Alan Skeoch – Page 38 – Alan's Oeuvre

March 14, 2022March 14, 2022

EPISODE 550 WORST JOB I EVER HAD IN MY LIFE…HATED AND LOVED IT AT SAME TIME: GROUNDHOG RIVER WILDERNESS 1958

alan skeoch

March 13, 2022

WHY IN TARNATION WOULD ANYONE WANT TO READ ABOUT MY TOUGHEST JOB?

Seems a little self-obsessed. I admit that. And I know some of you do not read any of the

printed part of these Episodes. Maybe glance at the pictures. Maybe just say “:God, not

another email from him! “HIM?” Well, I did an edit…cut the list of names but got objections.

So here is an unusual story sent in parts. Why should you be interested? Let me try a simple

answer. The job I am about to present was so rough that few of you would ever have had the chance to

venture into the Canadian boreal forest wilderness for two months cut off from most

human contact except for rare three visits by a float plane from Austin Airways bringing

food or coming on an emergency flight to take two badly injured out to hospital where one, Walter ,

spent months saving his arm from amputation. This was a tough job. Not pretty.

Why should you be interested? Put yourself in my shoes. Would you get in

a Land Rover with two men you had never met to spend months

alone with them in a trackless wilderness. Would you let your son take

that risk?

See that gap in the boxes and gear? That was my seat as we took off from South Porcupine. July 6, 1958.

Why should you be interested? Would you grab at the chance to spend the summer

of 1958 doing real exploration … searching for a source of magnetism found by

an airborne magnetometer flying a grid over a seemingly endless Canadian wilderness.

Would you be captivated by the task of cutting trails with a blazing axe where no one

had ever gone before. Do you know how dangerous a blazing axe can be?

Why should you be interested? Could you stand to be a walking feast for thousands

of tiny blood sucking bastardly bush flies? Deer flies with chevron wings that could land

gently and then take a good chunk of your flesh. Moose flies that were larger and got a

bit more flesh and blood. Mosquitoes that were tanker trucks for human blood. Black flies

that loved to chew flesh in hidden places…around your belt, in your ears, on your

neck. Ground wasps that gave no warning until you stepped on their nesting hole.

Protection? Would you rub yourself with foul smelling guck to ward off these attacks?

Better to just stop washing. Let dirt and grime fill your pores and keep the flies confused.

Why should you be interested? Would you like to sleep with three other men

on a single huge bed made from spruce or cedar branches? Would you be able

to get along with strangers for months of close contact. At one

point I asked Floyd why bush crews did not have guns. We were visited by

black bears often. “Simple, if we had a gun we might shoot each other.”

Now that made sense to me. Especially when I threw two tantrums on the job.

This is Walter Helstein. A man too old for the job really but necessity forced

him to do so. A good man who got badly hurt when a tag alder spike

pierced his hand. We could not help him. A rescue plane could not land.

Walter was over 60 years old…tough man….toughened by the Great Depression.

Why should you be interested? Have you ever heard a friend whimper in

pain as infection took hold of his body which had been spiked by a tag

alder spear.. Clear through his hand. And there was nothing you could do to help because the weather

was so bad that a plane could not land on the little wilderness lake where

you were camped. Have you heard those cries?

Why should you be interested? Have you ever eaten wormy food? Not little

worms. Blow fly maggots regularly got into our slab of sowbelly. Each morning

we would slice off a chunk due to blow fly eggs and/or maggots just to get to

the good meat. Have you ever had to make do with a steadily diminishing

food supply until all that is left is raw oat meal? Have you ever eaten slabs

of cold porridge slathered with peanut butter…lunch made from left overs

at breakfast. Have you ever made tea from Labrador leaves? Have you ever

sipped scotch whisky from a coffee cup and considered it a luxury? Have you ever

eaten wild berries from plants you have never seen before? Have you ever

eaten swamp apples…orange in colour the size of big rasberries. Have you ever

been sick in a place where there is no medical aid?

Why should you be interested? Have you ever worn gum rubbers with so many holes

that your socks became sodden lumps on your pock marked feet? Feet? Pock marked?

Wet socks heated up and boiled your feet. Sometimes flesh could be peeled off. The most

important job returning to camp at night was to try and dry your socks for the next day.

Have you ever had to patch your clothes with slabs of medical tape just to cover the holes

caused by constant rubbing against tangles of tag alder or spruce boughs.?

