Murdock John Angus and Les Suêtes – February 2020

From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Sent: March 3, 2020 11:01 AM
To: Fred Baechler’s Cape Breton Weather Watchers Email Group

Subject: One for the wind watchers

Hi all,

Bill Dunphy here at The Inverness Oran. Following last Thursday's Les
Suêtes wind that had a recorded gust of 227 kph in Grand Etang, this St.
Joseph du Moine sign landed in someone's yard in Inverness. The
distance, as the crow flies, would be roughly 40 km. So how do you
explain, with a southeast wind blowing, a sign of this size (see photo)
flying 40 km south? Maybe there really are Cheticamp cows on the
Magdalen Islands! Cheers, Bill

Here is the Real Inside Scope on this one.....

Murdock John Angus and his wife Peigi Murdock John Angus lived on a small farm up Inverness way.

Murdock came in from outside after feeding the cows and the chickens. 

He checked the kettle on the wood stove to see if there is any strong tea on the brew.

Peigi comes in to room with an arm full of laundry…  “Did you fix that darn hole in the chicken coop wall yet”

Murdock mumbles ..”Yes … Yes ….Yes…  I will get to it …I have to hock up Old Nel and got to Cheticamp today with a load of potatoes and turnips.  ..  I will get some nails and the general store and few boards at the MacKenzie Saw Mill on the way back”

“AND …You make sure you stay away from the darn Grand Etang Bootlegger!!!”

“yes… yes… yes “   Murdock mumbles again….

“Fix that hole in the chicken coop wall before the fox eats all the eggs!” Peigi shouts

“Yes…. Yes…. yes”

A little while later the old horse and the wagon loaded with a few bags of turnips and potatoes heads down the road.

On the way to town the winds start picking up and Murdock has to tie his hat on tight.

Passing through Saint Joseph Du Moine, he notices a roadside sign rattling away in the wind. 

“ Hmm that sign will not be there long before is  blown off it’s post” he says to Old Nel.

Once in town he sells his produce and stops at the hardware store for some nails, a block of salt for the cows and a few other supplies.

He counts his change,  and he thinks to himself “I has just enough to pay the old bill at Old Man Mackenzie Sawmill at  Margaree, hopefully the old guy will give me some fresh credit to take home the wood for the Chicken coop.”

He and old Nel head out south.   The Les Suêtes winds are really starting to blow and it is cold on his face, and cold for old Nel. By the time they got to Grand Etang he was tired, cold and thirsty….  There was light flickering at the bootlegger house,  and smoke was puffing out of the chimney.

“What can it hurt to stop for a wee dram, and get out of these damn Les Suêtes?” Murdock John Angus says to the horse.  The horse just neighed and shock his head.

Well one dram, lead on to another, and there was one old Les Suêtes wind story , then another,   soon Murdock was drunk and broke, and sleeping on a chair in the kitchen.

When the sun came up in the morning, the winds had slowed down and the heavy headed Murdock headed down the road.

“I gave all money to the bootlegger, just how am I going to get some more wood without paying my bill? Now what am I going to do?”  old Nel just neighed,  seeming to laugh at poor old Murdock John Angus.

Then there at side of the road was the Saint Joseph Du Moine sign barely hanging on the post…Murdock got all excited that he could use the sign to get Peigi off his case about the chicken coop.   Powered by the leftover moonshine in his system he gave the sign a sharp pull and off it came into his hands.   He loaded his treasure into the wagon and headed for home.

Somewhere down the road, as he was getting closer to home and the sun was setting and Murdock was getting drowsy from the all night session at the bootleggers, the Les Suêtes started to blow turbulently around him, the sign blew out of the wagon into the darkness and poor Murdock had to go home with no sign, no wood and no money …. for his honey, Peigi.

That’s how the Saint Joseph Du Moine sign got to where it was found in Inverness.

Randy Pointkoski

Coopers Pond

March 2020