Alan Skeoch

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  • alan…soon back with episodes

    Oct. 2, 2021
    Well glad to see no one missed me. Makes me wonder if Episodes are read or not.
    My computer went wacko as did my iPhone. Do not know why.
    Took it to Oakville for reincarnation of sorts. Then everything went bad. Now coming back I hope…. and my wallet is a little thinner but not as thin as a new computer would have done. Problem is I have to figure things out once again which is not easy.
    This note is just a test as I try to get on top of things.
    alan
    By the way the Apple dealer had no computers to sell…nearest date was a month from now and then not sure. And the costs would be about $1,000 more than I paid 7 years ago. One of the Covid 19 factors…higher costs for everything.
    Showing the vaccination proof was not required as businesses get used to a new hurdle….a necessary hurdle

  • Fwd: EPISODE 438 IRISH PICTURES AND STORIES… COWS WERE A NIGHTMARE




    NOTE TO MY READERS:   I WILL BE OFF LINE FOR SEVERAL DAYS I FEAR.  COMPUTER PROBLEMS BIG TIME.
    SO THERE WILL BE NO MORE EPISODES FOR A SHORT TIME.

     EPISODE 438     IRISH PICTURES AND STORIES…  COWS WERE A NIGHTMARE…THEY ATE OUR BASE LINE


    GROUP 9    CURIOUS CATTLE … LOTS OF PROBLEMS … ATE OUR BASE LINE






    OUR biggest problems in Ireland were the herds of cattle.  The cattle were curious and omniverous.  And stupid!  They thought our copper base line looked good to eat.
    And practically every day we had a sudden cessation of signals as a cow chomped through the yellow sheathed base line and
    then gobbled up a few feet of wire before regurgitating the wire in round balls about the size of baseballs.   When the signals
    stopped we had to send crews to find the cut and repair the line.   This happened often.  Sometimes several times in a day.

    The farmers were angry naturally.  Some claimed their cattle were knocked out  by the live wire.  I do not believe that
    happened…never saw a flattened cow.   But we found lots of balls of copper wire that had been vomitted.   I think someone
    paid the farmers for damages…but I don’t know if it was Dr. Stam or the Irish government.

    Sometimes breaks in the line were caused by cars and trucks but most of the time it was cattle.   

    In the Canadian wilderness we rarely had problems like this.  Moose, deer, wolves, wolverines did not like a diet of copper wire it seems.
    Red squirrels might nibble a bit.

    CALF CONVERSATION

    “MY that long line of yellow spaghetti looks edible.”
    “Ouch…bit of a sting to it.””
    “Let’s gobble up a chunk.”
    “Look at mom…over there…she’s vomiting the yellow stuff in big balls.”
    “Spit it out”
    “Here comes one of  the lads with a big roll of spaghetti on his back.”
    “He’s not chewing.”
    “Let’s take a chomp just for the hell of it.”
    “Wait until he moves along.”
    “Now!”
    “Ouch…hot…stings”
    “Here comes the lad running back here yelling like a damn fool.”
    “Look innocent…look like you are not interested in spaghetti.”
    “Too many hot chill peppers in the spaghetti.”



    Our base line was a mile or more in length.  Straight of course which meant the cable was put down on many Irish fields where cattle

    roamed/

    Calves were just as curious as their mothers but  not as hungry for swaths of our base line cable.

    GROUP  10    THE CASE OF THE COW THAT DISAPPEARED A CENTURY AGO

    We heard quit a few stories about ghosts and mysterious happenings.  It seems the 19th century miners, some of them, spread a story
    about ghosts in part of the mine.  Apparently that was intended to keep curious people away from a ‘high grading’ operation where
    rich chunks of copper ore were hidden.  True or not?  Who knows.  John Hogan told tales of such High grading in Canada.  And a
    few years later I worked in the Yukon where and immense amount of silver ore was stolen from an abandoned part of the Elsa mine.
    (see Episode – Fell from the Moon).

    One story told to me by Barney Dwan and others turned out to be true. We had a large anomaly when working an area near the Mahon river
    … a small valley (boreen is the Irish term I think) angles away from the river.  Let me say what happened in dialogue form.

    “Alan, there is an old story about this boreen.?”
    “Ghost story?””
    “No…just a story passed down from the old times…the mining days…the 1870’s or later”
    “Interesting story?”
    “Apparently there was a mine entrance up here long ago and a cow
    wandered in and got stuck so the farmer filled in the opening with trash and dirt.”
    “About where we got the high readings?””
    “Yes, that’s why I thought you might be interested.”
    “Do you know the exact spot?”
    “I do…right over there where the  gorse patch grows.”
    “Let me see what Dr. Stam thinks.”

