camp life postponed

Well, if anyone out there is looking for updates as to how life in camp is going they may be waiting for roughly 10 more weeks to find out. Got a call from the camp manager the other day telling me, as well as everyone else, that the camp is shutting down through November/December and reopening (hopefully, if you believe them) in January to 170 man camp. So, for the next two months I am unemployed and living with the Mrs full time now.

Originally thought of going on EI but realized that with me trying to sponsor my Mrs to Canada, going on social assistance would not be the best of ideas. Which leads me to look around for work. Going to take a few days, however, first to have a bit of down time and then hopefully will find something either temp through the Xmas season or perm in the south that is decently paying so that I can hang out with my Mrs.

So, will try now to convert this blog from a 'whats wrong with camp life' to a sort of experiment documentation blog of cooking experiments and disasters. Just recently I attempted a Salmon Wellington (salmon fillet baked in a puff pastry shell with spinach and a mushroom paste inside) that turned out not too bad except that with no sauce on it I was told that it was sort of bland tasting. Granted, there were no spice flavorings but all you could taste was a distinct taste of moist salmon as well as the buttery puff pastry. Going to attempt it again over the Christmas holidays when my parents are down and even might try to find a butter sauce recipe to make to put on top of it.

Oh, another thing to mention. We adopted two new kittens from the SPCA.

This one is Dawn. She was originally named Carly Simon but had her name changed upon adoption. Shy and timid she was extremely hard to get out of her shell. Took her about 3 days before she would stand still long enough for us to come up and pet her once before scurrying away to a dark, hard to reach corner. Though now she is opening up and even coming up to us when we sit and watch TV and looks for hugs and cuddles. A true hunter at heart, when we shake the toys around for her instead of pouncing with youthful abandonment with hopes of catching something, she will sit there and study the item, find a recurring movement pattern and then time her attacks to grab it in one shot. Would be rather boring except we often bounce the ball or play toy up and down and it is rather funny to watch her head bounce up and down like a spectator at table tennis match if the ball was going 1000 km/h across the table.



This one is Dusk. He was originally Tom Jones but, again, name change upon adoption. He, as his name suggests, is the total opposite of his sister Dawn. He is an explorer at heart, constantly wandering around the place looking for nooks and crannies not to hide in but find out 'what lives in there?' He has no problems with being picked up and cuddled and every time he is picked up he instantly starts to purr like a little motor boat. Where his sister calmly watches her prey before pouncing, Dusk takes the more aggressive approach to hunting. If Dawn's approach was to be thought of in way of a sniper with a high powered rifle watching closely to get one shot for the prey; Dusk's approach would be that of a guy carrying four sawed off shot-guns who just dives towards what he is after, shooting all the way and hoping that he hits something he is after. So many times poor Dawn has been the victim of a 'drive by pawing' when Dusk sees the toy and starts jumping and swatting at the air hoping to make contact with something.

They were originally part of a 5 kitten litter but we were told by the people at the SPCA that the whole litter had some upper breathing problems that lead to complications and the other three were hit worse than these two and had to be put down. Our two were not as bad and fought back to overcome their health problems and were given a clean bill of health. They actually spent very little time at the SPCA since they were brought out of isolation on the 20th, neutered/spayed on the 21st and put up for adoption on the 22nd and were in their cage for about 5 minutes (we saw the lady come out with them and put them in the cage and then go to get their food and descriptive paperwork) before we decided to start the paperwork to adopt them.

I think one of the reasons we decided to adopt them was that when they got to the cage they both ran to the back and just stood there staring outwards. The cage was at the right height so that the Mrs could look in and see them perfectly but I, being a little taller, had to tilt my head to the side and lean down a little to look past the paperwork hanging on the door as well as the height of the cage. We think Dusk saw me cause as soon as I looked down at him he tilted his head the same way I was and looked out at me as if he was saying "ok, so this is how we look and greet people? if you want to, oh strange one". Dawn just sat there with a furry Ewok looking face like she didn't know what was happening. So, we had to adopt them both since you can't break up a brother/sister litter that had been through something like they had.

