Alan Skeoch

Year: 2023

  • Fwd: EPISODE 876 DID YOU EVER GET THE STRAP IN SCHOOL? (remember ‘spare the rod and soil the child’




    EPISODE 876   DID YOU EVER GET THE STRAP IN SCHOOL?


    alan skeoch

    sept/ 27. 2023’






    When did the strap stop being used in schools in Toronto?
    • By 1979, the York and North York School Boards had joined Toronto in banning the strap, but in the early 1980s it was still permitted in Scarborough, Etobicoke, East York, Peel, York Region, the Metropolitan Separate School Board, and virtually everywhere else in the province. Elsewhere in Canada, the tide turned towards abolition in the 1990s.

      THE STRAP

      I got the strap once.  At least I think I got the strap.   Was it my imagination or did it really happen?  I am not sure but have
      a clear memory of waiting in the principals’ office for him to deliver a whack on my hand with a leather strap that looked like 
      a thing dad used to sharpen his razor in days before Gillette Blue Blades made the razer strap obsolete,



      Memory
      “I sm sitting on a wood office chair outside the principal’s office in Runnymede pubic school . Toronto.  Nervous.
      Not exactly sure what I have done.  I was To be strapped though. Likely because I vaulted over the school fence in a kind of somersault.  Or maybe
      because I was late for school because it was garbage day and there were always good things to find like the
      western novel Frontier Doctor which was jammed in my back pocket

      “Well, son, stretch out your right hand.”
      “I’m left handed.”
      “Then stretch out your left hand.”
      (I should have shut up.)
      “I am going to hit you once wit this strap.  Do not move your hand.”
      (Good idea…I must move my hand.  Do not want to be hit.  Wait until
      strap coming downward…..then..”

    Damn!

    • “You moved your hand.  I hiT my own knee”

      My memory ends there.   I remember he was mad but do not remember
      him actually hitting me.  If he did then the blow was not memorable.   Hitting his
      own knee was memorable.  No laugh..no snicker…no tears.   
      Afraid he would double the punishment.  But he did not.  Did this really happen?
      My brain says i t did.   The same brain had said Santa Calus was not real years ago
      The same brain that told me to sit down most of the day..that way no-one would notice
      that the ass was torn out of my pats.  My back pocket had hooked on the fence
      and tore a gap revealing y underwear or my bare ass.
    • Those were the days in late 1940’s and early 1950’s 
      when strapping kids was considered essential.  Belevers in the strap really believed that
      to “spare the rod was to spoil the child.”  A good whack on the hand was important somehow.
      Seemed a bit deranged to me.
       
      Our family did not believe in strapping.  My dad was a big tough tire builder. Strong 
      as an ox.  But he did not believe in disciplining Eric and me.  Never touched us
      He was prepared, however, to defend us from the dangers of the outside world.
      One illustration ?   A lady followed us home from school one day.   We were with our
      friends…big Red Stevenson Billy and Bobby Rankin, Brian Hetheirngton…and had
      been using pea shooters all the way home.  Especially this one woman’s dining
      room window which was in range. No ill will to her just  fired the beans because i was in range.
    • The window glass got a shower of hard white beans
      rather than soft green peas.   

      So there she was.  Folowing us.  We lived closest to the school so got the visitor…the woman.
      Dad was working the night shift at Dunlop Tire.   He was home only because there
      were  no horses running at Dufferin track that day.   The doorbell rang and dad
      lumbered down to the main floor.  Opened the door….

      “Your boys have been firing white beans at my window!”
      “What the hell are you talking about?”
      “Your boys…”
      “Listen and listen closely  Get your goddamn self off my verandah
      and bugger off homel”
      “But…(splutter splutter)
      Dad closed  the door, lumbered back u the stairs, ignored Eric and me, and
      went to bed…night shift.   We had  a one bedroom house.  Eric and I slept there
      at night.   Dad did on night shifts but normally dad had the front-room couch
      mom the dining room couch   We were a close knit family.   Loved each other but
      never said so   Did not need to say that nor to get kissy assy with hugs.

      I never told dad about the strap.  Afraid he would go down to school and punch the shit out of
      the principal who already had a sore knee.

      When Marjorie and I had Kevin and Andrew we followed the same pattern
      but les dramatically.    Certainly no strapping.  Makes me shiver to even
      think of that.   The closest i ever sae to discipline was quietly saying:I was disappointed’
      to kevin or  Andrew for some minor indiscretion.  And the boy began to cry.  Maybe 
      words hurt more than a strap.  But I am not convinced.

      If you beilong to the ‘SPARE THE ROD OR SPOIL THE CHILD’ parental generation
      then Get the hell off our verandah

      alan skeoch





  • EPISODE 884 APPLES IN A TANGLED ORCHARD

    EPISODE 884   APPLES IN A  TANGLED ORCHARD — 


    alan skeoch
    sept. 22, 2023




    Namng apple varieties was once a common thing to do since apples do not
    replace themselves from apple seeds.  I wuold like to call this wild apple
    ‘RED STREAK’ but that is the name  of one of the most famous apple
    varieties in the 19th century.  What should I name my…MY?…apple tree?
    There’s only one tree in the whole world like it.  It grows in our TANGLED
    ORCHARD on abandoned land. Tastes good…easy to eat.  Might make 
    good apple sauce.  Think of a name as you read this story.

    WHEN grandma and grandpa Freeman stopped farming they let their 25 are farm return 
    to nature graduallly.     The first invaders were wild apple trees…a complete wild 
    orchard that looked like a bad hair day.’’’



    When the  Freemans stopped farming around  1950 … the wild apple orchard took over the land which  delighted Angus McEchern’s Hereford cattle who
    loved apples.   They pushed down the rail fence with ease.

