Alan Skeoch

Year: 2023

  • Fwd: EPISODE 800 NIAGARA ESCARPMENT….WINDOW OF TIME



    Begin forwarded message:


    From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
    Subject: EPISODE 800 NIAGARA ESCARPMENT….WINDOW OF TIME
    Date: April 19, 2023 at 9:00:54 AM EDT
    To: John Wardle <john.t.wardle@gmail.com>



    Note: something has gone wrong with my computer…problem unsolved

    EPISODE 799    WHAT DOES THIS PILE OF ROCK SAY?


    alan skeoch
    April 17, 2023



    We descended through the Niagara Escarpment to the QEW

    WHAT DO WE KNOW

    1)  The Niagara Escarpment we know today is the result of geological processes that began more than 450 million years ago when the limestones, dolostones, shales, and sandstones of the Escarpment’s bedrock were formed.


    2) 
    The rock layers of the Niagara Escarpment date from the upper Ordovician (445 million year ago) to the lower Silurian era (420 million years ago); a period of 25 million years.

    3) Escarpments are formed by one of two processes: erosion and faulting. Erosion creates an escarpment by wearing away rock through wind or water. One side of an escarpment may be eroded more than the other side. The result of this unequal erosion is a transition zone from one type of sedimentary rock to another
    4)Today the Niagara Escarpment region is a rich mosaic of forests, farms, wetlands, lakes, recreational areas, the Bruce Trail and quarries together with villages, towns and cities. It features over 100 sites of geological significance, including many in which fossils of the Silurian and Ordovician Periods are preser.
    5)  According to a new report prepared by a team of international scientists, deep-sea remains of ancient corals could be used to understand carbon dioxide in the oceans, both past and present. The report, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, uses coral fossils as a sort of time machine to investigate the rise of carbon dioxide and its role in ending the last ice age.
    LOTS OF INFORMATION ABOUT OUR NIAGARA ESCARPMENT
    MAKES ME THINK ABOUT THW SHORT WINDOW OF TIME THAT WE HAVE BEEN AROUND
     Look at the layers of limestone in the pictures.   This layering began 475 million years ago when our living space was covered with water.   How long have we been here?  Measured in hundreds of thousands perhaps but only couple of thousand as civilizations

    alan





  • EPISODE 800 FARMER ANDREW SKEOCH WITH FRIENDS….THREE FRIENDS

    EPISODE 801    FARMER ANDREW SKEOCH WITH THREE FRIENDS

    alan skeoch
    april 19, 2023


    NOTE:   I AM having computer trouble….probably because I do not trust all the unsolicited Rogers emails from Rogers…they ask me to act quickly and push their button which is a red flag to me..i.el scam..…some might be legitimate and I am ignoring them.

    The result ?   Lots of things for me to learn and a severe disruption in my STORY A DAY plan…currently at 800 stories

    alan

  • EPISODE 796 NOT JUST MEDICAL MARIJUANA…WHERE ARE THE TULIPS?

    EPISODE 796    NOT JUST MEDICAL MARIJUANA…WHERE ARE THE TULIPS?”

    alan skeoch
    APRIL 15, 2023

    “ALAN, I want you to help me find a tulip farm…somewhere south west of Hamilton.”
    “I don’t want to find a tulip farm, Marjorie…do not give a sweet goddamn about tulips.”
    “I am the gardening convenor for our retired reachers…just want to scout out tulips
    and need your help.”
    “Beautiful spring day…better things to do.”
    “
    ALAN, I Need your help as navigator…not asking much.”

    So we took Highway 20, southwest from Binbrook. And a weird thing happened.


    NO TULIPS….WASTE OF OUR TIME

    “Marjorie there are no tulips in this village of Fenwick…”
    “Let’s just ask someone…”
    “Tulip farm?  Well, someone grows tulips way back in that field…hardly a tulip farm.”
    “wasted the whole day in a god forsaken trip to nowhere.”
    “Tulips are not up yet..too early.”

    Then a very strange thing happened as often occurs on our pointless kinds of trips.

    “Marjorie, there is something odd about this huge greenhouse complex.”
    “Odd?”
    “Yes, why does a greenhouse need 8 foot chain link fencing…brand  new fencing…no sign of any pansy plants.”
    “Odd?”
    “And why are there cameras at every building.  No one ever steels pansies or tulip bulbs.  This is a strange place.”



    “And look at the signage…All visitors must sign in at the gatekeepers office.”
    “Why would we have to sign in just to buy a geranium or box of pansies?”







