Where have we come from before the black oil?

Life was simple but a lot of work.  Having lots of physical work to be done to survive kept us healthy.

For instance, in my lifetime, the late 50’s going into the 70’s – Because my only brother was out in the military, being the older child that was home, I was tasked with cleaning the ice to be brought in, so my father and mother would give me this 4 prong ice scraper and I would go out and scrape all sides of the large pieces of ice.   After scraping them, I would bring them into the ice barrel.

I also had another chore that was sometimes part of my job.   I had to go out and grab the meat saw and start cutting meat for the pot or to eat for quaq (frozen meat to be eaten dipped in seal or whale oil).   Those were fun times for me because I loved to please my parents and help them.

I remember when I was really young, I mean under 8 years of age, my dad would turn off our oil stove for the night so we can have enough to last for a while.   I also remember that my dad would feed the dogs, he would bring in this large pot to heat up their meal and make them some mush.   I never understood until later on why my dad took such special care of our dogs, our dog team.  It was because they were part of our survival, they were our transportation, an integral part of getting our food.  Without them, we had nothing, we had no food, no ice for drinking water and no protection.