See those gum rubbers? They had holes that let water in…wet socks…boiled

feet became pock marked. So much so that flesh could be peeled.

Why should you be interested? Have you ever turned to Lonely Hearts Club letters

for entertainment and come to the conclusion there are people in this world whose

lives are far worse than yours. How could girls become so desperate that they would

offer to move in with you sight unseen? How could their hell on earth be worse than

your hell on earth? Why were these lonely hearts club letters be funny on first reading

and then be so sad.

Why should you be interested? Perhaps just to test yourself. Just to see if you

could triumph over adversity. To show you can overcome fear. Trekking alone through

the forest following tiny blazes on trees. To lose the blazes is to become lost, perhaps

hopelessly so. And while slogging alone you begin to sense you are being tracked

by some creature You stop suddenly and listen. No sound. The imagery carnivore

following you has stopped as well. You reach the Groundhog River base camp

and switch on the two way emergency radio to hear Evangelist Billy Graham saving

souls and look across he river to see a lumbering bull moose listening as well.

Why should you be interested? Have you ever paddled beside a cow moose and her calf so close you can touch

them. Have you ever heard a cow moose telling her calf in sonorous voice that he or

she should beware of foul smelling human prospectors?

Why should you be interested? Have you ever noticed that the leaves of springtime turn to the golden leaves

of September? Have you ever lived among those leaves, those spruce boughs, those deadly tag alder

slashed spikes. Have you ever had a black bear beside you both looking AT the moon at the same time.

Have you ever been that close to nature.

Have you ever made a four man bed out of spruce and cedar boughs and then

had the thing collapse when all four bedded down?

Why should you be interested? Have you ever felt real triumph? Have you ever tested

yourself to see how much adversity you can take? Have you ever been 19years old

on the edge of adulthood and discovered you are OK?

THIS misty photo is Floyd Faulkner. He started as a cage man in Kirkland Lake. A friend

was also a cage man when the cable failed. “Had to scrape him off the floor with a shovel!”

Floyd preferred to work aboveground after that. He was good at nicknames for people…had one for me..

Why should you be interested? Have you ever been flattered with the new

nickname ‘Fucking Al’. Have you ever realized that nicknames might be

compliments in reverse.

Why should you be interested? Have you ever had a stewardess on an Air Canada

VisCount offer you a Peek Frean shortbread cookie and a glass of lemonade? Have

you ever had the feeling you are special and then nibbled and nursed the luxury

as the airplane lifted over Timmins and South Porcupine en route to Toronto.

Why should you be interested? Have you ever come home from such a summer advenuture

to find your friends Russ Vanstone, Jim Romaniuk, Big Red Stevenson, your brother Eric and

your parents standing there to greet you. Mom with a smile of relief. Dad, not saying much because

he is en route to the racetrack. Proud though…son had survived. Your brother is holding a hand painted sign

saying “Go Back, Al.” Have you ever had your friends, Russ and Jim, greet you at Pearson Airport

because they want those lonely hearts club letters?

Why should you be interested? Should I tell my friends that I have a new nickname?

FUCKING AL ! Would they understand? How could I know that the next years of my life in

the summers I would be living rough and loving it?I Would love the wilderness so much

that, in the future, take my wife Marjorie along with me?

THIS Journal was written in the summer of 1958 then rewritten in 2018

and now submitted in several Episodes.

This was the toughest job I ever faced. Makes me proud to say that I only threw

two temper tantrum on the whole job. See if you can find them.

The Episodes will start shortly. Why should you be interested?

GROUNDHOG RIVER EPISODES ARE COMING NEXT

alan skeoch

March 14, 2022

March 12, 2022March 12, 2022

EPISODE 549 “AN OLD MAN’S WINTER NIGHT”…SNOWSTORM ON FIFTH LINE, ERIN TWP., WELLINGTON COUNTY, MARCH 10, 2022

EPISODE 549 “AN OLD MAN’S WINTER NIGHT”… SNOWSTORM ON FIFTH LINE, ERIN TWP., WELLINGTON COUNTY, MARCH 10, 2022

alan skeoch

March 10, 2022

I need a break! Just to escape from the imaginary binding chains imposed by my computer will be a great relief.

