Alan Skeoch

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  • EPISODE 347 SNAKE TRAPPED IN A BAG…ON A BIG BIG MOVIE DAY MAY 20, 2021


    EPISODE 347   SNAKE TRAPPED IN A  BAG…ON A BIG, BIG MOVIE DAY  MAY 20M 2021

    alan skeoch
    May 20 , 2021



    “Snake got trapped in the green house, Alan.”
    “Trapped?”
    “Plastic tulip bag…snake got in but  could not get out.”
    “what should we do?”
    “Better get Marjorie…and a pair of scissors.””
    “Marjorie will hold the snake while Grant cuts the tulip bag.”
    “Why would the snake want to get in that bag?”
    “Who knows?  Curiosity?”
    “Must have been something worth eating…a big bug…a small frog”
    “Or the bag was a good place to sleep.”
    “Get the snake some water.”
    “There, Mr. Snake…you have been rescued…courtesy of Grant and Marjorie”
    “And two others looking on…masked but forgot  the separation.”
    (Maybe someone could explain how to cut a snake from a tulip bag while
    keeping six to 8 feet separation.)
    “Everyone has had the covid 19 Vaccine…and the Covid test…regularly…compulsory
    part of movie making these days.”
    “Should we have let the snake strangle itself or should we have saved its life?
    “Just  another moral dilemma in  the global pandemic.






    This day, May 20, 2021, turned out to be an exhausting day for the set decoration
    people and for Marjorie and me.   Woody , our dog, was smart.  He pushed open
    the farm house basement door and got into a nice cool place.  He only came out
    to check out the snake as you can see.

    Below is a sample of things taken and things returned.

    Everyone was masked….and tried to keep separation but that was not easy.









































































    Towards the end of the day I noticed something strange on our front lawn.
    Three of the crew were flat on the ground…writhing just like the snake.  

    “What’s up folks?”
    “Simon twisted his back…these exercises should make it better.”



    You may wonder about the movie industry and its relation to the pandemic.
    First…we need the movies, especially those trapped in tiny rooms
    Second…the movie industry is very careful.  See the blue
    arm bands above..  Coloured arm bands keep the movie sections separated.
    One mistake…one exposure…and the movie shuts down.  No joke.













    Then Andrew Skeoch arrived to load the Merry go Round.   Needed a special 
    truck to get it delivered to the movie site.  No easy task.






    I bet the only thing you remember is the snake in the tulip bag.

    alan

  • EPISODE 346 FROM APRIL TO MAY…WHAT A DIFFERENCE A MONTH MAKES: GREEN LEAVES AND TULIPS AND APPLE BLOSSUMS

    EPISODE 346    FROM APRIL TO MAY…WHAT A DIFFERENCE A MONTH MAKES: GREEN LEAVES, TULIPS, APPLE BLOSSOMS AND DANDELIONS


    alan skeoch
    May 20, 2021

    This episode 346 is designed to be compared with episode 344 which shows  a landscape
    without greenery.   The contrast is stunning.  And the contrast is necessary for it makes
    us think more deeply about the world around us.  One without the other is unthinkable.

    Not much need be said here.  The impact of the change from April to May is
    something to behold.  If there is life anywhere else in the universe I doubt it could
    be as beautiful as here on earth.  Certainly the prospect of living on Mars seems
    grim indeed when compared with our changing seasons on earth.

    So do not come knocking on our door with the offer of a free flight to Mars.

    alan

  • Fwd: TRACTOR Loaded 1953 INTERNATIONAL W6 IN 2021 EN ROUTE TO MOVIE SET

    EPISODES  345   YES, IT IS POSSIBLE TO LOVE A TRACTOR


    (TRACTOR Loaded 1953 INTERNATIONAL W6 IN 2021 EN ROUTE TO MOVIE SET)

    alan skeoch
    May 18, 2021






    YES, IT IS POSSIBLE TO LOVE A TRACTOR

    November 1965.  Cold with a smattering of snow in the air and on the ground.

    It was a small auction crowd that clustered around a rather Spartan collection of 
    possessions.  I would have expected the Smith family to have more bits and 
    pieces by which to measure their lifetime.  Seemed like they had just been
    getting by…hard scrabble farming.

    My cousin Eleanor Townsend’s husband John Calder arrived jus in time.I needed 
    his wisdom on that cold day.   

