Alan Skeoch

Year: 2023

  • EPISODE 916 ; FOOTBALL DAYS…. ERIC GOT SPIKED…DEEP HOLE IN HIS LEG FILLED WITH MUD….TERRIBLE THING TO SEE

    EPISODE  916 ; FOOTBALL DAYS…. ERIC GOT SPIKED…DEEP HOLE IN HIS LEG FILLED WITH MUD….TERRIBLE THING TO SEE


    alanskeoch
    Nov. 18, 2023
    This is my brother Eri…14 months younger than me…we are close , like twins,…did things together.  He was right handed though
    which made a hell a of difference in life.



    Eric’s 1955 Football jacket…his number was 29, right end.  which meant he could catch afoootball pass from the quarterback while
    my job was to bash the guy opposite me, the defensive guard.  Quite a different job. No glory

    MUD GAME AGAINST RIVERDALE…TURNS TO HORROR

    It was a mud game.  Late October at Millen Field in East end against Riverdale C. I.   THE Riverdale boys were tough. We expected
    the game to be very physical the moment our team arrived at the ramshackle changing room bisected into
    two parts by a flimsy sawdust board dividing wall.  Big hot in the wall where a Riverdale guy poked his head ans yelled, 
    “’We will knock the shit out of you Pansies,” or some comment like that.  We were no better as we were determined to
     ‘Get Banana nose,’ the less than flattering term for their quarterback.  Enemies ar war…with one big difference in weaponry.
    Mud spike.

    “Boys, I want you to wear mud spikes today, better traction in Millen Field.”

    And so we hsdto unscrew our normal spikes which were about an inchi long and replace them
    with 2 inch mud spikes.  Better traction for sure.  Like running with studded tractor tires. 

    It was  still raining and had been doing do for a couple of days.  Ugly day.
    I remember the mud slurry went over my boots in places.     Mud did not bother me much.  Getting dirty
    was expected of football players.  We were not pansies.

    The game was tough   Body against body.   Most plays were ground plays.   Very little passing.  Lots of 
    body contact.  I read somewhere that the impact of an offensive Guard like me against my opposing defensive guard
    was the same as the impact of an astronaut breaking the gravity barrier into outer space.  Heroic effort.

    My brother Eric must have been a defensive right end in that game.  His job was to ‘Get Banana Nose’ or the ball carrier.
    He had to charge full speed into the mayhem after the ball was snapped.  The Riverdale quarterbacks nose did not look 
    as long as I expected.  But he did look tough.

    Something unusual happened.  Eric was helped off the field….Limping.
    A couple of mudslpikes had cut the calf of his leg.  Hard to tell how deep because the
    exposed flesh was covered in mud and the dirty white powdered chalk used mark the field into five yard intervals.
    He  limped to the bench.  “I am OK…just a scratch’  LIKE HELL IT WAS A SCRATCH.

    This was no scratch…Could see the mud handing from the hole.
    As for me I was suddenly overcome with a feeing of weakness.  My brother was hurt and I felt the pain.
    It was hard for me to go on the field with ouroffenive squad. I was not looking for revenge.
     I think that is why brothers are separated in wartime.   They might look after each other.  Lose their concentration.
     Maybe the separation is so that one might be lost but not all would be lost.

    I got over the shock next play when I saw Eric coming back on the field as defensive end.  Must just be a scratch…not serious.
    So we finished the game.  I am quit sure we won.   As Burf said, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”,   Foptball was not just s game,
    it was war.

    The terror set in after the game…after our team shower.  No!  There was no shower. And  Eric’s wound was not superficial.  It was deep…perhaps an inch or more into
    the calf of his leg.  The hole had filed up with mud…stopped the bleeding.  Mud mixed with blood becomes mud.  Why was he not in
    pain?  Adrenalin.  

    “Get your mom or dad to take Eric to the doctor,,,this wound could be bad.”  

    Mom took control immediately. 
      Dad was on night shift…gone to work.   Mom ran our house anyway. 

    “Alan, you come along.  We will see Dr. Greenaway right now.”  Family doctors were accessible in the 1950’s.
    Doctor Greenawy cleaned the wound, applied some alcohol in the wound, stopped the bleeding.   D.r Greenaway
    was concerned.