    STOP — PLEASE SIGN IN WITH SECURITY

    “Why would we need security clearance to buy pansies, geraniums or sheep manure.”
    “This is a strange place.”
    “And why is no one here…empty picnic tables….locked security gate.”
    “And  a small sign that says “no jewelry on the premises”
    “That’s weird….do the owners  expect criminals?”
    “Seems so.”


    “And why all those security cameras”

    So we asked a lady walking by.

    “Our village, FENWICK,  became famous in a way.  few years ago a bunch of investors
    built this place”
    “Why?””
    “Cannabis became legal….medical maijuana.  Suddenly Fenwick  had a  big industry where
    285 people were employed.”
    “I remember that.  Pot became legal under government controls.”
    “A lot of people thought they could get rich.  Heard that billons were poured into
    places like this one in Fenwick.”
    “If Cannabis is legal, why is this huge place closed?”

    That question had a simple answer.Appparently a disgruntled employee became a whistle blower.  The Fenwick greenhouses were not just
    producing medical marijuana.   Government inspectors raided the place and found undeclared marijuana hidden away … to be sold to 
    illegal dope pedlars.  The Fenwick greenhouses have been locked ever since.  (  A surprise inspection by federal regulators in June 2019 uncovered 5,200 kilograms of unlicensed cannabis at the facility.)

    Investors in this company saw their share value drop to a fraction of a cent a share.  Bankruptcy followed.  

    “The whole place…acres and acres of top of the line greenhouses and a packaging plant are up for sale.  But no buyers.   

    The Fenwick company…which has several names…has no buyers.   Nobody can afford to raise pansies and geraniums on a high
    tech place like this.   So 285 people are now unemployed and a bunch of investors have had their wealth wiped out.

    Apparently this has happened across the province of Ontario where the get rich scheme of producing medical marijuana has turned
    from a dream into  nightmare.

    THE TULIP FARM

    What about the tulip farm we were searching for?   Directly across the road from the mariguana grow op, there is a broken down
    5 ton truck sinking into the mud.  And far in the distance behind the truck there is a tulip farm.   Closed right now.   But a week or
    so from now the tulip grower will welcome visitors at $18 a visit.   And visitors wil get a few tulip bulbs as an incentive
    to pay  a visit.



    “Marjorie,  Is your group of retired teachers still interested?”
    “”Probably.”
    “Cost us about $80 in gas to get here…a lot of money for nothing.”
    “Not for nothing Alan…you discovered a greAt story “
    “You mean the Grow Op?
    “For sure”
    “Reminds me of the great truth in the business world.”
    “What?”
    “If the investment sounds too good to be true…then it probably is.”

    “Do you think all those security cameras recorded our visit?”
    “We used their parking lot to turn around.”
    “And our white van has no signage.”

    POST SCRPT

    1)  ONE CANNABIS GROWER SAID TO CTV:  says he has another three years on his lease. With a rent of $6,000 per month, he admits that “bankruptcy may be the only way to get out of here.” He spent nearly $300,000 on his retail store, with his family lending him the bulk of the money.

    “Licensing cost me $10,000 for this location. Then I had all my renovations, that was about $150,000. Then I had rent and operating costs, that’s $60,000. Then I had an inventory of $50,000. So, we’re already at $280,000, and that’s not including payroll for employees and overhead like that,” Kostanyan told CTV National News.


    2)  Fenwick Grow Op  investors in March, 2022, they were issued common shares at a price of approximate $0.009 per share, implying that 10,000 shares had a value of $90.

    3) There is some evidence of potential therapeutic uses for cannabis or its component chemicals (cannabinoids) and many Canadians report using cannabis for medical purposes for health problems such as chronic pain, nausea/vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy, and spasticity with multiple sclerosis. While cannabis can be used by some people for their health problems, determining whether cannabis is appropriate to treat an individual’s symptoms is best made through a discussion with a health care practitioner.

    Health Canada has information for health care professionals and for authorized patients on the use of cannabis and cannabinoids for medical purposes. This includes information on potential therapeutic uses, dosing, warnings, and adverse effects. For more 


    4) Although the exact underlying mechanism is still largely unknown, in some people, cannabis use increases the risk of developing mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. This is particularly true for those who:
    • start using cannabis at a young age
    • use cannabis frequently (daily or almost every day)
    • have a personal or family history of schizophrenia

    Youth are especially vulnerable to the effects of cannabis, as research shows the brain is not fully developed until around age 25. This is because THC, the substance which gives the “high” in cannabis, affects the same machinery in the brain that directs brain development

    You should also be aware that the use of higher potency cannabis products has also been associated with a greater risk of developing schizophrenia. Stopping or reducing cannabis use has been shown to improve outcomes; however, some health effects may not be fully reversible even when cannabis use stops.




