Alan Skeoch

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  • EPISODE 142 THOUGHTS ON A STORMY DAY…WE ALL HAVE THEM



    Begin forwarded message:


    From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
    Subject: Storm 6
    Date: October 16, 2020 at 1:51:36 PM EDT
    To: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>




    EPISODE 142     THOUGHTS ON A  STORMY DAY…WE ALL HAVE THEM

    alan skeoch

    Oct. 2020



    While we are still enjoying the  beauty of Ontario in October,  we all know

    what is coming.  November…  


    OCTOBER 16, 2020, MY BIRTHDAY CLICKS BY FROM SECONDS TO MINUTES TO HOURS

    So easy to mourn the loss of spring and summer.  So hard to welcome the late fall and  coming winter.

    The  storm clouds are already gathering.  But let’s not get our underwear in a twist.
    It is so easy to look at storm clouds and then transfer them metaphorically into
    the concrete tough times in our lives.  So easy to get depressed by what is coming…climate change,
    Covid  19, the U.S. election and lots more.

    Let’s not do that.  Those storm clouds I have tried to capture are quite beautiful…even
    readable if you want. Like the cloud below where i see a shepherd comforting his
    sheep.  (He seems male but who knows ?)




    I continuously marvel at our living world.  This envelope of oxygen, CO2

    and Nitrogen that is just in the right balance for us to thrive. I am not sure

    the universe holds many such  places as ours.  It is a treasure.

    And on stormy days coffee tastes better and  crawling out of a  hot bath tub into
    a warm bed has to be savoured.   Especially if it is accompanied by the pitter patter 
    of raindrops on the windows and the wind sweeping leaves from the maple trees
    so they can go to sleep as well.

    Lucky we live in a place with changing seasons.  Not all humans have that good
    fortune.  And I will grant you that not all humans want seasonal change. We
    just bought a thousand dollars worth of snow tires for our van in the belief those 
    rubber treads will keep us safe.  We know there is a down side coming…but the
    winter winds…the snow and the ice…can be quite stunning.  As you may see
    if I manage to keep these Episodes coming.

    “Alan, you could at least help with the dishes.”
    “Very true, I could.”
    “Well…”
    “Just give me a second or two to get this story arranged.”

    Marjorie, like most women, is a multi-talker.  I can only do one
    task at a time as she seems to have noticed.   I wonder how many
    Marjories there are in this world.  I hope lots.









    “Marjorie, how does rain happen?”

    “Oh, Alan….”

    “No,  I am serious.  How does rain happen?




















    We are made mostly of  water.  And water has a way of circling around from sky 

    to earth to ocean and back to sky again…then coming down in raindrops to start the circle

    all over again.   Without water we are nothing.   With water we are really something
    very unusual.

    And just as Marjorie and I drove home the sun burst through and lit
    up the highway with a rainbow.

    Stormy days are not bad at all.  Contrasts with the golden days.  All is good.



    We  are home.


    alan skeoch

    Oct. 16, 2020

    Sent from my iPhone


  • Fwd: EPISODE 141 “I TURNED 90 AND TOOK OFF IN A HARVARD….”, SAID BRAD SCHNELLER BREATHLESSLY



    Begin forwarded message:


    From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
    Subject: EPISODE 141 “I TURNED 90 AND TOOK OFF IN A HARVARD….”, SAID BRAD SCHNELLER BREATHLESSLY
    Date: October 15, 2020 at 8:23:18 PM EDT
    To: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>



    EPISODE 141   “I TURNED 90 AND TOOK OFF IN A HARVARD…”. SAID  BRAD  SCHNELLER BREATHLESSLY

    alan skeoch
    Oct. 11, 2020





    “Alan, What a day this has been,” said  Brad Schneller breathlessly.  He was so excited he could not
    even sit down on our socially distanced  lawn chairs.  He was flying high.  Why? Because he
    had been flying high an hour earlier.