    The cattle ate the windfalls….some in advanced decay  This was not good.  While apples are not
    poisonous, but their seeds are bad news.  Those tiny black apples seeds contain a chemical that produces 
    CYANIDE.   A seed or two will not kill but should a human being decide to chew 200 apple
    seeds then call the dead wagon.  What would they do to a cattle herd?


    Our wild apple orchard is struggling to survive. The re’d pines are getting taller and which means less light reaches the
    apple trees..



    Here is how one apple tree manages to survive using a single branch which is loaded with a
    a big green variety of apples red to be picked.


    Small wild apples below..perhaps a crab[[;e/

     


    Here (below) is the prize tree producing large  yellow apples with decorative red streaks.  In ten minutres I managed to
    fill a pail and I hope Marjorie can do the real work of converting the apples into apple sauce.  We need a name for 
    these apples?  How about ‘Delight of the Forest”





    The myth regarding cows and apples

    You might have heard this myth. Cows that eat apples can get a bloated stomach and die. But that’s not what’s happening when your cattle feed on apples fallen on the ground or those that you offer them to diversify their diet.

    So, if that’s not true, where does this myth come from? There is a small grain in this myth, which is that the cows can get a little bloated when eating apples. However, that happens only if they eat a lot of apples all of a sudden and for the first time in their lives.

    Anything new that’s introduced to a cow’s diet can cause bloating. It is not only apples that can cause this side effect, but any other fruits and veggies that your cows may eat by accident or otherwise. As long as cows feed on fallen apples, they won’t run the risk of overeating.

    They know what’s good for them and what isn’t and they won’t eat more than what they can digest. So, if you plan to introduce apples into your cows’ diet, do so gradually. And here’s another thing. Many cows love apples and will consider them treats.


  • EPISODE 883 OUR KITTEN WAS THIRSTY TODSY

    EPISODE 883   OUR KITTEN WAS THIRSTY TODAY


    alan skeoch
    Sept. 22, 2023

    We call her Chelsee Bun because she looks like a chelsee bun..   She is
    litter pm the verge pf adulthood and
    likes to awaken us by putting her nose in touch with our noses.
    in the morning.

    I think that cute habit will have to stop or else we must put
    an end to that.    Which is easiest, discipline or leverage?
    i.e. Say ‘bad kitten’ (discipline)
    or  shut the toilet lid (leverage)

     Which is easiest discipline or leverage?



    P.S.  Notice our bathroom reading material.

  • EPISODE 882 CRAB APPLE JELLY…FROM WILD CRAB APPLE TREE…guarded by three mowers with hidden knife like blades

    EPISODE 882    CRAB APPLE JELLY…FROM WILD CRAB APPLE TREE…guarded by three mowers with hidden knife like blades


    alan skeoch
    sept. 20, 2023


    Our wild crab apple tree  has had no care in its 50 or so year life.  Nondescript is a word that
    suits the tree.  It grew on the old barn hill about the time the barn fell down.  A apple kind of
    phoenix…something good from something lost.

    Today I drove our ATV under the sprawling apple loaded branches and in 15 minutes filled 
    a pail with bright red crab apples. 

     “I want the reddest crab apples, Alan, they will give 
    the colour to our apple jelly.”

    And that was the end of my labour.  The rest was done by Marjorie who managed to get 
    five small jars of crab apple jelly from half a pail of apples….

    “Take off the stems, leaves and watch for worm holes.”
    “There are no worms, Marjorie….every crab apple is perfect.”
    “Did you pick them all?”
    “No…I got half a pail of apples from one single branch. The tree
    is loaded..   Do you want me to pick more?  “
    “No more….the real work is converting the apples into jelly, that will
    take hours.”
    “I did my part…15 minutes.”
    “And my part will take a good part of the day.”

    “How much  jelly did you get?”
    “Six small jars…bright red crab  apple jelly.”
    “Do not give any away, we can spend part of the winter eating the jelly with toast and butter.”
    “You are so self centred.”
    “They are my apples.”
    “What have you done to help the tree”
    “I parked three old horse drawn mowing machines under the tree….great long  rusted 
    mower blades will dissuade any thieves…the cutters are hidden in the golden rod
    that ring around  the tree.  “

    alan


    Find your own recipe for crab apple jelly….then look for a willd crab apple tree.

    Marjorie  says if you want a recipe, let us know and we will do an episode with the recipe included.
    ….next episode will feature our wild apple trees…the few that have survived. They have no 
    names…feel free to suggest names starting with our crab  apple tree.

    END

  • EPISODE 881 HOW I FOUND ROBERT DOWNEY AND HIS THRESHING TEAM LABOUR DAY AT STEAM ERA 2023

    EPISODE 881   HOW I FOUND ROBERT DOWNEY AND HIS THRESHING TEAM  LABOUR DAY AT STEAM ERA 2023


    alan skeoch
    sept. 18 , 2023

    STEAM  ERA — THE HUME FARM — LABOUR DAY 2023

    The huge Sawyer Massey steam powered tractor was taking a long slow turn on the Hume
    Farm near Milton.   A good chance to get a picture with a clearly rural background.  what I found
    was more than expected.  
    something was happening in the distance.,, a threshing team of four med a little boy
    shoving cornstalks into a most peculiar machine…a McCormick Deerng corn harvester …ancient, rusty, confusing, mysterious.
    The machine had been rescued and renovated by Robert  Downey,  a young inspired mechanic.   It was in full operation with no audience.

    I did not know that until I got closer and talked with robert downey.  Nor did I know that the little boy would steal the show.