Alan Skeoch

Author: Alan Skeoch

  • Fwd: EPISODE 617 A HOSTA GARDEN IN A FOREST … WITH CURIOSITIES JULY 26,2022



    Begin forwarded message:


    From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
    Subject: EPISODE 617 A HOSTA GARDEN IN A FOREST … WITH CURIOSITIES JULY 26,2022
    Date: July 26, 2022 at 1:23:14 PM EDT


    episode 617   JANE’S HOSTA GARDEN IN SUMMER TIME…WITH FOLK ART ACCENTS,  JULY 27,2022



    THIS is Jane….and you are about to see her garden…she loves HOSTA PLANTS, BIRD HOUSES, SHAPELY ROCKS AND SHADE


    EPISODE 617   A HOSTA GARDEN IN SUMMER TIME….WITH FOLK ART ACCENTS

    alan skeoch
    July 26, 2022



    This was the key clue …. “Find a Gardener”, was the task…note nails.


    Once upon a time this garden was part of a climax forest.  Jane has kept the forest in mind
    as she placed mored than 150 Hosta plants beneath the spreading foliage of  ancient oaks and
    maples.

    Find the gardener. Actually they are all gardeners although only one, Jane, has green toenails.  This is her garden.


  • EPISODE 616 BUFFALO SCARES CYCLIST IN ELK ISLAND



    EPISODE 616    just try and get by me..buffalo block road Elk Island


    alan skeoch

    “IS THAT BUFFALO CHALLENGING US…DARING US TO GET CLOSER?”

    We were idling along,  alone, enjoying the wilderness 
    at Elk Island when we met this guy…this big bison who was walking right
    up the middle of the road as if he owned it.  Which was probably true.
    Then an odd thing happened.

    An older man on a racing bike passed us then braked…turned around and
    came back to our car.  We had stopped as we weren’t sure the buffalo was friendly.
    If he took a run at the car there would be a bill to pay.

    “Could you put your car between my bike and that buffalo.””
    ”Dangerous?””
    “Well he seems to believe he owns the road. and maybe he
    can outrun my bike.”
    “Sure we’ll act as a buffer.”

    All went well.  the guy on the bike was hidden from the buffalo.  Our car
    was vulnerable however.   

    “No problem … the bison is just looking for shady place to lie down.





    July  2022





    WE GOT PERILOUSLY CLOSE TO THE BUFFALO WHO DID NOT REALLY CARE.   PICTURE TAKEN BY MARJORIE.

    That was the closest we got to a buffalo.

  • EPISODE 615 TRAVEL…NO JOY IN MUDVILLE JULY 2022



    EPISODE 615     TRAVEL … NO JOY IN MUDVILLE

    alan skeoch
    July 23, 2022

    Five of uS….therefore five ‘carry on’ bags…no bIg luggage.  I forgot my jammies and
    bathing suit.   But I now agree with our sons….”All you need is a carry on.”
    Here Marjorie and Julie are on guard while the rest of our party sought washrooms.


    Marjorie and I get rubbed and touched with the magic wand.
    Even my brayses clips were suspect.  And Marjorie has two
    metal knees that made the wand sing. There were hundreds of travellers
    anxious to get the wand.  All in a long line.


    Today the Toronto Star ran an article on the front page saying
    that Pearson Airport is now one of the worst in the world.
    I hate to say that.   I don’t like to bad mouth ‘my airport’/
    But there is some truth there.

    When we flew to Edmonton last saturday the lineup to get 
    through security snaked its way through the whole departures
    building… huge line.   People on edge. Angry.  Fortunately
    I had my cane as my knee can get painful.  An Air Canada
    agent spotted my cane and shuffled us forward much to
    the displeasure of hundreds of people without canes.

    Still clearance was slow.   Marjorie and I had only our carry on
    luggage.  We had been forewarned that big bags may get lost
    and could mean more lineups.