    “Who willl watch Eric tonight?”
    “lan will….The boys sleep in the same bed.”
    “Then, Alan, I want you to take this syringe..this needle.   If Eric begins to act strangely…to have a convulsion
    tonight, I want you to give him this needle.  It is very important.  Can you do that?”
    “Ye,sir,,,I think I can.” knowing full well I would get mom fast.  She slept in the couch in our
    one bedroom house.  Dad sept in our bed when he was on day shift at Dunlop Tire Corporation. All
    very efficient.  All very close.  All very natural to us.  Doesn’t everybody live that way? We lived on top
    of each other.  My boyfriends each had their own rooms. Soft life for them. I rarely did homework…no room.

    It was a long night for mom and I.    Maybe for Eric too.   But morning came and no odd behaviour.
    Eric was alive.   I think he e ven played football later in  the season.  We were not pansies.

    Grea chsnce for a cruel joke on mom.



    “ERIC’S HELMET IS SMASHED , MOM”

    7)  The next football season, 1956, we played a cruel joke on Mom.  It realy was not  funny.  
    but to us it was a hoot…really funny.  

     Mom loved
    us and did not want to see us hurt.  Dad was the same.   Touch my kid then answer to me.  Physical world we lived in.
    Eric and I played cruel jokes on them both.  Careful with dad because he might overreact.  But mom was fair game.

    Mom has been gone a long time butI often Eri and I remember this joke.   It is not funny but we thought it so.

    We returned form a football game in Russ Vanstone’s Chev.   He dropped us at the door.    We lived on
    the second floor and there was a long staircase upward.   The plan was cruel.  I knew mom would
    ask about the game and sure enough as soon as I started up the stairs the asked, “How did the game go?”

    “Eric got hurt mom,” and I threw his crushed footbsllhelmet up the stairs.

    Russ had accidentally back the Chev over the helmet.    Very funny, don’t you think?
    I came up the stairs alone but Eric was not far behind.   I think mom laughed when she
    got over the shock.  zoo hugs and kisses.  The joke was not so funny to mom.


     alan

    Post script:  Much more to come…Wrong Way Cush and Jarring Jach Osmond and
    my operation at St. Joseph hospital where people go to die.

    POS SCRPT:  I remember when the scab and hardened puss came out of Eric’s leg….not
    pretty.



    Here are some family pics that might sue your  Mom made all our winter clothes out of old coats.

    Eric, our farm cousin Ted Freeman, Alan….much later in life.












    Mom with her two boys wearing cut don costs

  • Fwd: EPISODE 913: FOOTBALL BECAME AN ADDICTION…A DANGEROUS ADDICTION 1954 TO 1961

    Fwd: EPISODE 913:   FOOTBALL BECAME AN ADDICTION…A DANGEROUS ADDICTION  1954 TO 1961


    Alan Skeoch

    Nov. 15, 2023


    Left handed Alan Skeoch could not skate well because skates were hand me downs and too large.
    He ankled his way across the ice. Hockey was out of the question   His athletic career was football centred.

    Victoria University team…Alan skeoch far right, front row,  Russ Vanstone beside him. Eric Skeoch fifth /sixth? person back row right side.  Who has most mud on face?

    HOW utterly boring.  Who in their right mind would want to read about my football career.
    I never scored a touchdown.   Never trounced the football except once between 1954 nd 1961…
    from High school to University of Toronto .   Who would care if it did?  Not you, especially 
    if you are female.   Most males would not give a damn either.

    Here is a reason to read these episodes.  I was scared to death a lot of the time.  I was nothing really.
    No glory.  A lineman and inside linebacker.  Not worth watching.  Then why was I so scared?  I was 
    afraid I would let our coach down.  Afraid I would make the wrong move.  

    I had difficulty telling left
    from right.  Being left handed meant being different from 90% of the population.  It is a right handed world.
    At Kent Public School the teachers tried to ‘break me’…to make me right handed. The result was
    not good.  I have always had difficulty telling left from right.  Still do.  If asked to use left hand my thumb 
    moves fast … left thumb touches left little finger where there is a bump.  That is my left hand.  And that ‘bump’
    is a big part of my athletic career.   That little finger was crushed.   More will be told about that bump.  But not now.

