGO

EPISODE 544 A CHILL SPREADS AROUND THE WORLD: CONSIDER THE NUCLEAR REACTORSTHREE MILE ISLAND DISASTER. FUKISHIMA , CHERNOBYL

Note:  I considered this story too frightening to send initially and replied it with a nice

story about horses.  Now I have changed my mind.  Sorry to scare you as much as
I am scared.

alan


EPISODE 544:    A CHILL SPREADS AROUND THE WORLD:  CONSIDER THE NUCLEAR REACTORS


alan skeoch
March 2022



Marjorie and I…SITE OF THREE MILE ISLAND NUCLEAR DISASTER,







“WHAT CAN HAPPEN, WILL HAPPEN”

Nuclear power plants are constructed with provision for things to go wrong. SAFETY CHECKS. We need their power. We cannot 
survive without electricity.  It powers everything we do.   Electricity is wonderful..  But
getting electricity is dangerous.  Dangerous indeed.


THREE MILE ISLAND, 1979

ON MARCH 28, 1979, a human error occurred at Unit 2, Three Mile Island nuclear power

plant.   A valve was open allowing a huge amount of radioactive water to escape.  This event
remains the worst nuclear accident to happen in the United States.  No one was killed
fortunately but the resultant radiation will remain forever.

That worried me in 1979.  And it worries me to this day.  When we took a busload of music
students from Parkdale Collegiate to perform in Boston we arranged a short side trip
to Three Mile Island.  Around 1985.  Purpose?  To spread fear?  Partly, I suppose.  Our reasoning was
that these students would shortly be adults.  Soon running our country.  They should be
aware of the danger of nuclear accidents.  Cheap electricity could come at a terrible cost
if future managers of nuclear sites were unaware of Three Mile Island, Unit 2.

CHERNOBYL, 1986

Such a disaster must never happen again.  But it did.  The Chernobyl meltdown in Ukraine
happened just seven years after Three Mile Island.   On April 26, 1986 nuclear reactor Number 4
exploded.  The site will remain radioactive for thousands of years.  The immediate site was 
evacuated so hastily that the local carnival rides stand there today as do the apartment buildings
where people once lived.   335,000 people were evacuated and a wide belt of land was no longer livable.
Wild animals returned and now wander through Chernobyl.

“The explosion at Chernobyl sent radiation as far away as the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union’s delayed response to the events is considered by some to be a contributing factor to the fall of the Soviet Union. “

As a direct result of Chernobyl nuclear power plants were redesigned so that accidents were thought to be less likely.

A sign warns of radiation at the site of Kopachi village located inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone on September 29, 2015 near Chornobyl, Ukraine.
Wild horses wander through the ruins of Chernobyl on Oct. 18, 2018


FUKISHIMA, 2011

Then there were decades of quiet.  Nuclear power plants multiplied.  Safety systems
were put in place.  Extra holding tanks for nuclear coolant.  Burials of nuclear waste.
Comfort.   An earthquake off the coast of Japan shook the Fukishama reactor on March 11, 2011
A huge tidal wave, Tsunami, swept inland.  Radiosctivity increased to Level 7 on the International 
Nuclear Event Scale…Fukishama and Chernobyl were similar disasters.  154,000 Japanese residents
were evacuated.

ZAPOREZHSKAYA,  LARGEST PPWER PLANT IN EROPE WITH SIX REACTORS

Today, March 2022 we face the possibility of s grave nuclear accident in Ukraine where the largest
nuclear power station in Europe has become a war zone.  War zones are places of unimaginable
insecurity. The Zaporezhskaya nuclear power plant has 6 reactors.





RT




Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant - Super Engineering Website
U.S. Helps Optimize Ukrainian Nuclear Reactor | Department of Energy

Zaporizhye Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine





“March 2, 2022

6:05 a.m.: Russia claims its military has taken control of the area around Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant.

