Alan Skeoch

Blog

  • Eleanor…in the barn as you might expect

    Subject: Eleanor…in the barn as you might expect
    Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2018 09:15:55 -0500
    From: Alan Skeoch
    To: Marjorie Skeoch, Eleanor Calder;

    Hi Eleanor,

    Here is a picture of you I took a few years ago while you were bagging fleeces
    in the barn.
    alan

  • Skeoch family time tunnel “GET ACTION, DO THINGS!’

    Subject: Skeoch family time tunnel “GET ACTION, DO THINGS!’
    Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2018 17:37:52 -0500
    From: Alan Skeoch
    To: Marjorie Skeoch
    SKEOCH FAMILY ENTER A TIME MACHINE
    GRAB THE MOMENT WHEN YOU CAN
    Life offers all kinds of opportunities  to do  silly things. We  have always revelled in such.   Why?  Because the study of history engraved four words  into our memory bank.  Words  expressed by Teddy Roosevelt when he considered his life.  “Get Action, Do Things!”   No deep philosophy here but if I had to memorize something from his life then those four words seemed good and we, as a family, have tried  to follow that advice.
    Hence the picture below.
    alan skeoch
    Jan. 2018
    P.S.  I have no  admiration for Teddy Roosevelt really.  Why?  Because of his terrible fascination with guns and the shooting of wild animals.  Killing things is not my idea of ‘action’.   Making the most out of  life…now that is action that hurts no one.   And that is why those four words are so important to us.
    Below is a  picture  we had  taken by a fun photographer on Centre Island when the boys were young and so photogenic.  We  had a lot of fun posing for this picture.  If you ever get such a chance, grab the opportunity.

  • “YOU ARE A GODDAMN FOOL!” “DAD, YOU GOT THAT RIGHT.”

    Subject: YOU ARE A GODDAMN FOOL!” “DAD, YOU GOT THAT RIGHT.”
    Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2018 22:03:21 -0500
    From: Alan Skeoch
    To: Marjorie Skeoch

    “YOU ARE A GODDAMN FOOL!”  “DAD, YOU GOT THAT RIGHT.”

     DAD SPOKE IN OPPOSITES…IF HE LIKED SOMETHING, HE SAID IT WAS JUNK.  WHEN HE CALLED ME A DIMWIT, HE MEANT I WAS OK. NOT THAT I WAS GREAT…JUST OK.  WE LIKED THAT….NO SLOPPY SENTIMENTALITY.  NO KISSING AND  HUGGING.
    alan skeoch
    Jan. 2018

  • DAD HITS THE DITCH WITH THE 1953 METEOR

    DAD HITS THE DITCH…BLAMES  THE  ROAD
    “Fix your goddamn road…hear me….FIX YOUR ROAD!!”
    ‘Red!  Red!  Be careful, you’re weaving all over the road.”
    “have to miss the pot holes…could break a spring.  If that son of a  bitch would  fix  his road, I wouldn’t have play  Dodge ‘Em all the way to the farm.  FIX YOUR ROAD!!”
    “Red! You Fathead!*  You’re off the road…Yiiiiii…we’re going to turn over in the swamp.”
    “Get out ..  everybody out.”
    “Elsie…get out my door….not yours”
    “I can’t…I  cannot move.”
    “Why not?”
    “High heels have gone through the floorboards….pinned me here.”
    “Take off your shoes…crawl out…not that way…boys can see top of your nylons…girdle clips…be more graceful can’t you?”
    {*Calling Dad a Fathead  was the  closest Mom every got to swearing.  Dad made up for this lack  of obscenities however.}
    “Slip up the road  and  get Frank or Ted to come down  to haul us out.”

  • TARA … COONHOUND WITH PUPPIES

    “Marjorie, the humane society just called, they have a black  and tan coonhound pup up here.   Needs a home.”
    “Tell them to  Hold her for us.”
    “Are you sure?  Coonhounds are hunting dogs.”
    “They are so beautiful…affectionate,  loyal…shame to let that dog go too a gun lover.”
    And so we  adopted our Tara.  She was absolutely stunning as a pup and as an adult.
    Often men would stop to pet Tara…some even wanted us to give her up in hunting season.
    “Black and  tan, eh?  Does she bugle?”
    “Bugle?”
    “Coonhounds Holler like  Louis Armstrong’s trumpet when they tree a raccoon.  Love that sound,?
    “How is her nose?”
    “Nose?”
    “Black and tans are bred to hunt.  Sure not a  house  dog…traced back  to medieval times …to the Talbot Hound.  That hound  was mostly white back in the 16th century.  Some  were used to track  thieves  rather than small game.  Over here they were  bred  in the eastern mountains as great hunting dogs.  Once they get a scent, you  can
    forget about getting them back. Best to follow the nose..the bugling… until they tree whatever they chase. Not a house dog.”
    “But we  got Tara for the kids…for our house.  We do  not hunt. We hate guns and cannot understand  why hunters want to kill things.”
    “Well you got yourselves the  wrong dog, that is for sure.  Better to give her away to a hunter.”