They are the perfect complimentary pair and as soon as we can teach them what they can and can not jump up on, as well as what they can and can not bite/nibble on, they will be the perfect house companions.

parole again....

well time to leave camp. Gonna be out for 3 weeks this time, which is both a good and a bad thing. Good thing cause I get to spend 3 weeks with the Mrs relaxing and all...bad thing cause that is 3 weeks with no money coming in. So, definitly gonna be spending quality time hanging out at home with the Mrs, trying to have fun on a tight budget.

Time in camp this time around has been interesting. Honestly, there hasn't been that many stories to tell, or the stories are basically the same thing over again just different characters but the plot stays the same. Though I asked if my rotation could be changed so that I am not in for 2 weeks with Tony 2 but instead move it so that my entire time in camp matches Curtis'. Why? well, when Tony 2 is in camp the menu looks like 'deep fried sole, roasted chicken breasts, pot roast', very normal, dependable...dare we say 'boring' food. Then Curtis comes in and all of a sudden we have 'lobster stuffed sole, veal Parmesan cutlets, rack of lamb and spatzel'. Even when Curtis does chicken breasts he goes more than just take the breast, sprinkle seasoning on it and bake it...he makes a rub, marinates it for a day, throws it in a hot pan for a second and then bakes it. Ginger beef for Chinese food is more than just cut up beef with flour (AAHHHHH, my deepest apologies for the previous spelling boondoggle) deep fried with plum sauce mixed with some ginger. He actually makes a ginger sauce using nearly 1lbs of ginger.

Yesterday we made spatzel. Normally it is a german dumpling like noodle that is pushed through a noodle press, but due to lack of equipment we had to improvise. Instead of long noodles we ended up with little small niblet noodles. When I say 'we' it is not the royal we of him doing all the work and I take credit, we did it together. He got the recipe, I assembled the items, I mixed the eggs while he added the flour to get the right consistency, he did one batch quickly to show me how it is done and then walked away while I finished off the rest of the batches. They turned out really good. The noodles are going to be cooked with the veal cutlets on Thursday on the grill with garlic butter and then tossed with the gravy and served. I got a little bowl, as well as a minor cooking lesson, and they tasted great. However, due to the guys not liking to eat anything out here out of the ordinary, they probably wont touch it.

Oh, another thing that he did was made salmon wellington. I have always wanted to try beef wellington but can never find a place in Edmonton that serves it. I have always heard Ramsay screaming how the beef wellington is over cooked/under cooked/raw or just plain 'crap' on Hell's Kitchen and have always wondered what it would be like. For the salmon wellington he made a duck-cell (that is how it sounds, but no idea how it is spelt. Chopped up mushrooms with diced onion and garlic, cooked till almost dry, thickened with cream and cooled), seared the salmon steaks, stacked spinach/salmon/duck-cell and then wrapped it in a puff pastry like a pizza pocket and baked golden brown. Served with a nice butter sauce, the dish was amazing. However, he made 7 of them for 60 men and only two of them went. Guess if fish is not baked in butter and served plain they don't want to eat it.

So, yeah, now I leave camp and head home to spend time with the Mrs. Try my hand at cooking a bit more. Have been told by my parents that I have to practice the salmon wellington myself cause they want to try it. I think I can pull of the wellington whereas the butter sauce a different story. So off I go to rest and recoup. Write more again in three weeks, or possibly sooner if something interesting happens out of camp.

definitions in camp

Thought I would share a little story that is being repeated again and again in the camp kitchen. It involves Radio, the dishwasher and the 1st cook (who was the witness so we know that the dishwasher is no exaggerating like he usually does).

Radio was talking to the dishwasher about doing some other jobs around the camp during the slow times in the kitchen. Personally, this in itself boggles my mind considering that the dining area appliances have not been cleaned in two weeks, as I was the last one to clean them all when I was the dishwasher and it is part of the dishwashers job during the day to keep the dining area clean and in order. The current dishwasher just comes in, does the dishes that have piled up over the 45 minute period complaining about how cooks make too many dishes and then disappears for 45 minutes instead of doing the cleaning in the front. But anyways, Radio always tries to tell this dishwasher to go and do other little odd jobs around the camp. So, here is how the conversation played out, though I will take out the swearing cause except for one part it really is not needed. Though if you want, throw in derogatory statements to the dishwasher by Radio and Radio by the dishwasher randomly about every 2nd to 3rd word and you will have the whole conversation:

Radio (R): Ok, when the guys are done with their job you are going to go with them to clean the new camp.

