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EPISODE 421 A VISIT TO THE “SALLY ANN”

EPISODE 421 A VISIT TO THE ‘SALLY ANN”

alan skeoch

sept. 2021

Now here is something we all might need. I am talking about a visit to the ‘Sally Ann” better known as

the Salvation Army Thrift Store. There is one in your neighbourhood.

Marjorie knows how to have a good time without going overboard. She gathers up things we do not need or do not wear anymore

and takes them down to our local Salvation Army Thrift Store. Then the fun begins. She shops in the store buying other people’s

cast off clothing and other pieces of bric a brac. Some people are too proud to do this. That is really too bad because “Thrift” shopping

benefits so many people. And it is so much fun.

We get lots of laughs doing our shopping. I come along often but not as often as Marjorie would like.. Last week I bought a nice shirt…took it

home…tried it on and it did not fit. Marjorie took it back as an exchange item. This week I was shopping at the Thrift Store and bought

the same damn shirt. Dead loss but amusing.

Here…take a look at Marjorie shopping and being warmly greeted by the store manager.

Some collector will spot this shirt signed by the whole team.

Reminder of the Great Flood that made Noah build his Ark. If that happened. Perhaps it did. The oceans are rising as the ice cap melts.

I wonder why not one has bought these?

I JUST love the Salvation Army books…and I recently was rewarded with one of the best books

I have read lately. The title is COAL.

COAL was written by Babara Freese in 2003. It is a frightening and fascinating book documenting the role of coal in

our western civilization and terrible results that followed the coal roll in the Industrial Revolution

Without coal there could not be an industrial revolution in 1800. No civilization as we know it today. But coal is a mixed blessing as anyone with black lung

can testify Coal burning has released so much carbon into the air that our civilization is under threat of collapse.

Not a happy book but it sounds one word loud and clear. ALERT ALER ALERT.

LET’s not get so serious There are hundreds of fine fiction novels to be found on the Sally Ann shelves

if you need relief after reading COAL. Escapism.

And, oh yes, there is a nice brown checked shirt on the Extra Large shirt rack…please buy it so I don’t buy it for a third time.

September 4, 2021
EPISODE 421 MONARCH BUTTERFLIES….SPECIAL MILKWEED GARDEN…DIRE PREDICTION

EPISODE 421 MONARCH BUTTERFLIES….SPECIAL MILKWEED GARDEN…DIRE PREDICTION

alan skeoch

sept. 2, 2021

Well, it’s that time of year again when we start to worry about the Monarch Butterflies. Lots of

doom and gloom…talk about these beautiful creatures facing extinction. Let’s hope it’s

just talk.

We are doing our part by leaving a good sized slice our garden exclusively for milk weed

plants. In the past no respectable farmer would do that because milk weed is toxic to

cattle. Or so I am told. I have never seen a cow munching milk weed. They seem to

know plants. All over North America eccentrics like Marjorie and me have little patches

of milk weed. Others, using little thought, spread the insecticide Round Up. Deadly.

And today there were two monarchs nosing about. I hope laying eggs. Eventual

larvae who can munch they way through our dining area.

Milk weed gets a little ugly about now. Other creatures chew at the leaves. But

Monarch larvae when and if they appear are obvious and systematic. Big fat larvae

eventually appear.

Big question

How much time do they need to eventually emerge as Monarch butterflies.

This is the beginning of Sept. October comes fast as does the frost. Is there

enough time left? Then they have the long flight to Mexico or part way there.

Monarch Butterfly Population in 2020-21

How would you go about counting North America’s monarch butterfly population? Scientists can’t count each and every butterfly. Instead they count the area of land occupied by the monarchs in their Mexican over-wintering habitat. The 2020-2021 Monarch Butterfly Report below shows only 2.1 hectares, down from 6.05 hectares just 2 years ago. It’s one of the lowest acreage numbers for the winter population in 20 years. Entomologists believe that Monarch survival requires at least 15 acres of wintering butterflies annually. The situation is dire. Why is this happening?