So I took a walk around the farm as Marjorie does with the dogs and my grandfather did even when so

lame he could hardly walk, and as my uncle Frank did when he thought he was dying of cancer (which he was not).

Why say this? Because a walk around the farm is therapeutic … good for the soul if we have a soul.

The walk occurs at all times of the year but this walk was deceptive. A late winter storm was piling up the snow. We thought

spring had come a few days earlier then, “Whomp!”… The snow returned with a vengeance. Quite beautiful really. Worth this

photo essay. Save it. You will need these pictures next summer when the summer sun is boiling your brain.

This barn once belonged to J.S. Woodsworth, founder of the CCF now the NDP. We were able to rescue it from demolition in Etobicoke

when the Shaver farm became a nest of condominiums. Cost $1,000 to move it and have fram erected. Today one of the barn

builders we hired dropped by, 40 or so years afterward…Malcolm MacMillan remembered. I must take time to get it repaired a bit

In this little depression between two of our four farm ponds there was once a large bank barn. When the animals no longer lived

in the barn the winter frosts split the foundation and down it came. I was too young And too poor to do anything but watch it slowly return

to the earth from which it was born.

Other Gothic farmhouses far more grand than ours are gone. But our remains in good shape. We gave her a new roof last year…like

a new hat on a Victorian lady. The house was built in the 1870’s from local soft red bricks and hand hewn timbers collected from some

building that was must have burned for the scorch marks were found on the frame when we renovated some years ago. A lot of wild

creatures were very disappointed because they were evicted…mice, raccoons, red squirrels, garter snakes, big fat toads living in the

dirt floored cellar.

PLANS FOR HOUSES like this could be found or bought from the Eaton catalogue which is why so many of them existed and some

still do exist. We added the back room on the left built by Tim Rock, our neighbour.. He suggested

the big verandah which was a great idea.

Now this is a recent treasure. We had Jim Sanderson and his son bring their excavator to deepen what was once a swamp.

Now a fine pond where a bunch of muskrats move about…and a wood duck had her young…and we even had a lonely beaver sho

up for a season.

This is our piece of the Fifth line. There was a time when Marjorie and the boys skated down the line in winter. That

was before salting became popular. Winter road graders and gravel spreading trucks kept the fifth line open on winter days such

as this. No longer closed with snowdrifts. No longer winter ice rinks. .

Marjorie kept her horse Spartacus in the Saunders Barn. Spartacus knew I was nervous with him so he kept an eye on

me. If he could speak he would have said “Boo!” just to see me run. On the few occasions I rode him…about two occasions…I

pulled so hard on the reins that I made his mouth sore. Little wonder he did not like me. Imagine being told what to do by

a strip of iron in your mouth.

THIS IS THE Gibralter Schoolhouse. A fine fieldstone building now restored. The community that once provided children

for the school, Gibralter, is long gone. A two storey rural school is very rare which suggests this may have been a ‘continuation school’

for students that wanted to extend their education…i.e. a rural high school.

This my favourite maple lined driveway for a farm just a mile or so south of Limehouse on the Fifth Line. I cannot stop taking

pictures of this lane…spring, summer, winter and fall…you may have noticed that in previous Episodes.

EverY time that I am alone in our farm house in winter time,

especially on a lonely winter night…every time I think of

Robert Frost’s poem, An Old Man’s Winter Night. When I was

young and alone on such nights the poem moved me deeply.

Now that I am old, the poem moves me moreso especially when

I clump clump clump in winter boots which on the wooden floor echoes

like the drumbeAt of a shaman. It is possible to scare myself

on such a night as this.

AN OLD MAN’S WINTER NIGHT

(by Robert Frost)

All out of doors looked darkly in at him
Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars,
That gathers on the pane in empty rooms.
What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze
Was the lamp tilted near them in his hand.
What kept him from remembering what it was
That brought him to that creaking room was age.
He stood with barrels round him — at a loss.
And having scared the cellar under him
In clomping there, he scared it once again
In clomping off; — and scared the outer night,
Which has its sounds, familiar, like the roar
Of trees and crack of branches, common things,
But nothing so like beating on a box.
A light he was to no one but himself
Where now he sat, concerned with he knew what,
A quiet light, and then not even that.
He consigned to the moon, such as she was,
So late-arising, to the broken moon
As better than the sun in any case
For such a charge, his snow upon the roof,
His icicles along the wall to keep;
And slept. The log that shifted with a jolt
Once in the stove, disturbed him and he shifted,
And eased his heavy breathing, but still slept.
One aged man — one man — can’t keep a house,
A farm, a countryside, or if he can,
It’s thus he does it of a winter night.

