Wednesday, November 23, 2016

i GET SOME FOOD

    At the end of my last post I got to my apartment but there was no food.

    Now I have to go back in history a bit to make sense out of the food situation. Remember that I was employed by the Canadian government and it was 1963. I became a civil servant and so took and oath was not allowed to vote.

    The Canadian government had left the Northwest Territories to themselves until after the Second world war. Missionaries had been in the Arctic for a 100 years but they were a very small group but had managed to convert most of the aboriginals. A few traders had been in the Arctic for a 100 years. A few policemen were stationed at a few places. The Canadian government had spent next to nothing in the territories. There was a minor transportation system where barges brought freight down the Mackenzie river. Lone bush pilots had done some charter work.

    After WW II the Canadian government decided to become active in the territories. There had been some Army activity in the territories during the war but very little.

    After the war the government decided to set up schools, hospitals and administration. They also decoded to build airports. Before that could happen the cold war dictated that two DEW lines(radar) would be built. There was major construction so building supplies had to be brought in. Before the Dew lines were finished a number of schools had been built.

   Now logistics had to be in place. People had to be brought in and looked after. Housing, transportation and food had to be supplied.

    Did I say food? Yes. They developed a system that they called rations. They had devised a system to provide a year's supply of food. The ration consisted of canned, dried materials and basic food products. So canned meat, vegetables, milk ...everything that could be canned, powdered milk,  tins of cookies and cakes, powdered potatoes and more, 200 lb of flour. These people were in places without stores and they had to bake their own bread. So there were basics, salt, pepper, tea, coffee, sugar, jam, butter, cereals, spices, I could go on.

    So after two days a crew  brought my ration to my apartment. This was 1000 lb of food. I had a locker to store my food so spent a day putting my food away.

   The North is full of friendly people. People from the apartments looked after me well and saw that I didn't got hungry. They also gave me lots of advice and friendship. there was no being lonely there.

   So like it or not I had 1000 lb of food to play with. I think all the soup was gone by the end of Sept. and then I started on the pork and beans.

   This was still fun but it got more funner later on!




36 comments:

  1. Such an adventure. I know you're in Canada but here's wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving anyway. Take care.

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  2. Not knowing how to use what you had could be tough

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  3. Today I would be terrified living on rations. What if you ran out?

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    1. These were ample rations unless you ate too much of one thing.

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  4. I'm looking forward to the rest of the story!

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    1. It's coming and you'll never guess what could happen next!

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  5. well, this is going to be interesting, especially if you get down to nothing but flour left.

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    1. There was lots of food in this ration. When I met the micro manager some of the flour even got used. Home economists were used to prepare the ration.

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  6. This is an interesting story to read Red, I like it very much.

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  7. No fresh food at all, it seems? What an interesting life you have lived, Red. I'm enjoying learning about all this. :-)

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    1. The ration was good nutrition wise if you were careful with meal planning. We had some raisins , prunes, apples and figs that were dried.

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  8. such a different life... glad you can look back on it now as an adventure. be well, red. i hope you have many active adventures to come. bless you, always.

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    1. It was different and I'm glad it happened. It changed my life forever.

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  9. What an amazing adventure. I hope you kept a detailed journal.

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    1. I did not keep a journal. I'm only now starting to write things down.

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  10. I didn't know you had to give up a vote to work in public service at least in that time and place.

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    1. At that time , in Canada , you gave up the right to vote.

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  11. I've just read from the beginning of your story to now. This is so interesting! Can't wait to read more.

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    1. Thanks. It's a little different than the deep south.

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  12. This is such a great adventure to read about. Thank goodness you got plenty of food.

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    1. It was great adventure and the passage of time makes it all the more interesting.

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  13. Hi Red, Wow, you have been busy! I caught the first installment last Friday and have just now gone back and read the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Great story! Comparatively speaking, my first couple of years of teaching were nowhere near as exciting! :-) Back in those days boys were not encouraged to take home economics and that is where the girls learned how to cook and take care of the home. Now we are all about equality and I sure wish I had taken home economics. Well, I had to learn all that stuff on my own, kind of like you did. Looking forward to the next part of the story! Thank you for your kind Thanksgiving message on my blog. Have a great day, Red!

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  14. Oh I cannot wait to read the "funner" later on stuff. Great stories Red I am enjoying. B

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    1. Thanks. I'm just about at the end of the comedy of errors part.

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  15. What an adventure! I bet the meals toward that last of the year were sparse and perhaps not very tasty pairings:)

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  16. Catching up on this fascinating story. Most interesting indeed...:)

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  17. Interesting story ! I enjoyed this.
    Lisa

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  18. I can't imagine what it was like to have all that food at once and having to ration yourself on what to eat to make sure you were getting what you needed nutrition wise. I'm sure glad you weren't lonely though.

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  19. Rather than eating all that canned food, couldn't you have gone out fishing on the river or asked the locals for a few moose steaks to supplement your diet?

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