Alan Skeoch

Year: 2021

  • EPISODE 373 POISONOUS PARSNIP … DO NOT TOUCH …extreme danger

    EPISODE 373     POISONOUS PARSNIP  – EXPLOSIVE GROWTH…DEADLY PLANT…LOOKS LIKE QUEEN ANNE’S LACE


    Alan skeoch
    June 19, 2021



    “Alan, look what grew in the perennial garden.  Is it a flower or a weed?”
    “Not sure…looks sort of like Queen Anne’s Lace but twice the size.”
    “Should we pull i out or let it flower?”
    Quite stunning to look at.”
    “Are you sure it is not Hogweed…the killer of the fence row.”
    “Don’t touch it just in case.   Hogweed sap can make a person blind…even kill.”
    “Too small for Hogweed.”
    “Give Andrew a call.”

    “Tempted to pull it out…to cut it at the base.”
    “Do not do a bloody thing.”
    “The plant grew fast…seems it was so small and now it is 3 feet high and getting higher.”
    “Scares me.”
    “Give Andrew a call now.”
    “I will need pictures…”
    “Pictures?   PICTURES!!!”
    “Give Andrew a call now.”


    “ANDREW,  There is a STRANGE plant growing in centre of the garden…looks
    like Queen Anne’s lace but bigger and greener.”
    “Do not touch it Dad…get away.”
    “Why?”
    “”Wild Parsnip..for sure…sap will burn your skin…REALLY BAD…GET AWAY FROM IT.”
    “But the plant is in the centre of the perennial garden.”
    “I will get it tomorrow…need to be careful…gloves, mask, long pants…need to
    dig up the wild parsnip roots as we’ll.”
    “Marjorie is worried about her perennials.”
    “Danger, dad…real danger…the sap can torture…”

    How did it get here?    Wild parsnip loves disturbed ground.  Gardens..road shoulders…hiking trails.




    EVIDENCE…NO JOKING MATTER…LOOK AT THE BLISTER WHEN THIS LADY
    ACCIDENTALLY FELL INTO SOME POISONOUS PARSNIP.  DO NOT TOUCH THE PLANT
    WITH BARE SKIN…TAKE PRECAUTIONS .

    alan skeoch




    At first, Murphy said she

    At first, Murphy said she “didn’t think anything of it.” (Charlotte Murphy)

    WARNING: ARTICLE CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES

    A Vermont woman who received the equivalent of second-degree chemical burns to her legs after falling into a wild parsnip plant is warning others about the dangers of the seemingly harmless herbage.

    Around the first of July, Charlotte Murphy, of Essex, Vermont, was traveling to the southern part of the state for her internship with a local artist. When she stopped on the side of the road, she lost her footing and fell into the plant, breaking it, causing the sap from the wild parsnip plant to come in contact with her bare legs.


  • EPISODE 372 meeting of the castlefield institute June 17, 2021 (John Ricker presiding)

    EPISODE 372    MEETING OF THE CASTLEFIELD INSTITUTE  JUNE 17, 2021  JOHN RICKER PRESIDING


    alan skeoch
    june 17, 2021




    This is John Wardle…creator and manager of the relatively unknown Castlefield Institute, an organization
    that discusses and makes suggestions concerning world events some of which threaten our very existence.

    Most of the time, however, we just enjoy each others company   We laugh a lot which is a good sign.
    And every one seems to have an opinion some of which are astounding…i.e. brilliant.  Many are just
    plain silly.   Silly and delightful.  We have a good time.

    alan



    And this is John Ricker in whose honour the Castlefield Institute was created.  John Ricker has suggested to John Wardle a disparate assembly of 
    people to join him in monthly discussions.






    “Mmmmmmmmmmmm!”   (read below to understand the Mmmmmmmmmm!)



  • EPISODE 372 THIS EUCLID DUMP TRUCK MAKES OUR VAN LOOK LIKE A DINKY TOY…COAL MINING CONTROVERSY 1990’S OHIO




    EPISODE 371   STRIP MINING IN OHIO


    alan skeoch
    June 2021

    See if you can find Andrew in this picture.   Behind the Euclid are heaps of rubble that was once a dense and beautiful
    Caledonian forest.   Why destroy the forests of Central Ohio?  Imagine the scale of destruction this Euclid could wreak.
    A few loads like this and our farm in Southern Ontario would cease to exist.   Can you guess the economic justification
    of using these Euclids?   What is being sought under the Osage Orange groves?  Under the Shagbark Hickory trees?
    Under the top soil?  Under the subsoil?



    Mining is not pretty.  Strip mining is especialy ugly….extremely so.

    We had good friends in central Ohio back in the 1990’s and spent several 

     week-ends driving down to their farm outside Zanesville.   To us it was
    a new world in many ways…sometimes a startling new world.

    For instance Osage Orange trees thrived and in the fall dropped bushels
    of aromatic smelling warted fruit the size of baseballs.  The Osage Orange
    trees, however, were not so pleasant as they were covered in spikes the size
    of hypodermic needles.

    Perhaps the most startling thing  however was not the work of nature.
    It was the opposite.  Beneath the lovely forested hills of southern Ohio
    are seams of coal. Layered parallel to the ground.  These seams vary from
    60 to 120 feet below the ground…technically called overburden.

    To get access to these seams of coal it is easier to strip the hills of
    their trees, shrubs, plant life with bulldozers.    Then use gigantic
    scoop shovels that, in the 1990’s, were bigger than some apartment
    buildings.

    The  damage done to the hills and valleys of southern Ohio
    by these strip coal mining operations is hard to describe.  Best
    seen visually in the picture of one Euclid dump truck that is so
    large that it makes our truck look like a Dinky Toy.

