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 STORYaln skeochJuly 10m 2024EPISODE 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 thetables once….all taken. Stand up tbale was vacant but awkward for a man with a walkierand 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 -
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 SITEalaln skeochJuly 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 UnitedStates 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 defoliantcalled Agent Orange. a Million of gallons shipped from USAF bases such as Da Nang in Vietnam..42,000 gallonsfrom USAsome 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 anattempt to expose the Ho Chi Minh Trail which delivered supplies andsoldiers to the battlefronts.
“Tell me a bit about Agent Orange.”“ Chemical companies like Dow, Monsanto and many others were contractedto make a more lethal defoliant from common herbicides used by gardeners.’Theresult 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 whereverAgent 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”>
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EPISODE 1069, PASONG BANJONGPANITH……OUR LAOTION REFUGEE 1976
EPISODE 1069
RIGHT TO LEFT: PASONG BANJONGPANITH, KEVIN SKEOCH,ANDREW SKEOCH, ALAN SKEOCH, CIRCA 1976EPISODE 1069: WHAT IS A FUCKING IMMIGRANT, MR SKEOCH?SO IN 1976 OUR CHURCH HAD four teen agers.
‘’That requires a little more organizing, so let’s get at it right away…
we will need specialized help”, said Walter Irwin to our committeeS.
“Like?”“First we need someone to find the kids a home..an apartment in Port Credit…a housing committee…then beds, furniture, dishes,food, clothing, employment… committees that can act fast.”Note: Our church had a lot of veterans…active people. Big congregation with every pew filled.Money was not a problem.“Alan. you and Marjorie will be in charge of Pasong, the youngest of the children. He will have to be enrolled in school.—”‘WHAT IS A FUCKING IMMIGRANT MR. SKEOCH?”“How do you like school Pasong?”No response but he looked at me strangelyThen queried, ’What is a ‘fucking immigrant’; Mr. Skeoch?”That knocked me for loop, I thought long and hard to get the right answer and failed,’“Pasong, you may have to get into a fight,,,sorry to say that,” And I gestured with my fists, I had learnedthat Pasong was a wrestler in Laos so he could handle himself . He was short and wirey with muscle.“No, Mr Skeoch” and he made a gesture with his hands at hip level. The kid who caPasong a ‘fucking immigrant was in grade 3 or 4…not a fair fight. I think Pasong grininedbut I am not sure.There were two courses of action/ …fighting or running.Pasong presented a third possibility. Just ignore the remark. Do nothing. He reinforced his suggestion bya humorous hand gesture at his waist.Just a little kid.DO YOU SMOKE , MR. SKEOCH?Pasong was fun . One day we were driving down Stavebank, just Pasong and me.“Do you smoke, Mr. Skeoch.?”“I did once when I was in Grade Nine/ Long time ago. I swiped a cigarette….lit itwith friends then thought ‘Why am I doing this? One cigarette.“Why ask me Pasong? Have you started to smoke?”“I am in Grade Nine.”I think he grinned. It took me a few seconds get the joke. Pasong had started to smoke He wanted my advice His answer was funny and flattering.Pasong wanted my advice. . He made me feel good, A surrogate parentfor a couple of years until his release parent arrived ,THE STONEBOAT WINTER DAY“Pasong, do you want to come with me to a farm auction?”“What is an auction?”“You will see“OK,”It was a bitterly cold winter day ..mid January January 1978 or thereabouts. The auction salewas a mile or so from our farm,,,not far away.“Look around Pasong while I get a bidding number.”
Pasong was interested in the piles of tools and other 19th century things the farmer had saved.The small crowd was interested in Pasong ..never seen a Laotian. I bought a clutch of hand drills used to make holes in barn beams for wooden trunnels(tree nails) and some spear tipped wrenches but my big purchase was the stoneboat — a flat sheetof steel tipped up a bit at the front for hauling behind a team of horses, Heavy brute of a thing for movingstones from field to fencerow in early springtime.“How can I get this stone boat to our farm Pasong?’Stoneboat?”“When snow is gone I need you to help get stones off our field. OUR best crop is stones lefthere by ice 10,000 years ago.How do we goet the stone boat to our farm..too heavy to lift.Only way I can see is pulling the stone boat …a chain hooked to the truck and the stoneboat.”“what’s my job?“Make sure we do not go too fast, Danger that the stoneboat will bash into the truck like a flying saucer…You watch… danger if’ if the stoneboat slides faster than the truck.”I Figured any Person who had crossed the Mekong River in 1976 would like a bit of danger,Only a mile or so of ice road on top of the gravel roadbed and no traffic on side road five.Small adventure. Stupid adventure.Why remember it?THE HUMAN BRAIN IS A WONDROUS THING —MEMORYI am not sure we were the best family to put in charge of Pasong butit seemed a good fit to us.PASONG VISITS US 20 YEARS LATERPasong arrived at our farm 20 years after the Vietnam/Laotian war.He was married with childrenand a house north of Toronto, He was no longer that 12 year old immigrant or that 14 year oldcigarette smoker (and may never have been such He parked his Cadillac in our lane…the first person to do so.Now, nearly 50 years after the fall of Saigon Pasong may be in his fifties. No longer a “F- word immigrant”.A Canadian optometrist in Brampton.I still need him to pick stones.