    PRIDE AND BRAGGING ARE DIFFERENT

    I am enormously proud to say that I conquered the handicap.  Became a Toronto City All Star on both
    city all star teams….Daily Star and Telegram.  Was winner the Wildman Trophy as well.
    Bragging?  There is a difference between bragging and having pride.   When winning the accolades I have
    always been well aware that many players must have been better than me.   One of my best friends
    and fellow lineman, Russ Vanstone, had a forearm smash that was something to be envied.   Rich Mermer,
    our high school halfback was the best athlete I have ever seen.  The same applies at University to our
    fullback, Don Seeback.  Ed Jackan’s cleated leather boot rescued me from a violent incident…kicked the guy
    who was making hamburger out of my face. I have always had good friends.  Ed kicked the gy between the legs.
    Cooled him down fast.

    I still get s warm feeling when thinking of those football days.  Just being an integral part of a team
    was like being an integral part of a Canadian army platoon.   We depended on each other.  We knew 
    that.  Our top athletes like Mermer and Seeback knew that and never let their ego loose.   Gest gas who
    became great men.

    Our coach, Fred Burford knew the importance of team work . “Alan, the reason you got those all star awards was the team.  We are proud of you
    and hope you recognize your success was team success.”

    Why are you reading this?  I will tell you why.  Some very bad things happened to football players.
    Life long events.   I am 85 years old now and in a few weeks…on Dec. 12, 2023, will face knee
    surgery to make me walk normally again.   So this is more a story of injuries than glory.  Are you still with me?


    Eric’s Humberside jacket has hung in our barn for 73 years….a little ragged now.   The jacket has been waiting for 68 years for
    me to do this story   Be understanding.   Avoid criticism.   Russ Vanstone’s jacket is perfect he tells me.  Different barn I guess.

    OUR COACH FRED BURFORD

     Fred Burford believed in football
    as some believe in god.   The game dominated his waking hours even at the expense wife and family.  His son joined our
    Old boys club shortly after Burford died.  His observation says it all.

    “One day I went to see Dad’s Humberside team play a game against another TSSAA team.   I was shocked.
    The team from Humberside came on the field like a well oiled machine….every move synchronized.
    I was flabbergasted.  I knew Dad loved football but I did not know he had made the top team in Toronto in 1955.”

    I WAS SCARED TO DEATH MOST OF THE TIME

    Now I would like to give my observation on those football years in a series of personal anecdotes.
    Surprised to say how many incidents involved injuries.  Some awful things happened. Some of which may sound silly.
    Some, in later episodes, were horrific.

    WHISTLING INCIDENT
    1) I was scared when I joined the Huskies back in 1954. Only a second string lineman and occasional Inside
    linebacker. I sat on the bench most of the time.  Scared I would actually be sent to actually play.  Scared I would let the coach down because 
    had trouble telling right fro left.  When the teacher at Kent Public School tried to break me, she failed. Left? Right? Got
    me confused.   Football is a science of right and left diving fullbacks and racing halfbacks while the humble linemen
    try to bash holes in the defensive linemen’s position.

    “OK boys, let’s try a left reverse.  Left Gard will pull and smash the left cornerbacker.  Do it on count of three.”
    So spake the quarterback in this imaginary huddle.  My job as left guard was to take out the outside corner backer with
    a flying cross body block (now illegal). 

     IN the fall of 1954 I was scared and was only sent into the huddle when 
    the first stringer got hurt.  But I became noticed by Burf.

    “Who is whistling?”
    I raised my hand. ( Whenever I feel afraid I whistled a happy tune as in The King and I.) 
    “So it was you.”  (I am not sure if Burf knew my name back in ’54.)
    “Come over here and stand on this bench”
    I did so but did not know what that had to do with whistling.
    “Boys, gather round.  There is nothing worse than over confidence in a football game.
    Whistling shows overconfidence.  I want you boys to be quiet..to think about your
    game..to be sure and know all the plays on the mimeographed sheets.  We are going to 
    win this game.”
    “OK Skeoch, step down…no more whistling.”
    I was mortified.  If I could have crawled under the bench I would yhave done so. Seemed that 
    every boy in the room looked at me as if I was the anti-Christ.

    All coaches try to think of a way to get teams up for games. Burford was good at that.
    I think he knew he had made a mistake picking on me but he never said so.