Dishwasher (DW): right, how long will that be?

R: I don't know. Not sure how long it will take them.

D: what are they doing that you dont know how long it will take?

R: they are draining the berm.

D: what is a berm?

R: *scratches his head, looks around in confusion* ummm..a berm...well a berm is...a berm is like...a berm is sort of...*blurts out in frustration* Well, it is a mother F*%*%n berm!

D: *looks in confusion*

1st cook: ok then, thanks for clearing up that confusion.

R: *mutters some curses and derogatory statements at the two and walks off quickly*

So, now of course, after this little conversation happened the whole week has been filled with little snippets of it, plus the whole story. The 1st cook and dishwasher will randomly come by each other and ask "so, exactly what is a berm?" to which the response is exactly what Radio said "well, it is a mother F%&^$ berm!". There is also a twist on the conversation where they will pick random things and ask about them. For example:

"are there any shallots in the fridge?"

"whats a shallot?"

"well, it is a mother F&%^$n shallot!"

so, yeah, those are the people that I get to work with. Today is fly day but does not look promising. Cloud ceiling at 900 feet, freezing rain and high winds are making all contributing to it being iffy that anyone is going to be flying today. Which does not phase me much since I am not flying but the people today are going to be a little annoyed. As long as it is clear for next week. I was also thinking how it is funny that when I am returning to camp to work, I always seem to get the aged/experienced pilot that no matter what the weather is like he will fly and land the plane. It could be total fog as far as the eye can see, so thick that you could literally cut it with a knife and serve it on a piece of bread; or winds blowing like a tornado with rain coming down so much that you might see a 200 year old man out on the tundra building a big boat and telling the rabbits 'no, only two...only two!' with Zeus himself throwing lightening bolts at the plane for target practice and the pilot will fly and land that plane. But when I am leaving camp to go home to the Mrs, I get a pilot that if even one snow flake falls or there is a slight breeze in the air, the pilot deems it unsafe to fly and the whole flight is cancelled. Guess it is just my luck huh? guess we will just see what happens later today and next Wednesday.

what happens when my mind wanders in camp...

Ok, this really doesnt have anything to do with camp, just random thoughts of my idle mind. So, not saying others might find this interesting, just something that popped to my head cause...well, cause I think too much in camp.

Yesterday at dinner the dishwasher, cook and sewage plant worker were talking about wild animals in their region. They were talking about elks, moose and other big animals and where they live in certain regions where the sewage plant worker (we call him 'jr pooh' cause he replaces the main worker 'pooh' or 'pooh sr') lives. They were talking about hunting so of course my mind just zoned out of the conversation since I never really had the chance to go hunting and dont think I would enjoy it either. I happened to zone in just at the moment when the dishwasher asked Jr pooh 'so, can you find any cougars there?'. Now, first thing my mind did was try to figure out how exactly he was going to work in the answer to that one, and sure enough the answer came in a form that I had not expected but the subject and word play was still there. He responded with "it all depends on what bar you look in". The cook and I both got it and I had to tell him that I knew it was coming but wasnt sure how he was going to work it in. I dont think the dishwasher got it so Jr pooh had to answer with the real answer of 'not yet, too late in the season..." and then I zoned out cause they were going about hunting again.

Here is where my mind started to go into its wandering state. I remembered the definition of a 'cougar' as being 'an older woman that is attracted to younger men'. I also remembered that there was actually an equation used to figure out if the woman is a cougar or not. If you take the woman's age, divide it by half and then add 7 to it, that would be the age that the man would have to be or younger for her to be classed as a cougar. So, a 40 year old woman (40 divided in half is 20 add 7 is 27) dating a man 27 years old or younger would be classified as a cougar.

