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EPISODE 423 BILL BROOKS RETIRED TWO MONTHS AGO…NOW BUSIER THAN EVER…WITH CATS

EPISODE 423    BILL BROOKS RETIRED TWO MONTHS AGO…NOW BUSIER THAN EVER…WITH CATS


alan skeoch
Sept. 2021



“Bill, how is retirement?”

“I will never know.”

“Marjorie and I drove into Bill Brooks machinery yard while he was rubbing the feral Tom Cat that
keeps the yard full of kittens and limits the possibility that a mouse could survive.”




“Alan, that kitten is so cute…maybe Woody would like a companion.”


“What kitten…no kittens here.”

“Keep looking…they see you but do not know if they can trust you yet.”

“Imagination”

“Bill, now that you are retired maybe you can get this old blacksmiths forge back
in running order.  Just a Little job.”

“Funny thing , that’s what everybody says.  Look around at all the little jobs
that have landed here at my workshop…tractors, front ned loaders, road graders…
little jobs.”

“Put our little job at the bottom of the list.”  Deep down I knew he would not do that.



“The cats live under and inside the machines…their home…feral cats that
knew enough to stay clear of visitors.  That’s why the coyotes never get them.
Take a look at the one I could get near enough to snap.”

“Alan, look at the big one nuzzling Bill Brooks…that’s the male.  Not many
of those around any more…Tom Cats…love Bill but thinks we are intruders.”


“I wonder who dropped off this machine for repairs…sort of like poor old Humpty Dumpty.

“Only Bill Brooks could make sense of this beauty.”

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EPISODE 421 A VISIT TO THE “SALLY ANN”

EPISODE 421    A VISIT TO THE ‘SALLY ANN”


alan skeoch
sept. 2021



Now here is something we all might need.  I am talking about a visit  to the ‘Sally Ann” better known as 
the Salvation Army  Thrift Store.  There is one in your neighbourhood.


Marjorie knows how to have a good time without going overboard.  She gathers up things we do not need or do not wear anymore
and takes them down to our local Salvation Army Thrift Store.  Then the fun begins.  She shops in the store buying other people’s
cast off clothing and other pieces of bric a brac.   Some people are too proud to do this.  That is really too bad because “Thrift” shopping
benefits so many people.  And it is so much fun.

We get lots of laughs doing our shopping.  I  come along often but not as often as Marjorie would like..  Last week I bought a nice shirt…took it
home…tried it on and it did not fit.  Marjorie took it back as an exchange item.  This week I was shopping at the Thrift Store and bought
the same damn shirt.  Dead loss but amusing.

Here…take a look at Marjorie shopping and being warmly greeted by the store manager.







Some collector will spot this shirt signed by the whole team.

Reminder of the Great Flood that made Noah build his Ark.  If that happened.  Perhaps it did.  The oceans are rising as the ice cap melts.


I wonder why not one has bought these?





I JUST love the Salvation Army books…and I recently was rewarded with one of the best books
I have read lately.  The title is COAL.




COAL was written by Babara Freese  in 2003.  It is a frightening and fascinating book documenting the role of coal in
our western civilization and terrible results that followed the coal roll in the Industrial Revolution

Without coal there could not be an industrial revolution in 1800.  No civilization as we know it today.  But coal is a mixed blessing as anyone with black lung
can testify    Coal burning has released so much carbon into the air that our civilization is under threat of collapse.
Not a happy book but it sounds one word loud and clear.  ALERT ALER ALERT.

LET’s not get so serious  There are hundreds of fine fiction novels to be found on the Sally Ann shelves 
if you need relief after reading COAL.   Escapism.

And, oh yes, there is a nice brown checked shirt on the Extra Large shirt rack…please buy it so I don’t buy it for a third time.

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EPISODE 421 MONARCH BUTTERFLIES….SPECIAL MILKWEED GARDEN…DIRE PREDICTION


EPISODE 421    MONARCH BUTTERFLIES….SPECIAL MILKWEED GARDEN…DIRE PREDICTION

alan skeoch
sept. 2, 2021

Well, it’s that time of year again when we start to worry about the Monarch Butterflies.  Lots of

doom and gloom…talk about these beautiful creatures facing extinction.  Let’s hope it’s

just talk. 

We are doing our part by leaving a good sized slice our garden exclusively for milk weed
plants.  In the past no respectable farmer would do that because milk weed is toxic to 
cattle.  Or so I am told.  I have never seen a cow munching milk weed.  They seem to 
know plants.  All over North America eccentrics like Marjorie and me have little patches
of milk weed.  Others,  using little thought, spread the insecticide Round Up. Deadly.

And today there were two monarchs nosing about.  I hope laying eggs.  Eventual
larvae who can munch they way through our dining area. 