       I am a joiner.   I’m nor a quitter.  Mom said  to me when I filled at skating. “Alan, you
    will always start at the bottom but rise to th top.  Was she just trying yo boost my morale?   I never told her about
    the whistling incident.   And Certainly did not tell dad.  He might have laughed or, worse, he might have gone thundering
    over to see Burf  like Gengis Khan

    QUARTERBACK HAS NO SHOES
    2)  Burford seemed agitated.    We were all assembled in an east Toronto locker room. Enemy territory.
    Something was wrong.  Tension was higher than usual.  Like the wire on a guitar…tense, tight, close to breaking.
    “Boys we have a problem.  Our quarterback left his shoes at home. One of you will have to
    lend him shoes which means you will not be able to play today.  Quarterback is essential.
    Back up Quarterback, Jim Romaniuk, missed the preparation chalk talk.  We have a crisis.
    Who will give up his shoes?”
    “I will , sir.”
    “Let me look at you boots.”
     My shoes were the bottom of the team shoe distribution bag.  They were old 
    and cracked in half.  Something like Bozo the Clown would wear to flap around a circus tent,
    “Sorry.  These shoes are no good.  Surprised  you could even wear them.”
    That rejection hurt as much as the whistling incident.
    Other shoes were found.

    Humberside C.I had three football teams…Bantam, Junior and  Senior.    Nearly a hundred boys
    had to be strapped into equipment.  Shoulder pads, kidney pads, boots, helmet, padded pants, .  
    “You boys will have to buy your own jock straps…make sure the jock has  a cup to
    protect your hardware.”


    TOTAL COMMITMENT
    3)  Joining the Huskies was like joining the Canadian army in wartime.   At least it seemed that way to me.
    Schoolwork was important but the football war against other high school teams demanded total 
    allegiance.  World War II  had only ended 8 years before Ientered grade 9 in 1953. A long time in the past for me
    bt not so long ago for Burf who I Believe had been in the Canadian navy.There was a relationship that 
    was akin to the gap between officers and enlisted privates.  Salute and do what you are told.
    So every lunch hour of my high school career was spent in Burf’s hoe room studying endless 
    mimeographed sheets of plays.    No chance to scout out the girls .  This was war.  The victories
    were all important. Noting else mattered.  We had around 1,000 stents at Humberside.  Only 100
    were members of the football team. The chosen few. Football was war.

    DON PHILLIPS HAS CONVUSIONS
    4)  One lunch hour I was sitting with the rest of the Junior team in Burf’s room while he reviewed
     a recent game.  We probably won for we had   a terrific team and eventually
    won’t the TSSA championship that year (1955). The room was silent as Burford
    went over the game.  

    The silence was broken suddenly b a rattling…then a deep surging.  I turned around 
    and looked at Don Philips in the middle row.  He was twitching…emitting some kind of bubbly gutteral nonsense.
     foaming at the mouth.  Then he fell from his seat twitching.  I was dumbfounded.
    Though Donnie ws going die   Burford quickly ran down the aisle and put a ruler in his mouth at right
    angles.   Later I was told this ruler prevented Don from biting his own tongue.  It is Hard to describe
    the silence in the room tht day.   Once the convulsion stopped there was dead silence.

    Never head what happened to Donnie.  He never played football again although he 
    completely recovered.  The scuttlebutt round the school was that Don had bashed his 
    head in a direct tackle in the previous  football game. Spearing.  Seemed some teachers were blaming Burford
    But that was only said in whispers.

    It was not Burf who was at fault.  He trained us  to never ever use our head as  a”spear”
    when  taking down a ball carrier.  “Use your shoulder, never your head and get him blow the knees
    ….clamp onto him.  Nice clean tackle.  No ’spearing’.   Had Don forgotten that rule?
    Or did Don have a previous ailment?   We would never know.  But that moment shook me
    and for the rest of my long football career.  I used my shoulder and tried to hit low.

    THE CROSS BODY BLOCK (now illegal)  
    5) No one gives a sweet goddamn about linemen.  It took me  a while to realize this.
    I thought girls liked football  and being part of the team would lead to romantic conquests.
    That never happened.  Girls , I think, found the game boring.   Certainly my part
    of the game.  no one could see me.  Except..except … except when given the chance to
    throw s Cross Body Block.  That happened when the ball carrier was trying to out run
    the defence  players…particularly the Outside Corner Backer.  If left side play  I had the chance to run
    beside our halfback and takeout that cornerbacker with a Cross Body Block.

    “Alan,  To throw a good Cross Body Block you must put your whole body lengthwise
    in the air.  Six feet of body flying in the air.  Knockdown the corner backer and help 
    us get s touchdown.  Be accurate….just one chance.”