Robert Frost

March 9, 2022March 9, 2022

” Winter still has a tight grip here in sunny Manitoba ” response to Maple Syrup Episode 546 from Cathie S.

RESPONSE TO EPISODE 546 FROM CATHIE S. IN MANITOBA

March 9, 2022March 9, 2022

EPISODE 546 SWEET TIME OF YEAR…TAPPING MAPLE TREES FOR MAPLE SYRUP

EPISODE 445 MAPLE SYRUP TIME

alan skeoch

March 8, 2022

Above all else, March is a sweet time of year thanks to something beyond our

control.

Change ia in the air. I can smell it. Those Maple trees in the farm lane are providing

a needed distraction from human affairs. Will they still be here when we are gone?

We can but hope.

What a beautiful day! Despite troubles like the collapse of the greenhouse

due to this heavy snow….and the terror that is on all of our minds brought about

by one lunatic, Putin by name. Despite troubles, yesterday was a beautiful day

as the snow melted.

And the slow then fast …Drip, Drip, drip…drummed the sap pales as our maple trees gave

up some of their sweet nectar.

Andrew: “Dad where is all your maple syrup making eq uipment?”

“Planning to tap?”

“Seems right time.”

“Correct…warm days and cool nights in March.”

“Where are the sap pails?” Spigotts? Hand drill and bit? Boiling pans? Soft Ball thermometer?

“There are about 200 sap pails in the quonset barn but don’t take them.”

“Why not?”

“Lead soldered…lead poisoning….now illegal.”

“All your syrup kit no longer useful.?”

“Not quite all…search around…I have some aluminum sap pails…maybe a dozen or more…enough

to get a good load of sap.”

“How collected?”

“years ago I used milk cans…those big cans with rounded lids…cleaned them first of course.

I think you bought some new milk cans…use them.”

’Smell the air”

“Nothing like it…just before springtime.”

“Dad, I remember 40 years ago when we all got sap from Saunders bush over on

the fourth line…took the whole March school break.”

“That’s when we had Tara the Coonhound…she joined us.”

“And each night we did the boiling…great clouds of steam from the boiling pan

with a fire from wood gathered on the beach at Sunnyside…truckload of planks and

driftwood. Remember the picnic bench that floated in and the City Parks Crew

stopped you?”

“The picnic bench was all smashed up. They helped me get the bolts out…more

wood for the maple syrup fire.”

“Do you remember the colour of the syrup?”

“I think it was black.”

“Right…dark black.”

“The maple syrup in the store is light brown…how come yours was black?”

“Ashes from the fire…couldn’t stop the ashes…gave us a little extra carbon…did not kill us

as we are all alive 4o years later/“

“Do you still have those pictures of the old sap making days?”

“yes, you boys were about 8 and 10 years old back then.”

“How many years did we do it.”

“Two, Three…four?”

“Why did we stop?”

“TROUBLE…BIG TIME TROUBLE…AS YOU WILL SEE IN THE NEXT EPISODE”

Woody was my partner just as Tara used to be. He loves to ride beside me on the

ATV….he gets quite miffed if I forget to beckon him…”Get on here, Woody, we are

heading home.”

alan

NEXT EPISODE…GETTING MAPLE SAP 40 YEARS AGO

March 7, 2022March 7, 2022

EPISODE 544 A CHILL SPREADS AROUND THE WORLD: CONSIDER THE NUCLEAR REACTORSTHREE MILE ISLAND DISASTER. FUKISHIMA , CHERNOBYL

Note: I considered this story too frightening to send initially and replied it with a nice

story about horses. Now I have changed my mind. Sorry to scare you as much as

I am scared.

alan

EPISODE 544: A CHILL SPREADS AROUND THE WORLD: CONSIDER THE NUCLEAR REACTORS

alan skeoch

March 2022

Marjorie and I…SITE OF THREE MILE ISLAND NUCLEAR DISASTER,

“WHAT CAN HAPPEN, WILL HAPPEN”

Nuclear power plants are constructed with provision for things to go wrong. SAFETY CHECKS. We need their power. We cannot

survive without electricity. It powers everything we do. Electricity is wonderful.. But

getting electricity is dangerous. Dangerous indeed.

