Alan Skeoch

Author: terraviva

  • EPISODE 192 MOVIE INDUSTRY … WHAT MAKES A MOVIE SEEM REAL

    EPISODE 192    MOVIE INDUSTRY … WHAT MAKES A MOVIE SEEM REAL


    alan  skeoch
    Dec. 2020

    DATELINE   DECEMBER 10, 2020
    LOCATION: SOUTHERN ONTARIO




    Possibly one of the worst days for anyone to work.  Covid 19 was spiking.  Hospitals across 
    North America were bursting.   ICU’s were above capacity and the death toll in the United
    States was above 3,500 … in just one day.   In Ontario, Toronto and Peel County were in
    lockdown and the worsening situation made further lockdowns very likely.  This  was a
    dark day like no other.  And the pandemic  seemed out of  control.

    It was also a big day for the movie industry.  Two huge 5 ton trucks had just arrived at the farm followed
    by two smaller trucks.  December 10 was loading day.   Marjorie and  I were nervous…only Woody
    the dog was relaxed.  He liked visitors and there had been precious few  of them.

    “Alan, wear a double mask and  keep away from the loaders…social distancing.”
    “Marjorie, I will not have time to document the loading…I will be on the ATV all day…could you keep a record with
    your iPhone?”
    “I will…but I will also be making hot chocolate and a snack for the men.”

    (She did make the hot chocolate but Woody  got the great chevron of  cheese and the cookies)

    But first:

    “Gather round everyone…socially distant but within earshot…I would like to make a short speech.”

    Seven men, all masked, formed a loose circle.

    “This is a dangerous day  for all of us.  Covid 19 is raging.  Hospitals are overflowing.
    The day is Particularly dangerous for Marjorie and  me since we are in he
    most vulnerable age group.  We have two 5 ton trucks to load with a huge number  of objects
    that you may find questionable. This will take the full day.  I know  it  is hard to work with
    the masks but it is necessary.  Please  respect both us and our collection…and be careful.”

    “OK, Rob, you are now in full command,” And the loading began. Really we had three movies
    to deal with.  Large objects were returned with big pieces from other movies.. while we  spent the day filling the two five tons.
    Only one man ignored the rules and kept his mask below his chin jeopardizing us all.  He must
    have been a believer in Donald Trump.   Should I say something?  I did not. It is impossible
    to speak to believers in Donald Trump.

    The day before I had spent several hours putting green markers on the items to 
    be loaded.   The day was cold but thawing.
    T

    Movie people  are  quite secretive lest the story gets out before the movie is completed.   Therefore  I cannot say much about
    the script.  My job  was to provide objects that made the movie set believable.  In this  case a  semi-derelict building with
    long forgotten objects from the recent and  distant past.   This was certainly not a beauty contest.  Nothing pristine.

    Those of you who have been following my stories…my adventures…about the decade in the mining exploration budiness
    might like to look closely at these caribou antlers.  A First Nation friend,  Moses  Lord,  gave them to me on the Yukon job.
    I crated  them and shipped them bak home much to the amusement of all including my Toronto boss, Dr. Norman Paterson.
    “At my expense, Norm, not yours…although you probably would not have complained”.   This is the first movie job  for the
    antlers…shipped in 1962…first earned their keep in 2020.



    In the late 1940’s, my brother and I built our own scooters from orange crates, 2×4’s and roller skates.
    When  the scooters got bashed  up…splintered…we just went to the back of grocery stores and
    got another orange crate.  Kids do not do that any more .  Why?   Oranges come in paper boxes.



    We worked  from 8.30 until 2.30 on the job.  Heavy work at times.  It is harder to breathe through
    the masks doing hard work but the crew followed the rules (with that one lone exception).  Breakage?
    yes, I heard  a loud crunch when crates of clay flower pots were put on the loading ramp.  Made me wince.

