{"id":5511,"date":"2020-08-23T21:22:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T01:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=5511"},"modified":"2020-08-23T21:34:08","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T01:34:08","slug":"episode-98-food-good-and-bad-ailments-violence-and-isnt-that-funny-an-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=5511","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 98 FOOD…good and bad, AILMENTS, VIOLENCE and ISN’T THAT FUNNY…AN OVERVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 98     FOOD\u2026good and bad, AILMENTS, VIOLENCE, and ISN\u2019T THAT FUNY\u2026AN OVERVIEW  <\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
August 2020<\/div>\n

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This was the Dawson City, General Store in the Yukon as it appeared<\/div>\n
in 1961.   <\/div>\n
The building was slowly sinking into the permafrost each year.   This picture has nothing to do with the story that follows.  My job<\/div>\n
for ten summers was as unique as the  Dawson City hardware store.  <\/div>\n

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FOOD FOLLOWS\u2026GOOD AND BAD<\/div>\n
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THEN AILMENTS\u2026FROM TOOTHACHE TO PILES TO AXE ERRORS<\/div>\n

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THEN  VIOLENCE\u2026VERY LITTLE<\/div>\n

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THEN  \u201cISN\u2019T THAT FUNNY?\u201d…<\/div>\n

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Dinner at our fly camp in summer of 1964.   After the supper of wormy stew we went <\/div>\n
back  to the good  staple food  of  pork and beans.  That is  Bob Bartlett<\/div>\n
pouring condensed  milk onto something and beside him is Serge Lavoie.  <\/div>\n

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This captures what life  is like in he bush\u2026cooking over an open fire. Very rough and unpleasant. in this case<\/div>\n
 the fire  is much too large but it was  made in the pouring rain when we  took a lunch <\/div>\n
time  break\u2026and tried to dry our socks.  Fires were always carefully extinguished.  Never once do I remember a fire<\/div>\n
causing damage.   One Question?  Where would you sit here?  Careful, you could<\/div>\n
easily get piles.  Yukon Territory job. 1961.<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch\u2019<\/div>\n
August 2020<\/div>\n

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Many of our jobs had camp cooks, sometimes we ate in diners.   But a  lot of<\/div>\n
the jobs were bush jobs where we were our own  cooks.<\/div>\n

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WHAT WAS GOOD  FOOD?<\/div>\n
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Cooking.  Essential was bacon\u2026needed to grease the pan for both French Toast<\/div>\n
and  Pancakes, both of which we ate often in various forms.  Note the blazing<\/div>\n
axes  in the background.  A  special light axe for marking trails.<\/div>\n

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1) French Toast was great for breakfast as long as the eggs lasted.   Rotten eggs<\/div>\n
made poor French Toast but that never happened.   The nose was  key to freshness.<\/div>\n
French Toast had an added plus factor.  Slabs could be eaten cold at lunch sitting<\/div>\n
on a dry log.   Two meals.  Even three if there were some leftovers for supper.<\/div>\n
2) Peanut butter\u2026could  be slathered  on cold French toast.  Or on anything.  Peanut <\/div>\n
butter could  be eaten with a spoon right from the can or bottle.  No wash  up<\/div>\n
needed.  A perfect food.  And if  too many field  mice found our cook tent then<\/div>\n
peanut butter on a Victor snap  trap solved the problem.  Red squirrels needed <\/div>\n
a rat trap but were also suckers for peanut butter.  Rarely used though.  There was<\/div>\n
no trap big enough for black bears with whom we shared food a few times.<\/div>\n

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3)  Rolled oats cooked fast for breakfast with brown sugar and<\/div>\n
canned or powdered milk.  Then the leftover porridge would cool and form a <\/div>\n
gelatinous  slab for lunch.  The slab could be rolled with marmalade or<\/div>\n
peanut butter in between.  Scrumptious .   Many many lunches of such <\/div>\n
make my mouth water even today. wrapped in wax paper which served the<\/div>\n
double function of starting the lunch time fire for our Billy cans of tea.<\/div>\n

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4) Salami or Polish sausage.  Both kept well.  The flies preferred to lay<\/div>\n
their eggs in the slabs of sowbelly\u2026bacon slabs\u2026rather than the salami<\/div>\n
or Polish sausage.  Why?  I am not sure but suspect the latter were loaded<\/div>\n
with preservatives that the flies sensed  but we did not.<\/div>\n