    After strip mining is complete the coal companies are obligated
    to put top soil back but the end result robs central Ohio of
    its former beauty.

    alan skeoch
    June 2021

    When is it economic to strip mine in Ohio?
    • Generally it is economic to strip mine when there is a 20:1 ratio of overburden-to-coal seam, meaning, for example that a three-foot coal seam can be surface mined economically when the overburden is up to 60 feet. However, at some surface mines in Ohio, highwalls of up to 200 feet high remain where five-foot-coal seams have been extracted.


    Just a few pictures below.






    In the 1990s, a new form of surface mining,mountaintop removal, became more common. This more invasive method provides access to coal that would’ve been left behind by traditional strip mining. In recent years, tensions over mountaintop removal have risen between those wanting to boost the state’s diminishing coal industry and activists wanting to protect the environment.



    wiki-wyoming-coal-mine.png



    One final thought:  WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR CIVILIZATION WHEN WE HAVE CONSUMED ALL THE COAL AND
    OIL DEPOSITS?

  • EPISODE 370: ONE DAY IN JUNE 2021 (JUNE 16) FREEMAN/SKEOCH FARM, WELLINGTON COUNTY, ONTARIO)

      EPISODE 370:    ONE DAY IN JUNE 2021  (JUNE 16)  FREEMAN/SKEOCH FARM, WELLINGTON COUNTY, ONTARIO)

    alan skeoch
    June 13, 2021

    Today I quit work early in the morning.  Too nice a day to work.  So I spoke
    to myself.  “Alan, why don’t you try to capture this day on he farm.  Forget about
    all your old machines.  Forget about weeding.   Forget about appointments.”

    “Just take a walk.  Make the walk into an episode..”
    “Good idea, but readers like a purpose.”
    “Purpose…shhhhmorpose.”
    “No, they need a challenge.”
    “Challenge…shhhhmallenge.”
    “Let me give them just one thing to look for.””
    “What?”
    “See if they can find the thistles that are taking over the flax and sweet clover field.”
    “Look for thistles?”
    “Thistles….ssssmmistles.”

    The thistles are about to disappear beneath the blade of the Bobcat bucket.

    alan Skeoch

  • EPISODE 369: OLD PICTURE FREEMAN FARM … GRANDPA, ERIC, DAD (SPIFFY OUTFIT), LADDIE…OLD VERANDAH 1943 PERHAPS



    EPISODE 389   OLD FREEMAN FARM…GRANDPA, ERIC, DAD (SPIFFY  OUTFIT), LADDIE…OLD VERANDAH 1943 PERHAPS
                              (SOMETHING IS OUT OF PLACE IN THIS PICTURE…WHAT IS IT?)


    alan skeoch
    June 2021

    Take a look at the picture below.  Something is out of place…does not fit…odd.  What is it?
    No, it is not the cat’s bum.  No, it is not the dog Laddie trying to persuade granddad to teach
    him to smoke a pipe.   No, it is not the decrepit back stairs.   Wise up.  Look closer.



    Laddie, grandpa, Eric, and the cat all fit and are in harmony with the shape of the back porch.
    The odd thing is Dad.  Red Skeoch looks spiffy.  Sort of odd for a man whose job was building Truck tires
    at Dunlop Tire Company in Toronto.

    Look at the new hat…a sleek black fedorah..and the suit.  Spiffy.    Why is he dressed like that?

    The answer is simple.  Dad is en route to the horse races somewhere in Ontario.  We had no car.
    So getting to the races depended upon special busses leaving for the track at Fort Erie or in New York
    State at Batavia.   Close by , however, were many Toronto racetracks also serviced by special 
    busses…Thorncliffe Park, Woodbine, Dufferin and another near Mimico.  Those special busses always
    seemed jammed with men like Dad.  Many were Chinese which was how Dad came to speak Mandarin!
    Dad’s version of Mandarin which is called Gibberish .  His Chinese gambling friends liked dad even
    when he was outlandish.  At least my memory of them involved smiles… 

    Why so spiffy?   Because dad liked to live a second lifestyle .   He had friends everywhere it seemed.  
    One friend let him into the high class part of Woodbine track…or Fort Erie.   He dressed to fit the image
    of the Club House class.  When he took us to the track his instructions were always the same. “Look straight
    ahead boys…walked right through the ticket gate with me…I have a contact taking Club House revenue…Do
    not look anywhere but straight ahead.  If someone yells, keep moving.”

    Now this picture was taken before he started taking us with mom to racetracks.   Eric must be out
    5 or 6 years old which puts the picture around 1944.   Why wasn’t Dad in the army like so many
    of our relatives?  Too old.  His work was also a necessary war industry.  Armies moved on rubber tires.
    Dad married late in life “because no woman would have him” some said.
    But that was not true.  He attracted people\le even with his offhand manner.  He was one of those people
    who were charismatic.   Charming.  Disarming.  Impolite….always searching for the golden ring on
    the merry go round of life.  He made our life as his kids fascinating.  

    He made the life of collection agencies from Finance companies challenging.   Mom often had to
    pay off his debts.  She loved him in spite of his failings.  Whenever he got into trouble her comment
    was “Oh Red, you fathead.”

    THE PICTURE

    No, I do not know how he got from the farm to the racetrack on that day…Gray Coach bus
    stopped at Silver Creek.   And Uncle Frank could be relied upon to rev up the Model A or
    Model T to get him there.

    Granddad was poor, respectable, welcoming.  He liked Dad in spite of his tendency to scam
    those around him.   We loved him.

    alan
    (another Red Skeoch story)