Canada Day, 1967

July 1, 2017. So fifty years ago today, I was working for Canico in northern Manitoba. From left to right in the picture that follows, Eric Reich, me, and Rodney Spence. Canada Day, 1967. Canada's 100th birthday. The entire country was celebrating, and we were in a tent in the middle of nowhere. By this time we had probably been in the bush for a month or more. Saw the re-supply Otter once a week. If there was ever a time to break out the bottle of rye, this was it.

So we did.

And if you look closely, you can see that we did a pretty good job on that bottle.

Now you have to understand this. Canico treated its workers well. But when it came to creature comforts, maybe not so well.

For a bed, the company provided a canvas sheet sewn together on the long edge, forming a kind of tube.

When we set up camp - which we did every couple of weeks, moving to a new job - we would have to chop down (axe, not chain saw) a couple of poles to insert into the canvas tube to be spread out into a cot. The bedposts likewise needed to be chopped down and hammered into the ground inside the tent, along with spreader posts at the head and the foot of the bed. Additional posts might be needed for bracing.

So now back to Canada Day 1967, Canada's 100th birthday, and the bottom of the bottle of rye.

Eric, the party leader, whose cot was kitty-corner from mine, set up his camera on his bed and set the timer. He then joined Rodney and I, already sitting on my bed. But when he sat down beside me, my bed broke. We three sat on the ground while the camera timer ticked away and finally took the picture.

THIS picture: