{"id":22423,"date":"2022-10-11T22:50:02","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T02:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22423"},"modified":"2022-10-11T22:56:41","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T02:56:41","slug":"episode-657-i-will-never-use-a-leaf-blower-raking-leaves-is-better-and-a-long-overdue-confession-about-a-zip-gun-and-wooden-matches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22423","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 657 “I WILL NEVER USE A LEAF BLOWER. RAKING LEAVES IS BETTER” and A LONG OVERDUE CONFESSION ABOUT A ZIP GUN AND WOODEN MATCHES"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 657    “I WILL NEVER USE A LEAF BLOWER.   RAKING LEAVES IS BETTER”  (FAMOUS LAST WORDS FROM MARJORIE)<\/div>\n
                         ( and  the night A 12 year old boy set a street of dry leaves on fire with a clothes peg zip gun)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
oct. 11,2022<\/div>\n
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THE NEW LEAF BLOWER<\/div>\n

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\u201cAlan, this leaf blower that Andrew gave me is wonderful.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI thought you liked raking leaves?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI do\u2026and would like it better if you would help.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201c\u201di bought you the rake.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou could help.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBut we only had one rake\u2026and now you have Andrew\u2019s leaf blower<\/div>\n
you neither need a rake nor do you need help.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cOh, yes, Marjorie those mounds of dry leave remind me on s evening back in 1950 when I made<\/div>\n
a clothes peg zip gun.   It was an evening of which I am not proud.”<\/div>\n

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ALL the leaves in these pictures will eventual reach the ground where most will just lie<\/div>\n
there and return to earth from whence they came.<\/div>\n

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Suppose Marjorie is not available to rake or blow your leaves away from your lawn.  Well get <\/div>\n
ready for a big crop of voles and mice this winter\u2026.little creatures that make leafy homes in<\/div>\n
fallen leaves.<\/div>\n

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HAVE YOU EVER MADE A ZIP GUN FROM A CLOTHES PEG?<\/div>\n

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   About the year 1950 homeowners raked their leaves into huge piles in the gutters<\/div>\n
in front oft their houses.  I remember one street in particular.  It stretched from Runnymede public <\/div>\n
School in West Toronto down to Bloor Street.    A very leafy street.   A perfect street for me.   I did not<\/div>\n
consider myself a vandal although others may differ on that score.  I was a test mechanic,<\/div>\n

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The October air on that street had the smell of burning leaves.  Some residents carefully burned their<\/div>\n
leaves but most people piled them in the gutter.   Which seemed like a god given opportunity to test my<\/div>\n
zip gun made from clothes pegs with wire snaps.  Those clothes pegs could easily be remanufactured<\/div>\n
into weapons that could snap fire wooden matches\u2026shoot the flaming slivers five or six feet as I <\/div>\n
remember. I had a whole box wooden matches.  Ammunition.<\/div>\n

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Now on that October evening in 1950 I had never heard of the burning of Moscow.  And grandma never<\/div>\n
said much about the burning of Englehart, Ontario in 1906 except to say mom and the Freemans were<\/div>\n
burned out of their home.   Perhaps if the danger of fire had been drummed into me, I would not<\/div>\n
have set the WEst Toronto street on fire.<\/div>\n

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SET THE STREET ON FIRE<\/div>\n

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My 12 year old brain was not sophisticated.  I was just doing a simple experiment.  If  Idrove down <\/div>\n
the street firing lit matches from my clothes peg weapon,, would the street catch fire with flames<\/div>\n
racing towards me as I peddled and fired.  I did not expect success.<\/div>\n

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 When I looked back up the street I could see<\/div>\n
some fire and people out beating burning leaves to death.<\/div>\n
Were they pointing at me?  I did not return to the crime<\/div>\n
scene and took a different route back to our house at 455 Annette Street.<\/div>\n

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I kept this little secret until today\u202672 years later.<\/div>\n

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Today our piles of leaves are collected by the City of Mississauga.   Millions of leaves<\/div>\n
are composted into food for gardens.<\/div>\n

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How did this sensible use of leaves as garden manure originate.  Was the idea hatched<\/div>\n
by some brilliant environmentalists?  Or was leaf collectomg started due too the fire I triggered on that street in<\/div>\n
West Toronto?   Maybe I am vain.  Maybe I should  not take credit for the City<\/div>\n
of Mississauga leaf collecting.<\/div>\n

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One thing is true.   Marjorie and her leaf blower ensure that no pile of dry leaves are anywhere<\/div>\n
near my zip gun.   Truth be told, I do not even remember how to make the gun.<\/div>\n
And who uses clothes pins today anyhow?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
If you are planning to send my name to the Leaf Police, I will deny the conflagration<\/div>\n
ever happened on an October night in 1950.   There is no one to remember.  Hearsay evidence<\/div>\n
has little weight in a court of law (I think!)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Oc.t 11, 2022<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Exaggeraton?  Of course.  But with a kernel of truth<\/div>\n

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SETTIN\u2019 THE WOODS ON FIRE<\/div>\n

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by Hak Williams <\/div>\n

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Lyrics<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Comb your hair and paint and powder<\/span>
You act proud and I’ll act prouder<\/span>
You sing loud and I’ll sing louder<\/span>
Tonight we’re settin’ the woods on fire<\/span><\/div>\n
You’re my gal and I’m your feller<\/span>
Dress up in my frock and yeller<\/span>
I’ll look swell but you’ll look sweller<\/span>
Settin’ the woods on fire<\/span><\/div>\n
We’ll take in all the honky tonks<\/span>
Tonight we’re having fun<\/span>
We’ll show the folks a brand new dance<\/span>
That never has been done<\/span><\/div>\n
I don’t care who thinks we’re silly<\/span>
You’ll be daffy and I’ll be dilly<\/span>
We’ll order up two bowls of chili<\/span>
Settin’ the woods on fire<\/span><\/div>\n
I’ll gas up my hot rod stoker<\/span>
We’ll get hotter than a poker<\/span>
You’ll be broke but I’ll be broker<\/span>
Tonight we’re settin’ the woods on fire<\/span><\/div>\n
We’ll sit close to one another<\/span>
Up one street and down the other<\/span>
We’ll have a time oh brother<\/span>
Settin’ the woods on fire<\/span><\/div>\n
We’ll put aside a little time<\/span>
To fix a flat or two<\/span>
My tyres and tubes are doin’ fine<\/span>
But the air is showin’ through<\/span><\/div>\n
You clap hands and I’ll start bowin’<\/span>
We’ll do all the law’s allowin’<\/span>
Tomorrow I’ll be right back plowin’<\/span>
Settin’ the woods on fire<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Source: Musixmatch<\/a><\/div>\n
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Songwriters: Fred Rose \/ Ed Nelson Sr.<\/div>\n
Settin’ The Woods On Fire lyrics \u00a9 Sony\/atv Milene Music<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 657    “I WILL NEVER USE A LEAF BLOWER.   RAKING LEAVES IS BETTER”  (FAMOUS LAST WORDS FROM MARJORIE)                          ( and  the night A 12 year old boy set a street of dry leaves on fire with a clothes peg zip gun) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}