{"id":5658,"date":"2020-09-07T10:49:28","date_gmt":"2020-09-07T14:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=5658"},"modified":"2020-09-07T10:53:45","modified_gmt":"2020-09-07T14:53:45","slug":"episode-111-alan-never-let-yourself-be-hostage-to-fortune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=5658","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 111 “ALAN, NEVER LET YOURSELF BE HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE.”"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 111   ALAN, NEVER  LET YOURSELF BE HOSTAGE  TO FORTUNE.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Sept. 6 , 2020<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
OUR farm house  was built around 1870 or 1880.   The owner at the time had very little money\u2026he had to cut corners as we discovered<\/div>\n
in the renovation a century later.   The design was  common \u2026 available plans in Eaton\u2019s catalogue. Mom, grandma and their dog Punch<\/div>\n
on front lawn.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We inherited the farm in 1958.  Condition? Not so good.   We could barely afford to look after our <\/div>\n
city house.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Our family around  1958 when we inherited the Freeman farm.  We were not wealthy so owning property like the farm<\/div>\n
was a  novel and frightening thing.  Only later, around 1990 could Marjorie and I afford to renovate\u2026and even then it<\/div>\n
took the shock of the robbery to force us into action.   Picture: left to right\u2026Eric, Elsie (Freeman) Skeoch, Alan, Arnold (Red) Skeoch<\/div>\n
We laughed a lot\u2026in this case someone broke wind  Just as  I set the camera  for a delayed picture.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Months after the farm robbery we had to give  serious thought to the farm future. <\/div>\n
Should we keep the farm  or  put it up for sale like was happening to so many<\/div>\n
other historic farms.  The debate was just awful.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
THE choice?  Sell everything  or pour a lot of money into restoration of the farm house.<\/div>\n
Depressing thoughts.   The loss of so much. Family treasures gone.    The usual \u2018poor me\u2019<\/div>\n
comments by persons who have been robbed.   grieving that deep<\/div>\n
sense of loss when someone you love is gone.  Anger.  Feeling violated.  All<\/div>\n
that and more.  For the first few hours. <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
 Then the clouds of doubt cleared away.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Granddad  made small wheelbarrows for us.  Note the sad dog house in the  background.  Fancy living on a farm?  Not so much.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Then I thought of Evan Cruickshank who had such a powerful influence on my life.<\/div>\n
\u201cCrooky\u201d had been our history teacher at Humberside.  A man of deep intellect.<\/div>\n
And later he hired both Eric and me as  history teachers at Parkdale Collegiate in<\/div>\n
west central Toronto.  I got to know him really well as did Marjorie.  Respect and<\/div>\n
friendship.   \u201cCrusher\u201d Cruickshank had many words of  wisdom which he shared<\/div>\n
Never heavy handed sharing.  Never patronizing.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Our robbery was hurting.  At its worst when I suddenly remembered \u201cCrooky\u2019s\u201d<\/div>\n
comment regarding material things in life.  \u201cAlan, never let yourself be hostage<\/div>\n
to fortune.\u201d  Said another way.  \u201cNever let things own you.  If you do you will<\/div>\n
have an unhappy life.\u201d                                                                               <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
We were grieving the loss  of the furniture and everything else in the house.  What we<\/div>\n
should have been thinking about was the house itself and the future direction we would take.   <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
NOTE:  The term hostage to fortune means that wealth, family, possessions can hold<\/div>\n
us hostage.  Crooky added \u2018Never be\u2019 to \u2018hostage to fortune\u2019 which I believe meant<\/div>\n
to never let the material things in life hold you hostage.  Do not worship your wonderful car, <\/div>\n
for instance.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I am not sure this  point if clear.  We decided to put our money into a dream rather<\/div>\n
than  save it for who knows what .   Maybe that is  not even clear.  We took action.<\/div>\n
That is  clear.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Many many Ontario farm houses that were built far better than ours have been destroyed.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