This got me thinking about pushing the limit, cause I am me. If that equation stands, and taken the habit of teens dating younger and younger these days, technically a girl at the age of 14 dating another guy at the age of 14 is actually a cougar, since half of 14 is 7 and add 7 you are at 14 again. Then I though, so that would mean that any girl under the age of 14 that is attracting or 'dating' a guy that is older than 14 is considered a cougar as well? So a girl of 12 (12 divided in half is 6 plus 7 is 13) dating or attracted to a 13 year old guy is a cougar. Interesting....Not going to say comfortable or good to know, but interesting to think about.

I then had to ask the table if an older woman attracted to a younger guy is a cougar, what is the term used for an older man attracted to a much younger woman. Apparently the table agreed on the term 'creep' or 'creepy'. Anyone know if there is a different term used?

Yeah, not really interesting, just something that happens when my mind wanders out without a chaperone.

thanksgiving in camp

Ahhh, thanksgiving in camp. Gotta love it. It seems that last year there was a major blunder of epic propotions in one of the camps in that they did not serve turkey on thanksgiving sunday. This wasnt because the cooks didnt cook it but because the manager forgot to order it so there was no bird to roast. This year, either the manager wanted to make sure that we had enough turkey or a mix up in the shipping people at the store but we had 20 turkeys in camp. Apparently we had 4 cases of it already (two birds a case giving us 8 birds already) and the manager wrote down '8' on the order sheet for more turkey. The suppliers sent us 8 more cases (16 birds in total). Now the manager was defending himself saying the order sheet said 'turkeys 8-11kg each' so he took that to meaning he was ordering either 8-11kg turkies, but the suppliers might be going by the thought that it meant the case would have two 8-11kg each turkey per case. Either which way, we now have a load of turkey waiting in camp to be eaten.

So supper last night for us was turkey, baked lemon garlic salmon, alfredo pasta, mashed taters, stuffing, green peas and glazed carrots/turnips with turkey gravy. Also, we had the dessert fridge pretty much full of pumpkin pie as well as a few cheesecakes and apple turnovers. I ate too much turkey and also took a nice container full of stuffing and turkey to bed with me. Ahhh, nothing like a good thanksgiving feast.

Though I have found out that not only do I have the taste buds of a water buffalo (when I tried the pork gravy one of the cooks was making and told him it tasted 'beefy') but I now have been told I have the smelling ability of...well, basically I have no smelling ability whatsoever. I was in charge of making the mashed potatoes, which in itself is a comic point since I have screwed up so many potato dishes already under the eye of the camp manager. First was the 'scalloped potato incident of Misery' where I used so much pepper my mistake that they actually came out grey instead of creamy white; second was my 'potatoes in roast beef drippings' (cant remember the name of them off the top of my head) that I over cooked (even though I followed the recipe) and they turned out to be mashed potatoes in gravy and could not be served; fourth was when I steamed potatoes for duchess and set them out to 'rest' and dry out but left them too long and they turned to a glue in the mixing bowl that could not be saved; and the final was my duchess potatoes that I listened to one of the cooks and didnt put any liquids in and it came out like towers of concrete. So I mixed the taters with the seasoning and milk and then decided that I did not want to walk all the way out to the milk machine to get more milk since they were still a little dry but instead went to get some cream from the cooler. I brought out one carton and took a sniff and thought that it had a sort of funny smell to it but was questioning it. The manager was walking by so I mentioned that I thought it was slightly funny and he took a smell of it.

I remember a comedian had a routine about how men and women differ when it comes to keeping things in the fridge. One thing he mentioned was about the milk. A woman will keep milk until there is a slight odor and then it is pitched whereas a man goes by the 'head snap' technique. He smells the milk and if his head snaps back less than 4 inches from the container then it can still stay in the fridge, any more than 4 inches and it gets pitched. Well, judging by the camp managers reaction to the cream smell it not only should have been pitched but pitched into a shuttle that is heading off in to deep space at warp speed. I honestly did not think it smelled all that bad. Though I think one factor for him is that he hates milk. He wont even drink or smell fresh milk because he says that smells horrible and disgusting to him, so slightly sour might be to him like 2 year old chunky milk to me.