  • EPISODE 796 EARLY SPRINGTIME ALWAYS TAKES ME TO ANDREW WYETH’S PAINTINGS

    EPISODE 796    EARLY SPRINGTIME ALWAYS TAKES ME TO ANDREW WYETH’S PAINTINGS and THE BIG SNAPPER

    alan skeoch
    April 11, 2023

    When the frost is gone and snow has disappeared then the dead grass of last year IS
    exposed…light beige…  gives all the land a beautiful but harsh appearance.  But not for long.

     Andrew Wyeth captured those first moments of springtime.  His painting 
    ‘Christina’s World’ comeS TO mind. (available on internet but under copyright)  ChIrstina Olsen was a severely crippled woman that Wyeth 
    noticed dragging herself across the fields of her home farm in Maine.   The painting has intrigued art
    critics and art lovers ever since. 

    For me.   Wyeth is synonymous with those first light brown days of intensive sunlight when
    April arrives.



    Andrew Wyeth, WIND FROM THE SEA, 1947

    PONDS ARE OPEN ONCE AGAIN….THE BIG SNAPPER IS RESTLESS

    Today, I tried to catch the first breath of springtime as the ponds opened  up.

    You may wonder about the turtle.   It is made of cement and was placed
    oN that rock years ago.   Amazed at how many people think it is real.

     The turtles eyes are permanently closed while Woody takes a bath in the nude.

    Real turtles are just waking up down in the mud below.  One of them is a big  snapping
    turtle whose anger matches his or her curiosity.   How many times have I met the
    snapper on the trail to the back field….watching me with eyes protruding from that long neck… ready to snap off
    my fingers if I am fool enough to pick him or her up.?”
    “Crunch
     


    “Grandpa, come and sit down.  I have bad news for you.”  said Jack a few years ago.
    “How bad, Jack?”
    “I found  the Big Snapper over by the old barn…he’s dead Grandpa.”
    “You know Jack, that Big Snapper has been living in the small pond as longs I can 
    remember. He or she lived there long before you were born.  He might have been here 
    when my grandparents lived here… could have been 100 years old. We will miss him.”
    “Very sad,Grandpa.”
    “But we will get another. “
    “How?”
    “Around June snappers begin to move about….cross the Fifth line road…seems we help them cross every year….we will catch
    one and give  him or her a new home.”

    And we did. A big one was crossing the road and I Lifted him into a box with the toe of my boot. Not my hand
     Not sure of the sex.  Our old snapper may have been a female because
    Andrew found a clutch of baby snappers a while back.  Hatched about time ponds froze
    up so likely did not survive.  Nature can be brutal.

    alan



    odd wants to know why those red sticks now coming to life are called DOGWOOD?

  • EPISODE 796 rescued: THE SAFEST PLACE FOR A SNAKE IS IN JACK’S HAND

    EPISODE 796  rescued: THE SAFEST PLACE FOR A SNAKE IS IN JACK’S HAND

    alan skeoch
    April 2023

    (When Jack and Molly were small and the world was full of wonders)



    This little fellow…the snake not Jack…was caught in a piece of plastic mesh. Very fine mesh
    in which fresh fruit is sometimes marketed. Thrown out on the fifth line by some vandal. Then
    blown by a thoughtless breeze down our farm lane and captured by a bulrush root where the 
    little snake was hunting.  Marjorie found the little fellow struggling and gently cut away the mesh
    whereupon Jack took over.

    The little snake seemed appreciative but it never said so.  Embarrassed I imagine. Hard to tell
    when a snake isjoyflul.  Easy to tell when a snake is angry.   We concluded this a happy
    snake.   When he or she gets big we are not sure that our frog population would agree.

    One thing that make me concerned is the dwindling frog and snake populations in our 
    natural ponds.  Notice I did not say swamp.  That word, swamp, has a negative ring that I do not like.
    Pond on the other hand has a pleasant association.  

    alan

    P.ß.  Where have all our leeches gone?   There was a time I did notl like these suckers of
    blood.  But now they are gone. Why? Where? How? Their absence is a red flag.



    Postscript  JACK HAS NOT CHANGED BUT HE HAS GROWN TALLER
    This Episode will be understood by those of you who have seen kids and grandkids
    grow into adults too fast.  Their must be a pill that can slow down childhood but
    I have never found it except maybe by Clint Eastwood who said  “Don’t let the old man in.”