Milk weed gets a little ugly about now.  Other creatures chew at the leaves.  But

Monarch larvae when and if they appear are obvious and systematic.  Big fat larvae 

eventually appear.

Big question
  How much time do they need to eventually emerge as Monarch butterflies.
This is the beginning of Sept.  October comes fast as does the frost.  Is there
enough time left?   Then they have the long flight to Mexico or part way there.




Monarch Butterfly Population in 2020-21

How would you go about counting North America’s monarch butterfly population? Scientists can’t count each and every butterfly. Instead they count the area of land occupied by the monarchs in their Mexican over-wintering habitat.  The 2020-2021 Monarch Butterfly Report below shows only 2.1 hectares, down from 6.05 hectares just 2 years ago. It’s one of the lowest acreage numbers for the winter population in 20 years. Entomologists believe that Monarch survival requires at least 15 acres of wintering butterflies annually. The situation is dire. Why is this happening?

2020-2021 Monarch Butterfly Report | Monarch Watch

Illegal Logging Is Increasing in Mexican Winter Habitat

A dramatic increase in illegal logging in the Mexican over-wintering biosphere was reported this year.  Approximately 33 acres were lost, up from one acre of loss the year before. In addition problems with habitat loss in the U.S. persist due to the use of chemical insecticides, most notably Round Up.

Monarch Butterfly Habitat in Mexico | 2020-2021 Monarch Butterfly Report
These are the Transvolcanic Mountains in Mexico. For thousands of years (since the last ice age) monarch butterflies have taken refuge here during the winter. Unfortunately the area is being logged illegally, causing catastrophic destruction to monarch habitat. Vermont Woods Studios has partnered with the non-profit Forests for Monarchs to replant the area with native trees. The red arrows above point to plots we have reforested.


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38th Rover Crew… 1956 : CATAWBA IS CHEAP WINE: TED IS DEAD

CATAWBA IS CHEAP WINE: TED IS DEAD
(38TH ROVER CREW, WINTER 1956)
ALAN  SKEOCH
MARCH 2018

Those were grand  years, the 1950’s.  I thought they would never end, as the song goes.  But they did and as  near as  I can  see they have not been repeated.  The innocence, sense of  adventure, opportunities, simplicity, thrift, tight friendships  of those years are difficult to replicate today.  This  picture for instance, was taken on one of  our winter camping trips with the 38th Rover Scout troop led by Ed Hisson (right) where we tramped into a huge log cabin built by a group of older WW2 veterans deep  in the Canadian  Boreal wilderness north of Parry Sound.  They shared it with us for some reason I cannot fathom…perhaps just the Rover Scout bonds.  That’s  Big Red Stevenson in the foreground, one of my lifetimes friends and me in the background.  Our coats come from the War Surplus stores of which there were many in the 1950s.

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DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES

WE did not belong to a fraternity at U. of T. but we went to this fondly remembered fraternity party one night.  Eric, Marjorie and I.  No pocket money for beer.  just enough for one cigar as you can  see.  Then we hit a bonanza in the dark.

“A half bottle of red wine, here…”
“Take a  swig.”
“finish it off before the owner comes back”
“What are these lumps?”
“CIGARETTE BUTTS?  CIGAR BUTTS!!
The bottle had been used as an ashtray.  We did  not notice until we got some distance down in the bottle.
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OCT, 7, 1989…FREEDOM CAME AND NEAR DEATH: ANDREW IN SOUTH PACIFIC

FREEDOM AND NEAR DEATH:  ANDREW IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC,
BEGAN OCT. 7, 1989
alan skeoch
march  2018
Parents have to let go at some point.  If they don’t want to let go then their kids will take off anyway.  That is our experience.
About the time the Berlin Wall came down, both Andrew and  Kevin took off. Left the nest to explore the wider world.  I think it was October 7, 1989…the Berlin Wall  came down a  month later…both boys just took off in different directions.  We didn’t know why their rite of passage occurred on the same day but it did.
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Lower Wooton Farm…Marjorie and Nancy plucking chickens

LOWER WOOTON FARM, HEREFORDSHIRE, CIRCA 1965
alan skeoch
march 2018
LOWER WOOTON FARM is  a designated  historic  property near Almely, Herefordshire, England.    When I first visited the farms back in 1960 the farm was just a name…no directions, no real  address.  But Grandma  and Granddad Freeman talked  about the place  regularly back in Canada and since I was
working in Ireland the chance to find  Lower Wooden Farm presented  itself.  I was travelling blind. Flew to London when Irish job was over then took a train from London to Hereford and then stood on the platform, a confused and obviously lost 22 year old Canadian.

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