    “We could dig out the hole.  We are already digging trenches down to bedrock where we have
    got high readings.”  
    ” The story may or may not be true.”
    “Let’s just hire a man ….have him dig out that patch of Gorse.”
    “Sort of secretly?”
    “Yes,  I don’t know what Norm Paterson would think of us spending money on a story that is 100 years old.”


    The patch of Gorse was about 4 times larger than this patch.  It seemed to be a waste of good farm land.  Not used as a fence line.
    Just a patch on a slope.

    The floor of  the adit after the draining ceased was covered with pieces of timber. This was the first skull we found…a young calf perhaps.

    Why was the skull here?






    This may or may not be the boreen.  The location was very nondescript;   Look in the far distance where a patch of Gorse is growing
    on the valley slope…tiny in the distance.  The location was much like that.



    Here we are inside the hillside adit.  Barney and John Hogan (whose picture is not flattering) … both are studying the wet sides of the

    adit looking for oxidized green copper staining.   If I remember correctly  this bit of exploration helped Dr. Stam determine

    the workings were so badly faulted that there was no point trying to reopen the mines.  A great disappointment to the local people
    who were hoping Bonmahon would see boom times again.




    This is NOT the Irish adit I am describing. Later in the 1960’s the company sent me to the Yukon territory where we entered this abandoned

    mine site which was half filled with ice. These ice crystals formed in the absolute stillness.   The Irish adit that we broke
    into never froze but filled completely with water.  Pressure. No release of that pressure until our man opened the adit with his pick.  That last
    swing of the pick triggered a deluge and a roaring noise as the water gushed forth.  Our man ran.  It took three days to drain
    the adit before John Hogan, Dr. Stam, Barney Dwan and I entered.   And that is when we made a big discovery.


    There she lay.   The cow.  At least her bones.  Her head  especially.   Some bones must have washed out as the adit drained but

    her head and other bones were trapped in the mud and pieces of water logged timber.  So the story must be true.   The cow wandered
    into the adit…got her hips sick…could not turn around…and died or was humanely killed there.   Something like
    that.   A kernel of truth…the skull.

    GROUP 11    THE FOLK MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN IRELAND

    Several years later, Marjorie and I toured the southern counties of Ireland and were given an escorted tour
    of this folk museum…agricultural machines were a big interest…at least to me.   

    When that dead cow was
    alive the machines below were brand new.  And the farms were small except for those owned by the huge estates
    whose owners were often English.   The great disparities in wealth were a prime cause of the civil war that raged
    in Ireland in the 1920’s.  Many big estate homes…almost castles…were put to the torch.














    END OF PART 3:  NEXT EPISODE WILL BE  A) THE CLIFFS OF MOHER   B) EXPLORING OLD MINE ADITS ON HANDS AND KNEES


  • Fwd: EPISODE 438 IRISH PICTURES AND STORIES… COWS WERE A NIGHTMARE




    NOTE TO MY READERS:   I WILL BE OFF LINE FOR SEVERAL DAYS I FEAR.  COMPUTER PROBLEMS BIG TIME.
    SO THERE WILL BE NO MORE EPISODES FOR A SHORT TIME.

     EPISODE 438     IRISH PICTURES AND STORIES…  COWS WERE A NIGHTMARE…THEY ATE OUR BASE LINE


    GROUP 9    CURIOUS CATTLE … LOTS OF PROBLEMS … ATE OUR BASE LINE






    OUR biggest problems in Ireland were the herds of cattle.  The cattle were curious and omniverous.  And stupid!  They thought our copper base line looked good to eat.
    And practically every day we had a sudden cessation of signals as a cow chomped through the yellow sheathed base line and
    then gobbled up a few feet of wire before regurgitating the wire in round balls about the size of baseballs.   When the signals
    stopped we had to send crews to find the cut and repair the line.   This happened often.  Sometimes several times in a day.

    The farmers were angry naturally.  Some claimed their cattle were knocked out  by the live wire.  I do not believe that
    happened…never saw a flattened cow.   But we found lots of balls of copper wire that had been vomitted.   I think someone
    paid the farmers for damages…but I don’t know if it was Dr. Stam or the Irish government.

    Sometimes breaks in the line were caused by cars and trucks but most of the time it was cattle.   

    In the Canadian wilderness we rarely had problems like this.  Moose, deer, wolves, wolverines did not like a diet of copper wire it seems.
    Red squirrels might nibble a bit.

