EPISODE 289 EGGS FOR SALE (‘THERE IS A TIDE IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN AND WOMEN”)
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.”
EPISODE 288 FARMING WITH JOHN AND ELEANOR CALDER
EPISODE 288: FARMING WITH JOHN AND ELEANOR CALDERalan skeochMarch 2021
FARMING in Ontario has changed. Many farms have been combined into large holdings of several thousand
acres. Corporate farms. These farms specialize in production of various grains…wheat, oats, flax, corn, soybeans.
Eleanor is the big sister…oldest of the the four Townsend children…and the hardest working in my opinion. Jim and Owen will be
offended by that remark. So be it. If a cow had to be rolled helped with a calf. Eleanor was there. If kittens got out of control….I counted
Six of the Skeoch ‘kids]’…left to right, Marguerite (Skeoch) Metcalfe, Lena (Skeoch) Tosh
Elizabeth (skeoch) Townsend, back row…John Skeoch (Saskatchewan farm 3,200 acres),
John Skeoch (Art Skeoch’s eldest son, spent his youth at the Skeoch farms as
we did. John and I had the thankless job of being executors at the sale of the home Skeoch farm.)
All of my pictures of Eleanor Townsend seem to show her at work. She is a
Alan Skeoch … holding a lamb …taking credit for the work of others…i.e. the ewe, John
who cornered the ewe on a cold March evening, Eleanor who helped the ewe put out the lamb.
There is no money in raising sheep I am told. No one told that to John and Eleanor. They loved the
The story of this farm house will come as a separate Episode. The house, to my mind, demonstrates
the triumph of the human spirit.
EPISODE 287 MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLIITION BITS AND PIECES and WOODEN QUILTS FROM THE ASHES
EPISODE 287 MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION BITS AND PIECES OF THE FACTORY WOOD QUILTS OUT OF THE ASHESalan skeoch
march 2021
WELL this is the end of the Massey Ferguson Demolition series. Just a few bits and pieces that were notwoven into a story form. Some pictures of the Massey machines made at the factory. And some moreof the wood quilts made from some of the Massey Ferguson salvage and snow fence, old house shutters,lath from plaster walls… A mish mash.1) Uncle Norman’s Massey Harris combine harvester circa 1950….while combining it picked up
a rock which dented the cylinder and could not be fixed even thought Uncle Norman tried to fix it
2) Below are a selection of Massey Harris machines…most of them are designed
That’s one of our sons, Andrew. siting on a Massey Harris tractor. Note he is replicating the
sounds the tractor would make had the motor been running.
I an not sure where this ancient tractor was made. It is a Massey Harris machine however.
3) A selection of my fold art. Please do not feel I am trying to sell. Just having fun.
END EPISODE 287
Post Script: Who were the Masseys?
Massey Manufacturing Co.[edit]
EPISODE 286MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION THE JOHN CALDER SAW MILL, BELLWOOD, ONTRIO
MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION ANCIENT TIMBER RESCUE…JOHN CALDER SAWMILL
EPISODE 284 PART TWO: PARKDALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE PICTURES OF THE PAST MARCH 15, 2021
EPISODE 284 PART TWO PICTURES OF PARKDALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE …MOSTLY OF CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION IN 1989
“Listen up kids, I bet Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau would come to Parkdale if you
NOTE: PART TWO PICTURES OF PARKDALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE STUDENTSAND STAFF. (A continuation of Part One )alan skeochmarch 15, 2021
EPISODE 284 MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION: PARKDALE C.I. STAFF AND STUDENTS MAKE A FILM SET COME ALIVE (PART ONE)
EPISODE 284 MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION: PARKDALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE BEOMES A FILM SET
The teacher is teachin’ the Golden Rule
American history and practical math
You study’ em hard and hopin’ to pass
Workin’ your fingers right down to the bone
And the guy behind you won’t leave you alone
Ring ring goes the bell
The cook in the lunchroom’s ready to sell