    Here Andrew tries to do the near impossible…close a carry on after a search was demanded.


    we were all searched.  Really searched.  And I include
    my crotch.  and other parts of the body.   “Are you having a good time?
    I asked, much to the amusement of my wand carrying security guard.
    He took my cane and looked for hollow places where explosives could
    be hidden.  He was thorough.  I was glad…amused even.




    Julie was not so fortunate because she had cosmetics.  Her bag
    was opened’”  hard to close. The woman in front her, however,
    had a zillion cosmetic containers each of which had to 
    be cleared.   Getting through security was tough.

    Then there was the mask issue.  We had to wear masks in the
    terminal and on the flight except when drinking and eating. 
    That was tough.    My mask, an el cheapo black thing, refused
    to give me enough air.   Or that seemed to be the case.   For
    6 to 7 hours I wished for a mouthful of fresh air.  Almost 
    a panic situation.’’

    It would be worse if Covid 19 valiant or Monkeypox got through
    the mask.  Far worse.   I would have to spend 5 days in isolation…
    somewhere.   But where?   And how much would that cost?

    Costs?   I had forgotten that travel costs money.  the car cost $600 
    for four days, food cost between $150 to $200 every time the five
    of us ate.  By the end I was ordering toast and jam.   I had forgotten how 
    restaurants can make something as ordinary as breakfast  sound
    as sumptuous as a five star experience.  One breakfast was memorable…..
    pile of toast, pile of waffles, two fried eggs, two sausages, two slabs of ham, special coffee….
    maybe a yogurt…cost was around $30 dollars then an 18%  to 30% tip
    which was part of the invoice.  My fault entirely,  I did not need
      all that food. Travel is for the fortunate.

    This was the worst breakfast that I ordered.  My fault entirely.  I did not need to gorge. I am not
    sure why there were two pots…one with ketchup and the other with corn syrup.  


    Beer was  necessary even at $9.50 a pint plus tip.

    You may have not seen the pint of beer … distracted by Molly’s joyful face.  

    Please forgive my remarks….we really had a good time…really good once
    we got to Edmonton.   If I Told you about the good times, would you have read this?

    alan











  • EPISODE 613 How could 40 to 70 wild buffalo hide themselves? Elk Island National Park 2022


    EPISODE 613   ELK ISLAND NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA   JULY 20, 2022


    alan skeoch

    july 22, 2022

    “What can we do while waiting for Jack to be welcomed into 
    the Canadian army?”
    “Visit Elk Island National Park.”

    Pictures taken by Marjorie skeoch with her iPhone


    “Alan, how did buffalo like this one get to live in Elk Island National Park?
    ‘That’s a buffalo?
    “Stop being stupid.  How did that buffalo get here?”
    “Fascinating history.”
    “Do you want the short or long version.?”
    “Short version…, Dad.” 
     The federal government had bought buffalo
    from an American park then did not know where to put them   …They decided to use this park as a temporary holding ground for the buffalo before
    shipping them to Wood Buffalo National Park. …when the time came to move them a bunch…40 to 70…
    could not be found. “
    “How could these huge animals be missed?”
    “Elk Island is huge…194 square kilometres….75 square miles.”
    “But open prairie…”
    “not open…great swaths of aspen and boreal forest…miles and miles of water.Sometimes a buffalo
    looks like a rock…invisible.”
    “So they stayed”
    “Yes and Elk Island is now a famous buffalo breeding ground…bison is a better word.”
    “How many buffalo now?”
    “somewhere around us are 300 wood bison and 400 plains bison.  The population is
    kept around that figure.”
    “How?”
    “By selling buffalo to small holding  grounds around North America and the world.  One herd
    was even sold to Russia.   The Park officials…veterinarians ….believe small herds could
    prevent extinction should an outbreak bovine  tuberculosis strike again.”
    “Extinction?”
    “Disease almost finished off the buffalo after European sport hunters nearly slaughtered the plains buffalo into extinction.  Actual historians thought the plains  buffalo were gone
    until a small herd was found in Wood Buffalo Park.  They were moved here and live in the south part
    of Elk Island.”


    map

    ELK ISLAND NATIONAL PARK

    “How could 40 to 170 buffalo be missed?”