    “Alan, how do you know that our things will come back?”
    “We can but trust, Marjorie.”
    “How would our lives be different if  we were minimalists?”
    “Life would be pristine but bloody boring.”

    alan skeoch
    Dec. 2020

  • Fwd: EPISODE 191 .ROCKS ARE OUR BEST CROP



    Begin forwarded message:



    Subject: EPISODE 191       ROCKS ARE OUR BEST CROP

    EPISODE 187    ROCKS ARE OUR BEST CROP



    Jack and Sean were paid for this  job.  

    alan skeoch
    may 2020


    This is a story about rock  picking.


    THERE is a very moving  film called  THE FIELD with Richar Harris  as  a hardscrabble  Irish  farmer whose field  is  all he  has
    in life.   And  he is prepared to die to keep his Field.  I can identify with him.  There are 25 acres on our farm where meh grandparents
    made a living somehow.  7  o 8 acres are swamp or a term used  more fashionably the water acres  are called a  pond.  Another 10 
    acres are bush some of  which  we planted 60 years ago.  Red  pines…worthless for anything but pulp and hideaway locations for
    wild Turkeys.  

    There are two acres of sandy loam at the front of the farm but one of our sons  decided  to plant oaks and maples there
    one week-end.   Our garden soil disappeared.  Now, 20 years later,  he is scooping out the trees to be replanted on fancy avenues.
    Maybe we will get the good land  back but I am not holding my breath.   I will likely have to rely on My Field behind the swamp.

    That leaves my  two acre field…as seen below.   Our best crops are rocks.   Every year more rocks…and more rocks.
    Backbreaking work with a stone boat and  pull tractor.  Even with the bobcat the rock picking is  back breaking.

    Ten years ago i bought a  special hydraulic tractor for Marjorie for her  birthday.  She has  never driven  it but I try 
    to harrow our rock field with it annually.  Take a  look.  These rocks  come up every single year.

    How did  our grandparents ever make a living.?  Simple answer is they did not make a living.  They existed…house 
    with no indoor plumbing,  no electricity,  dirt floor basement, lots of small creatures living between the single layer of  bricks
    and the split lath pleasured walls.  Hiding place for snakes and mice and bugs.  

    Why send this?  Just in case one of you readers longs for the  good old days and are thinking of  buying a small farm.

    alan skeoch
    may 2020


    Now the field  looks a little cleaner.  How did it get this way?   One  summer day Jack Skeoch 
    and his  friend Sean were cycling by our house.


    “Hey,  boys, do you want to earn a  few bucks?”
    “Sure.”
    “I will  pay minimum wage  or better…”
    “Doing what?”
    “It’s a secret.”

    And that was the way I got the rocks picked  before we got the rock picker implement attached
    to the Bob cat.  Better than sending the boys to some sweaty  gym.  Outdoors.  But no girls
    which was a bit of  a  problem.



    The Big Snapper looked  like a rock.  She was burying her eggs…


    Now what to do with the stones.  My Cousin Eleanor and her husband  John built a large farm house with stones like these.
    That skill I do not have.   So we just dumped the stones  in the rock pile.  Every farm has  a place for stones.

    alan skeoch
    Dec 2020


  • EPISODE 191 HOW TO OPERATE A THREE FURROW DRAG PLOW (JUST HAVE THE STRENGTH TO PULL A STRING)

    EPISODE  191   HOW TO OPERATE A THREE FURROW DRAG PLOW (JUST HAVE THE STRENGTH TO PULL A STRING)


    alan skeoch’
    Dec. 2020

    THERE is no feeling like it.  Exhilerating.  All that machinery controlled by one short
    length of parachute chord.  Pull the chord hard…the three furrow plow drops and sods
    begin to turn.  Pull it again and  the plowshares  lift so you  can make your turn and then
    do it all over again.  Wonderful feeling.  I wish the IHC W6 and the old John Deere drag
    plow were willing when spring comes.

  • EPISODE 190 STATIONARY NEW HAMBERG THRESHING MACHINE…UNWELCOME ANYWHERE

    EPISODE 190   STATIONARY THRESHING MACHINE…UNWELCOME ANYWHERE FOR SOME STRANGE REASON


    alan skeoch
    dec.  2020


    NOW  THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL MACHINE…BUT I GUESS ‘BEAUTY IS ONLY
    IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER, NAMELY ME.



