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EPISODE 1088 QUEEN ANNE’S LACE FIGHTS FOR THE SUN AND WINS

EPISODE  1088  QUEEN ANNE’S LACE FIGHTS FOR THE SUN AND WINS


alan skeoch
July 27, 224

This yaar we let most of the  garden battle with weeds…Two weeds won the war.


Borage takes control of most of our garden this year.

BORAGE   SUMMARY

Borage oil should be diluted and applied topically. Borage supplements may cause mild side effects, including digestive problems. Those with liver issues and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should avoid borage.

Borage is a medicinal herb that has been associated with a number of powerful health benefits.

In particular, borage has been shown to decrease inflammation, improve skin health, and decrease symptoms of asthma.

However, it’s important to use supplements only as directed, select products that are free of PAs, and consult a healthcare professional before taking them, especially if you’re taking any other medications or have underlying health conditions.









A familiar sight in meadows and along roadsides all summer long, Queen Anne’s lace is a very pretty wildflower. Native to Europe and Asia, Queen Anne’s lace is invasive in North America and some may consider it a weed. The leaves are delicate and thready, somewhat fern-like in appearance. The flat flower tops are a creamy white disk of tiny flowers, and look a bit like wild yarrow at a distance. The flowers are also similar to the flowers of goutweed, aka bishop’s weed (Aegopodium podagraria).

While it has a place in the landscape as a source of food for pollinators and makes a long-lasting cut flower in a wildflower arrangement, Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) is essentially a common weed. It is also commonly called wild carrot, as the root looks like a slender pale orange carrot and has a carrot-like scent. The young root is edible and can be eaten like a carrot, raw, in a salad, or cooked in a soup.

WARNING


A familiar sight in meadows and along roadsides all summer long, Queen Anne’s lace is a very pretty wildflower. Native to Europe and Asia, Queen Anne’s lace is invasive in North America and some may consider it a weed. The leaves are delicate and thready, somewhat fern-like in appearance. The flat flower tops are a creamy white disk of tiny flowers, and look a bit like wild yarrow at a distance. The flowers are also similar to the flowers of goutweed, aka bishop’s weed (Aegopodium podagraria).

While it has a place in the landscape as a source of food for pollinators and makes a long-lasting cut flower in a wildflower arrangement, Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) is essentially a common weed. It is also commonly called wild carrot, as the root looks like a slender pale orange carrot and has a carrot-like scent. The young root is edible and can be eaten like a carrot, raw, in a salad, or cooked in a soup.

WARNING

Queen Anne’s lace spreads aggressively by reseeding itself. It adapts easily to poor soil conditions and tends to grow where many things won’t. To cut back on the spread, it’s a good idea to snip off the flower heads before they go to seed. The plants can also be dug out by their taproots before they go to seed.Queen Anne’s lace spreads aggressively by reseeding itself. It adapts easily to poor soil conditions and tends to grow where many things won’t. To cut back on the spread, it’s a good idea to snip off the flower heads before they go to seed. The plants can also be dug out by their taproots before they go to seed.


Can you find  a  flower made of iron?

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EPISODE 1086: LETTER TO A THIEF

EPISODE  1086:   LETTER TO A THIEF


alan skeoch
Jully 22, 2024

Newspaper clipping — after robbery — hard to read I know

THE ROBBERY 
“Never be hostage to fortune, Alan.”  said Evan Cruikshank  a few days after the robbery. 
Little consolation  initially.  The theif was bold as brass.  He (or she) took it easy …even
took time sort the dishes only taking the best. Same applied to the furniture.  Onlythe best was
taken.  Most embsrassng to me was the fact he (or she) backed my trailer top to the
front door of the farm to make the loading easier.

That happened decades ago.   Today I found an old newspaper clipping written after the robbery
titled LETTER TO A THIEF.   Maybe he would feel a bit guilty.
Fat chance of that.  Fat  chance of guilt that is.   The thief did respond though sending a letter 
telling me to shut up or he (or she) would set the house on fire.  Now that scared me.
I shut up.   Kept my funny remarks to myself.

FUNNY REMARK

The thief stole the big round dining room table…huge thing made of  oak,… expandable, fine
carpentry.  I thought the thief would want the history of the table to help him sell it  (must have been a
man or a  big woman  or both)  

TEETH MARKS

“You may have noticed the deep scratch marks in the table.  They are not  scratches.  
Those marks were made by Andrew’s teeth on his birthday party.   Marjorie had stuffed his
cake with wrapped coins…nickles, dimes and quarters.  Unfortunately Andrew got a piece 
with notihng in it.   So he threw a tantrum and bit the table.  The teeth marks are there.
A kind of provenance as the art dealers say

SILVER LINING

Remember how  this story opened.  i.e. “Never be hostage to fortune” In short “Never
let things  own you.”  A sure recipe for unhappiness.
Well we had a choice after the robbery.  Sell the farm or restore the farm.
We chose to gut the old farmhouse of 1870’s vintage.   The thief had already
done part of the work.  