SO A  DECISION WAS MADE:  WE WILL RESTORE THE FARM HOUSE<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s do it\u2026restore the farm house.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThat means a total gutting  of the interior.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGive the job to Kevin and Andy\u2026strip back to the bricks.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe boys will enjoy it\u2026demolition and teen agers go hand  in hand.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
1)  So  Andrew and Kevin using crowbars, sledges,  hammers and a wheelbarrow<\/div>\n
began stripping away the plaster which was already in decay\u2026then the lathe  <\/div>\n
some of which was even ancient split lathe.  Wheelbarrow  loads were dumped<\/div>\n
outside.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
2) Beneath the plaster they discovered that our brick farm house was really<\/div>\n
not a brick house at all.  Underneath was a barn frame\u2026heavy hand hewn beams<\/div>\n
pegged together as was the custom in 1870.  This was not a house at all.  Had<\/div>\n
we depended on the bricks to hold the ouse up then there would  be no house.<\/div>\n
The bricks were soft as a baby\u2019s bum.  They had been shaped and  fired less<\/div>\n
than  a mile away near #5 sidereal.  Weak.  I wondered why other brick  farm houses<\/div>\n
had  collapsed  and  ours did not.  Now  I knew. Ours was  a barn.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
3) But  The big beams had not been  made here.  No group of men with broad axes<\/div>\n
had  spent a year or more preparing white pine beams.  No.  Our farm house<\/div>\n
was made from beams  collected here and there across the township in 1870 or so.<\/div>\n
How did  we know?   Because many beams had burn marks.  The beams had<\/div>\n
been gathered from older burned out buildings\u2026barns, drivesheds.   <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
4) Nothing special about the beams.  The great floor beams were only rough<\/div>\n
hewn on one side\u2026sometimes two sides.  The other sides still had the bark.<\/div>\n
This house was not an example of fine art carpentry.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
5) The board  floors had been worn to nubs by hundreds of feet over the century.<\/div>\n
The nubs were the knots.  Harder than the planks and therefore when worn and <\/div>\n
stamped on left a wavy floor that I always found charming.  But it had to go and<\/div>\n
so the boys got crowbars to lift the ancient slabs.  Too bad.  Loved  the old floor.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
6) They made one amazing discovery.  Hard to believe I  know.  The centre of<\/div>\n
the house was held up by one long carved beam.  Crucial piece to which  all<\/div>\n
the other beams were attached directly or indirectly.  \u201cGuess  what, Dad?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d \u201cThe main beam hangs in the air.\u201d   The main beam never touched<\/div>\n
the ground.  It was free standing.  How that happened we will never know.  had<\/div>\n
we not stripped the walls that fact would remain a little secret.  How the roof<\/div>\n
held up for 130 years or more I will never understand.   <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Ricky the  Raccoon was a pet of ours until he  reached puberty when all things changed.  While young Ricky would scamper up our<\/div>\n
shoulders to sit on our heads.  Here he is being gently removed by David S.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Did Ricky the Racoon sneak back and  take up residence behind the plaster and lathe of the farm house?  Not likely.  We let him<\/div>\n
go in a farm field  far away.  But raccoons are smart.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
7) That was  only one discovery.  There were others.  Like finding a nest<\/div>\n
of raccoons in the upper bedroom wall.  They had  made the house a home<\/div>\n
for years it seems.  And then there were the red squirrels who can chew there<\/div>\n
way into any house.  Mice, of course.  A plentiful supply that the garter snakes<\/div>\n
must have found convenient food.  A bunch of snakes lived in the field stone<\/div>\n
foundation.  They may still be there since the foundation was  never changed only<\/div>\n
braced.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
8) The basement floor was dirt.  Hard packed dirt.  Three rooms down there, each<\/div>\n
with a function but all with dirt footing.  In spring this cellar was wet\u2026pooled water<\/div>\n
often.  But the walls held.  One room had big dirt floored stalls\u2026one for coal, one for potatoes,<\/div>\n
carrots, etc.   The other room Grandma called \u201cthe Dairy\u2019 where she kept food in<\/div>\n
the cool dark.  Slabs of beef hung here which was why I liked to slather our meals<\/div>\n
with Worcester Sauce.   I never trusted the Dairy.  No good reason.  Grandma and<\/div>\n
Grandpa Freeman lived here deep in their 90\u2019s.  The other big cellar room<\/div>\n
had an old  but huge cook stove with a pipe hole exit carved into the foundation.  This was<\/div>\n
grandma\u2019s \u2018summer kitchen\u2019 but was never in use when we were growing up. There<\/div>\n