    My previous Episode 189 tells the story of my impulsive purchase of 4 thresing machines  at a Kitchener auction many years
    ago.  This is the story of the smallest of them.  It was made in New Hamberg, Ontario sometime between  1850 and 1900 and
    designed to sit on a barn threshing floor where the sheaves of wheat , oats or barley could be hand  fed into the threshing cylinder.
    Not many of these machines  have survived the change from small farms to large corporate farms.    As  a matter of  fact
    not many people would even know what the machine did.  IT could have had wheels at one time perhaps.

    About 20  or 30 years ago I gave the thresher to the City of Mississauga and  it was kept in the small barn beside the Bradley
    Museum.  Nothing was done to indicate the importance of the machine.  

    “That thing takes too much space”, some museum manager
    decided…with follow  up questions.
    “What is it  anyway?”
    “Why do we have it sitting there?”
    “Who gave it to us?” “Is there any paper work?”
    “Let’s get rid of it.”

    RING…RING…RING.
    “Hello, Alan, how would you like a small threshing machine?”
    “What colour?”
    “Sort of a faded orange…quite  old…stencilled says New Hamburg Manufacturing Company.”
    “Do you know where it came from?”
    “We have no idea.  No paper work.”

    “Well, let me tell you.  I gave the machine to the City of Mississauga.  It is an important artifact.
    “It was yours?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, we do  not want it anymore…come and get it.”  “Or it will be disposed  of …”

    Now that was a double shock…First, no one knew I gave it to the Bradley House museum decades ago
     Second, they were dumping the machine and just by chance called  
    All this at my personal expense…I felt badly treated  by my own city of  Mississauga.  
    Almost like I had backed up and dumped a load of garbage.  I still feel
    let down.   The ‘come and get it now’ phone  call was a real slap in the face.

    Sp I asked Andy to help once again.  This time no safe place in mind until after the pick up.
    I sent an email to the Wellington  County Museum…seemed a good fit since they have an
    immense historic  barn with lots  of room and  the thresher was designed for a threshing floor.
    No answer.  NO ANSWER!   Not just a ‘thanks but no thanks” but NO ANSWER AT ALL.

    So what to do?  “Andrew, we’ll  take the machine to Bill  Brooks…he owns a machine shop
    in Rockwood and has helped in the past.

    And that is where it rests today…two years later.

    Imagine that.  Here  I have a very rare ‘flat to the floor hand fed threshing machine … a rare machine …and
    no one has the imagination necessary to see that it is preserved for future  generations.


    After the urgent call…i.e”.Come and get it or it goes to the garbage dump”…my son Andrew helped immediately.  Then Bill Brooks and his brother Joe Brooks helped.
    They put it under cover where it sits today.  The thresher would look perfect in the Wellington County Museum. The  gigantic barn which  is near empty.  But no one will
    respond.   Bill Brooks  cannot keep  it forever.  And our barns  are full.  What should we do?


    Museums are loss leaders.   They do  not make money.  They take up space.  They are unnecessary.  Right?  


    alan skeoch
    Dec.  2020

  • EPISODE 189 NEW HAMBURG THRESHING MACHINE


    EPISODE  189    NEW HAMBURG THRESHING MACHINE…FINDING A HOME WAS DIFFICULT

    alan  skeoch
    Dec./ 2020




    Thirty or forty years ago I bought 4 threshing machines at the Thompson Auction  sale near Kichener.
    I was alone.   Marjorie would likely have put the brakes on my enthusiasm.  Maybe not.  When impulsive
    decisions are necessary, I often make them.  

    Some readers may  not even know what a threshing machine looks like.  They were ‘dinosaurs’ of the 
    grain fields up until the modern combine harvesters rendered them obsolete.  If asked to cut to the
    quick . Make it simple.  My answer?   “Threshing machine are  big, big,big.”

    This story is about one of those four machines.  The New  Hamburg Threshing Machine as pictured
    below.


