{"id":700,"date":"2018-03-17T16:45:48","date_gmt":"2018-03-17T20:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=700"},"modified":"2018-03-23T14:21:01","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T18:21:01","slug":"last-rites-for-a-grand-machine-of-days-long-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=700","title":{"rendered":"LAST RITES FOR A GRAND MACHINE OF DAYS LONG GONE"},"content":{"rendered":"
LAST RITES FOR A GRAND MACHINE OF DAYS LONG GONE<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
ALAN Skeoch<\/div>\n
March \u00a02018<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\u201cSon, I can \u00a0no longer walk and can only get around on this god-damned SCOOTER but there were days\u00a0not so long ago that\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cDad, not that \u00a0long ago\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhen you were a tiny tad like your boys here are now\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd you were the top man feeding the sheaves \u00a0into this great machine while the horses with their rippling loads of sheaves lined<\/div>\n
up like ships of straw on a sea \u00a0of stubble. \u00a0I remember dad.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd \u00a0here we are\u2026it has come to this\u2026the bloody auction.\u2019<\/div>\n
\u201cCould we not?. \u00a0The barn is on the verge of collapse behind there \u2026<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd the farm has been \u00a0sold \u00a0to that monied city slicker who plans to build \u00a0a bastardly flower garden in the ruin of that \u00a0great building.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201c\u2019tis \u00a0a \u00a0sad \u00a0day but one \u00a0to remember\u2026try top \u00a0close the eyes \u00a0and remember the hiss and \u00a0steam of the distant engine and slap \u00a0slap \u00a0slap of the great<\/div>\n
long drive belt.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd the greased whir of all those wheels that culminated \u00a0in the flailing of the sheaves \u00a0and pouring forth of the golden grain.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd you, my lad, stuck up in the granary with your \u00a0brother as the grain poured out in an airborne stream that \u00a0seemed to have no end.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cRemember it well, Dad, with you yelling \u201cPush the son of a bitching stuff back deep in the granary before you die smothered\u201d\u2026and all the time<\/div>\n
smiling and singing as if there was no tomorrow.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd, lad, there was no tomorrow\u2026before long those great wheeled and \u00a0motored combines \u00a0raped and \u00a0reaped the fields shedding disdain for this proud \u00a0giant which had become<\/div>\n
as obsolete as the crocks of hard \u00a0cider that slaked \u00a0our thirst while we threw the sheaves \u00a0on the carts and the horses stamped their<\/div>\n
feet in the great joy that comes from being useful in this world.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhen was rhe last time a horse with feathered feet worked here, Dad\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLong time ago, maybe last one in the 1950\u2019s\u2026remember our last team, Old Dolly and Dick?\u2026one white as the driven show and the other as richly brown as the chestnut of<\/div>\n
which he was an immense and breathing duplicate..<\/div>\n
\u201cGood times and bad times, Dad\u2026some got into the drink a little too much.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cStrong men with stronger liquid in their guts\u2026fights fomented \u00a0by the sheer energy of the harvesting.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201c And dangers always present with that great machine\u2026a hand \u00a0caught between a belt and a \u00a0pully \u00a0resulting in a bloody flattened mess of fingernails and blood.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd the odd \u00a0clutch ofguinea hens \u00a0young ones mistakenly forked \u00a0into the mouth of the yawning thresher and ground into pulp. The field mice beneath the stukes<\/div>\n
ran exposed through the stubble while hawks slobbered in exultation high above.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot all sweeties and light\u2026but grand\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cA \u00a0happening for all\u2026sometimes \u00a010 or more of us at work here with as may women piling stews and pumpkin pies on the tables \u00a0outdoors.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAll gone now\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cFarms gone too, Dad\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMcecherns, MacLeans, Macdonalds, Freemans, Saunders, Leitches, Johnsons, Butlers,\u2026all gone from here.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHapp[ening all over the county Dad\u2026The Skeoch\u2019s once had \u00a0good farms here and there across Wellington County. \u00a0Now there are no longer any.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo need anymore. \u00a0Farming like this has \u00a0become a \u00a0poor man\u2019s game. Big farmers like the Anthony Brothers can tend 10,000 acres with clutch of $100,000 tractors and $200,000 combines. \u00a0Land they rent from city people who want the country life without the work.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPeople like me, Dad\u2026with kids \u00a0like these who will never farm\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSon, \u00a0your boys will never even remember this day\u2026never remember gazing on this old thresher\u2026meaningless now and completely forgotten in the future.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s come now\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe auctioneer with a small bunch of bidders\u2026maybe none\u2026maybe this machine will just sit here and rot.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot likely, I see two scrap men in the crowd. \u00a0They want the metal parts\u2026<\/div>\n
\u201cSet her alight tonight\u2026let her burn and then gather up those drive wheels and axles tomorrow morning for their last<\/div>\n
drive to the scrapyard\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s move along , dad, I do not want to see this happen.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCome on kids, I\u2019ll buy you a drink and a piece of pie over at the ladies booth.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cDad, what is this machine?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cToo complicated for me to say\u2026one of you can ride on the wheelchair with your grandpa\u2026<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
March 2018<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LAST RITES FOR A GRAND MACHINE OF DAYS LONG GONE ALAN Skeoch March \u00a02018 \u201cSon, I can \u00a0no longer walk and can only get around on this god-damned SCOOTER but there were days\u00a0not so long ago that\u2026\u201d<\/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-700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700","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=700"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":801,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions\/801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}