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5) Pork and Beans.  A camp favourite even though the cans  were often<\/div>\n
too heavy to pack if we were not returning to base camps for a  day<\/div>\n
or two.  Throw in a  slab of butter and more salt and  pepper.  Smell<\/div>\n
was terrific.  Dining like kings and queens.  There were side  effects, of  course,,<\/div>\n
but the side effects were very healthy  Nothing worse than constipation.<\/div>\n
Or, as we called that affliction, \u201cthe screaming shits\u201d.<\/div>\n

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5) Cookies\u2026lots of them.  Usually Peak  Frean shortbreads of  various  shapes.<\/div>\n
But I remember large boxes of David\u2019s cookies on the Quebec job.  I mean large<\/div>\n
\u2026about the size of a small suitcase.  That company made lots of sweet things<\/div>\n
with marshmallow fillings.  We never put limits on consumption that I remember.<\/div>\n

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6) Food for fast consumption.   On deep bush  jobs where food service was by<\/div>\n
bush plane at irregular intervals we would order some fresh  food\u2026like fruit.  Maybe<\/div>\n
a watermelon to eat right away or a six quart basket of peaches.  Oranges were<\/div>\n
best since they kept well.  Sometimes we might even try a pie or cake\u2026again<\/div>\n
for fast consumption the arrival day.  Gorge and starve.<\/div>\n

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7) Drinks.  You might think we would order several cases of ginger ale or Coca cola<\/div>\n
but that did not happen.  Lots of  tea bags and ground coffee.  Hot chocolate made<\/div>\n
with powdered milk was  drinkable but barely so.   Fresh milk was a luxury item.<\/div>\n
Alcohol was never on site which I find strange on reflections because we always<\/div>\n
celebrated the end of a job with a beer or double O.P. (Yukon job).<\/div>\n

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WE  never had alcohol on the job.   After a job, however, we celebrated.  This is my favourite picture  of celebration <\/div>\n
in Ireland in 1960.  Most of these men were our employees and they all enjoyed a pint  of Guinness as did we.<\/div>\n

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8) Bread.  Useful whether fresh or stale.  Old bread got rather crusty but could <\/div>\n
be softened  in the form of French toast as mentioned above.  Mouldy bread<\/div>\n
was garbage but sometimes the mould was  spotty and  could be cut out.<\/div>\n
Sliced bread got mouldy in the first four or five slices\u2026deep in the loaf sometimes<\/div>\n
a  good slice was found.<\/div>\n

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9) Canned Prunes.  The  two terrors we wanted to avoid were Constipation and<\/div>\n
Diarrhea.  Bot are debilitating.  Constipation seemed the most common hence<\/div>\n
the canned  prunes.<\/div>\n

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10)  Pasta\u2026lots of it in the form of Kraft Dinners, and a few attempts at<\/div>\n
 spaghetti with canned sauce\u2026no fancy pastas however like<\/div>\n
Lasagna\u2026too hard to make.   Kraft dinner best.<\/div>\n

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Mrs.  Kennedy was the dominating person in Bonmahon. Ireland job.   She also saw that we ate well.  No rough food like we<\/div>\n
had in our wilderness camps.<\/div>\n

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11)  Mrs. Kennedy, on the Irish job, made my lunch sandwiches filled<\/div>\n
with Lobster.  A delicacy.  But I had never eaten lobster and carefully<\/div>\n
asked her,  \u201cCould you make peanut butter sandwiches?\u201d  She had<\/div>\n
never heard of  peanut butter sandwiches   Both are good.<\/div>\n

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WHAT WAS  BAD FOOD?<\/div>\n

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1) Wieners.  I expect readers would find this wiener aversion surprising  because<\/div>\n
they are fast food items.  Hot dogs\u2026super easy  The problem was that with time<\/div>\n
our wieners exuded a white bluish  substance\u2026preservatives I think.  On he<\/div>\n
Groundhog River job I remember picking up a wiener with one finger\u2026the bluish<\/div>\n
stuff stuck to the finger tip.  Did we eat them anyway?  Not sure.  We ate a lot<\/div>\n
things that were disgusting.<\/div>\n

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2) Sowbelly.  Again I remember the Groundhog River job where the blow flies<\/div>\n
laid  eggs  in our slabs of bacon (really  sowbelly).   Cutting off the contaminated<\/div>\n
end was part of the ritual of breakfast.<\/div>\n