So we went through 4 cartons of cream before I finally told them that I could not smell anything from the one I was holding and he smelled it and said that this was a good one. Apparently cream/milk has no smell whatsoever. It should be like creamy water in his world. So I had to dump the 4 cartons (which we were surprised were sour since they were dated the 13 of Oct) and I took the last carton to the mashed potatoes. Used a good portion of it and I have to say that for once I had success with my mashed taters. Normally they are soft and creamy in the bowl but as soon as they hit the line they start to firm up till the end of dinner shift where it is like cutting out a block of concrete to put on your plate. This time they stayed soft and creamy right through till the end of service.

The best part about thanksgiving is now to come. We cooked way too much turkey and now have nearly two birds in the fridge. We all know what that means, right? hot turkey sandwiches loaded with gravy as well as turkey pot pie, turkey a la king, cream of turkey soup...oh yeah, glorious left over turkey for at least a week :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

May your stuffing be tasty. May your turkey be plump.


May your potatoes ' n gravy have nary a lump.


May your yams be delicious. May your pies take the prize.


May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs.


MAY YOU ALL HAVE A BLESSED THANKSGIVING!

thanks A.G. for the poem and well wish in the email.

strippers and running a slow treadmill

I will never feel bad about going to a strip club again and spending $45 on drinks and tossing a few loonies at the strippers. Ok, I am pretty sure I have shattered some good guy image that I have had and I am sure I just gave my mother a heart attack but figure being 30+ and male I can admit to going to a strip club a couple times in my life. Anyways, why would I never feel bad about wasting my money on such pursuits? Let me tell you a story about one of the girls here in camp.

She went to New York with a friend for a little over a week. Did a lot of things and had a pretty decent time though has said she will never return to New York ever again. Seems it is too crowded and dirty for her liking. One of the stories that she had to tell was that she went to a strip club with her friend (male platonic friend) and had a little bit much to drink and ended up walking away with a US$7500 bill for both her friend and her. Of course we had to double check the amount she said and it was $7500. We had to ask what the heck could you do in a strip club for $7500 and how many days were they in the club to spend that kind of money. Apparently it was in a 7 hour stint that they managed to spend that kind of money. Apparently she was drinking vodka and sprites at US$17 a glass (which I have not seen prices like that for alcohol since I paid $22 in Singapore for a paralyzer) and after a few too many of those decided that they required a room with two strippers. Of course, now you are running a $2000/hour room charge. I hear that she was in the room for 3 hours. So after a $6000 for the room and a $1500 alcohol and other expense bill, they left the bar at 4 am. What is the lesson that she learned after all this? some people in camp should NOT be set free on civilization after spending 6 weeks in a small remote camp in the middle of the arctic.

On a different note, I am definitly finding camp a bit different this time in than all the other times. Our numbers have dropped greatly in the last two weeks and you can sure feel the difference. When I got to camp 2 weeks ago we were at 104 people and I was in the dishpit. I was jumping during lunch and dinner rushes (which I really enjoyed cause it makes the day and night go by sooo much faster when you are busy). Then when I got to 2nd cook we had numbers as high as 111 and as low as 95. I was making salads using the large plastic containers and would have enough left over at the end of the evening to put in a half pan to serve for lunch. Now, in the span of 5 days we dropped from 97 people down to 62. What is that like? I am relating the feeling at the moment to one of two things.

Have you ever been shopping in a mall and you know exactly where you are going and what you need to get. So you get in to the mall, dash to the store and find the exact item you want, rush out of the store and are halfway back to your car when all of a sudden the hallway packs with people and you have to slow down from your mad dash to a crawl because you find yourself walking slowly behind an 80 year old grandmother and her 3 darling little grandchild that can't seem to decide on the same direction but keep walking exactly where you want to walk. Your insides and legs want to fly ahead but you physically can't and you just trudge along at a slow pace.