You’re lucky if you can find a seat
You’re fortunate if you have time to eat
Back in the classroom open you books
Gee but the teacher don’t know
How mean she looks
The teacher is teachin’ the Golden Rule
American history and practical math
You study’ em hard and hopin’ to pass
Workin’ your fingers right down to the bone
And the guy behind you won’t leave you alone
Ring ring goes the bell
The cook in the lunchroom’s ready to sell
You’re lucky if you can find a seat
You’re fortunate if you have time to eat
Back in the classroom open you books
Gee but the teacher don’t know
How mean she looks
Soon as three o’clock rolls around
You finally lay your burden down
Close up your books, get out of your seat
Down the halls and into the street
Up to the corner and ’round the bend
Right to the juke joint you go in
Drop the coin right into the slot
You gotta hear something that’s really hot
With the one you love you’re makin’ romance
All day long you been
Wantin’ to dance
Feelin’ the music from head to toe
‘Round and ’round and ’round you go
Drop the coin right into the slot
You gotta hear something that’s really hot
With the one you love you’re makin’ romance
All day long you been
Wantin’ to dance
Feelin’ the music from head to toe
‘Round and ’round and ’round you go
Hail, hail rock’n’roll
Deliver me from the days of old
Long live rock’n’roll
The beat of the drum is loud and bold
Rock rock rock’n’roll
The feelin’ is there body and soul
EPISODE 282 MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLTION GETTING THE IRON WORKER MACHINE…NEAR DEATH EVENT…GLAD POLICE ARRIVED
EPISODE 283 STONEHOOKING
Begin forwarded message:
From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>Subject: speech feb .29 shingle beach at Rattray Marsh…OrdovicianDate: March 29, 2020 at 5:11:34 PM EDTTo: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
WALKING BACK IN TIME(will make you feel smaller than a grain of sand…or speck of shale)alan skeochMarch 11, 2020“Let’s take a walk, Marjorie,“Where?”“There is a shingle beach that fronts the Rarrray Marsh.”“Why?”“Because I am trying to get a grip on ‘time’”‘Time cannot be held.”“It can in the mind…”“Not even there. Tine moves on…fast sometimes, slow at others.”“Let’s just take our time and see where it leads.”(Note, the Rarrray Marsh is one of the wonders of the City of Mississauga, It slumbers behind a rock strewn beach of Lake Ontario. The southwest quadrant ofMississauga…almost approachable….definitely unforgettable.)“Wouldn’t a sand beach be more charming?”“That depends upon the power of your imagination.”“Easy to trip and fall here.”“Right…if you do trip and fall you will find yourself among interesting company.”“Piles of flat stones.”“Piles of blue shale….”“Are you trying to make these stone sound romantic?”“Romantic? No, these stone make me feel humble…like a speck of sand on the beach of time.”“Carry on.”“Do you know how old these pieces of shale are?”“I don’t even know what shale is”“Shale was once mud…pressed by the weight of untold piles of mud…heavy…so much sothat this ancient mud became sedimentary rock called shale.“Our city sits on top of this vast expanse of ancient mud…for that matter the ancient mudonce ground and dried became the cement that holds up all the buildings in Mississauga.And for seventy years, 1850 to 1920, slabs of this shale were pried up by crowbars right fromthe place we are standing, pried up in great slabs, manhandled onto schooners and sailedto Toronto as the foundations of all the great buildings of the time.”“Do you mean the Stonehookers?”“Right. Nothing quite as Romantic as those stonehooking years.”“Unless, you actually had to do the stonehoking…it was a brutal business.“Anybody die?”“Many. In 1900, One of those old stonehooking schooners, the Pinta, capsizedjust offshore around here. Young crew trying to make a few bucks beforewinter set in. They were spotted by some men shingling a barn roof off Marigold Point.Spotted in the November mist…then gone. The schooner just flipped over. Searchersfound three of the men right away. The fourth was found frozen under the thwartsof the hooking scow some days later…body frozen solid.”
I often think of one Port Credit lady, whose husband suddenly died. Their only source of