    CALF CONVERSATION

    “MY that long line of yellow spaghetti looks edible.”
    “Ouch…bit of a sting to it.””
    “Let’s gobble up a chunk.”
    “Look at mom…over there…she’s vomiting the yellow stuff in big balls.”
    “Spit it out”
    “Here comes one of  the lads with a big roll of spaghetti on his back.”
    “He’s not chewing.”
    “Let’s take a chomp just for the hell of it.”
    “Wait until he moves along.”
    “Now!”
    “Ouch…hot…stings”
    “Here comes the lad running back here yelling like a damn fool.”
    “Look innocent…look like you are not interested in spaghetti.”
    “Too many hot chill peppers in the spaghetti.”



    Our base line was a mile or more in length.  Straight of course which meant the cable was put down on many Irish fields where cattle

    roamed/

    Calves were just as curious as their mothers but  not as hungry for swaths of our base line cable.

    GROUP  10    THE CASE OF THE COW THAT DISAPPEARED A CENTURY AGO

    We heard quit a few stories about ghosts and mysterious happenings.  It seems the 19th century miners, some of them, spread a story
    about ghosts in part of the mine.  Apparently that was intended to keep curious people away from a ‘high grading’ operation where
    rich chunks of copper ore were hidden.  True or not?  Who knows.  John Hogan told tales of such High grading in Canada.  And a
    few years later I worked in the Yukon where and immense amount of silver ore was stolen from an abandoned part of the Elsa mine.
    (see Episode – Fell from the Moon).

    One story told to me by Barney Dwan and others turned out to be true. We had a large anomaly when working an area near the Mahon river
    … a small valley (boreen is the Irish term I think) angles away from the river.  Let me say what happened in dialogue form.

    “Alan, there is an old story about this boreen.?”
    “Ghost story?””
    “No…just a story passed down from the old times…the mining days…the 1870’s or later”
    “Interesting story?”
    “Apparently there was a mine entrance up here long ago and a cow
    wandered in and got stuck so the farmer filled in the opening with trash and dirt.”
    “About where we got the high readings?””
    “Yes, that’s why I thought you might be interested.”
    “Do you know the exact spot?”
    “I do…right over there where the  gorse patch grows.”
    “Let me see what Dr. Stam thinks.”

    “We could dig out the hole.  We are already digging trenches down to bedrock where we have
    got high readings.”  
    ” The story may or may not be true.”
    “Let’s just hire a man ….have him dig out that patch of Gorse.”
    “Sort of secretly?”
    “Yes,  I don’t know what Norm Paterson would think of us spending money on a story that is 100 years old.”


    The patch of Gorse was about 4 times larger than this patch.  It seemed to be a waste of good farm land.  Not used as a fence line.
    Just a patch on a slope.

    The floor of  the adit after the draining ceased was covered with pieces of timber. This was the first skull we found…a young calf perhaps.

    Why was the skull here?






    This may or may not be the boreen.  The location was very nondescript;   Look in the far distance where a patch of Gorse is growing
    on the valley slope…tiny in the distance.  The location was much like that.



    Here we are inside the hillside adit.  Barney and John Hogan (whose picture is not flattering) … both are studying the wet sides of the

    adit looking for oxidized green copper staining.   If I remember correctly  this bit of exploration helped Dr. Stam determine

    the workings were so badly faulted that there was no point trying to reopen the mines.  A great disappointment to the local people
    who were hoping Bonmahon would see boom times again.




    This is NOT the Irish adit I am describing. Later in the 1960’s the company sent me to the Yukon territory where we entered this abandoned

    mine site which was half filled with ice. These ice crystals formed in the absolute stillness.   The Irish adit that we broke
    into never froze but filled completely with water.  Pressure. No release of that pressure until our man opened the adit with his pick.  That last
    swing of the pick triggered a deluge and a roaring noise as the water gushed forth.  Our man ran.  It took three days to drain
    the adit before John Hogan, Dr. Stam, Barney Dwan and I entered.   And that is when we made a big discovery.


    There she lay.   The cow.  At least her bones.  Her head  especially.   Some bones must have washed out as the adit drained but

    her head and other bones were trapped in the mud and pieces of water logged timber.  So the story must be true.   The cow wandered
    into the adit…got her hips sick…could not turn around…and died or was humanely killed there.   Something like
    that.   A kernel of truth…the skull.

    GROUP 11    THE FOLK MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN IRELAND

    Several years later, Marjorie and I toured the southern counties of Ireland and were given an escorted tour
    of this folk museum…agricultural machines were a big interest…at least to me.   