That’s according to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

It said Wednesday it had received a letter from Russia saying personnel at the Zaporizhzhia plant continued their “work on providing nuclear safety and monitoring radiation in normal mode of operation.”

The letter added: “The radiation levels remain normal.”

Zaporizhzhia is the largest of Ukraine’s nuclear sites, with six out of the country’s 15 reactors.

Already, Russia has seized control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.”

alan skeoch

March 7, 2022



Let us hope and pray this is not the end result of this terrible war.

EPISODE 543 PRAGUE , MARCH, 1993 , JOY IN ETHNIC COSTUME — PEACEFUL UPHEAVALS HAPPEN…BUT NOT TODAY.


ERROR: YEAR OF OUR VISIT TO SLOVAKIA SHOULD BE 1993, CORRECT PREVIOUS EPISODES


EPISODE 543   PRAGUE, MARCH,1993   JOY IN ETHNIC COSTUME — PEACEFUL UPHEAVALS HAPPEN


alan skeoch
March 5, 2022


NOTE: As Marjorie pointed out, the year we were in Slovakia was 1993, not 1989 as said in error in earlier Episodes.  



BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS…MARJORIE SKEOCH AND CZECH DANCER, PRAGUE, MARCH 1993

On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia split into two independent states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in what is now known as the “Velvet divorce” (in a reference to the Velvet revolution) due to its peaceful and negotiated nature. Both countries divided their common “goods” (embassies, military equipment, etc.) on a two-to-one ratio to reflect their populations. Although the dissolution didn’t lead to any unrest or bloodshed, the new frontiers did create a few odd situations, like splitting border-towns in half.

The split “was not entirely inevitable, but the political and economic costs of keeping the country together would have been extremely high”, pointed out Jiri Pehe, political analyst and former advisor to Vaclav Havel.

The division of Czechoslovakia: an undemocratic decision?

A widespread narrative argues that the divorce was a purely political move decided behind closed-doors by Czech and Slovak leaders Vaclav Klaus and Vladimir Meciar against the will of the population. There is some truth in that: all the opinion polls at that time showed that a vast majority of Czechs and Slovaks was in favour of the preservation of Czechoslovakia and against the country’s break-up.

In its January 1, 1993 edition, the New York Times wrote: “A multi-ethnic nation born at the end of World War I in the glow of pan-Slavic brotherhood, Czechoslovakia survived dismemberment by the Nazis and more than four decades of Communist rule only to fall apart after just three years of democracy”.

Although no referendum was ever held on the matter, democracy was indeed at the heart of the issue: all the problems associated with the federation of two states of unequal weight and size only appeared after the centralized, communist regime collapsed as Czechoslovakia reconnected with democracy. The decision-making paralysis and the federal government’s inability to push any significant reforms in the early 1990’s strongly contributed to the top-down decision of Klaus and Meciar.





Centre of Prague, Czech Republic, March 1993



An upheaval was happening but only Kevin Skeoch seemed to notice.  Note the Pink clad coat of optimism on Marjorie.



Bakeshop…Normal exchanges happening


Look at the boy with the glasses. He notices something joyful.



Street scene Prague, Czech Republic, March 1993.  Joy seemed everywhere.


JOYFUL DAYS IN PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC,  MARCH   1993

TRAGIC DAYS IN UKRAINE, MARCH 2022…DID THINGS HAVE TO GO SO HORRIBLY WRONG?

Today, March 5, 2022, ‘We watch in horror as unspeakable crimes by one man, Vladimir Putin, tear
Ukraine into pieces that will take generations to repair.  Did this have to happen?
Was there not another way to  effect change, perhaps by respecting neutrality?

Our eldest son, Kevin Skeoch, had high hopes for Ukraine and Russia finding the
middle road through education.  He had (has?) the clout of a CEO in International
Schools around the world.  Upbeat, positive, above the grimy sludge of low level
politics.   Will happy days return?  “We can but hope that somehow good will be the final 
goal of ill,” as the saying goes.