    Picture: Left Guard Alan Skeoch, Fullback Grant Weber  (Grade 13…less scared than I was in 1954))

    SURGERY — KNEE REPLACEMENT.

       This year, 2023, on Dec. 12 I will be having
    my knee replaced by surgery.  My knee has given out and I blame the Cross body
    Blocking I did from 1954 to 1961.   My knees got bashed badly….ribs as well.

    “How do you know you were good at it?”
    “Because Bob Cwirenko said I was good at it.”
    “Who is he?”
    “He was one of our high school team….a corner backer.  Bob played for SPS,
    the engineers at U. of T.   I played for Victoria  and threw a cross body block on Bob…
    took him out.  When he got to his feet he said “Good block Al”

    (Aside: Marjorie Hughes was an SPS Cheerleader who would later accept my
    brown bagged engagement ring from the glove compartment of our old 1953 Meteor.
    I wonder if Cwirenko noticed her?)


    ROGER PUGH BLOCKS A KICK
    6)  I set some limits  after I saw Roger Pugh block a kick with his face.  A lot of
    the guys congratulated Roger.   “Way to go “Pugh!’  I was impressed by his courage but
    resolved to never put my face where the cleated shoe of a kicker was about to come up full force.
    Bad things happened while playing football.

    alan 

    NEXT EPISODE 914  — “IF Eric begins a convulsion shove this needle in right away, Alan”


    Postscript
    Ed Jackman and Marjorie…hE played left tackle at U. of  T., later became a priest.   A good friend now gone.


    Alan Skeoch married Marjorie Hughes in 1963

    Below: Russ Vanstone and Alan Skeoch played football together 1955 to 1961, married roommates.

  • EPISODE 912 HUMBERSIDE OLD BOYS REUNION –NOV. 8, 2023


    Note: POSTSCRIPT:   Next  Episode will be memories of football at HCI.  Sound boring?
    Not so. 1)   “Now Alan, if Eric starts convulsions, shove this needle into his arm immediately.”
                2)  “The blood was seeping through the cast as I got on the streetcar.”
                3) “How was the game boys?” “Eric got into an accident,” and I Threw his crushed helmet up the stairs
                4) Beer in a violin case thanks to Jarring Jack Osmond — who was suspended
               5) Wrong Way Cush (how he earned his name)
               6)  “He started to twitch and foam at the mouth,”  Burf put a pen across his mouth to save his  tongue
               7(  Playing football should attract the girls.  A false statement that we believed.
               8)  Alan, you must be suspended like the others.”   “Thank you Mr. Couke…thank you, thank you”

    EPISODE 912   HUMBERSIDE OLD BOYS REUNION — NOV. 8, 2032


    I Am a joiner as are the eight Humberside C.I Old Boys in this picture.
    Why did we join this elect group of 80+ year old club.   We enjoyed  high
    school….liked our teachers (most of them) and liked each  other.



    THE HUMBERSIDE OLD BOYS REUNION (RIGHT TO LEFT) — MARINO BASADUR, GARY LOGAN, ZIG NOVAK, (host) THE RODIN BROTHERS, 
    GORD NICHOLS  (chairman), ALAN SKEOCH, 


    PHOTOGRAPHER,  THOM NORRIS (above left)  see note from Thom in postscript

    ABSENT — BOB CWIRENKO,  RON CLARK, JEFF SCOTT, JOHN FUTA, ROB WILDMAN and others


    ONLY 8 OF US HERE TODAY (NOV. 8, 2023)

    We meet two to three times a year when Gord Nicholls and Zig Novak can get this lunch
    table at the Burlington Golf Club.  That’s a long way from HCI and West Toronto.  Very few people even
    know we exist…or care.  We have no grand project now in 2023. 

    In past years we were a much larger group…perhaps 20 or so.  and we began just to meet once more with
    our football coach Fred Burford and Track and Drama coach Dunc Green and basketball coach Big Al Merritt.
    Those fellows have departed this world now but we remember them still.   We remember lots of things
    that bring us together.   One of the Rodin brothers does an imitation of Les Devitt, an HCI math
    teacher who had idiosyncrasies.