    When that dead cow was
    alive the machines below were brand new.  And the farms were small except for those owned by the huge estates
    whose owners were often English.   The great disparities in wealth were a prime cause of the civil war that raged
    in Ireland in the 1920’s.  Many big estate homes…almost castles…were put to the torch.














    END OF PART 3:  NEXT EPISODE WILL BE  A) THE CLIFFS OF MOHER   B) EXPLORING OLD MINE ADITS ON HANDS AND KNEES


  • EPISODE 437 FUNGUS DISEASE…OR DINOSAUR HANDS

    EPISODE 437   FUNGUS DISEASE OR DINOSAUR HANDS


    alan skeoch
    end sept. 2021

    Marjorie and I have avoided  the pandemic so far but we have picked up some
    weird disease that is changing our bodies beginning with our hands.  Warning
    to readers…be careful what you touch.   And never ever shake hands.  Even
    touching elbows may be dangerous.




  • EPISODE 435 IRELAND PICS #2


    EPISODE 435   IRELAND PICS  AND STORIES #2 

    alan skeoch
    sept. 2021

    GROUP NUMBER 7:     MEMORY TEST  AFTER 61 YEARS:   SHORT PRIMER ON THE TURAM….A SWEDISH GEOPHYSICAL SYSTEM TO FIND UNKNOWN PHENOMENA (ANOMALIES)
                                        USING ELECTRO-MAGNETISM


    Farmers were not too pleased to discover our crew tramping down barley.  This side view shows
    the discomfort of Turam exploration .. battery pack on my back, heavy copper coil on my right leg,  console on
    my stomach, earphones on my head…and, unseen, a notebook to record readings every hundred feet.  
    In the distance is our lead man who also had a copper coil hanging from his belt.  We were able to
    detect anomalies…unusual blips beneath us.  Our motor generator was hooked to a  mile long copper wire base line 
    that was grounded at both ends setting up a loop emitting readable signals.  At least that is how
    I would explain the system.

    This is Barney Dwan laying our base line which was usually a mile or more in length with
    3,000 foot “lines” set up at right angles to the base line.   This base line was a pain in the ass
    in Ireland. But absolutely necessary. The reason?  was at times funny …. at other times troubling…and always frustrating. Why?
    The cows…yes, the cows were our biggest problem.
    At one end of the base line set up our motor generator after driving grounding rods a couple of feet into the earth.  The set up
    pictured above was not a good one.  Loose sand meant weak signals.   
    we also used a volt meter to make sure the base line was working as it should.  The base line broke so often in Ireland  that
    we hired extra men just to patrol the line and ensure the generator was fine.

    DANGER SIGN.   The Irish government insisted we get this danger sign in both Irish and english.  That was difficult but I managed
    to find a sign painter n Dublin.  The Irish cattle could not read the sign so many of them got a rude shock…some were knocked
    over according to some Irish farmers. I never saw that happen.

    SCIENTFIC EXPLANATION OF TURAM
    The Turam method is one of the oldest geophysical electro-magnetic methods used for mineral exploration, devised by Erik Helmer Lars Hedstrom in 1937.[1] Its name is derived from Swedish “TU” (two) and “RAM” (frame), referring to the two receiving coils.

    Method[edit]

    An insulated cable a few hundred meters to several kilometers long is laid parallel to the geological strike direction. The cable is either grounded at both ends or laid out in a large loop, and energized at low frequencies (less than 1 kHz). Two receiving coils are moved on lines outside of and perpendicular to the long side of the loop or grounded cable and two components of the resultant field are measured. The primary field generated by the large loop or cable interacts with the soil and subsoil and with a conductive body if present which could be a mineral and creates a resultant electromagnetic field. The electromagnetic field is measured according to two values: the Field Strength Ratio and the Phase Difference occurring between the two receiving coils . It is a fixed source horizontal loop method. Separation of the two moving coils is usually from 10 to 30 metres. Using an AC bridge (also called compensator bridge), Field Strength Ratio is measured in percent and Phase Difference in degrees. In-phase (Real) and quadrature (Imaginary) values can be calculated from these data. Observed field strength ratio readings are used to calculate reduced ratios using a formula determined by the loop size and shape or the grounded wire length and the position of the receiving coils relative to the loop or grounded wire. The Turam method is a frequency domain method and in a way is the precursor of the time domain fixed loop methods. It is claimed to have detected large flat lying conductors to a depth of 400 metres.