In 1993, when Kev was a “$4 a day” teacher in Slovakia there were terrific changes happening.
Political changes, as the Soviet Union collapsed and sane heads tried to 
manage the collapse sensibly.  It was not an easy time.  On our March break
in 1989, Marjorie snd I visited Kevin in Bratislava, Slovakia with a side trip
to Prague, Czech Republic.   A political divorce. The former, rather artificial , nation of Czechoslovakia
decided to get a divorce.  




Notice the reflections…admirers of folk art…Marjorie and Kevin Skeoch




When we crossed the new border between these new states we almost missed
the border guards.  Come to think of it, We did miss them.  We did not stop as I remember.  A political divorce
without much ill will.   Yes, we saw more ill will in the Slovak Republic.  Poorer of the two states,  it
seemed.  Graffiti on a few walls saying “English go home”.  Negatives that longed
for the idealism of Marxism.  



Gorbachev…a leader with a birthmark…a leader.

I remember us driving into a Slovak lodge in the High Tatra mountains where a bunch
of young rather drunk Slovak ’20 somethings’  were taking a collective leak (piss).  Noticing us,… perhaps Marjorie’s
bright pink coat…they turned and pissed in our direction.  They laughed and we laughed.
A difference of opinion expressed and accepted.  Done without tearing the nation
apart.





What is happening here?  I had no idea in 1993.  But whatever was happening was full of joy.



















If only a leader like Marjorie and a leader like the costume bedecked young lady were present today.  









A few days later we witnessed the reverse situation in the heart of Prague where 
ethnic clothed dancers were expressing great joy while dancing on the street. 

 If pressed
to take a leak there was a squeaky clean toilet available in a huge MacDonald’s 
fast food store.

If only Ukraine and Russia could have found the same common ground.  If only we 
could find ourselves,  our global selves, with leaders who can lead.  If only there was
middle ground possible.

alan skeoch


No comment necessary below.


alan skeoch
March 5, 2022

EPISODE 542 SALESMAN IN PRAGUE IN 1989 — MESSAGE FOR US ALL IN 2022

EPISODE 542    SALESMAN IN PRAGUE IN 1989 — MESSAGE FOR US ALL IN 2022


alan skeoch
March 4, 2022

Young man’s sale booth on a main street in Prague, new Czech Republic. 1989.  Sobering picture
when his goods are examined closely.  How the mighty have fallen.!


.

There is a  larger meaning here.  In 1989, with the speed of summer lightning, all the uniforms of 
the Red Army were suddenly of  no value…just tokens for sale on a side street.  It was this
collapse that drove Vladimir Putin into the madness we see today, March 4, 2022, in my humble opinion.


I do not mean these folderol dolls.  They were always for sale in street markets.  The sudden appearance of other
marketable goods is clear below.  I REPEAT.  How the mighty have fallen.



Suddenly all the insignia of the Soviet Union was up for sale.  Just scrap.
Message:  Upheavals are not slow…sometimes they come with  suddenness that
races ahead of complete understanding.  And thousands, millions of people get hurt as we are witnessing today. Lives are changed forever.  This has happened often in world history.
AND TODAY OVER 1 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE FLED UKRAINE….ABANDONING ALL THEY OWNED.  WILL ANY EVER RETURN?  WHAT WILL BE LEFT TO RETURN TO?
ALAN




EPISODE 536 “HORSES ON THE ORIGINAL BUFFALO GRASS PRAIRIE”….I THOUGHT I WAS BEING SPLIT IN HALF…foothills of the rockie mountains


EPISODE 536   “HORSES ON THE ORIGINAL BUFFALO GRASS PRAIRIE”….I THOUGHT I WAS BEING SPLIT IN HALF


alan skeoch
Feb. 26, 2022

Location :  Foothiils of Alberta near southern border with USA>

The horse Wrangler was amused….Marjorie as well.  Me? Absolute pain…especially when the horse decided to speed up.  ohhh!

My horse.  Look at his eye.  He is thinking about abusing me for 3 hours.  Bouncing. Think about it.