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3)  Canned  meats.  Edible but not pleasant.  We referred  to all cans<\/div>\n
of preserved meat as cans of Clap.<\/div>\n

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4)  Doughnuts.  great when fresh but very soon turned into life preserver rings<\/div>\n
as hard a  bullets.  Of course they could be  dipped in tea.<\/div>\n

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6)  Fresh fruit like grapes,  peaches, pears, cherries, melons.  Wonderfull<\/div>\n
when the airplane  arrived but very soon rotten or fly infested.   We gorged.  <\/div>\n
Then chucked the rotten remainder in the latrine.  There were <\/div>\n
wild berries however.   I was never sure which of the wild berries were<\/div>\n
edible and which were not.  Walter Helstein ate them all so he became our<\/div>\n
berry tester.   Blueberries were easy to get as were swamp apples (orange, large)<\/div>\n
but they were super sweet to an extreme.   Walter ate lots of red berries<\/div>\n
that seemed inedible to me. (Groundhog River job)<\/div>\n

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7) Some dehydrated  packages turned  out to be wormy as mentioned in Episode<\/div>\n
97 but that was not true of all dehydrated food.<\/div>\n

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8) Chocolates\u2026.in candy form or bar form.  Fear of toothache from cavities<\/div>\n
made  all forms of chocolate suspect.  But we  always ordered a couple<\/div>\n
of cases of  chocolate bars.  When  we got a toothache we just had<\/div>\n
to tough it out.  No dentists in the bush.   That applied to any  ailment.  <\/div>\n

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9) Moose meat:  Marjorie was  given a slab of  moose meat to<\/div>\n
cook for the fellows on a short camping venture to Wart Lake.  There<\/div>\n
was no way that the moosemeat could  be made edible using <\/div>\n
normal cooking skills.  Tough as  leather no matter what was done.<\/div>\n

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WHAT AILMENTS DID WE FACE?<\/div>\n

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1) My worst ailment had nothing to do with food.  It was my feet.  The constant<\/div>\n
rubbing of my boots against the undergrowth soon wore through to my <\/div>\n
feet.  Water seeped in and got warmed up by my body  temperature so that<\/div>\n
my feet were cooking.  By the end of some bush jobs my feet were as<\/div>\n
pock marked  as the fields  of France in  World  War I.  Flesh could be peeled.<\/div>\n

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2)   On bush jobs in the Yukon, Alaska, Northern Ontario<\/div>\n
we  always  carried  a  hand  made billy can\u2026a coffee can with a wire loop<\/div>\n
for making tea.   Usually using tea  bags.  It was possible however to make<\/div>\n
Labrador tea  from a common shrub with canoe like leaf shape with fuzzy<\/div>\n
underbelly.   Making tea was easy.  Could  be done anywhere with a small<\/div>\n
fire.  Sitting was the problem.  The undergrowth was often spongy with wet<\/div>\n
mosses of all kinds.  Sitting on the moss  was like sitting on a pillow\u2026a<\/div>\n
wet pillow.  We looked for dry dead logs instead.  Sitting on wet moss<\/div>\n
day after day was crazy.  Piles!   Anyone who has  had  piles  knows<\/div>\n
the discomfort.  We sure did and looked for windfall strewn forest<\/div>\n
floor where there were logs to sit on.<\/div>\n

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3)  Tooth ache\u2026terrible thing.  Constant pain.  happened occasionally.<\/div>\n
Nothing we could do other than tough it out.  I seem to remember suggesting<\/div>\n
we tie a string to a tooth and the other end to the Yukon cabin door.  Slam the <\/div>\n
door and  out comes the tooth.  Only time I remember that working was<\/div>\n
with my brother way back in the years when he trusted my ideas.<\/div>\n

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4)  Food poisoning.  I got that on the Cochrane job from eating rotten<\/div>\n
balogna.  I could not work and spent a couple of days in my sleeping<\/div>\n
bag wondering if I was going to die  Everyone else went to work. My <\/div>\n
only visitor was a big black  bear who arrived when all others were gone.<\/div>\n
No problem.  he or she was just sniffing around the cook  shack where<\/div>\n
some scraps must have been available.<\/div>\n