THREE MILE ISLAND, 1979

ON MARCH 28, 1979, a human error occurred at Unit 2, Three Mile Island nuclear power

plant. A valve was open allowing a huge amount of radioactive water to escape. This event

remains the worst nuclear accident to happen in the United States. No one was killed

fortunately but the resultant radiation will remain forever.

That worried me in 1979. And it worries me to this day. When we took a busload of music

students from Parkdale Collegiate to perform in Boston we arranged a short side trip

to Three Mile Island. Around 1985. Purpose? To spread fear? Partly, I suppose. Our reasoning was

that these students would shortly be adults. Soon running our country. They should be

aware of the danger of nuclear accidents. Cheap electricity could come at a terrible cost

if future managers of nuclear sites were unaware of Three Mile Island, Unit 2.

CHERNOBYL, 1986

Such a disaster must never happen again. But it did. The Chernobyl meltdown in Ukraine

happened just seven years after Three Mile Island. On April 26, 1986 nuclear reactor Number 4

exploded. The site will remain radioactive for thousands of years. The immediate site was

evacuated so hastily that the local carnival rides stand there today as do the apartment buildings

where people once lived. 335,000 people were evacuated and a wide belt of land was no longer livable.

Wild animals returned and now wander through Chernobyl.

“The explosion at Chernobyl sent radiation as far away as the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union’s delayed response to the events is considered by some to be a contributing factor to the fall of the Soviet Union. “

As a direct result of Chernobyl nuclear power plants were redesigned so that accidents were thought to be less likely.

A sign warns of radiation at the site of Kopachi village located inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone on September 29, 2015 near Chornobyl, Ukraine.

Wild horses wander through the ruins of Chernobyl on Oct. 18, 2018

FUKISHIMA, 2011

Then there were decades of quiet. Nuclear power plants multiplied. Safety systems

were put in place. Extra holding tanks for nuclear coolant. Burials of nuclear waste.

Comfort. An earthquake off the coast of Japan shook the Fukishama reactor on March 11, 2011

A huge tidal wave, Tsunami, swept inland. Radiosctivity increased to Level 7 on the International

Nuclear Event Scale…Fukishama and Chernobyl were similar disasters. 154,000 Japanese residents

were evacuated.

ZAPOREZHSKAYA, LARGEST PPWER PLANT IN EROPE WITH SIX REACTORS

Today, March 2022 we face the possibility of s grave nuclear accident in Ukraine where the largest

nuclear power station in Europe has become a war zone. War zones are places of unimaginable

insecurity. The Zaporezhskaya nuclear power plant has 6 reactors.

“March 2, 2022

6:05 a.m.: Russia claims its military has taken control of the area around Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant.

That’s according to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

It said Wednesday it had received a letter from Russia saying personnel at the Zaporizhzhia plant continued their “work on providing nuclear safety and monitoring radiation in normal mode of operation.”

The letter added: “The radiation levels remain normal.”

Zaporizhzhia is the largest of Ukraine’s nuclear sites, with six out of the country’s 15 reactors.

Already, Russia has seized control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.”

alan skeoch

March 7, 2022

Let us hope and pray this is not the end result of this terrible war.

March 5, 2022March 5, 2022

EPISODE 543 PRAGUE , MARCH, 1993 , JOY IN ETHNIC COSTUME — PEACEFUL UPHEAVALS HAPPEN…BUT NOT TODAY.

ERROR: YEAR OF OUR VISIT TO SLOVAKIA SHOULD BE 1993, CORRECT PREVIOUS EPISODES

EPISODE 543 PRAGUE, MARCH,1993 JOY IN ETHNIC COSTUME — PEACEFUL UPHEAVALS HAPPEN

alan skeoch

March 5, 2022

NOTE: As Marjorie pointed out, the year we were in Slovakia was 1993, not 1989 as said in error in earlier Episodes.

BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS…MARJORIE SKEOCH AND CZECH DANCER, PRAGUE, MARCH 1993

On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia split into two independent states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in what is now known as the “Velvet divorce” (in a reference to the Velvet revolution) due to its peaceful and negotiated nature. Both countries divided their common “goods” (embassies, military equipment, etc.) on a two-to-one ratio to reflect their populations. Although the dissolution didn’t lead to any unrest or bloodshed, the new frontiers did create a few odd situations, like splitting border-towns in half.