    At the Thompson sale no one except for me seemed interested.  I cannot remember how much I paid for this beauty but
    it was around $100.   The other three  were about the same price give or take a bit.  When I drove home from the sale
    I had one thought.  What was I going to do with these machines.  First off, how could  I move them from the sale.  Then
    where would I take them?  Then how could I care for them?

    Let me put this in modern terms.  Imagine you bought four tractor trailers at a sale.  What would you do with them.  Write a  list of
    all your friends  who  would  gladly take a threshing machine in their back yard and then build a driveshed around it.  The list is likely
    very short.

    This machine is the most stunning and enigmatic of the four I bought.  Painted with unusual images…a crocodile,  a lion, a bouquet 
    of tulips.  At the close of the 19th century it was the custom to paint machines as if they were Christmas presents.   A kind  of
    advertising.   But this New  Hamburg Machine was really made to appear unusual.   What is the significance  of the crocodile?
    The  answer?   Threshing machines had  teeth that chopped up wheat sheaves like a crocodile did with dogs, cats or people
    if they inadvertently got in the animals mouth.    The lion?  Stood for courage, perhaps endurance.   The tulips?  Now the bouquet of
    tulips is hard to explain.

    What was I to do?   At the time we were involved with Riverdale Farm which  is located in the centre  of the  City of Toronto then managed
    by Judy and Mark Spurr.  Both of them were enthusiastic about my donation.  So I hired Gordon Hume to load the machine on his
    flat bed truck and take it to Riverdale farm where it sat majestically on the threshing floor for a decade or so. 

     En route to the farm Gordon Hume drove along the Gardiner and up  Parliament Street startling anyone walking.  At the time there
    was a CBC radio station on Parliament Street and by chance David Shatsky or Christopher Thomas, hosts of Radio  Noon, were  out for a walk.
    Think ti was  David.
    He gawked at the machine.  He knew there was a story on the move and  eventually traced  the story to me.  That led to my
    career on CBC Radio for several years.  

    Story telling about rural Ontario or anything else that touched my fancy.  Several years
    doing stories every Friday until one day I was told, “We don’t need  you anymore.”   Not a nice ending to my radio career but
    I had  been prepared for that when another radio journalist told me privately that “we all have a shelf life, Alan, be prepared.”
    On air personalities get the chop often.



    It was  not just me that got the  chop a  few years later.  The New Hamburg Threshing machine also got the chop when some opinion laden bureaucrat
    decided he or she did not like the thresher.  I got a call  from someone.  “Alan, the Thresher has been moved out of the barn and is sitting
    exposed to the weather.   It will not last long that way.  Will you take it back?”

    Of course I said  I would come and get it. But where could it go?   Someone suggested Doon Pioneer Village just outside of the City of Kitchener.
    The thresher was made in  New Hamberg…close to Kitchener.  The Village manager was receptive.  “Yes, I think this machine would be a 
    star in our exhibit hall”, he said (something like that).   

    How could  I get the machine from Toronto to Kitchener.  As luck  would have it our son Andrew and his partner Nick had  just set up
    a creative landscaping business.  Working with huge boulders…making gardens look like mountain streams…big scale stuff.  They
    had a flat bed truck and  one day the thresher was  loaded and hauled to Down Pioneer Village where it sits today.  (I hope it still
    sits there…I have heard  nothing about it for decades.)


    Did I hear you ask, “Alan what happened to the other three threshers?”
    They make a good story as well.  I still have two of them.  I did  have all three
    for a year or so  but put one small , flat to the floor,  thresher in an auction and  it
    is now somewhere up near Goderich being cared  for …I hope.

    I heard that comment!   Who said “Is Alan nuts?”

    Wait until I tell you the story of the other New Hamburg thresher.  It is a story with no ending yet.  It is a story which reflects
    badly on museum curators.   No, not quite true.  Museums are loss leaders.  They do  not make profits  and they are constantly
    squeezed by cost cutting people who have no imagination.  The kind of people who rolled their eyes when I bought
    those four threshing machines years ago.   Yes, I am a  bit nuts.

    alan skeoch
    dec.  2020