Would I shake hands with the thief?  Maybe I had already done that and
did not know it.

alan




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Fwd: EPISODE 1081 MORGAN SKEOCH, EDINBURGH VETERINARY SCHOOL 4TH YR PLACEMENT IN ONTARIO.SUMMER 1024…how to remove An eyeball



Begin forwarded message:


From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
Subject: Fwd: EPISODE 1081 MORGAN SKEOCH, EDINBIRGH VETERINARY SCHOOL 4TH YR PLACEMENT IN ONTARIO.SUMMER 1024…how to remove n eyeball
Date: July 20, 2024 at 3:15:18 PM EDT




Begin forwarded message:


From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
Subject: EPISODE 1081 MORGAN SKEOCH, EDINBIRGH VETERINARY SCHOOL 4TH YR PLACEMENT IN ONTARIO.SUMMER 1024…how to remove n eyeball
Date: July 16, 2024 at 11:42:44 AM EDT
To: john Wardle <jwardle@rogers.com>, Marjorie Skeoch <marjorieskeoch@gmail.com>, Morgan Skeoch <morgan.skeoch@googlemail.com>



EPISODE 1081   MORGAN SKEOCH, EDINBURGH VETERINARY SCHOOL 4TH YR  PLACEMENT IN ONTARIO.SUMMER 2024…how to remove an eyeball

alan skeoch
July14, 2024




“WE know  she is old and some  people would have her put down… but we love her. Can you help?”
‘Her eye is a problem….detached lens .The eye will have to be removed.  We can do that.”
“Will Babs be hurt?”
‘No.  Babs will be sedated,   We know the  procedure.”


Those who have never owned a horse will never understand the horse to human bond.

“Putting her down is out of the question.  Sedate her now;  “


ENTER Morgan Skeoch, 4th year student at the Edinburgh Veterinary School in Scotland.

observing the work of a veterinary surgeon in Ontario, Canada.


‘Grandpa, today we removed an eye from  an 18 or 19 year old Appaloosa mare”


PROCEDURE AS DESCRIBED BY MORGAN SKEOCH

“Sedation is injected into the jugular vein and must be checked periodically.
(Detomidine + Torbugesic  + Xylazine )
Once sedation drip takes hold  we made sure her head was in position for incisions around the
  eye   Then a ring block was marked along the Proposed incision route. Four retrobulbar blocks (local
anaesthetic)were injected behind the eye. Eyelids were sutured together and an elliptical incision was cut
around the eyelids to the level of the conjunctival sac.  Then blunt dissection was done around the 
eye towards the back, breaking any attachments . Careful dissection of the optic nerve to be sure 
it does not affect the other eye … the two nerve ends communicate so care must be taken.
Then the eyeball is removed and gauze is inserted in the socket to staunch the bleeding.Once staunched the gauze is removed 
The  incision site is sutured up in  a continuous fashion for 2/3 of the length. Individual sutures complete the incision
to allow  for quicker and simple removal if a problem occurs post surgery.  The mare (Babs) is then bandaged and taken off sedation.”


 (Morgan Skeoch, July 2024)

“What was your role Morgan?”

“I had to keep the horse standing and performed TPR (temp, pulse, resp.rate) every 15 minutes.  If she wanted to lie down I pushed her to keep her up.  I was part of the

procedure…small part but important part.



What is the average lifespan of a horse?
  • The average lifespan of a horse is between 25 to 30 years, although it varies between breeds. It’s not uncommon for horses to live beyond 40 years of age and the oldest horse ever, Old Billy, lived to the age of 62. With better nutrition and care, the average lifespan of horses has increased over time.

alan skeoch

july 10, 2024




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Fwd: EPISODE 1084; HILLBILLY ELEGY by J.D. VANCE…culture in crisis



Begin forwarded message:


From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
Date: July 18, 2024 at 11:34:23 AM EDT



EPISODE 1084;  HILLBILLY ELEGY by J.D. VANCE…culture in crisis

alan skeoch
July 18. 2024



Trump frightens me. He is best described as  a loose cannon … 
a gut feeling.

Quite by chance while shopping in Marjorie’s favourite store…The Salvation Army Thrift Store.
I nosed through  the book collection,…drawn to an odd book titled 
‘Hilbilly Elegy  by  J.D. Vance.     An unknown person to me.
The subject was  industrial towns like Middletown, Ohio,which had
become wastelands as factories departed for cheap labour elsewhere in the world.
leaving behind the so called Rust Bellt … American States orbiting around Ohio.

