Alan Skeoch

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  • EPISODE 418 REMEMBER LAUREL AND HARDY? THEY LIVE AT THE FARM.

    EPISODE 419     A VISIT WITH LAUREL AND HARDY at the Skeoch farm house   August 29,2021

    alan skeoch
    august  29 , 2021


    NOTE:  BY pure good fortune and being at the right place at
    the right time, Marjorie received Laurel and Hardy the other day.
    They now have a new home.  Who are Laurel and Hardy?
    see postscript.


    REMEMBER LAUREL AND HARDY?  THEY NOW LIVE AT OUR FARM.


    “Olie, what are we doing way up here?”
    “Looking for s safe place; Stan…like you said.”
    ‘What did I say””
    “You said this is s madhouse and we had to find a safe place.”



    “You think this is safe, Stan…what if we fall?”
    “Don’t think about that…just look around…this is our best place…out of harm’s way.”
    “What is there to harm us?”
    “Oliver….just take a look behind your back.”
    “Do you mean the big bird.”
    “That bird has a stiletto beak designed to kill little things like us.”





    “And look beside us.”
    “That’s a porcupine crawling over…quills like needles.”
    “Stan the porcupine can climb….”
    “Yes, but he is too fat to get by the ceiling lights.

    “Ollie…see that tiger down there?
    “Makes me shake”
    “He would finish us off in one gulp.”




    “Couldn’t we jump down on that horse and get the hell out of here?”
    “Don’t be so stupid Oliver…that is a merry go round horse…it just runs in circles.”




    “The fox is no help…it looks as sacred as we do.”


    “Oliver…there is a penguin down there…big one.”
    “No help, Stan.”
    “Why?”
    “Penguins can only waddle…never get away with him…or is it her.”



    “That big rooster Stan…he could help.”
    “Roosters have only one thing on their minds, Ollie?
    “What’s that , Stan?”
    “Their hens…as many as they can get.”


    “Stan, our only hope is Marjorie…she may want to dust us.”
    “And give us our freedom?”


    “True… but she will just put us back ump here…where we are safe.”


    “Marjorie…must we stay up on that besm?”
    “Afraid so…safest place in the house for you boys.”
    “But we are famous”
    “Fame fades withe the summer sun….very few people
    even remember how funny you boys were in the 1920’s 
    and 1930’s.”
    “Wrong, Marjorie…everyone remembers us.”
    “Bet $5 I am right and you are wrong.”

    “Well, Ollie, back up on the beam …”
    “Reckon you are right.”


    WHO WERE LAUREL AND HARDY?

    Laurel and Hardy were a comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). From the late 1920s to the mid-1940s, they were internationally famous for their slapstick comedy, with Laurel playing the clumsy, childlike friend to Hardy’s pompous bully.[1][2] Their signature theme song, known as “The Cuckoo Song”, “Ku-Ku”, or “The Dance of the Cuckoos” (by Hollywood composer T. Marvin Hatley) was heard over their films’ opening credits, and became as emblematic of them as their bowler hats.
    Prior to emerging as a team, both had well-established film careers. Laurel had acted in over 50 films, and worked as a writer and director, while Hardy was in more than 250 productions. Both had also appeared in The Lucky Dog (1921), but were not teamed at the time. They first appeared together in a short film in 1926, when they signed separate contracts with the Hal Roach film studio.[3] They officially became a team in 1927 when they appeared in the silent short Putting Pants on Philip. They remained with Roach until 1940, and then appeared in eight B movie comedies for 20th Century Foxand Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1941 to 1945.[4] After finishing their film commitments at the end of 1944, they concentrated on performing stage shows, and embarked on a music hall tour of England, Ireland and Scotland.[4] They made their last film in 1950, a French-Italian co-production called Atoll K.
    They appeared as a team in 107 films, starring in 32 short silent films, 40 short sound films, and 23 full-length feature films. They also made 12 guest or cameo appearances, including in the Galaxy of Stars promotional film of 1936.[5] On December 1, 1954, they made their sole American television appearance, when they were surprised and interviewed by Ralph Edwards on his live NBC-TV program This Is Your Life. Since the 1930s, their works have been released in numerous theatrical reissues, television revivals, 8-mm and 16-mm home movies, feature-film compilations, and home videos. In 2005, they were voted the seventh-greatest comedy act of all time by a UK poll of professional comedians.[6] The official Laurel and Hardy appreciation society is The Sons of the Desert, after a fictitious fraternal society in the film of the same name.

  • EPISODE 419 TED FREEMAN AND THE SHOTGUN CREAM CAN IN 1955

    EPISODE 419    TED FREEMAN AND THE SHOTGUN CREAM CAN IN 1955


    alan skeoch
    august 2021

    CREM CANS ARE THE TALL THIN CANS…’SHOTGUN’ CANS…

    I never really knew just how tough it was to operate the Freeman farm until I was
    much older…like let’s say 82.   I did know that Uncle Frank snd Aunt Lucinda worked
    very hard seven days a week.  We were city boys who came to the Freeman farms
    as regular as clockwork and we were always…always…always…welcomed with
    open arms and jolly laughter from Aunt Lucinda.