    References[edit]

    1. ^ 1937, Hedstrom, E.H. Phase Measurements in Electrical Prospecting. AIME Tech. Publ. 827

    175049CC-BD45-4DEA-B443-EF332428B67A@phub.net.cable.rogers.com>” alt=”UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_9f555.jpg” apple-inline=”yes” class=”Apple-web-attachment Singleton” src=”https://alanskeoch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/175049CC-BD45-4DEA-B443-EF332428B67A.jpeg”>

    This young boy was severely handicapped due to a blow on his head when he was young.  He was the perfect guard for our motor generator.  Cute
    to see how much he loved the job.


    GROUP NUMBER 8    THE IRON LADY… THE KENNEDY FAMILY…OUR HOSTS IN BONMAHON



    Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy in front of their (her) general store…only store inthe village.  She rented the
    floor above the store to us for the summer…bed rooms and huge sitting room.  We dined in a small
    dining room on the main floor.  Mrs. Kennedy made my lunch everyday.  For the first few days I found lobster sandwiches in
    my bucket.  Never had lobster before.  

    “What is this sandwich, Barney?”
    “Lobster.”
    “Never  had that before…couldn’t she make peanut butter and jelly?
    “Ask her…Mrs. Kennedy thinks lobster is special.”
    “Could you make peanut butter sandwiches, Mrs. Kennedy, please.”
    “Peanut butter…never heard of it, Master Skeoch…I will get some from Waterford or Dublin…order it.”
    (She called me Master Skeoch for some reason…flattering)

    Mrs. Kennedy was the leading lady in Bonmahon.  A very determined lady.  She had strong opinions on most things
    including the two pubs down the road from her store.   Mr. Kennedy rarely spoke.  He ran the farm behind the store.  I was
    never sure how much acreage…  He was a quiet…very pleasant..man whose wife was
    the driving force in the family.


    Mrs Kennedy did not drink nor did Mr. Kennedy.   She quietly accepted the fact that John Hogan and I got in the habit of downing a pint or
    two of Guinness at Kirwin’s pub.    She let it be known, however, that a previous group of Canadians had caused a lot of trouble
    by hard drinking.   We were not hard drinkers.  Yes, we were afraid of Mrs. Kennedy as were others in the village. 
    She was the ‘Margaret Thatcher’  of Bonmahon…the “iron lady”.   She was also a very nice woman as you can tell from
    the smile on her daughters face.



    Gerald was the family charmer. Their son was overjoyed to have us living in the house with
    him.  He was a very busy little boy despite his handicap.   My room had a thin wall so I could hear
    Mr. Kennedy every evening trying to teach Gerald to read.  I was deeply touched.  Gerald had a
    guard that looked after  him…a black Labrador dog who was very gentle even allowing Gerald
    to ride him.   On one occasion I saw Gerald bite the dog on the ear.  Not maliciously really.  The
    dog knew that and did not flinch.  The dog was trained to keep Gerald from the sea.  Gerald could
    walk in the shallows up to his ankles.  beyond that and the dog would push…”herd” is a better word…the
    dog would gently herd Gerald back to shore.   People who have handicapped children often have touching
    heart warming lives.   The Kennedy’s never once mentioned Gerald’s handicap. He was a ray of sunshine in our lives.



    Mr.Kenned was very proud of his potato crop grown on the former enclosed yard that led to the old stables.  They kept no farm animals…except
    for Gerald’s Labrador dog.


    GROUP NMBER 8



    I could be wrong but I believed this indented land was once the original coast road that ran along only a few feet from the
    cliff face.  In the evenings Many Bonmahon residents strolled along places like this.  I got in the habit of doing that as well..always
    meeting local people.  It was very hard to talk to each other however due to the local dialect.  




    Barney Dwan and I got along like a house on fire.  He was my right hand man.   In the evenings he planned some very dangerous
    but exciting explorations of the old mine adits.  In the photo he is resting near an almost hidden mine adit.

    something rare in this photo…a fence along the cliff face.  Below, at sea level, is one reason for the fence…dead animals.


    IN order to fit in I bought a cloth cap and an ‘over the head’ shirt that the locals wore.  I was beginning to feel Irish…like John Wayne in the Quiet Man



    Some animals fell off the cliffs.


    This old mine opening was at sea level.  Deep below The miners tunnelled under the sea for some distance. Very dangerous.  Sea water
    and fresh water leaked into the stopes requiring a pumping system.   Once the mine was abandoned the sea water filled
    the deep workings which means the old mine could be reclaimed by water pumps.  The sea keeps Knockmahon copper
    mine intact.


    This was the adit we used most of the time.  Sometimes we had to crawl on our hands and knees at other times we could
    stand in a kind of crouch.  The walls were beautiful  painted with the green of oxidized chalco pyrite and also a bright pink
    in places.   More about that later.

    MORE COMING NEXT EPISODE