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5)  Serious cuts with axes.  Using a blazing axe requires a little skill.<\/div>\n
Alway  put blazes on sold trees.   Never try to blaze a leafy branch.  Why not?<\/div>\n
Because branches are elastic.  Hit a branch and it bounces  back.<\/div>\n
Along with the bounce back  comes your blazing axle.  I  remember a particularly<\/div>\n
difficult fellow would just would not learn.  Sliced himself badly with his blazing axe<\/div>\n
and had to be taken out on a emergency  flight.  No  loss.  He was just<\/div>\n
too much trouble to have around. Lazy.  Looking for the easy way. Accident <\/div>\n
prone.<\/div>\n

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6)  Falling.  So  easy to do and a fall could  have serious conseqences<\/div>\n
as happened to Walter Helstein when  he fell on a sharpened picket which<\/div>\n
pierced his hand and was subsequently infected because we couldn\u2019t get<\/div>\n
a plane to pit him up because the weather turned stormy.<\/div>\n

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We warned Walter not step on fallen tree trunks.  Never step  on a fallen log\u2026to do so was to <\/div>\n
possibly slip and fall headlong into whatever was on the other side. Step over. In Walter\u2019s case sharpened<\/div>\n
pickets like the Viet Cong used in the Viet Nam war were low to the ground on the other side.<\/div>\n
Freshly cut by lone cutters.  Lethal.  Easy  to<\/div>\n
get hurt.  Walter was  too old for the job  Perhaps sixty.  He  couldn\u2019t step  over logs.<\/div>\n
The end result was tragic (as mentioned in earlier episode), poor Walter lay in the tent for days<\/div>\n
moaning as  infection spread.  When float plane could  finally land, Walter was in very bad<\/div>\n
shape and spent a long time in hospital recovering\u2026months.  All  from a single misstep pmtp<\/div>\n
a moss covered windfall.  We never saw Walter again.  Missed him.<\/div>\n

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WAS VIOLENCE COMMON?<\/div>\n

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Nerves get frayed on tough bush jobs where two  or three men have to live together<\/div>\n
under poor conditions.  Tension develops over small things. ‘ Who ate all the chocolate bars?<\/div>\n
My pack frame load is heavier than yours, you bastard.   Let\u2019s rotate he lead job when blazing  <\/div>\n
trail.  You jerk, your goddamn belt buckle has made the compass wrong.\u2019<\/div>\n

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It is  very easy to get on someone\u2019s nerves even in the best OF jobs.  On a bush  job<\/div>\n
tensions occur fast.  How  are they best handled?   Here  I turn to Floyd Faulkner<\/div>\n
again (Groundhog River job\u20263 months together on a ground crew .searching for anomalies found<\/div>\n
by an airborne crew)   Even if compass bearings were correct we sometimes made <\/div>\n
errors.  One time, however, was really bad.  \u201cAl, you take the lead with the compass,<\/div>\n
we\u2019ll do the blazing.\u201d  Big mistake.  My  Boy Scout belt buckle was big and  bronze.  it <\/div>\n
deflected the compass.  We were hopelessly  lost by the time that error was discovered.<\/div>\n
Floyd\u2019s reaction was laughter.  We faced hours of labour retracing our steps, correlating<\/div>\n
our position with the aerial  photographs.  I was 17 years old  and threw a hissy  fit\u2026began<\/div>\n
thrashing at the jungle undergrowth and  yelling like a  stuck pig. \u201cGoddamn bastardly bush\u201d<\/div>\n
 Floyd thought that was even funnier.<\/div>\n
From that incident I got the nickname \u201cFucking Al\u201d which was  a term of endearment.<\/div>\n
Another incident on the same job made me look like a fool.  We had to pack  our fly camp<\/div>\n
out to the Groundhog River from some distance east\u2026miles.  There had  been big storm<\/div>\n
and  the tents and fly sheets were wet and terribly heavy.  A real bitch.   \u201cBob, my load<\/div>\n
is way heavier than  yours.\u201d  \u201cOK,  Al. we\u2019ll switch loads.\u201d  Another stupid incident.<\/div>\n
Bob had  the big wet tent.  It was so heavy that by the  time I reached the Groundhog<\/div>\n
River, my packframe was bent into a curved piece  of useless junk.  Bob and Floyd<\/div>\n
were  amused.   Make me look like a fool, right?  <\/div>\n