    “I just turned 90 years  old and got my birthday wish…a  flight in a World War II Harvard.”
    “You did what?”
    “Sandra and the kids, Anne and David, Booked a joy ride for me out of Hamilton Airport…on a  Harvard .  We flew southwest
    to Caledonia…”
    “Dangerous?”
    “Suppose so.  The pilot told  me not to touch any of the controls.  The Harvard  was  used
    to train fighter pilots in World War II…two sets  of  controls.  I kept my hands  clear.”

    Brad  just could not sit down.  He paced up and down our lawn keeping his distance 
    …masked of course…but as excited as a kid in a candy store.
    Marjorie served them, Sandra and Brad, ice cream on a stick.  Brad wolfed his down
    as he described the flight.   Then he looked hungrily at Sandra’s which had not been eaten.
    Between bites he told us about the flight.

    “Flying in a Harvard has been a dream that I never believed would actually happen. Years  ago
    I remember a  Harvard coming to land on my friend Bill Greig’s farm near Rockwood.  It was magnificent.
    But beyond my grasp.  Then today, as I turned 90, the dream became real.”

    “The Harvard  only flies  on good  days…clear sky in other words…and today was  just
    perfect.”




    FACTS  ABOUT HARVARD HISTORY

    1The North American Harvards first appeared in 1937 
    2) 1939, first 50 Harvards delivered to the RCAF, Sea Island, British Columbia
    3) 1940, metal fuselage replaces  tube and fabric structure
    4)  1940-1, Canada receives 1200 American made Harvards
    5) 1941, Canada  begins manufacture of Harvards
    6) 1940 to 1945, Canada builds 2,800 Harvard  Mk 11B’s distributed  to 15 flying schools
    across  Canada
    7) Harvards were necessary bridge from the Tiger Moth to Spitfire fighter aircraft and  other
    front line fighters.
    8)1945, Canada keeps  some Harvards  as trainers but large number were sold to civilians
    9)1949, Cold War with the Soviet Union – Canada realizes it needs  Trainers again
    and leases 100T-6J Texans from the United  States Air Force.
    10) Canada orders 270 more Harvards toBE rebuilt by Canadian Car and Foundry, Thunder Bay.
    11) Harvards continued to be used as trainers until retired in1966
    12) 1938 to 1954, three were 20,110 Harvards belt, 3,370 built in Canada
    13) “Countless numbers  privately owned Harvards are still flying today.”
    14) The Hamilton Aircraft museum Harvards was built in 1953, sold  in 1965, donated back in 1973 by Dennis Bradley, Alan Ness and John Weir

    ANOTHER 1951 HARVARD BEING RESTORED

    • Status: On display
    • Airworthiness: Under restoration to flying condition
    • Type: Trainer
    • Built: 1951
    • Serial Number: RCAF 20213
    • Construction Number: CCF4-4
    • Civil Registration: CF-UUU
    • Current Markings: RCAF 20213
    • Length: 28 ft 11 in
    • Wingspan: 42 ft
    • Power: 600 hp
    • Engine: 1 x Pratt & Whitney Wasp R-1340-AN-1
    • Maximum Speed: 180 mph
    • Cruising Speed: 140 mph
    • Service Ceiling: 22,400 ft
    • Range: 800 miles

    North American Harvard Mk. IV











    “Alan, this day has become one of the best days in my 90 years.”
    (And Sandra, sitting opposite Brad on a lawn chair, smiled…happy for her husband)

    alan skeoch
    Oct. 11, 2020





  • EPISODE 140 WILL THE MONARCH MAKE THE TRIP OR DIE TRYING

    EISODE 140    WILL THE MONARCH MAKE THE TRIP OR DIE TRYING?


    alan skeoch
    Oct. 12, 2020



    The Monarch  caught my eye as it grabbed hold of a lingering cosmos flower.  A cool day.
    All the indicators screamed that winter was on the way.  Screamed in those vibrant colours
    of late fall.   The Monarch should not be here.  It should have flown south a month ago.
    Yet it seemed to know where it was going.  Heading south to Mexico.  Hopefully.  