RIDING CAREFREE ON THE CANADIAN PRAIRIE

dateline…40 years ago

“Alan, we can join some horseman on a patch of original buffalo grass prairie.”
“How do you mean join?
“We can rent horses.”
“Not sure…don’t trust horses”
“WHY?”
“Smarter than me…wilL try to knock me off using overhanging branches”
“Silly…just guide the horse “
“the big reason is the discomfort…bouncing up and down…trying to split
me in half.”
“Here take this horse…old and quiet they say.”
“How do I get on?”
“step stool over here.”

What I should have asked was how to get off the horse.  The whole adventure was
a pain in the butt and pain elsewhere that I would rather not mention.  When we returned
to the corral a few hours later I couldn’t get off the horse…my legs were locked.  I had
to be helped while everyone laughed.  Humiliating.

BUT the place was stunning.  And I had the presence of mind to take my camera.

alan



EPISODE 539 A PLEA FIR UKRAINE AND ITS PEOPLE

EPISODE 539   A PLEA FOR UKRAINE AND ITS PEOPLE


alan skeoch
march 2, 2022

War crimes!   A man gone mad!  A nation helpless! 

Sandra and Christine in Ukrainian folk dress…with faces smiling…kidding around … getting ready to dance.

FEELING HELPLESS, MARCH 2, 2022

At my school, Parkdale Collegiate Institute, West Toronto, we always seemed to have a bunch of joyful Ukrainians.  Canadians!
Very proud their mother country while at the same time sinking deep roots into Canada

When they were not in national dress it was impossible to tell the Ukrainian Canadians from the rest of us.  In national dress
they exuded pride in their background.  Happy kids   Would that they could remain so as adults in these perilous times.  They cannot..

Sandra Hryhor snd Christine Chepanoya represent the joy of our students in better times.  

But here we are in the midst of a war whose horror is unimaginable.  Yesterday we had a meeting at our High Park Curling club.  Our league
executive of seven of which two are Canadian Ukrainians.   Loren and Zenon.   The shock of our times rendered them speechless.  They just could not
believe what was happening in Ukraine.   Deep in their eyes I felt I saw the sad knowledge that Ukraine was about to be wasted
by orders from one man.  One Man!   Vladimir Putin.  How could this happen.?  How could one man have the power of life and death
over a nation and its people?  For what?  

When dealing with this madness the nations of the world are quite helpless.  To intervene would trigger a much larger war. That 
 threat made by Putin.  Made to intimidate.  Beyond belief. Beyond reason.  But possible.  I cannot
 believe we could be on the threshold of World War Three.   But could be.  Thankfully, President Joe Biden is being careful.   Insanity does
not lend itself to reason.

What can we do?  How is it possible for the fate of our world to rest on the shoulders of a lunatic?  I feel so helpless.

alan



The odds are that many of these Parkdale students are Ukrainian Canadians.  Can you find them?  No!  Not possible. The face
in the bottom picture is Terry Wickstrom, a teacher of Swedish heritage.  Would the world be a better place if all the peoples of
the world had representatives in this Parkdale Colleigiate crowd?  I think so.

Fwd: EPISODE 538 PUTIN…NO VICTORY FOR ANYONE IN SIGHT…MADNESS IS ON THE MARCH


Note: I do not know what is truth and what is manipulated fiction concerning Putin’s state of mind.

I do know, however, that many experts are concerned.


EPISODE 538    PUTIN…NO VICTORY FOR ANYONE IN SIGHT…MADNESS IS ON THE MARCH


Alan Skeoch
Feb. 28, 2022

Has Putin gone mad?  I am not the only person who detected madness when his lips curled
in a snarl as Putin threatened to unleash his nuclear arsenal.  No sanity there, only anger and 
more anger.  Anger built up in Putin since 1990 when he returned to Moscow as s former Lt. Col of
the Soviet secret police, the KGB.  That was 1990 and the Berlin wall was coming down along
with Soviet dreams of world domination.  Vladimir Putin was 33 years old in 1990 and had to consider
his future.  He considered being a taxi driver as everything he held dear in the Soviet Union
was crumbling around his feet.  Then he got a new job …and became President of the Russian Federation.

