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time as you get this.

Now for the story of my most recent adventures; Wednesday afternoon we ie. The Company had our pictures taken, the proofs of which I saw to-day I’ll be buying one and sending it home to you I think it’s a fair picture even if as usual I look like a lost soul; we had a strenuous sports day all afternoon and came second place for the center. Thursday morning we left Currie and marched out here, we stopped for dinner at twelve oclock, it consisted of hamburg steak which we cooked ourselves, two baked potatoes, bread and butter and water. we landed here at five thirty pretty well tuckered out, we had a swell supper and take it from me I really ate. we then had to get busy and make ourselves a shelter for the nite, you should have seen it; Spruce boughs for roof, walls and mattress and believe me we really slept Hennie and I sleep to-gether, it freezes here every night and the temperature during the day reaches a good ninety in the shade the sun goes down a little after half past nine but it usually remains bright till well after eleven, we get up just as the sun rises and no man who has never been through it can imagine how hard it is, we run six hours out of the ten we are working, two of the remaining hours we crawl on our bellies, I’ve crawled over more Alberta bush land in the last three days than it would take to make a good size woods; one learns to love crawling out here especially when bullets are whistling within two feet of the ground and sometimes even kickin up mud in your face. Eating! Now theres something I can talk about my appatite would scare you now if you had to feed me; Im notorious in our platoon since comming out here as the man with two hollow legs, I go up for three and four helpings and Im always the last one to leave the eating crew, we eat in the field just clear of the kitchen which is quite the official too, the ovens are two gasoline drums bricked in and with a fire box under neath and a chimney on top: they cooked apple pudding in them last night and believe me they werent bad they also cooked rasin buns and tea biscuits since we came here, they have another gasoline drum on end and bricked in with a fire box underneath for boiling water they always have hot water! the other dixies and tea pots all work in the same plan. I’ve gotten some good Ideas for cooking when we go camping again back at Crowes point or some such place There’s a river flowing right past the camp its the coldest you ever did see, pure snow water right off the mountains, which reminds me I’d sure like to be able to take some pictures to send back home as well as keep as souvenirs, the snow capped peaks tower up above our heads here even though they are still between fifteen and twenty miles distant

The nearest cabin in three miles from here and empty. The nearest store is four and there are two more a mile further on, we ran up there last evening and Dam neat bought them all out, Baloney, Wienies, cheese, crackers, buns, patted meat apples, organs, choclate bars, and heaven only know what else: we got one of our buddies to take it back and we ran all the way back so that we did a good eight miles with short stops in between for purchasing etc. We tried to buy some jam while we were up there; the old store-keeper said he’d sell us some homemade strawberry jam, nut he couldn’t guarantee it so one of the boys asked could he taste it “yes sure” say’s the old guy and he passed over a bottle, the guy unscrewed the cover and just as he got the top off out springs one of those “Jack in the box” affairs, he near fell over a barrel of conkers and we laughed ourselves sick. When we got back we built up a good fire and had her goin good when the guys with the brub arrived. We sat around the fire till half past eleven too sling wieniers putting them between buns plastering mustard on them and the munching while we toasted another. This is a mans life, and we are gradually becomming men as a result of it. most of us are growing moustaches and never in any life have I seen a greater variety of so called soup strainers another interesting thing that I might just as well mention is the fact that when we came out here we brought a lot of weapons and to keep them clean they sent out about fifty pounds of worn out C.W.A.C’s stockings; one guy cut off the upper part of one and tied a knot in it and made himself a stockin cap; now the whole camp is wearing them, so with new moustaches stocking caps and various degrees of tan we look like a bunch of indjuns instead of soldiers. here is a sketch of our burrows is which Joe Lawde, Joe Delaney, Hennie and I sleep; at night we close up the first of it and its as comfortable as any tent I ever slept in. we have more clothes lines in the rear as well as a place to wash and share and scrub our teeth: for a bath we go down to the river which is on the right its mighty fast so that a guy has to be carefull he doesn’t get washed away its also Dam cold so that only the rugged guys like me take a complete bath, the woods here is a lot like Cape Breton woods with the exception of the spruce trees which grow extremely thin and high, as for game theres deer, bears, skunks, cougars or mountain lions, ducks and fish. Im afaird there aren’t the best conditions for letter writing as I started at half past ten this morning and its now three oclock however being Sunday and as we are doing nothing anyway whats the diff. you can tell the others not to be too dissappointed if its a little while before they hear thought. A truck takes our mail in every morning and brings out yours to us on the return trip, so we dont do to badly. I’ve been wearing my bathing trunks all day to day and yester-day afternoon, so that I’m really nicily tanned up, in fact some of the boys are getting envious of me. 

I guess this will be a busy week for Mom, eh? but then one big feed and Kirk will be staying home more often! Ada will then enter into the picture. Lets hope she’s so lucky as Irene. How do Louie and George take to the new baby? I guess when you get this letter both Rene and the baby will be home and you’ll be able to give me a satisfactory answer. Here’s another sketch of Hennie this time with moustache and stocking cap:-

Pretty grim, eh? but you should see me! well folks I guess I better close now as its nearly four oclock and I have a bit of work to do now so cheerio for the time being.

Bill