Illegal Logging Is Increasing in Mexican Winter Habitat

A dramatic increase in illegal logging in the Mexican over-wintering biosphere was reported this year. Approximately 33 acres were lost, up from one acre of loss the year before. In addition problems with habitat loss in the U.S. persist due to the use of chemical insecticides, most notably Round Up.

These are the Transvolcanic Mountains in Mexico. For thousands of years (since the last ice age) monarch butterflies have taken refuge here during the winter. Unfortunately the area is being logged illegally, causing catastrophic destruction to monarch habitat. Vermont Woods Studios has partnered with the non-profit Forests for Monarchs to replant the area with native trees. The red arrows above point to plots we have reforested.

September 2, 2021
EPISODE 420 A “CASE” WITH A HAPPY ENDING…

EPISODE 420 A ‘CASE’ WITH A HAPPY ENDING

ala skeoch

sept. 2021

Now here is a short story about a little Case tractor. Yes, it has a happy ending. We need that in this

day and age where unhappy endings are so often the ‘case’. (Play on words).

Not long ago this tractor was a wreck..reached the end of its useful days. Too small, way too small for

farming. Could barely pull a set of spring tooth harrows. Set aside in a field or old drive shed. Then

along came a mechanic. Do not know who. But he restored the Case perfectly…even new tires

… and a perfect paint job with decals applied as a finishing touch. For some strange

reason the little Case was put up for auction and i was able to buy it…then Son Andrew paid for it.

The story does not end there.

A movie art producer needed the little Case and sent “Al” from Transport to pick up the little Case and haul it to the city

for a star role. Big time production…perhaps award winning production.

“Andrew, can you come up to the farm and load her.” (“Her?”)

“Sure, “

And that is the happy ending. I can’t say the name of the movie or much about the plot. That is all secret

stuff until the production is finished and on the screen. At that time, you will be informed.

September 2, 2021
Fwd: EPISODE 419 TWO AMUSING LETTERS RE: LAUREL AND HARDY EPISODE 418 FROM GELN GREY AND BILL PROCIW

Begin forwarded message:

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

Subject: EPISODE 419 TWO AMUSING LETTERS RE: LAUREL AND HARDY EPISODE 418 FROM GELN GREY AND BILL PROCIW

Date: August 29, 2021 at 7:28:38 PM EDT

To: Bill Prociw <bill.prociw@gmail.com>, Glen Gray <glen.gray7@sympatico.ca>

Glen and Bill….Can I send out your letters…they are terrific.?

EPISODE 419 TWO AMUSING LETTERS RE: LAUREL AND HARDY EPISODE 418 FROM GLEN GREY AND BILL PROCIW

REMEMBER THE EPISODE ABOUOT THE LITTLE SKEOCH MOTOR CAR COMPANY? THIS CAR LOOKS SIMILAR.

alan skeoch

august 30, 2021

I hesitated to write the episode about Laurel snd Hardy. “Who would care?”

“Many readers may never have heard of them.” “Hardly big issues of our times.”

“Boring…interior decorating””Slapstick humour is dated”

Well I was dead wrong. Yesterday I received two fascinating letters from Glen Grey, stalwart member

of our High Park Curling Team and Bill Prociw who was a fellow teacher for decades at Parkdale Collegiate.

The stories they tell are far better than what I wrote:

BILL PROCIW

Thanks Marjorie, for giving the BOYS a home. I’m still a fan of their earlier movies. The last one, Atoll K or Utopia is a stinker.

My earliest memory of going to the movies was when I was pre-kindergarten age. My mother took me to an evening movie at the Pix theatre on

Ossington and Dundas, a short walk from our house on Crawford Street. The movie was Swiss Miss, a Laurel and Hardy flick. What I remember was

one of the late scenes in which the two had to transport a piano across a rope bridge over a deep canyon in the Alps. There was a confrontation

with a gorilla on the other side of the piano and of course the rope bridge was bound to break over the canyon.

It scared the bejesus out of me but I can’t remember if anything else came out of me. I’m sure I thought about this scene many times before falling

asleep in my bed- but not recently, though.