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All the years I worked for Dr. Paterson there were no fights.  Quite amazing because <\/div>\n
the job was very tough and the communities were sometimes not prone to<\/div>\n
lovable relationships.  But no violence.  On one occasion Dr. Paterson was amused\u2026<\/div>\n
no, incredulous..when  the<\/div>\n
Alaskan branch of  Humble  Oil armed us all with heavy duty rifles. Our company<\/div>\n
never gave us weapons for fear we would  shoot each other.  True. <\/div>\n
No need. <\/div>\n
Really, we had  a good  time together nearly all the time.  That was why<\/div>\n
I loved the job so much.<\/div>\n

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ONE CASE OF VIOLENCE IN TEN YEARS<\/div>\n

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One summer I took a  survey job with the Ontario Department of Highways building <\/div>\n
Highway 17 across Northern Ontario.  We were based  in a trailer camp outside<\/div>\n
 the village of Hunta.  Eight of us about 18years old. .    An age when stupid<\/div>\n
things happen.  One of our crew was \u2018disturbed\u2019\u2026really a bit wacko.  John (no<\/div>\n
last name  used here) just did not fit in.  He could not fit in anywhere.  There was<\/div>\n
something  seriously wrong with him.   It took a while to surface but when he snapped<\/div>\n
we were lucky that no one died.   Some  of the boys picked on John as teen  agers<\/div>\n
are prone to do.  Like a big Boy Scout,  I took John on my survey crew and got along<\/div>\n
OK \u2026 not terrific but OK.  At least until one day when I<\/div>\n
signalled  John to move to the right or left just to keep our line straight as we could<\/div>\n
John turned \u2026 looked at me\u2026.and threw his blazing axe  at me.  Missed by a foot<\/div>\n
or two.  But there was  no reason for the sudden  anger.  I was least likely to make<\/div>\n
fun of him.   Privately I told  the crew foreman who was reaching a point where he<\/div>\n
realized  John was  a problem.  <\/div>\n

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That night John did something I can never forget.  We were all asleep  or<\/div>\n
dozing in the trailer.   The night was black,  Suddenly there was a loud crash<\/div>\n
at one of the bunks.   John had got up silently.  Holding a large granite boulder<\/div>\n
high above one of the guys who had teased him… a Finlander from<\/div>\n
Thunder Bay as  I remember.  Then John dropped or threw the rcck  down hard.<\/div>\n
The rock  smashed  a big gallon water can  beside the Fin\u2019s head.   Crushed completely.<\/div>\n
We got the lights on.  By then John was back in his bunk.  just lay there while<\/div>\n
the rest of us  clustered around the water jug.  He was silent.  He did not move.<\/div>\n
He must have done it.  Had he intended to<\/div>\n
kill or just to warn?  We were never sure.  The next day officials arrived to take<\/div>\n
John away.  We never saw or heard from him again.<\/div>\n

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That was the only violent act that got close to me in ten years of exploration.<\/div>\n

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FUNNY THINGS HAPPENED ON EACH  JOB.<\/div>\n

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Humour is a tricky thing to present.  Incidents that I consider funny may<\/div>\n
seem  insensitive and crude.  Like the time that Bill and  I were sitting<\/div>\n
in a bar in Dawson City.  We had camped  outside the town on an old <\/div>\n
sourdough claim site.  Needed  a  beer badly after a tough night and day.<\/div>\n
We were really just kids pretending to be men.  Beside us on the floor<\/div>\n
of the bar two very large people\u2026one male and one female\u2026had decided<\/div>\n
to copulate.  They were having  difficulty with their clothes because both <\/div>\n
were dead drunk.  Bill and I kept our cool and pretended the behaviour<\/div>\n
on the floor was  normal.  the bar tender came around  the bar and began<\/div>\n
rolling the amorous couple towards the door.  I seem to remember the <\/div>\n
rolling but no sure how he got them out the door.  They took a lot of door <\/div>\n
space.  Later Bill and I laughed and laughed.  You  may not consider<\/div>\n
that funny.<\/div>\n

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Bill and I worked  damn hard on that Yukon job.  We deserved s week end break in Dawson City.  Here Bill is<\/div>\n
plotting our data.  Sadly his Dad died in the middle of that summer and he had  a rush flight home.<\/div>\n