Putin did not see himself as a true believer in the socialist dream.  He was an opportunist rather than
a true believer. He longed for a return to the greatness of Russia and has spent
the last three decades managing a rebirth of that greatness.  He has done well.  

But he is now 69 years old. Is he sick?  I mean really sick.  Not just a figure of speech sickness
but really sick.  Other minds far greater than mine are suggesting Putin’s brain has
been cooked by the Covid 19 virus he contracted in October.  The virus is capable of doing that by
reinforcing ‘hubris’…making victims come to believe their world view is the only world view.
Making people like Putin believe that they are right and everyone else is wrong.  Confusing
personal interpretation of events become the only interpretation of events.  In Putin’s case
making him believe the return of Russian greatness can and must be achieve. Even isdone  looking down
the barrel of gun.

Some Other observers think Putin is very sick with spinal cancer and/or Parkinson’s disease.
His health is broken and he is under constant medical care by a doctor he has relied 
upon since his days with the KGB in East Germany.  In short, he is dying.  That is
the profesional opinion of some medical authorities.  True or untrue?  His legacy
of a Great Russia must be done now.  He has so little time remaining.,

One very interesting assessment of Putin infers he has gone mad.  Putin’s scowl in
recent news conferences is a departure from the cool impassive efficiency of his 
past conferences.

WHAT IS ‘HUBRIS?’

WHAT words are a clue that a person is losing grip on reality?  Answer: Hubris is commonly associated 
with a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one’s own competence, accomplishments or capabilities. 
 Sometimes people in power display exaggerated self-confidence to the point of being reckless.  Contempt for other
people is a good clue.  As are the over use of simple words like ‘I”. “Me”. “God” and “history”,  

SAMPLES
“Remember this…I am in control…just who do you think you are!…
‘Make sure you show me everything…I will be the judge.”
“God is on my side.
“The historical record is clear…I am fully justified to…”

 If a friend in a position of power begins using these words often…personal
words that show excessive self-confidence (hubris) coupled with an inability to listen to others that is red flag.  Power does strange things to some people that can cause
a personality change where they “become obsessed with their self-image, excessively confident in their own judgement and dismissive of others, often leading to rash, ill thought-out decisions.”


Remember the comment that ALL POWER CORRUPTS AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY That seems to

be what Has happened to Putin when he uttered the threat about his nuclear arsenal.  He has lost touch with reality.  


Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting to discuss the Ukrainian peace process at the German federal Chancellery on October 19, 2016 in...





Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives at Belfast International Airport on June 17, 2013 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The two-day G8 summit,...


President Donald Trump chats with Russia's President Vladimir Putin as they attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, part of the Asia-Pacific...

Finally one observer thinks Putin is fine.  He is manipulating world opinion.
The nuclear button comment was made to throw us all off balance.  He likes
taking risks.  There is no better time than right now for Russia to be enlarged.
The United States is weak and out of balance caused by internal disputes.
,
alan






episode 535 “All’S WELL” The power of misinformation dashed by a cartoonists pencil and five words

EPISODE 535    “All’S WELL” The power of misinformation dashed by a cartoonist pencil and five words.


alan skeoch
Feb. 26, 2022

Sometimes misinformation is believed by the gullible. the ignorant, the wishful thinkers, the ‘wish it were so’…
but a dose of reality by a political cartoonist can demolish the illusions with a touch of the brush.  This cartoon
was printed in a Canadian newspaper in World War Two.  It is meaningful today.  Delete Goebbels, the Nazi
Minister of Propaganda.  Substitute Putin.  The rubble of Ukraine.  To what end?    The truth comes out.  Seems the people of Russia are aware of
the misinformation.  More important it seems the power brokers in China are feeling uncomfortable in the same
bed with Vladimir Putin.  I hope so.  