The split “was not entirely inevitable, but the political and economic costs of keeping the country together would have been extremely high”, pointed out Jiri Pehe, political analyst and former advisor to Vaclav Havel.

The division of Czechoslovakia: an undemocratic decision?

A widespread narrative argues that the divorce was a purely political move decided behind closed-doors by Czech and Slovak leaders Vaclav Klaus and Vladimir Meciar against the will of the population. There is some truth in that: all the opinion polls at that time showed that a vast majority of Czechs and Slovaks was in favour of the preservation of Czechoslovakia and against the country’s break-up.

In its January 1, 1993 edition, the New York Times wrote: “A multi-ethnic nation born at the end of World War I in the glow of pan-Slavic brotherhood, Czechoslovakia survived dismemberment by the Nazis and more than four decades of Communist rule only to fall apart after just three years of democracy”.

Although no referendum was ever held on the matter, democracy was indeed at the heart of the issue: all the problems associated with the federation of two states of unequal weight and size only appeared after the centralized, communist regime collapsed as Czechoslovakia reconnected with democracy. The decision-making paralysis and the federal government’s inability to push any significant reforms in the early 1990’s strongly contributed to the top-down decision of Klaus and Meciar.

Centre of Prague, Czech Republic, March 1993

An upheaval was happening but only Kevin Skeoch seemed to notice. Note the Pink clad coat of optimism on Marjorie.

Bakeshop…Normal exchanges happening

Look at the boy with the glasses. He notices something joyful.

Street scene Prague, Czech Republic, March 1993. Joy seemed everywhere.

JOYFUL DAYS IN PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, MARCH 1993

TRAGIC DAYS IN UKRAINE, MARCH 2022…DID THINGS HAVE TO GO SO HORRIBLY WRONG?

Today, March 5, 2022, ‘We watch in horror as unspeakable crimes by one man, Vladimir Putin, tear

Ukraine into pieces that will take generations to repair. Did this have to happen?

Was there not another way to effect change, perhaps by respecting neutrality?

Our eldest son, Kevin Skeoch, had high hopes for Ukraine and Russia finding the

middle road through education. He had (has?) the clout of a CEO in International

Schools around the world. Upbeat, positive, above the grimy sludge of low level

politics. Will happy days return? “We can but hope that somehow good will be the final

goal of ill,” as the saying goes.

In 1993, when Kev was a “$4 a day” teacher in Slovakia there were terrific changes happening.

Political changes, as the Soviet Union collapsed and sane heads tried to

manage the collapse sensibly. It was not an easy time. On our March break

in 1989, Marjorie snd I visited Kevin in Bratislava, Slovakia with a side trip

to Prague, Czech Republic. A political divorce. The former, rather artificial , nation of Czechoslovakia

decided to get a divorce.

Notice the reflections…admirers of folk art…Marjorie and Kevin Skeoch

When we crossed the new border between these new states we almost missed

the border guards. Come to think of it, We did miss them. We did not stop as I remember. A political divorce

without much ill will. Yes, we saw more ill will in the Slovak Republic. Poorer of the two states, it

seemed. Graffiti on a few walls saying “English go home”. Negatives that longed

for the idealism of Marxism.

Gorbachev…a leader with a birthmark…a leader.

I remember us driving into a Slovak lodge in the High Tatra mountains where a bunch

of young rather drunk Slovak ’20 somethings’ were taking a collective leak (piss). Noticing us,… perhaps Marjorie’s

bright pink coat…they turned and pissed in our direction. They laughed and we laughed.

A difference of opinion expressed and accepted. Done without tearing the nation

apart.

What is happening here? I had no idea in 1993. But whatever was happening was full of joy.

If only a leader like Marjorie and a leader like the costume bedecked young lady were present today.

A few days later we witnessed the reverse situation in the heart of Prague where

ethnic clothed dancers were expressing great joy while dancing on the street.

If pressed

to take a leak there was a squeaky clean toilet available in a huge MacDonald’s

fast food store.