    “Start her up, Smith,” hollered auctioneer Max Storey . “Back her up…now forward…sound 
    good…shut her down”
    And there it sat…Smith still in the seat.
    “She’s a 1953 International W6…runs like a charm…been cared for…pay no
    attention to the rust…she purrs like a kitten.  Who will give me a thousand dollars?”
    The crowd was silent.  Not a good sign for Mr. Smith whose winter jacket was worn enough
    to have stuffing popping out at the seams and one elbow. “”
    “John, what do you think?”
    “Good tractor…we have two of them on the Townsend farm.”
    “Two hundred,” I waved my hand to Max who looked at me as if I was a thief. 
    “two fifty…” someone said
    “Three hundred,” I responded nervously.  Scared. 
    “Three fifty.”
    “Four hundred,”  

    And so I bought a tractor.  Big one.  
    forty five horsepower.  Really mine now.  But not
    back on our farm yet.   Next day Marjorie drove me to the Smith farm and I began
    the overland trip to our farm…20 or so miles away.   What a joyful trip.  That was
    when I fell in love with Old Betsy…as we were huffing and puffing our way east
    to Erin township.  Cold day with a storm in the air.   

    Was this the same day that Marjorie’s horse Spartacus got his tail caught in 
    an errant length of barbed wire?  I believe it was.  Sparky bolted and
    dumped Marjorie and then began to high tail it home to the Fox farm on the
    Rockwood road.  

    We met.  Old Betsy with me at the wheel, and Sparky heading to his former home.
    …riderless.   This venture was becoming troublesome.  What should I do?
    Where was Marjorie…was she hurt?   Then she drove over a rolling hill 
    stopped breathlessly to tell me about the barbed wire which was still
    attached to Sparky’s tail she thought.

    “I’ll go get him…you take the tractor to the farm. Sparky is just heading
    to the only home he knows…Al Fox’s place.  We’ll put him in  he stable
    and get him later.”

    And so I continued my little Odyssey.   Some events in our lives
    are written in indelible ink in our brains.  This November day in 
    1965 was one of them.

    Before we had the kids we had a great life.  I learned how to operate
    a drag three furrow plough while Marjorie explored the Erin township
    side roads with Spartacus.

    In 1868 we started our family with the birth of Kevin.  Marjorie sold
    Spartacus to a doctor’s wife living near Hornby.  She took that
    last ride with Sparky south on the fifth line. I believe she cried most of the way.

    We never sold old Betsy though.  She is still with us.  Today
    our second son Andrew and one of his friends Shawn loaded old
    Betsy on the back of this truck.

    She is not running any more.  But she is not heading for the
    scrap yard either.  For the next few months Old Betsy will be
    a movie star beside a derelict barn somewhere near Ancaster.
    “
    alan skeoch


  • EPISODE 344 CONTRAST: JUST ONE MONTH AGO WE HAD A SNOWSTORM ON APRIL 18, 2021…TREES WERE BARE

    EPISODE 344   CONTRAST:  JUST ONE MONTH AGO WE HAD A SNOWSTORM ON APRIL 18…TREES WERE BARE


    alan skeoch
    may 16,2021


    EPISODE 344    WE HAD A SNOWSTORM ON APRIL 18, 2021…TREES WERE BARE

    Alan skeoch
    May 17, 2021

    Memory is short sometimes.  Remember the brief  snowstorm we had April 18?
    Remember the trees were bare.  Remember the fields were turning green but
    some were brown?  Remember you still wore winter jackets? 

    What you do remember is the long long lockdown due to Covid 19.

    Next Episode will feature h
    leaves and sleeveless shirts.   A new season dawning.  Planting time.
    The renewed freedom we were feeling with the arrival of universal vaccines

    But this series of pictures are bleak.  Next comes springtime.

  • EPISODE 343 TRUCKLOAD of TREASURES FOR A MOVIE

    EPISODE 343    TRUCKLOAD OF TREASURES FOR A MOVIE


    alan skeoch
    May 2021


    Often friends ask us about the movie business.  Here is a load of our things heading for
    a movie set in May 2021.   Three day job.  Pick up a truckload of Amish related set
    dressing.   Set up the scene outside an Amish barn.  Clear the site of people for the 
    filming on Day 2.  Then on Day 3,takie it all apart and return things to our farm.  
    Fast work.

    The crew have all been pre-screened for Covid 19.