    Last week…august 2021…I asked my cousin Ted Freeman, their son…their pride and joy.  I asked Ted this question. question.

    “Ted, do you remember how much your mom and dad got paid selling
    cream in those shotgun cream cans?”
    “When?”
    “Let’s say 1955.”
    “First, Alan, you used the plural. You said cream cans.  Mom and dad only managed
    to sell one cream can per week and often that can was not full.”
    “What do you remember ?”

    TED FREEMAN

    “I remember that the cream money payment for last week’s shipment came in a
    brown envelope that was delivered by ‘Norm Robertson’ who worked for the
    Acton Creamery. He delivered an empty can to us and picked up the can filled
    during the previous 7 days. It was always cash; – 7 to $9.00 depending on
    the amount that was shipped. In 1955 a full can went for about $10.00. The
    ‘cream money’ was used to purchase groceries. Meat, eggs and vegetables were
    grown on the farm. Some preserved for winter use.”

    ALAN SKEOCH

    Take a moment to think about that.   Seven to nine dollars a week in 1955.   
    Grocery money…getting by money.   What groceries?   Coffee? Doubtful.
    Chocolates?  Very doubtful.   Soft drinks like ginger sale?  A luxury.
    Freshie…definiitely.  What the hell is Freshie?  It was a sugary powder that
    could be mixed with water to make a couple of quarts of a nice drink when
    stuking sheaves of grain or pitching hay.  Cheap.  

    My cousin Ted and I shared a lot of small adventures when we were kids.
    Hunting, fishing, pitching hay, swimming in leech infested ponds…usual things.  
     But we never shared the fact that
    much of his family income came from one single shotgun cream can sold
    to Norm Robertson at the Acton Creamery.  Often the can was not even full.

    YOUR JOB

    Just for fun keep a list of your discretionary spending this week.  What do
    you buy?  What could you do without if you depended on $10 per week.
    (No doubt there was other farm income but not much…picking cucumbers
    for Matthews Wells Pickle Factory in Guelph for Rose Brand pickles)

    I guess you need to know what $10 earned in 1955 is worth today.
    Hard to believe but inflation over the past 75 years has made that
    ten dollars worth $100.  So there you have it…can you  live on $100
    week for all your expenses?   Keep a record.   I bet you spend big time.

    alan

    In the early 1950’s the Toronto Daily Star was sold for 3 cents a copy…18 cents a week
    for home delivery.  The paperboys…Eric and I got half a cent a paper…3 cents
    a week per customer.   With that I was able to buy a Humber Sports racing
    bike with Sturmey Archer 3 speed gears.  Must ask Eric what he did with
    his profits from our paper route. I never thought for a moment about
    the costs of food on our table or the cost of bus fare from Toronto to
    the farm near Acton on Sundays  Mom did all that.  I do not know how she managed
    but she did.   Everyone did.  I do not remember Ted Freeman ever getting
     new bicycle.

    NOTE  
    • $1 in 1955 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $10.04 today, an increase of $9.04 over 66 years.
    •  The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.56% per year between 1955 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 904.46%. 




  • EPISODE 417 DROUGHT…2021…ADD DROUGHT TO THE LIST OF CATASTROPHES THIS YEAR

    EPISODE 417     DROUGHT…2021…ADD DROUGHT TO  THE LIST OF CATASTROPHES THIS YEAR


    alan skeoch
    august 2021



    DROUGHT…THE BIG POND HAS NEARLY DRIED UP.

    When mom inherited our farm in 1958 or 1959 there was a large pond in the centre….loaded with
    all kinds of life forms from snakes to frogs to leeches…to sticklebacks to water spiders to bitterns
    to all manner of ducks including a secretive cluster of wood ducks who still hang around unseen.

    In subsequent years we increased the wetlands … Ron Saunders dug a deep pond extension where
    Grandad got his best hay and then Ron used his back hoe to make a nice pond near where the barn
    once stood then, even later,  Jim Sanderson brought in his giant excavator to deepen one
    of our most hidden swamps now a glorious shaded pool.

    Glad we did that.  Those new ponds are the only real  deep wetlands this year.  The drought of 2021 has
    dried up the big pond.   Now it has become  a hideous hodge podge of dead tag alders and shrivelled 
    water lillies.

    Lucky the new ponds…..i.e. ponds created in the last 50 years…are deep.  The turtles have a place
    to live… the big snapper we rescued a year ago…and the painted turtle that seemed to believe
    cars and trucks would avoid him or her sitting in the centre of the fifth line and heading slowly for one of our
    deep ponds.  We hope our resident turtles greeted the new arrivals.

    A bit depressing to look at the big pond today.  But my depression was lifted when a wild momma
    turkey appeared with her near grown cluster of progeny.  They scattered and gobbled when they saw me.

  • EPISODE 416 WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?

    EPISODE 416     WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?


    alan skeoch
    august 2021

    This caught my eye at the Fish Derby.   Was the man deadly ilL, perhaps dead??  Why was he half submerged
    in a Mississauga City dumpster?