I paid little attention to the author, J.D. Vance, but found the book interesting as a fist person
account  of the kind of working class Americans left in the rust belt cities.  

The name J. D. Vance has suddenly become a household word as 
he is now Donald Trump’s choice as running mate for the Republican Party’s presidential election.
His speech at the convention was larded  with comments about his personal life in the 
Rust  Belt/.  Much of it tragic.  Yet much of it heroic as well.

Vance was not a lifelong Republican.  His roots are as much Democrat.    Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat ,  
was admired by the Vance family.  

Why did Trump choose J  D  Vance as his running mate?   Was the choice brilliant? Was the choice risky?
Time  will tell.





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EPODE 1080 MARJORIE AND HER GARDEN

EPISODE 1,079   MARJORIE AND HER GARDEN

alan skeoch
July 12, 2024
MARJORIE AND HER GARDEN



I THINK WE NEED TO RELAX A BIT HENCE GARDEN PICS….A COUPLE OF  HOURS AGO TRUMP WAS NEARLY ASSASSINATED,    WILL THAT BRING GUN CONTROL?


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EPISODE 1,O72: WALKER HANDICAP — A FEEL GOOD STORY

EPISODE 1,O72:   WALKER HANDICAP — A FEEL GOOD STORY


aln skeoch
July 10m 2024

EPISODE 1,O72:   WALKER HANDICAP — A FEEL GOOD STORY



I was pushing my walker through the crowd at the food booth at Cosco.
Big crowd .  Noon on Friday July 5,   I had ordered hot dog, fries and a Pepsi
…all of which were difficult to push and carry to the table area.  I circled the
tables once….all taken.   Stand up tbale was vacant but awkward for a man with a walkier
and Pesi/

Then  a surprise:

A short man about 60 years old…husky…perhaps Middle Eastern

“I do not speak English well”
And he handed me his cell phone 
“Follow me, we have a table for you.”
I followed Ih’m to a table where his wife was sitting.
“There, the table just for you:
And they disappeared in the crowd.

Marjorie arrived and we split the hot dog and chips.

Made me feel good….hope it does the same for you
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EPISODE 1070: JOHNSTONE ISLAND…TINY ATOLL IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN…YOU CANNOT GO THERE…agent orange storage cite




EPISODE   1070:    JOHNSTON ISLAND…TINY ATOLL IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN…YOU CANNOT GO THERE…AGENT ORANGE STORAGE SITE

alaln skeoch
July 6,   2024

Thousands of leaky drums of Agent Orange were stored on johnston island

Johnston Island is so tiny that it is almost invisible,  
few people are aware of the existence of the island.  Visitors are forbidden by the United 
States Air Force who has bulldosed coral from the lagoon to make an airstrip and a dock for freighters.
Most days the base is inactive,

But in the 1970’s Johnston Island was very busy receiving thousands of 45 gallon drums of a defoliant
called  Agent Orange. a Million of gallons shipped from USAF bases such as Da Nang in Vietnam..42,000 gallons    
from USA

some of the drums leaked chemical into ground water in Laos and Vietnam.    
The results?  birth defects and  cancers even now 50 years after the war.. 
600,000 gallons of Agent Orange were sprayed on the jungle of Laos in an 
attempt to expose the Ho Chi Minh Trail which delivered supplies and  
 soldiers to the battlefronts.








“Tell me a bit about Agent Orange.”

“ Chemical companies like Dow, Monsanto and many others were contracted
to make a more  lethal defoliant from common herbicides used by gardeners.’The
result was Agent Orange.’
‘If it made people sick why not find a less lethal defoliant”
“The danger was not known immediately and the chemical was terrific defoliant.”
“How terrific?”
“Plants sprayed with Agent Orange died immediately.”
No one knew the long  term effects … 
agent Orange could live 100 years in soil and 14 years in the human body.”
”No alternative?”
“None,   The  closest defoliant took a month to kill jungle plants…Agent Orange was immediate.
The long term effects.”
“By the end of the war great swaths of jungle had been defoliated and villages saturated.”
“Howmuch Agent Orange remained?”
“millions of gallons were stored in USAF air bases like Da Nang.”
“So Johnston Island was chosen as a storage site. “
“Out of sight out of mind….is it still there?
“No.  Special incinerator ships destroyed what could be incinerated.  
some remains in the ground wherever 
Agent Orange was stored “
         



437114732060673@1481227681264/The-At-Sea-Incineration-of-Agent-Orange-Near-Johnston-Island-in-the-Central-Pacific-Ocean.png” alt=”3 The At-Sea Incineration of Agent Orange Near Johnston Island in the Central Pacific Ocean by the M/T Vulcanus During Operation PACER HO in August 1977 (Photograph courtesy of USAF OEHL, Brooks AFB, Texas)  ” itemprop=”contentUrl” class=”figure-details-image__main-image”>