alan




Fwd: EPISODE 534 NO PLACE FOR REASON AS ONE MAN JEOPARDIZES THE WHOLE WORLD



Begin forwarded message:


From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
Subject: EPISODE 534 NO PLACE FOR REASON AS ONE MAN JEOPARDIZES THE WHOLE WORLD
Date: February 25, 2022 at 9:08:44 PM EST
To: John Wardle <jwardle@rogers.com>, Marjorie Skeoch <marjorieskeoch@gmail.com>, Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>, “Sam M.” <amisam007@hotmail.com>, danbowyer007@gmail.com


Note: My story for today may best not be printed John…think about it.
Your thoughts…Marjorie, John, Sam, Dan, Owen?  I am only sending this copy
to the five of you…need your opinion.  I do not want to spread terror
which is what is happening on the other side of the world right now.
Maybe best to drop the story.

EPISODE 534     NO PLACE FOR REASON AS ONE MAN JEOPARDIZES THE WHOLE WORLD

alan skeoch
Feb. 25,2022

                  George C/ Scott goes mad in Dr. Strangelove and takes joy in triggering a nuclear war.  Here he simulates a B52 Norad nuclear bomber.  We are on the verge.


Most often when I see Vladimir Putin on Television he seems impassive…no sign
of emotion.  No smile…no frown…just like an inanimate Russian folderol doll.

But tis week his mask was dropped.  He threatened any nation that interfered with
his invasion of Ukraine with devastation “like you have never seen before’.  A chill
went up my spine.  Was Putin talking about nuclear retaliation? Was he prepared
to launch World War Three?  Was he insane? His face was contorted in anger…in hatred
…and he vented with lips curled like a madman in an asylum.  Insane.

That word.  Insane.   That word has resurrected my greatest fear. A war with nuclear weapons.
An unwinnable war that will bring about a dark age like no other.   This possibility…
The chance that a  madman would get access to the nuclear codes.  That was
the possibility made into a film called Dr. Strangelove where an American officer
went nuts and sent flights of B52 Norad nuclear bombers on a direct attack on
the Soviet Union.  The presence of Peter Sellars, a comedian, in the war rooms
made for very dark humour.  Just a movie!  Just fantasy!  To me it was real and
scared me deeply.  Could never happen!  Lots of checks and balances. Really?

Yet here we are on Feb. 25, 2022, where a madman holds the firing button of
such a war.  

The United Nations has made a feeble attempt to stop the lunacy but they could
not get past the Russian Veto in the Security Council.  Sane heads do not
seem able to prevail.  Some Security Council.!  Some Security!

Here we are.  Leaderless.  Surrounded by leaders who cannot lead.
Not their fault really.  How can any leader do anything to suppress the madness
of this one man…one very angry man who has access to that button…one man who has descended into hell
and wants to take us all with him.

Even the Pope cannot help us. God,  He tried,  He met with the Russian ambassador,
Nothing resulted.  God,  if there is a god, we need divine intervention.

alan skeoch


EPISODE 533 THREE HORSE HITCH IN CENTRAL OHIO…AMISH FARM LIKE FILM WITNESS


THREE HORSE HITCH

HERE is something you will likely never see.   three horse hitch pulling a square bailing machine…normally pulled
by a 45 horsepower tractor or even larger tractor.  In this case three heavy horses with the Amish driver sitting
on a makeshift seat.  Pictures  taken in central Ohio near Zanesville a few years ago.

About 30 years ago, perhaps even longer, we spent a few week ends getting pictures of 
the Amish at work.  They never got angry as long as they were not asked to pose.

With all the tension in the world right now I thought this would be soothing.

alan




EPISODE 533    THREE HORSE HITCH

alan skeoch
Feb. 2022





IF you prefer something sinister, imagine driving your buggy along a 60 mph highway when this red cs
leapt onto your backside.