    HE IS COLLECTING BOTTLES AND CANS.  HOW MUCH WILL HE GET FROM
    THIS DUMPSTER…YOU DO THE COUNTING.

    ONE BOTTLE BROKE SO HE PICKED UP ALL THE SHARDS OF GLASS
    LEST SOMEONE GET HURT.

  • EPISODE 416 THE GINKGO TREE…LONE SURVIVOR FROM THE CARBONIFEROUS ERA

    EPISODE 416      THE GINKGO TREE…LONE SURVIVOR FROM THE CARBONIFEROUS ERA


    alan skeoch
    august 24, 2021



    THE ANCIENT GINKGO TREE

    We have a Ginkgo tree growing beside our house.   So what?  So we have a living fossil dating back
    deep  into the geologic history of our earth.   Ginkgo trees seem to have thrived in the Carboniferous era
    2999 to 350 million years ago. Those 51 million years were wet and warm most of the time so great 
    tropical jungles covered the land mass.   Huge swamps we’re full of life.  And then the world changed
    and that life mass became extinct except for the Gingko tree  By luck and good care by Chinese Buddhist 
    monks the Gingko was saved from extinction.   The ancient trees of this kind are
    Only to be found in the huge layers of coal that
    dot the earth today.  None survived in the wild. Were it not for the Buddhist monks
    none would have survived.  A remarkable story.

    Today the Ginkgo is the national tree of China.   Ginkgo’s are part of most North American cities.
    They are tough.   They are also very unusual.  They reproduce in a manner similar to humans.
    Sperm from male Ginkgo tree float on the air .. riding on pollen …in their search for female
    Ginkgo trees to fertilize.  Sex.

    This manner of reproduction is proof of their ancient origin.   Ginkgo trees were alive on earth
    before the age of flowers.    Flowering plants were so successful that they pushed earlier
    plant forms towards extinction….except for the Ginkgo.

    Our Gingko tree is a male ginkgo.   Most of the ginkgo trees found on city streets (like along
    Lakeshore Road in Mimico, West Toronto) are male ginkgo trees.  Few people want female ginkgo trees
    anywhere near their property.   Why?  Because they stink.  I mean really stink.  One source
    says they over their seeds with a fleshy material that smells like human vomitl  Others are
    less polite and say the ginkgo berries smell like dog shit.  Female trees are kept in special
    nuseries as a result.   Why so stinky?   Another survival skill.  Certain creatures life rotten
    or rotting food.  They set the berries and then excrete the nuts.  Spread the Ginkgo trees
    that way.

    Sometimes a male tree will fool everyone and switch to become a female.  Or develop
    a female branch on the male tree.  This is thought to be a survival skill.

    If you can stand the smell (vomit or dog shit) and clean the fleshy material off the nut
    then Ginkgo berries are edible.   Some people, mostly Chinese I think, value the nuts.
    Ginkgo trees are valued by medical experts for a variety of ailments.

    The trees can live s long time.  One Ginkgo in central China is reputed to be 1,000 years old.

    Our ginkgo is about 10 years old.  It has a long life ahead of it unless  it decides to change sex.


    Gingko fruits
    These Ginkgo berries smell so bad that they have to be cleaned up as soon as
    they fall…smell like vomit or dog dung, take your pick.  Why?   Smell designed to
    attract creatures who find smell attractive.  This evolved in time more ancient than
    flowering trees.

    OPEN PIT COAL MINE IN RUSSIA — FINDS FOSSILS OF GINKGO TREE

    The fossils… 300 million year old remains of a once tropical jungle were noticed
    on the top layer of this open pit coal deposit below..  The last jungle of the Carboniferous Era, at least
     that is what the fossils seem to suggest.  These discoveries are so recent that they
    have not been fully documented.

     THE GINKGO WAS THERE AMONG THE GIANT FERNS, 

    How could slower growing trees like the Ginkgo compete with rapid growing
    giant ferns (60 feet high and higher)?  Apparently the Ginkgo trees “bolted”
    …in other words the trunk grew fast and straight …. no branches until it
    got higher than the ferns.   Hence the ginkgo trees had their leafy
    tops higher than the ferns.  Illustrations can be seen in theoretical drawings
    of these ancient tropical jungles.

    Our gingko tree in the side yard has grown in that manner…i.e. bolted…but
    this effect may have been much more recent.   Modern ginkgo are less speedy


    Paleontologists find fossil relative of Ginkgo biloba

    Another similar discovery has been made recently in central Mongolia.  And Still another was noticed 
    on the ceiling of an exhausted coal mine in Russia.
    Open pit mine in Tevshiin Govi in central Mongolia where the mummified fossil plants were found. Credit: Fabiany Herrera & Patrick Herendeen

    “A discovery of well-preserved fossil plants by paleontologists from the United States, China, Japan, 

    Russia and Mongolia has allowed researchers to identify a distant relative of the living plant Ginkgo biloba.”

    MEDICINAL VALUE OF THE GINKGO

    I leave that for you to research.  Lots of info available.


    alan
    August 24, 2021