If only Ukraine and Russia could have found the same common ground. If only we

could find ourselves, our global selves, with leaders who can lead. If only there was

middle ground possible.

alan skeoch

No comment necessary below.

alan skeoch

March 5, 2022

March 4, 2022March 4, 2022

EPISODE 542 SALESMAN IN PRAGUE IN 1989 — MESSAGE FOR US ALL IN 2022

alan skeoch

March 4, 2022

Young man’s sale booth on a main street in Prague, new Czech Republic. 1989. Sobering picture

when his goods are examined closely. How the mighty have fallen.!

There is a larger meaning here. In 1989, with the speed of summer lightning, all the uniforms of

the Red Army were suddenly of no value…just tokens for sale on a side street. It was this

collapse that drove Vladimir Putin into the madness we see today, March 4, 2022, in my humble opinion.

I do not mean these folderol dolls. They were always for sale in street markets. The sudden appearance of other

marketable goods is clear below. I REPEAT. How the mighty have fallen.

Suddenly all the insignia of the Soviet Union was up for sale. Just scrap.

Message: Upheavals are not slow…sometimes they come with suddenness that

races ahead of complete understanding. And thousands, millions of people get hurt as we are witnessing today. Lives are changed forever. This has happened often in world history.

AND TODAY OVER 1 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE FLED UKRAINE….ABANDONING ALL THEY OWNED. WILL ANY EVER RETURN? WHAT WILL BE LEFT TO RETURN TO?

ALAN

March 3, 2022March 3, 2022

EPISODE 536 “HORSES ON THE ORIGINAL BUFFALO GRASS PRAIRIE”….I THOUGHT I WAS BEING SPLIT IN HALF…foothills of the rockie mountains

EPISODE 536 “HORSES ON THE ORIGINAL BUFFALO GRASS PRAIRIE”….I THOUGHT I WAS BEING SPLIT IN HALF

alan skeoch

Feb. 26, 2022

Location : Foothiils of Alberta near southern border with USA>

The horse Wrangler was amused….Marjorie as well. Me? Absolute pain…especially when the horse decided to speed up. ohhh!

My horse. Look at his eye. He is thinking about abusing me for 3 hours. Bouncing. Think about it.

RIDING CAREFREE ON THE CANADIAN PRAIRIE

dateline…40 years ago

“Alan, we can join some horseman on a patch of original buffalo grass prairie.”

“How do you mean join?

“We can rent horses.”

“Not sure…don’t trust horses”

“WHY?”

“Smarter than me…wilL try to knock me off using overhanging branches”

“Silly…just guide the horse “

“the big reason is the discomfort…bouncing up and down…trying to split

me in half.”

“Here take this horse…old and quiet they say.”

“How do I get on?”

“step stool over here.”

What I should have asked was how to get off the horse. The whole adventure was

a pain in the butt and pain elsewhere that I would rather not mention. When we returned

to the corral a few hours later I couldn’t get off the horse…my legs were locked. I had

to be helped while everyone laughed. Humiliating.

BUT the place was stunning. And I had the presence of mind to take my camera.

alan

March 2, 2022March 2, 2022

EPISODE 539 A PLEA FIR UKRAINE AND ITS PEOPLE

EPISODE 539 A PLEA FOR UKRAINE AND ITS PEOPLE

alan skeoch

march 2, 2022

War crimes! A man gone mad! A nation helpless!

Sandra and Christine in Ukrainian folk dress…with faces smiling…kidding around … getting ready to dance.

FEELING HELPLESS, MARCH 2, 2022

At my school, Parkdale Collegiate Institute, West Toronto, we always seemed to have a bunch of joyful Ukrainians. Canadians!

Very proud their mother country while at the same time sinking deep roots into Canada

When they were not in national dress it was impossible to tell the Ukrainian Canadians from the rest of us. In national dress

they exuded pride in their background. Happy kids Would that they could remain so as adults in these perilous times. They cannot..

Sandra Hryhor snd Christine Chepanoya represent the joy of our students in better times.

But here we are in the midst of a war whose horror is unimaginable. Yesterday we had a meeting at our High Park Curling club. Our league

executive of seven of which two are Canadian Ukrainians. Loren and Zenon. The shock of our times rendered them speechless. They just could not

believe what was happening in Ukraine. Deep in their eyes I felt I saw the sad knowledge that Ukraine was about to be wasted

by orders from one man. One Man! Vladimir Putin. How could this happen.? How could one man have the power of life and death

over a nation and its people? For what?