    Usually Monarch flit here and there. Land on one flower then flit to another.   This Monarch
    gripped the Cosmos bloom for a  long, long time.  Was it a death grip? It held firm Long enough for me to get off the tractor
    and try to get closer with my camera.  But I could not.  The cosmos was  growing on a
    steep  face of land where the pond had dried up.  One slip and down I would go.  How could
    I tell the Monarch  story without pictures of those beautiful wings?

    Ninety percent (90%) of the Monarch  butterflies we enjoyed  20 years  ago are now gone.
    And there is  a good chance they will all  be gone in the next 20 years.   

    Should I do anything?  Could  I  do anything?  Maybe raise Monarchs?  Not so easy
    as  many human raised Monarchs  seem to be missing the SOUTH GENE.  They
    flit aimlessly and cannot survive when the heavy frost hits.  How do I know that?
    Because one scientist lassoed  some home raised monarchs and found they did
    not have the FLY SOUTH BEFORE THE COLD HITS gene.  Those Monarchs  living
    in places  like Hawaii do  not need  that gene.  But our monarchs need it if they
    are to survive.



    Where was my lone Monarch  going?   After a  ten minute rest on the  cosmos the
    butterfly would released its grip and continued south.  Erratically but definitely south.

    How far is Mexico?  How many km. can a  Monarch fly in one day?  
    What can it eat along the way?   My  Monarch stopped to answer 
    questions.   It needed all the energy it could muster to make the north
    shore of Lake Ontario that was 40 km. away.   Then it would face
    the flight over Lake Ontario or Lake Erie.  Could my Monarch  carry
    enough lunch for that flight?   Were there Monarch  restaurants still open
    on the Mississippii flyway?

    The trip is not as easy as it used to be.  Less  milkweed for them to eat as farm fields
    get bigger and bigger and the old  fencerows get cleared.  In those fencerows the milk weed 
    plants survived.  (Also survive in our garden at the expense of things we can eat.)  The forest
    fires ravaging the American west are devastating to the Monarchs.  No  escape.  In 2016, 62 million 
    trees died in California alone.  Today, in 2020, the death whole of forests is far worse.  Here in Central
    North America there is  a  glimmer of hope due to the Monarch  Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
    in Michigan, a UNESCO world  heritage site.

    Perhaps the worst part of this horror story is the illegal logging of the Monarch butterfly’s
    home sites  in Mexico.  They hang by the millions on those trees and die by the thousands
    as  an illegal log is ‘harvested’.   Who is to blame?  No  easy  answer.

    My monarch on this bright sunny fall day has to be admired.  Monarch  butterflies are the only
    insects that migrate  like birds.  Migrate 3,000 miles to our farm.  Not the same monarch
    however.  The progeny makes  the journey.  Some only live one month on the flight.  But 
    the monarch  I see today has lived  for 8 months.  It has never seen  Mexico it seems
    to know where Mexico is?   How is that?  The Monarch brain is the size of a pinhead
    yet it knows this  sunny  day in mid October that it should be on its way south to 
    Mexico…yes, brain the size of a pinhead.  What triggers that brain to head to Mexico?


    I asked my Monarch.