    “I know it’s hard to belleve.”

    “But we nearly missed a buffalo who was sleeping at the side of the road
    in the shade of an aspen grove.”
    “Elk Island National Park remains a wilderness.”



    Pictures by Marjorie Skeoch






    We spent two days in Elk Island National Park and managed to see 5 buffalo.   There are hundreds there.  The park is immense.  Lots of room for buffalo.

    Bison des prairies et bison des bois : évaluation et rapport de situation du COSEPAC 2013 - Canada.caKey morphological differences between mature Wood Bison (top) and... | Download Scientific Diagram

    “How are wood buffalo different from plains buffalo?
    “You tell me….look at the pictures.  Darn similar to my eyes.”

    Where once there were no surviving beaver,there ere are now 1,000


    “Thajt’s Andrew trying to get a picture of two buffalo way in the distance.”

    “If they charge Andrew, can you outrun them?”
    “No, but I am no worried.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because I know I can outrun you. dad.”

    alan skeoch
    July 22, 2022

    Note:  This short story only touches on the history of the buffalo in Canada.    The herds were once so large
    that 40,000 wolves preyed on them.  Yes, 40,000 wolves.  To kill the wolves a few buffalo were shot and 
    their corpses loaded with strychnine poison.  The wolves were then skinned.  The buffalo were expendable
    in early Canadian history.  Sometimes all that was taken were the tongues.  Piles of buffalo bones once dotted the
    prairies to be grand up into fertilizer for farmers.  The history of the buffalo is not a pretty story.

    More pictures to come.

  • EPISODE 612 THE LITTLE BOY, JACK, IS GONE…I COULD TELL BY HIS BED


    episode 612    PRIVATE JACKSON SKEOCH SHOWS US HOW TO MAKE A CANADIAN ARMY BED



    alan skeoch
    July 20, 2022

    Keeping Jackson Skeoch under the microscope. How would army life change him?




    On July 19, 2022, Jackson Skeoch became Private jJackson Skeoch of the PPCLI.
    (Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry).  Jack’s Parents, Julie and Andrew Skeoch
    and his grandparents, Marjorie and Alan Skeoch caught an Air Canada flight to
    Edmonton, Alberta and from there to CFB Edmonton where the official ceremony
    was held complete with a military marching band.

    A SURPRISING LESSON

    “Where will we stay?”
    “There’s a hotel on the base”
    “How much will that cost?”
    “$57 per person….no frills”
    “What does the Canadian army consider  a frill?”
    “No towels, TV that only a sapper could understand, no air conditioning….”
    “No cool air”
    “None”
    “This is the hottest day on record…temp in high 30’s…and we re expected to sleep
    without air conditioning.”
    “That’s not the big problem, Alan.”
    “Something worse?”
    “Take a look at the bed”
    “What’s that big lump in the plastic bag?”




    “Our bedding…we have to make our own bed.”
    “What?”
    “True….the army is making a point.”
    “A point?”
    “We must make a regulation army bed….45 degree corners…”
    “Get serious.”
    “I am serious.”

    And there on our bed was a big lump of textiles….our bedding

    “Hi grandma….greandpa…what’s up?”
    “Our bed”
    “Thought you would be surprised.”
    “You joined the army to make your own bed?”
    “Surprised me too, grandpa.”
    “LIke this?” and Marjorie made the bed…tight sheets.
    “Not good enough…corners had to be exactly 45 degrees””
    “How would you know ?”
    “The sergeant would tip the bed over if corners were not precisely 45 degrees….
    measured with a ruler.”
    “How are my corners”, said Marjorie.
    “37 degrees,,,not regulation, grandma….do the bed again…or would
    you rather I did it for you?”
    “You do it, jack”

    And he did.
    That was the first big change I noticed in Jack.



























    This week end we experienced a rite of passage …. a stage in the life of Jackson Skeoch.
    All of us were changed as a result.  The little boy is gone.

    alan skeoch
    July 20, 2022



    Sent from my iPhone