OR

You are on a tread mill and going for your daily jog. You are really pounding off the miles at a really fast pace (possibly hitting number 9 on the speed scale) and are really happy with your progress. Suddenly someone (possibly your annoying little brother/sister or jokester wife/husband) and smiles at you and presses the 2 button for speed. Suddenly your feet, and body, are going way faster than the treadmill treads are going and you find yourself slammed in to the front part, causing you to lose your footing and stumble uncontrollablly backwards off the machine and hit solid pavement. However, your legs and feet, still accustomed to the fast pace of the treadmill, are still moving forward but that darn floor has decided to stay stationary and you find yourself moving forward onto the treadmill again but tripping and falling flat on your face.

So, yeah, basically that is what I find myself doing with the smaller numbers. I fly ahead with my daily routine, get all the fixings for the salads and start prepping and doing my work and then all of a sudden remember that I am making salads for 60 and not 110 now and look down and see that I have a full bus tub full of the salad I was making when 1/4 of that tub would be fine. I try to stop myself but keep feeling like I should be doing something. After rushing around for so long trying to do everything, now when I have nothing to do I feel like I am missing something. But I had best get used to things since we are supposedly going to drop again in numbers from 60 down to 30. The conflicting rumours are that it might happen as soon as mid of this month but also some are saying nearing the end of Dec. Will have to wait and see what happens.

All I know is that I am happy to partake in the desserts in the dessert fridge (the new baker makes a pecan pie that is absolute heaven in a pie crust) and just enjoying the food that we have.

winter wonder land has arrived

I am not sure when it arrived since I really do not go outside that much. To be honest, I don't go outside at all if I can help it. I arrive on the big yellow bus from the airstrip at the camp, walk in the doors and then stay indoors for the weeks I am in until it is check out time and I walk out the doors I came in to go to the big yellow bus to take me to the plane. So when someone told me that it was a winter wonderland out there I was confused till I ventured to the back loading dock and looked outside, briefly. It appears that we have gotten a dump of snow. It is about 1 inch deep now and has stuck around for a good few days now. I am guessing on the time because it is recently they have mentioned winter wonderland and when I looked out it was still there and no one has mentioned repeated snow fall. So I am guessing that means that the snow came a few days ago and has decided to stick around. So, winter is finally in the air and hear and I can be happy (even more so) that I have an inside job.

Not really sure if the people here have actually smartened up or if I have just become habitualized to their stupidity, but not that many funny stories happening. About the only thing that has happened that makes me shake my head and go "What the hell?" is the other day when we didn't have a menu for next week. Normally we have a menu planned about 2 weeks ahead so that the cook can pull meats and I can prep up the veggies required for the upcoming days. Nothing worse than having a busy day and walking in to the kitchen and the cook going "oh, yeah, by the way, gonna need 2 buckets of carrots peeled and sliced for dinner tonight". Though I do admit that it is good training for when the Mrs and I have kids and I am tucking them in to bed at 8pm and they tell me "oh yeah, by the way, I need a pirate costume and 80 cupcakes and 50 cookies for school tomorrow for pirate day" Anyways, so the cook had the entire menu up for the next two weeks and Radio comes in, looks at the menu and erases the whole thing saying it was a bad menu and he would put up the menu. That was about a week and a half ago. For a week and a half we had no menu, no idea what was coming up and what was going to happen. Finally on Sunday afternoon he walks in with a menu (not for two weeks but for one week) and holds it up and announces that he has the menu like he had just mapped human DNA. Our menu week runs from Monday to Sunday, so we had no clue what we were doing the next day for a menu.

Oh, one thing was mentioned the other day that I had to laugh over. The dishwasher and 1st cook were all standing around the doorway looking out at the two girls that were in the dining room. They were talking about them and mentioned how they both had put on a lot of weight since starting at camp 5 months ago. They mentioned things like how the one girl used to wear nice fitting jeans or spandex tights around camp and all. Now she is wearing baggy jogging pants but you can still see that they are becoming less baggy as the months go along. I walked over and asked what they were talking about and they told me that they were noticing how all the girls were putting on weight. I looked around and then said "you know, I think it is a case that we all put on weight when we are in camp but we just notice it on the women cause we are always looking and checking them out. I mean, how often have you checked out Shane or Bill?" Both of them looked at me, then at each other and got a sort of blank look on their face. I walked away and let them ponder that one for a bit.