    My memory of Mr. Devitt is slightly profane.  He was checking homework …moving down 
    the fifth row of seats where Christine Skironsky sat.  She had a particularly low cut blouse
    on that day.  I noted thins like that.   I was not alone.  As Mr. Devitt approached the low cut
    blouse, he said  “What have you got there”

    Christine shrieked and put her hands against that blouse.  The class went wild.   I think Mr. 
    Devitt put a couple of us in the hall.  I am not sure if he knew why we were laughing.
    I honestly believe he had no idea but I  could be wrong

    When Devitt retired I was asked to give a speech honouring him.  “Be funny, Alan.”…said Roberta
    Charlesworth, our English teacher.  She knew there were many stories about him.  I did a little research and 
    discovered Les  Devit was a test pilot in World War I.  If he thought an airplane was not
    good enough then he brought it down to a very hard landing…a damaging landing.
    Why?  Because he did not want young pilots to be endangered.  We never knew this
    courageous side of Mr. Devitt.  No one laughed as he sat on the stage.  All applauded.  Some with
    tears in their eyes.  Even Christine Skironsky who never wore that blouse again.  I would have
    noticed.

    Stories like this have been shared over and over again by the fellows.  Les profane.

    We are all in our late 80’s now.  Real Old Boys.   Some have departed.  Some are  ill.
    Some live far away.  Some, no doubt, do not have fond memories of high school.  Our
    own two boys do not have this nostalgia.  They never mention high school days as we
    do.  Too bad.

    alan
    November 15m 2023

    POSTSCRIPT:   Next  Episode will be memories of football at HCI.  Sound boring?
    Not so. 1)   “Now Alan, if Eric starts convulsions, shove this needle into his arm immediately.”
                2)  “The blood was seeping through the cast as I got on the streetcar.”
                3) “How was the game boys?” “Eric got into an accident,” and I Threw his crushed helmet up the stairs


    THOM NORRIS REMEMBERS

    HUMBERSIDE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE
     

    From infancy, Humberside Collegiate Institute was part of my life. I remember my mother in long gowns going to the At Home  dances and bringing home hats, horns and treats. The Toltons, Wismers,(relatedto us) bachelor and later married Stuffy MacInnis, LaPierres, Devitts, Coukes, Talbots, Cruikshanks ( related to us),)Maclellans and more were on our doorstep as almost family., All were my teachers.. The wives were like a club. Noreen Couke, Helen Tolton, Ellen Wismer , Mrs. Talbot and others were like sisters .d_The McHoull’s lived in the apartments at Clendenan and Bloor and paid $9 per month rent frozen during the war and said they had so little furniture they kept their Christmas tree up for months.. My father joined the Humberside staff in 1922. In 1952, upon graduation, I received the Alumni Award before heading to Normal School.
     
    Helen Tolton and Doris Norris were my Sunday School teachers at High Park United, the largest Sunday School of any denomination in the British Empire when my dad was Superintendent of the Sunday School in 1934 when I was born. 800 soldiers came out of HPU and Alhambra United ( our H.C.I. 125th Anniversary venue in 2017)including my brother John born in 1925. Everyone lived nearby and either walked to H.C.I. or drove, as when Dad was in shock that Romeo La Pierre moved across the Humber to Glenaden bordering on Park Lawn Cemetery. He would have to drive to work Dad said in amazement , as he couldn’t understand why anyone moved to the Burbs with no transit nor sidewalks nor stores to which to  walk . Why was I not so wise? Especially why would anyone want to give up High Park ???. 60 Pacific Avenue was 12 houses from my extended playground-High Park.
     
    It was after the war that immigrants flocked to High Park as was typical of European culture. All Toronto  teachers’ cheques were deposited by the Toronto Board  of Ed.in the Bank of Toronto on the north-east side of Keele and Dundas. The Manager was their financial advisor.After the war he advised ones like Romeo La Pierre  to get a new house in Etobicoke since with immigration  from Europe to disturb our British milieu ,Polish and Ukrainians were willing to pay $6200 for the old three story houses in High Park./Runnymede.
     
    It is interesting on this Victoria Day weekend that I have the Union Jack flying out front that fluttered on the eves of 60 Pacific Ave. along with all  other loyalists with the same, t hat has fluttered over 4 Coronations in 1936,1937, 1952 and 2023.
     