was a rickety staircase and  a trap door that gave access to the main house.<\/div>\n
Granddad  had  his carpenters tools there as well.   As a kid  I stole one of his<\/div>\n
chisels and got caught.  I ran and  hid  in the tall summer grasses and golden rod<\/div>\n
on that day.  Humiliated because  I was caught.   I still have the chisel somewhere.<\/div>\n
Granddad gave it to me.  He was a master craftsman.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
9) Kevin and Andrew also had to clean out the attic\u2026a long unfinished room<\/div>\n
that ran eastwards from the upstairs bedrooms where the raccoons lived.<\/div>\n
That attic was  a wonderful treasure trove.  For most of  my pre teen years I explored this<\/div>\n
room endlessly.  For years it was full of spinning wheels,  walking wheels and  all<\/div>\n
the wool processing things of the 19th century and other treasures that were to me<\/div>\n
a mystery.  I remember when most of that stuff suddenly was gone. \u201cOH, Elsie (my <\/div>\n
mother), a wonderful man came by and paid  us money for the things in the attic.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d \u201cTen dollars\u201d  Bastard.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
10)  The scavenger missed a 1920\u2019s \u201cskin\u201d book called  Smokehouse.  Lots of rather<\/div>\n
off colour jokes and some suggestive drawings of stockings with legs in them \u2026 at least <\/div>\n
as I remember.  And, oh yes, the explosive novel \u201cTobacco Road\u201d by Erskine Caldwell.<\/div>\n
At tale of poverty and prejudice in the American  south.  That book  would even be<\/div>\n
scandalous in today\u2019s liberal world.  It was  falling apart as  it had been read  and  re read<\/div>\n
and  re read again by me.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
11) So the house was stripped bare\u2026a shell. No, a  folderol i.e. A barn within a brick house.<\/div>\n
Now we had to find a builder.  By good fortune we noticed a truck  while getting ice cream cones<\/div>\n
in Erin.  WAYNE SHANNON, BUILDER    No beating around the bush we hired him to renovate<\/div>\n
and reconstruct the farm house.   He  had some great ideas.  Open concept.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
12) And  he said  a couple of things I had  not counted upon  \u201cWhere do you want the bathroom?\u201d<\/div>\n
My response  was \u201cWhat  bathroom?\u201d\u2026because we had a perfect backhouse I had  built.  Marjorie<\/div>\n
chimed  in and so we got two bathrooms.  His next question was about the trap door to the<\/div>\n
cellar.  \u201cOf course we will close that trap door and put a stairway to the cellar.\u201d \u201cWhat? I love that<\/div>\n
trap door.\u201d  Then everyone chimed in so  we got a stairway.  And  another question I had not<\/div>\n
counted upon was the furnace.  \u201cWhat furnace? Isn\u2019t the old wood stove good enough?\u201d That <\/div>\n
thought was also put to rest when Wayne found us a good electric  furnace.* (Note..furnace<\/div>\n
will be subject of  major story later\u2026a story so  big that my picture replaced the Sunshine Girl<\/div>\n
on the Toronto Sun.  No  vanity involved\u2026just a very bitter fight with Hydro One)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
13) Wayne and his worker crew spent the whole winter changing the farm house. What a<\/div>\n
terrific job they did.   The house became a home.  We have entertained there so much<\/div>\n
since.  Grand  dinners.   Wayne did not stop with the house.  \u201cAlan, you need a barn.\u201d<\/div>\n
On this, I agreed so  Wayne built us a barn with a cement floor.  These were good times.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
TO WHOM DO I OWE MY GRATITUDE?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I really must thank the robber that stripped the farm house of furniture and who knows what else.<\/div>\n
Without him we would have never taken such drastic action   Good things do often emerge from<\/div>\n
what seems bad at first.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Renovating the farm house has enriched our lives.  Lots of friends have joined us.  In this case the Christophersons.  They<\/div>\n
seem to have pillaged the garden.  Brenda\u2019s father was a  crop duster in Manitoba with a plane much like the one that<\/div>\n
tried ti kill Cary Grant.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Sept. 6, 2020<\/div>\n

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z <\/div>\n

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

EPISODE 111   ALAN, NEVER  LET YOURSELF BE HOSTAGE  TO FORTUNE. alan skeoch Sept. 6 , 2020 OUR farm house  was built around 1870 or 1880.   The owner at the time had very little money\u2026he had to cut corners as we discovered in the renovation a century later.   The design was  common \u2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5658","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}