When dealing with this madness the nations of the world are quite helpless. To intervene would trigger a much larger war. That

threat made by Putin. Made to intimidate. Beyond belief. Beyond reason. But possible. I cannot

believe we could be on the threshold of World War Three. But could be. Thankfully, President Joe Biden is being careful. Insanity does

not lend itself to reason.

What can we do? How is it possible for the fate of our world to rest on the shoulders of a lunatic? I feel so helpless.

alan

The odds are that many of these Parkdale students are Ukrainian Canadians. Can you find them? No! Not possible. The face

in the bottom picture is Terry Wickstrom, a teacher of Swedish heritage. Would the world be a better place if all the peoples of

the world had representatives in this Parkdale Colleigiate crowd? I think so.

March 1, 2022March 1, 2022

Fwd: EPISODE 538 PUTIN…NO VICTORY FOR ANYONE IN SIGHT…MADNESS IS ON THE MARCH

Note: I do not know what is truth and what is manipulated fiction concerning Putin’s state of mind.

I do know, however, that many experts are concerned.

EPISODE 538 PUTIN…NO VICTORY FOR ANYONE IN SIGHT…MADNESS IS ON THE MARCH

Alan Skeoch

Feb. 28, 2022

Has Putin gone mad? I am not the only person who detected madness when his lips curled

in a snarl as Putin threatened to unleash his nuclear arsenal. No sanity there, only anger and

more anger. Anger built up in Putin since 1990 when he returned to Moscow as s former Lt. Col of

the Soviet secret police, the KGB. That was 1990 and the Berlin wall was coming down along

with Soviet dreams of world domination. Vladimir Putin was 33 years old in 1990 and had to consider

his future. He considered being a taxi driver as everything he held dear in the Soviet Union

was crumbling around his feet. Then he got a new job …and became President of the Russian Federation.

Putin did not see himself as a true believer in the socialist dream. He was an opportunist rather than

a true believer. He longed for a return to the greatness of Russia and has spent

the last three decades managing a rebirth of that greatness. He has done well.

But he is now 69 years old. Is he sick? I mean really sick. Not just a figure of speech sickness

but really sick. Other minds far greater than mine are suggesting Putin’s brain has

been cooked by the Covid 19 virus he contracted in October. The virus is capable of doing that by

reinforcing ‘hubris’…making victims come to believe their world view is the only world view.

Making people like Putin believe that they are right and everyone else is wrong. Confusing

personal interpretation of events become the only interpretation of events. In Putin’s case

making him believe the return of Russian greatness can and must be achieve. Even isdone looking down

the barrel of gun.

Some Other observers think Putin is very sick with spinal cancer and/or Parkinson’s disease.

His health is broken and he is under constant medical care by a doctor he has relied

upon since his days with the KGB in East Germany. In short, he is dying. That is

the profesional opinion of some medical authorities. True or untrue? His legacy

of a Great Russia must be done now. He has so little time remaining.,

One very interesting assessment of Putin infers he has gone mad. Putin’s scowl in

recent news conferences is a departure from the cool impassive efficiency of his

past conferences.

WHAT IS ‘HUBRIS?’

WHAT words are a clue that a person is losing grip on reality? Answer: Hubris is commonly associated

with a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one’s own competence, accomplishments or capabilities.

Sometimes people in power display exaggerated self-confidence to the point of being reckless. Contempt for other

people is a good clue. As are the over use of simple words like ‘I”. “Me”. “God” and “history”,

SAMPLES

“Remember this…I am in control…just who do you think you are!…

‘Make sure you show me everything…I will be the judge.”

“God is on my side.”

“The historical record is clear…I am fully justified to…”

If a friend in a position of power begins using these words often…personal

words that show excessive self-confidence (hubris) coupled with an inability to listen to others that is red flag. Power does strange things to some people that can cause

a personality change where they “become obsessed with their self-image, excessively confident in their own judgement and dismissive of others, often leading to rash, ill thought-out decisions.”

Remember the comment that “ALL POWER CORRUPTS AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY” That seems to

be what Has happened to Putin when he uttered the threat about his nuclear arsenal. He has lost touch with reality.

Finally one observer thinks Putin is fine. He is manipulating world opinion.

The nuclear button comment was made to throw us all off balance. He likes

taking risks. There is no better time than right now for Russia to be enlarged.

The United States is weak and out of balance caused by internal disputes.

,

alan