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HORSES AT FRITH MANOR (including BEANIE)

HORSES AT FRITH MANOR ON A  SUMMER  DAY  IN 2018

(If you love horses, you will love these pics and  stories)
FOUR STORIES … INCOMPLETE  STORIES
alan  Skeoch
August 2018
Our granddaughter Nolan  Skeoch  is a  horsewoman.  Proven  by the great swaths of time she  spends at Frith Manor grooming, riding,  jumping, bedding, wheeling  carts of  horse  manure, talking to horses (and occasionally  people).
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“HORSES NEED SHOES”” Story of Josh Twomey, Farrier

HORSES NEED SHOES  JUST LIKE  YOU DO
(Josh Twomey…FARRIER)
alan skeoch
august 2018
No good reason why a city bred  person would  want to read  this story.  Unless the reader is curious and likes to see and read  something extraordinary.
This  is  a  story about Josh  Twomey…a  farrier.   Josh spends his days  motoring from horse stable to horse stable across Southern  England in his truck which is  loaded  with brand  new shoes  for horses.  And  he has  a tub full of  cast off  horseshoes  which  he gives to kids  who watch him.  Blacksmith are supposed to be older men with big  beards and  tobacco  stained  teeth, gnarled  hands, perhaps  bad  limps.  Limping  caused a kick from a horse who did not like nails  pounded  into his or her foot.    Surprise.  Josh is  24 years old  and has been shoeing  horses since he was sixteen.  He has a smile that goes from ear to ear.  And  the confidence that horses understand.   He does  not limp.
On a hot July afternoon, we  watched Josh  at  work as  he shod Nolan Skeoch’s  horse , Mello.
Josh Twomeys…Farrier   (Blacksmith)
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THERE’S A HOLEIN THE FENCE.” Graveyard … Strangest wilderness ever St. Pancras…

“THERE’S  A HOLE IN THE FENCE…”

STRANGEST GRAVEYARD I HAVE EVER SEEN

(Worth a read.  Really.  Strangest place in North London with a history going back to the Roman Emperor Diocletian )
alan skeoch
August 2018
“LOOK, there’s a hole  in the fence.”
“Seems creepy.”
“Come on, see  where it leads.”
“Gravestones covered in Ivy.”
“It’s  a  graveyard…a forgotten  graveyard.”
“Creepy, Alan, a place where  weirdo’s could hide.”
“No sign of a  living person.”
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HOW TO MAKE GUM…FIRST INVEST $200,000 IN A GOOD COMBINE HARVESTER

RECIPE: HOW  TO MAKE  GUM

(First, buy a  $200,000 combine harvester  then read my instructions below)
alan skeoch
August 2, 2018
“Want of  make your own gum, Marjorie?”
“Better things to do with my time…like  cleaning house.”
“Sit down, I’ll show you how to make good gum.”
“Sometimes I wonder about your  sanity,  Alan.”
‘Best gum is  home made gum.”
“Gum?”
“Just pay attention…this is a lost art…something that every farm girl  and boy new how to do  years ago….making their own Gum.  Do not lose this historic moment.
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Silent combat on a Boeing 777

SILENT COMBAT ON A  BOEING 777

alan skeoch
July 24, 2018
“Our seats  are in there?”
“Fine, let me get up.”
New Premium Economy seats go on Air Canada route from ...Air Canada 777 Interior Pictures to Pin on Pinterest ...
Two matronly looking  British ladies would be my seat mates from  London, England  to Toronto, Ontario…a 7 hour flight.  Marjorie and  I had aisle seats. The plane was  packed, every seat taken…up to 400 people can be crammed into the Air Canada  Boeing 777.  Certainly  more than  300 on board today, Hence the term ‘flying  sardine can’ has been a popular moniker for the
Air Canada Boeing 777.  Would  our trip be crowded  but pleasant…or crowded and  living hell?
Certainly  crowded.
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EUREKA! ONE LONE LEOPARD FROG FOUND JULY 8, 2018

EUJREKA!  ONE LONE LEOPARD  FROG!   JLY  8, 2018,

(farm pond, fifth line, erin twp. wellington county)
VERY hot today.  Should be a good day  for frogs to get out of the farm pond
and  limber up there tongues  for fly catching.  That would assume  there are
any frogs left in our 9 acres  of ponds.  There were none visible last week
although there was thing of pollywog movement beneath the floating corpses
of last years bull rushes.
Not much sign of life as I circled  the pond, and  then there it was  … a quite
mature leopard front.  Not moving.  Watching  me with a single bulbous
eyes.  But alive and  healthy.
I hope he or she is not spotted  by the eagle eyes of blue heron whose stiletto beak spears frogs and fish  and anything that moves.
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HUGE WALNUT TREE: PLANTED BY ALAN SKEOCH (supposedly)

OUR GRAND  WALNUT TREE
LOCATION. location, location.  the driving force in real estate valuation. Location was  also  the  driving force in the success  of this walnut tree on fifth line of  Erin Two.

My grandmother, Louisa  Freeman,  always  said  that this  walnut tree was planted by me (alan  skeoch).  In terms of achievements

in life,  the walnut tree stands out.    It was  located  right beside the old farm back house and  about 30 feet from the hand dug well. You can  see  the well  pump handle just to the left of our truck.  The back house was  located  in the shadowy area and was quite a pleasant reading  room because grandma  decorated  it with old  calendars and news  clippings.
Granddad, Edward Freeman, had  a huge rhubarb patch exactly where the truck sits.  From that patch he made gallons and gallons  of rhubarb wine much to the chagrin of his Temperance neighbours.   After he died, Eric and I tried to replicate the wine but ended up with a  soupy mess of wormy barm which  when bottled took a few weeks  to gather enough pressure to detonate.
BAM! BAM! BAM!  Shards of glass and foam and  worms and goop all  over our cellar.
What an unholy mess that was.
The walnut tree now massively overshadows the rhubarb patch.
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MOCK WEDDING OF ALAN AND MARJORIE SKEOCH IN SUMMER OF 1963

OUR MOCK  WEDDING SUMMER 1963
(Fifth Line, Erin  Township,  Wellington  County)
alan skeoch
july 2018

This  may seem  like a strange  picture but it was one of the touching  events of our marriage.    Uncle  Frank Freeman dressed up as  the bride (i.e. Marjorie) and  it looks like young Christopher Peers was the groom.  (i.e. alan) Not sure about that as  the groom might have been  Aunt Lucinda Freeman.

All our kith and  kin on the Freeman side  were gathered at Uncle Frank and
Aunt Lucinda’s  farm  on the Fifth Line  of Erin Township and  the Mock Wedding proceeded.
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PORT CREDIT FISH DERBY JUN 24, 2018

PORT CREDIT FISHING DERBY
JUNE 24, 2018
alan skeoch
June 24, 2018
(Excuse the mention of Skeoch family in story…too many of
them,  I  know that…including  dog Woody.  There are people
here whose names  I  could  not record…particularly the two
young boys who caught the big fish.)
The  best fishing in Ontario is not located in some  pristine lake hidden away in the dense coniferous  forests  of Ontario.  Nope!  Not there! The best
fishing is  just a  couple of  kilometres out from Port Credit in Lake Ontario.  Deep down, 200 feet or more, there is  a large school of  salmon feasting on
alewives and  others.  Salmon that grow to be huge.  Salmon that a few fishermen compete each year to see who can catch the biggest of these
predators.