    GOD SAVE THE KING

    HELEN IVENS REMEMBERS

    You write a great story Al. I’m sure your 300 pager was unique also. Who knew that you and I tackled a Master’s degree about the same time – mine an M. ED. at OISE, Computers in Education. I was on a 12 year “sabbatical” raising our 2 girls and when ready to teach again, there were no jobs available, so I looked to the future to upgrade my qualifications. It ultimately worked and I got in 13 more years to add to the earlier 13. 
     
    My husband, Bob,  would have been very interested in your grad degree, as he worked at Massey Ferguson for a time in the 60’s and turned down a move to Desmoine Iowa. Whenever we travelled, he was on the lookout for Massey equipment that he might recognize. It finally happened in 2000, when he saw an ancient looking tractor in a field in Western Turkey and yup –  it was a Massey. Then we saw a bright new one at an Outdoor Museum in the same area. It made his trip! 
     
    Coincidently, my dad, Tom, had also worked for Massey Harris, as it was then, when my sisters and I were little tots. Even a math teacher couldn’t stretch an end of June pay cheque to the end of September and that’s how he got us through the summer for a few years. I’m sure dad would have loved your agricultural treasures and might have even read your whole 300 pages, if he’d still been around. That was the total of my agricultural experience – more or less.
     
    Keep them coming Al. Your slice of life is unique and quite fun and interesting to read.
     
    Helen
     

    alan skeoch
    Feb. 3, 2023

  • EPISODE 911 HAWKERS CARTS, GRAVEL ROAD, WILD APPLE TREES, STUMP fENCE….NOV. 12, 2023

    EPISODE 911     WANDERING DOWN FIFTH AND SIXTH LINE ROADS


    alan skeoch
    Nov. 13, 2023

    Nothing seemed to go right today.  Drove to farm and  accidentally spilled five gallons of 
    water on my clothes….stripped  and found old pair of leotards …. Gave up on cleaning  the barn and took a THERAPEUTIC RIDE down 
    fifth and sixth line reads,

    There is no storY here unless you make one up yourself.  Sorry   


    I could get nothing done  in the barn…anticipate some work now the actors’ and writer’ strike is over.   has been tough times.

    But I am soaking wet and wearing leotards.    I quit.


    More fun to search for wild apple trees now the leaves have fallen and the apples cling for a final display that no one cares  about



    This farm has been derelict for four years.   The stable was filled with riding horses.  Now all gone and combination  of wind and and vandals
    will pull it down.  Hopefully someone will rescue those hand made beams.


    The beams may have been hacked from this root fence……white pines

  • EPiSODE 911 AMDREW’S BEES HAVE SWARMED


    Note:  Here is a short episode…a mystery.  Easy to read.  I wonder if any of you took the time
    to read my “Last flight of HX 313” sent for Remembrance Day…too long I know   This is hoister..a mystery.


    EPiSODE 911   AMDREW’S BEES HAVE SWARMED

    [


    alan skeoch
    Nov. 5, 2023

    “Dad, have a chunk of honey.    All that is left of four bee hives.   One bite for each of us.  What happened?”


    OUR SON ANDREW lost four of his five bee hives in the lsat 6 weeks?  They swarmed.  A bunch of the bees and a queen just took off.   Then the others did the same.   Leaves him with one hive.
    Why did this happen?  Bees are smart    But these bees seem to have a low I.Q.   Why take off in a swarm in late October?   Winter not he way  Thousands of them seem to face a sure and
    certsin death.   Most bees swarm in the spring.  Why did Andrew’s bees swarm when the leaves were falling and the nectar giving flowers were dying?
    I know there are bee lee[ers eep read these stories.   Starvation is a reason for some swarming.  But these hives had stocked up on honey…yet when we looked at the hives they were near empty
    Some mice were chewing in one hive and a cloud of wasps were catching a few free meals.  But no bees.   No bee messenger had been left behind to say:”Andrew we have taken a hike. If you want us
    back we are over in Bobb Kerr’s south field fence line.”   No message, however.


    Prime Bee Swarm

    A primary bee swarm is the most common form of bee swarm and is the first bee swarm to leave the hive. It is usually made up of around 50% of the size of the parent colony, which is normally around 25,000 bees. It also contains the queen bee.

    swarm of bees

    Absconding Bee Swarm

    An absconding bee swarm does not happen very often and is the result of problems in the beehive such as starvation, pests overtaking the hive, or disease. If an absconding bee swarm happens, all the bees will leave the hive instead of splitting like in swarming. In this case, very few if any bees will be left in the beehive.