Search results

When I was an adolescent, I read a lot of Ernest Hemingway. Yesterday I searched for reasons about why he committed suicide, and came across this 1920 article he wrote about camping out. A tight, direct prose similar to his later novels...

The Final Act: Barging North Part 2 Our 25 plastic bins, plus one canoe and one sled would soon be heading down river toward Inuvik, over 1550 km (950 miles) away. The total cost to barge 585 kg (1290 pounds) of groceries and gear was only $225.00 – a fantastic price, I thought. Our supplies...

Now my interest is piqued!

Interesting observation, KO. Bern and his wife Margaret spent a week at the cabin in September, just to try things out. I don’t remember exactly when, but soon after that, Bern told me that he thought two cords would not be enough. But he only left two.. When we arrived at the cabin in January...

Thanks Gamma. When we moved to Preeceviile in 2008 we adopted 5 older sled dogs. When they left us, we adopted a rescue Siberian Husky in 2017. I should have kept daily notes, as I would have a zillion stories to write about. But alas, I did not keep notes. So I got nothin’. Too bad, because...

Barging North Part 1 On Saturday morning, August 22nd, Kathleen and I prepared to head up the road to Hay River. Kathleen’s brother Frank, and his wife Patricia joined us for our adventure, and they looked forward to their first-ever visit to the Northwest Territories. They had also generously...

A Bump in the Road Part 3 What do I think? I’ll tell you what I think. I think that I’m going to the cabin in January. I don’t really need to see the cabin first. And we have already talked about bringing in firewood before freeze-up anyway. Nothing has really changed. I’ll have to get back to...

How would you compare this Coleman propane lantern to the old standby Coleman white gas lantern?

What are you using for lighting? Very bright!

Thanks for your sympathy, Ralph. Probably undeserved, but certainly appreciated. And now, A Bump in the Road Part 2 Back at work the next day I relayed the good news to my colleagues, who suggested that I should take sick leave while I recovered from surgery. “No need to waste your leave on...

A Bump in the Road Part 1 My appointment as Associate Dean in the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at the University of British Columbia included secretarial support. I considered myself very fortunate that Lynn brought such skill and enthusiasm to her position and responsibilities. I therefore...

Thanks Rob. I personally appreciate your donation, especially because you’re an infrequent poster. It shows that you value the site. I don’t know what you mean by “not much,” but just think if 500 infrequent (or even frequent) posters donated just $10.00. That would total $5,000, which would...

Hard to believe.

Ah, Shucks, Ralph.😇 Planning Our Escape Part Three On March First, 1998, I prepared the following purchase order to send to Craig MacDonald, in Dwight, Ontario. Of all the suppliers listed in the Conover book, Craig provided the most complete selection of both clothing and equipment. He also...

Planning Our Escape Part 2 In addition to finding a cabin, another, more serious, and now quite nagging obstacle remained – our lack of winter experience. I grew up in Sacramento, in California’s Great Central Valley. Only very rarely did ice form on our backyard fishpond. One winter, when I...

Planning Our Escape Part 1 To pursue our dream, Kathleen and I both applied for one-year leaves of absence from our positions at the University of British Columbia. Leaves of absence at the University of British Columbia normally coincide with the academic year. Accordingly, our leaves had been...

Thanks very much for your kind words. Glad to share my story with a kindred spirit. It makes posting rewarding and gratifying. Next posting i start with the actual planning.

I will tackle that later, Glenn; but, for now, Preface Part 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like many other readers of Canadian history, I also admire John Hornby, a more recent...

Patrick, and others, My planning detail is now in the thread Planning for 5-month isolated winter followed by 1-month canoe trip at beak-up in the Forum General Discussion and advice.

Several people in the thread in the Winter Storage Question asked me for more planning details regarding how Kathleen and I planned for our winter sojourn north of the Arctic Circle (Our Winter of Content in Canada's Western Arctic), followed by a canoe trip down the Anderson River to the...