Thanks for the memory,

Bill

GLEN GREY

Alan,
Several years ago we were in the Lake District of England and stumbled upon something that was so amazing, so unexpected and gave me great joy, no matter how the other three felt.I found a one pound note. No, no, no, we came upon a museum solely dedicated to no other than Laurel and Hardy. What in heavens name was it doing there? There was every conceivable memorabilia of the duo including a theatre that would play for us, since no one else was there, any of their movies. The middle aged man was keeping the museum going that his dad had started and had filled it with scads of Laurel and Hardy stuff. Posters, puppets, chewing gum wrappers, glasses, anything and everything that had their name in it. We sat and watched one movie short before moving on to our booked b&b. There was precious little to buy which was a shame. I was hoping for s big replica poster but no all I got was an 8 1/2X11 black and white picture that sums them up to a tee. I have it hanging in my living room where it is slightly hidden by a shelving unit but I can always see it from where I normally sit . They had dug a tunnel to escape from prison and in their usual manner had misjudged and wound up in the wardens office. The expressions on their faces, priceless ….. you couldn’t help but laugh at how stupid they were. It didn’t matter that they came up through floor boards and a carpet that might have clued in normal people.

One movie short that tickled my fancy as a kid that I always remember when their names come up, was one where they had adjoining stores. One got mad at the other for something silly and marched into the others store while the other watched and ruined something. The other then marched back into the others store and ruined even more again while being watched. This went on for some till both stores were a total wreak without so much as either raising a hand in protest. Tit for tat was retribution enough no matter how much damage was sustained by either one. A quizzical look by the one being put upon without raising a finger I found so amusing as a kid. Thanks for the memories ( Laurel and Hardy not Bob Hope).gg

August 30, 2021
EPISODE 420 BLACK WALNUT TREE…ANS A LIRTLE MYSTERY

EPISODE 420 BLACK WALNUT TREE AND A LITTLE MYSTERY

alan skeoch

August 2021

This glorious Black Walnut tree stands where once the Freeman back house stood.

Rich soil in other words. My grandmother, Louisa Freeman, told me when I was

a little squirt that I had planted the tree. Maybe I stayed too long in the

back house admiring alll the clippings pinned to the barnboard walls. Many featured

attractive girls promoting 1930’s cars. It was the Cars the interested me….honestly.

Well, maybe not so honest. The girls were not difficult to look at. Did I drop walnuts

down the back house hole? Maybe.

Pioneers coming from the United States…principally Mennonites…used walnut trees as the best guide to good

land. ‘ The Trail of the Black Walnut” is a book that says so.

Black Walnut trees are quite vicious. They exude a poison from their roots that kills any other tree that dares trespass

on their land. As you can see.

A few years ago I planted both a black walnut tree and an ‘axe handle tree’ (forgot the proper name) too close together.

They grew in harmony for a couple of decades until this year when the black walnut decided to kill its neighbour . And did so.

Makes me feel a little guilty since I have been hurling black walnuts along the fencerows on t he fifth line. My idea of planting somewhat

like Johny Appleseed…been doing so for

years That makes me feel responsible for a few walnut groves on the Line.

MYSTERY

Why are our black walnut trees… We have many….why are they not festooned with parasitic larvae like so

many Fifth Line Walnuts trees are? Maybe the reason is simple…i.e. Appreciation.

ONE LARGE SAD FACT

While Marjorie and I agree on most things, we differ on black walnut trees. She fins the wheelbarrow loads

of walnuts a pain in the butt. They ‘thwack’ her lawn mower brutally. And they attract the goddamn red

squirrels who spend a lot of time trying to figure way to chew their way into the farm house where they can

pile up a winter supply of walnuts as they do in the barn. Then they chew them into tiny bits that are strewn everywhere

and when the black outer casings get wet the stains are permanent. Not nice. Walnuts even have a paint named after them.

Walnut stain. I made a pail of it a while ago…stained everything the goop touched including my hands.

August 30, 2021