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On another occasion our contractor, a mining speculator called Dr. Aho<\/div>\n
from  BC, had the habit of buying newcomers to the Yukon  \u2018Double op\u2019s\u201d<\/div>\n
at the Mayo Landing  hotel.  \u201cHere boys  have a Double OP\u201d  What <\/div>\n
is a Double OP?   It is a liquid explosive.  Rum and Whisky sent <\/div>\n
to the Yukon was double regular proof\u2026i.e.  damn close to pure<\/div>\n
alcohol.  Multiply that times twice and  you will understand what happened<\/div>\n
after only one of these was consumed.  Dr. Aho thought that was funny.<\/div>\n
I  agreed after we had been  around Mayo Landing for some time.  Lots<\/div>\n
of heavy drinking.  Even our pilot Bob was drunk much of the time.<\/div>\n
Isn\u2019t that funny?    <\/div>\n

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Then there was the time we sent Joe Fortin to  Chibougamau in1958 to <\/div>\n
get us food.  He flew out.   Then at  dusk  he flew back. Just getting<\/div>\n
out of the Beaver was a chore.  He fell into the water from the pontoon.<\/div>\n
Joe was dead drunk.  He spent his time and our money at the<\/div>\n
Chibougamau Inn.  Forgot to get us food.  Isn\u2019t that funny?<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
Bill Gilbey in bed on the Marathon job<\/div>\n

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Then there  was Bill Gilbey (Gilbey\u2019s Gin family) on the Marathon job<\/div>\n
thumbing his way through the women\u2019s lingerie section of Eaton\u2019s catalogue<\/div>\n
saying \u201cWe are a pathetic  bunch relying on Eaton\u2019s catalogue for our pornography.\u201d<\/div>\n
Isn\u2019t that funny?<\/div>\n

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Then  you will remember the BC job at Merritt where the mine <\/div>\n
manager and geologist mistook Marjorie for a  Vancouver hooker<\/div>\n
that I had hired as company at night.  This picture is not the motel<\/div>\n
room bed but gives the right impression all the same. Isn\u2019t that funny?<\/div>\n

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Then there was our flight from Anchorage, Alaska, to Seattle with a lot of American<\/div>\n
military brass flying out of Tokyo.  Our regular flight had been cancelled due to<\/div>\n
crippled landing gear.  The US officers were a stiff bunch. None<\/div>\n
of them drank.  So the stewardess gave us her full attention. Free<\/div>\n
drinks.  When  we sobered  up in a Seattle  Hotel we were all <\/div>\n
wearing Japanese kimonos.  Isn\u2019t that funny?<\/div>\n

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Then there was Pete in the Yukon, lying in bed each night <\/div>\n
reading the Bible.  He could quote chapter and verse by heart.<\/div>\n
I wondered.  \u201cPete, you must be really religious?\u201d<\/div>\n
“Not so at all.  I read the bible just to get into arguments..really<\/div>\n
I am an atheist.   Isn\u2019t that funny?<\/div>\n

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Then  there is our helicopter pilot on the Alaskan job awakening<\/div>\n
us on the camp PA with his charming \u201cLet\u2019s get Fucking Airborne\u201d<\/div>\n
Or the camp cook explaining the finer points of  eating moose heart.<\/div>\n
Isn\u2019t that funny?<\/div>\n

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Then there is Barney Dwan warning me to be careful crossing Irish farm<\/div>\n
fields.  \u201cThere was a nun who took a short cut and  all that was ever <\/div>\n
found were her boots with her feet in them.\u201d  (Hogs got her)<\/div>\n
Isn\u2019t that funny?<\/div>\n

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Then there were all those lonely hearts club letters I received on<\/div>\n
the Groundhog River job.  Dozens of young (and  older0 women hoping<\/div>\n
I would marry them or at least help  them out of poverty.  Those letters<\/div>\n
came when my friends  Russ and Jim  enrolled me in the club.<\/div>\n
Isn\u2019t that funny?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Obviously, a lot of these stories are not funny at all.  Unless you <\/div>\n
are 17 or 18 years old enjoying the full panorama of life.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
August 2020<\/div>\n

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Next EPISODE 99\u2026LAST FLIGHT OUT ON A CRIPPLED  BUSH PLANE<\/div>\n

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EPISODE 98     FOOD\u2026good and bad, AILMENTS, VIOLENCE, and ISN\u2019T THAT FUNY\u2026AN OVERVIEW   alan skeoch August 2020 This was the Dawson City, General Store in the Yukon as it appeared in 1961.    The building was slowly sinking into the permafrost each year.   This picture has nothing to do with the story […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5511\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}