close encounter of the furry kind

Looks like we have had our first kitchen ‘close encounter of the furry kind’. Now we are not new to the furry wild life coming by the camp for a quick look see and all. For instance, in Windy we had Harry and Sammy the sicsic that kept coming by for a quick visit. I still can’t fathom how Harry would run in through the back kitchen door and know the exact route to take that would take him through the kitchen, dining room, down the hall and apparently out his escape hole back outside the camp so that he could walk around the camp to the kitchen door and try it again. We had dear old Cheeko in Tahera. That funky little fox that would come up to the door and wait for people to come out with the look on his face like “so, you gonna feed me or what?”. We have even had ravens dive bomb out of the blue sky and take steaks right off the BBQ, possibly burning their face and feet as they did it. There was even a time in another camp when Ron went to the back loading dock to get something and he saw a furry animal (he swears it was a wolverine but could have been a fox or possibly a small wolf) inside the camp in the loading dock. It was only after he hit the table with an oven mitt that the furry creature disappeared outside again. Then of course there was my first encounter of furry creatures of George the wolverine that was scratching outside the camp on the wall just by my bed and when I scratched back to see if I could startle him he felt that there was food on the other side of the wall and started to scratch faster. However, I think they all take a back seat to this close encounter.

It seems that the other night our night janitor/breakfast cook/dishwasher (we are a little short handed at the moment) went out to the back entrance for a smoke. It seems that during the spring/summer/autumn months it is more enjoyable to have a smoke outside than it is to walk down to the smoke room and sit in there and smoke. He was on his way out and had just opened the door and had one foot outside when he stopped and sensed something was wrong. He looked down and to the right and that is when he saw it.
Now, picture this. A door to the camp and that opens out to a landing deck. The deck is about 8 feet long by maybe 4 feet or so wide and runs alongside of the wall of the camp. Right outside the door attached to the deck is a set of stairs leading down to the ground. So, basically it forms an ‘L’ shape where the vertical part of the L is the deck and the horizontal part of the L is the steps leading down and the door is at the point where the two meet.

Now, he is standing at the door point and right at the end of the deck, standing on the ground with one paw on the deck and standing somewhat up is a bear. The way he tells the story is that he stood there for a few seconds with the look of “oh my god, is that a bear? Never been this close to one before” on his face and the bear apparently had a look of “oh my god, is that a human? Never been this close to one before” on it’s face. He then slowly stepped back inside and closed the door for a second and then got that “am I going crazy?” sort of thought so he cracked open the door and looked outside and sure enough the bear was still there. It would have been like when Tweety Bird in the cartoons goes “I taught I taw a puddy tat!” and then looks again and goes “I did, I did dee a puddy tat!”.

Of course, after that night he now goes to work with his camera and carries it out with him whenever he goes for a smoke, just in case. Though in my experience I could tell him that it won’t help. Countless times I have gone out and have seen nice sunsets/rises or furry creatures or amazing birds out on the tundra and then carried my camera around to work for weeks with no sightings, but as soon as you don’t have your camera, they all come out and almost tap dance down the tundra as a way of mocking you for not having a camera.

Other than that, life out here has been sort of dull. Well, sort of dull except we have been given a whole load of work on us. Went from dishwasher to 2nd cook on Wednesday and for some reason we were supposed to go down in numbers from 90 to 60 people on Wednesday but went up to 110. Of course, we all plan the schedule for the 60 people and have a few people in camp so now that it is 110 we are taking on extra positions. Our breakfast cook is the night janitor and morning dishwasher, I am making sandwiches and doing breakfast prep cause he is busy with his night janitor; the baker also helps out with the breakfast in the morning; one of our housekeepers is the day janitor and housekeeper while the other is just a housekeeper. I would say that the only person in camp that hasn’t taken on extra duties to help make all the work possible during the day is the 1st cook, who seems to have stuck with just his duty of preparing meals. He is also the only one in camp that seems to have the time to take his coffee break in the morning, full lunch break, coffee break in the afternoon, break in the middle of the afternoon as well as a supper break. Funny how that sort of thing happens I guess.