Month: May 2023

alan skeoch

May 30, 2023

We live in a frantic intersection of raw QEW and Hurontario highways in Misissauga.  

Currently the throughways are being ripped apart  for an  LRT.

Within a stones throw of the construction is one of the places where coyotes feel at home.  They have taken 

ownership of a several acre woodland.   And they are not afraid to show their ownership…their lack of 

fear. Our dog Woody smells coyote spoor when I cannot see anything.

   I could see nothing that was alivedown the back of

lot where an ancient dump rake rests.  Nothing. Noting Nothing. Woody knew better.

Evenutually the coyote slipped from the woodland camouflage into the daylight.

No intention of running away.  Daring Woody to dig under the fence. Hungry.

Back to being invisible in an instant.  If your eyes are good

you can see him or her beside the left wheel of the dump rake.  I think, but not sure.

In the small wilderness park a male and female coyote are raising three or four pups.

Playful stage right now.  Woody is now aware that coyotes prefer food to play. Dangerous  should

he venture down the back of our lot.  He learned that the hard way when he

slipped through the gate and joined a coyote a while ago.   Not a playful moment.

The coyote took a bite out of Woody’s backside.  Food. Woody skedaddled back home fast.

Do not expect to see the coyotes.  They are smart.  They move around seeking, rabbits, garbage.Softly from place to place.

Itinerent.   They are not stupid.   Why do they seem to prefer urban places to rural places?

Food I believe.  Not as many cats around here as their once were.Coyotes are not a big danger

to Woody  Little dogs are more edible

I like the coyotes.  Not everyone does.

alan skeoch

may 27, 2023

What do you see here?

There is more to a stump fence than meets the eye. However you will need a dash of imagination.

Maybe a dollop of abstract thinking.   Maybe it is possible to see things in a stump fence that 

do not exist except in our minds.    A stump fence is a kind of wooden 

Rorschach test…(an ink block test).

Long long ago I remember sitting in Runnymede Presbyterian church when Dr. McQueen

gave his regular children sermon.   He always did this before the adult sermon.  I could 

enjoy those sermons because he used stump fences as triggers for presenting big ideas.

. “This week 

I found this piece of a stump fence that looked like a woodpecker hunting for hidden

grubs.”   

IMAGINARY LESSON FROM A STUMP FENCE

“This week we have a woodpecker in search

of food…a listener…a searcher for something unseen….a hard worker whose life depends on 

the ability to pound out holes in search of treasure.  Some humans do that every day.

Work can be hard.  Hard work, however, often leads to treasure.   A good book can do that.

I read one the other day titled Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.   You would like that book.

…presents big ideas that should concern us all.  Like the dangers of pesticides.”

All this from a chunk of a stump fence.  yes.  Imagination is wonderful.  Use it.

CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING IMAGINARY IN THESE STUMPS?

DID you notice the sea otter about to be engulfed by big wave?

I see a young sea otter…or is it a duck?

…Marjorie saw a mongoose.

alligator or snake about to eat a yellow flower

coiled python with head hidden

gaping mouth of the child python found

on a root about 20 feet away from  the body…that

is one big Pythonl

FIND THE TINY HAND!

Tiny hand reading out to greet.   Can you find the hand in the original pic? I bet you cannot!

alan    may 28,2023

(I SAW A TINY HAND REACHING OUT IN GREETING….does that mean anything?

POST SCRIPT:  RORSCHACH TEST

alan skeoch

May 26, 2023

Wow…this has been a grand month..worth preserving  A fragment.

EPISODE 825     WHAT WE BOUGHT OR BARGAINED..SET SALE MAY 2023  MATTHEW BOLTON, MRTIN BUDD

alan skeoch 

May 26, 2023

Some Of our friends are ‘downsizing’.   Moving from large homes to smaller condominiums or

apartments.  We are going in the opposite direction…’upsizing’ for the movie industry.  Doubt

very much that any reader will feel envious.   Some may even be rather shocked.

In order to upsize for these two five ton truckloads my nephew Robert Skeoch and i spent

a whole day reducing our collection and hauling a lot of things to the dump.  Some had

to be rescued later when a movie set wanted things we had decreed superfluous.

We have  learned a hard lesson.  We cannot provide al things to all movies.   So our collection comes under the headline of ‘period’ items.  Some

things are even abused.  No self respecting movie script seems to want brand new set dressing.  A little or a lot of abuse makes a movie seem real.  Life

is that way.  Imperfect. Abused by the human hand.  Used .. neglected.  Broken and forgotten.  Such things are valued highly by set buyers.  “There

is no fake aging process that replicates the ravage of time.”  Painters and carpenters can do a good job making a brand new chair and table look old

and abused. But time and neglect do a better job.

A n obsolete three furrow plow abandoned in a fence row for half a century cannot look shiny and fit for the showroom floor. A crate which is supposed to

be weathered and broken cannot show the new heads of Robertson screws.  Get the idea?

The cast iron machine on the left looked good to me.  I have no idea of its purpose .  But it looks good…Fading paint make it look  better. If you know the machine then drop a note to me. Cast iron with a pulley that connected to a  motor of some kind.  Pretty.

There is an exception to every rule.  The ammunition crates above , sort of military looking. do look new and should be so if the 40 of them

are part of a war themed movie.    We bought all 40.  We had a gut feeling they will be wanted.  Of course we could be wrong.  Some of the

things we hauled to the dump had never been wanted by a set buyer.  

 Even raccoons and Opposums and squirrels had avoided them.  One winter 

a large grey owl took up residence in our barn.  That discouraged other creatures thankfully.

Marjorie provided home made pizza for the crew.    Now that is unusual … moreso than anything else in these pictures.

Begin forwarded message:

From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>

Subject: Fwd: EPISODE 822 ALAN, WE ARE CLEARING THE MOVIE SET”

Date: May 26, 2023 at 12:13:42 PM EDT

To: Paul Caron <bumpa36@rogers.com>, Matthew Bolton <matthew.c.bolton@gmail.com>

I ASSUME THIS STORY IS SAFE TO SEND OUT….AVOIDS PROBLEMS WITH SET….NO NAMES, NO DETAIL PICS OF SET

I HAVE EVERYTHING STOWED AWAY EXCEPT FOR CRATES…..SEEMS YOU GUYS ARE VER BUSY…NO NEED TO RESPOND

ALAN.

Begin forwarded message:

EPISODE 823   “ALAN, WE ARE CLEARING THE MOVIE SET”

alan skeoch

may 21, 2023

Marjorie found the only living plant in the whole 5 square km movie set

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A MOVIE SHUTS DOWN?  DEMOLITION AND  DISPERSAL

Martin and Matthew called us one morning a few days ago.

“Perhaps you and Marjorie might be interested in some of the things we had for the movie.”(name of movie withheld)

“Sure thing.”

“We’ll send a limousine around to pick you up.”

“We can drive “

“The set is hard to find even though it covered 5 square kilometres of buildings. Best we pick

you up. The place has security people.  You know what movie  making entails. Secrecy.”

NOTE:  This story avoids specifics.  All pictures of the movie set … i.e. the village that was constructed

has been deleted.   So the privacy of movie making has been respected.  There is still

much to see.  

A stretched limousine picked us up. The driver, John,

said we had him for the day.  And it took a full day….two huge locations,  a sound stAge and an open air site.

Why were we treated so well?  Because some of the things we rented to them needed to be eye balled.

And some tHings were for sale.

The site was hidden behind wall after wall of gigantic 53 foot long shipping containers piled on top

of each other.  There was a gate house and a security guard.  John had clearance.  We felt like royalty.