    “Where are you going?”
    “Mexico.”
    “Have you ever been there?
    “Never.”
    “Then how do you know where Mexico is?”
    “My brain just cuts in and says ‘fly south’ when 
    the temperature gets cooler.”
    “A lot of humans, Canadians, do the same thing.  
    Did you know that?”
    “My brain is learning about the human migration
    but not learning fast enough.  Millions of my kin
    get killed on highways,  particularly US 35 which bisects
    our flyway.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “Not sure…so many things in our life are disappearing
    but I am reminded of a saying among butterflies…”We can but
    hope that good  will be the final goal  of ill.”   That hope 
    keeps us going.”
    “We have the same expression of hope among us humans.”
    “Maybe you humans can  do  something about the state of the
    world.  Your brains are so  much larger than mine.”
    “Size of brain and intelligence do not seems to go hand in hand in
    North America these days.”
    “That is  tragic.  Tragic for us, the Monarch  butterfly population,
    and tragic for you, the human population that has peopled the earth.”
    “I like your attitude…keep on flying…keep hope alive.”
    “Right.  Well, I cannot hang here talking any longer.  I am late.
    My target is the shore of Lake Ontario in the next few days…and
    then Mexico before freeze up.”

    And  away it went.  I forgot to get the name.  Not sure if the Monarch
    was male or female.  I do know, however, that it was smart.  It knew
    where it was going and would try to get there with all its might.

    Wish I felt the same about us.

    alan skeoch
    Oct. 13, 2020

    WHY ARE THESE COSMOS FLOWERS SO BRILLIANT.  THEY HAD NO CARE.  NO SPECIAL  WATERING.  NO LOVE AND SPECIAL  FOOD.
    WHILE OUR SPECIAL COSMOS  GARDEN WHICH HAD CARE ALL SUMMER HAS BEEN DEAD AND GONE BY THE END OF
    SEPTEMBER.  DID THESE COSMOS SURVIVE BECAUSE THE FLOWERS  KNEW THAT MY MONARCH BUTTERFLY, MY FRIEND,
    WOULD BE ALONG?  I LIKE TO THINK SO.

    OUR TREES  IN LATE FALL LOOK LIKE A MILLION…A BILLION…MONARCH BUTTERFLIES

    JUST WAITING TO TALK WITH US.  

    alan skeoch

    Oct. 12, 2020


  • EPISODE 139 TWO STARTLING EVENTS OF 2020…COVID 19 AND THIS JOHN DEERE DINOSAUR OF THE FARM FIELD

    EPISDOE 139    TWO STARTLING EVENTS OF 2020….COVID 19  AND  JOHN DEERE DINOSAUR


    Alan skeoch
    Oct. 2020

    In  February 2020 would you have believed a Pandemic was about to change the world
    so completely.  Air travel which we took for granted is now a thing of the past for most of us.
    And who would believe that it was necessary to wear a face mask wherever we go.  

    Just as unbelievable are the changes  in agriculture.  Who could possibly afford to buy
    and  operate a tractor and cultivator so big that it spans two traffic  lanes.  More 
    startling is the fact that this machine now cultivates thousands of acres of farm land
    removing small farmers from the market … driving them into cities for work
    while their land is rented to these corporate elephants.

    The one sure thing in life is ‘Change’, as I have one to believe.

    AUTUMN LEAVES:  They are wonderful this fall.  I am so glad you enjoy them.  
    More to come.

    alan

    P.S.  Brad, can you tell me how much this  tractor costs?



  • EPISODE 139 PUTTING THE BEES TO SLEEP FOR THE WINTER

    EPISODE 139    PUTTNG THE BEES TO SLEEP FOR THE WINTER


    alan  skeoch
    Oct. 12,2020

    Andrew’s bees need  tender loving  care at this time of year.  They
    are getting  ready  for a  long sleep and their home needs  to be
    winterize and a surplus food supply of sugar and  water needs to
    be available.


    Late fall colours  are holding just so the bees can remember how glorious their nectar collecting days have been.
    Once Andrew gets them sealed  of for the winter they may peak out occasionally … at their peril


    Andrew has decided to let the bees keep their honey this year.  New Bees…new home…new country.

    “Tate this Dad”  … he scooped spoonful of honey with his bee knife.
    “Terrific…can i have another shot?”

    At that moment a bee stung poor Norman on the ass.  He took off like a bat out of
    hell for home.   The honey tasting was  forgotten.