Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT PROVIDENCE (Jan 22/99) - For Albert Norwegian, life is usually as busy as the number of contracts that he has been awarded.

For the past several years, the Fort Providence resident has been hauling and selling firewood from his wood camp near Bouvier Creek to Yellowknife on a contractual basis.

His rig, with a high-boy and loader, in addition to another three-tonne truck that he keeps in Yellowknife, are crucial to his means of making a living. Therefore, expensive repairs on the vehicle are done by none other than Norwegian himself.

He not only deals in firewood, but he's a journeyman mechanic, a qualified welder, a qualified heavy-equipment operator and the owner of A.N. Construction, which he started in 1992.

His bread and butter though is primarily in the firewood.

"It's hard work," said Norwegian, who stocks his truck with the loader but unloads by hand. "I get lots of exercise. I've got to keep myself in shape."

He also makes chainsaw repairs and has gone through 30 or more this decade, he estimated.

All in all, this year has admittedly been slow due to the warm temperatures. On a good year, Norwegian said he makes two trips per week to the capital to deliver the wood.

Another stressful aspect of the job is having to submit tenders every year in hopes that he will retain the work. The process is very competitive as there are numerous others out there with trucks, he noted. As well, a land-use permit can also be difficult to obtain as five communities have to approve it, he added.

As a husband and father of three young children at home, he admitted that the bidding process makes him quite nervous. His wife, Nellie, feels the same way.

"It's like, what if we don't get it?" she said. "What are we going to do?"

Hopefully, there would be plenty of other tenders to be filled. In the past, Norwegian has entered into contracts with Yamoria Grocery, local campgrounds (as a maintenance person), and others.

His diversity has suited him well over the years as he's also been employed as a highway maintenance job superintendent in Redknife -- a "pretty isolated, but good job." He also drove a piece of heavy equipment, a Benkoman BEAM, for the Department of Highways to test the hardness of the pavement. It was a tedious job, he recalled. The asphalt was checked every 100 metres or so.

"It takes forever, I'm telling you," he said, adding that he'd have to bring the machine into Fort Simpson just to get readings from the short strip of pavement from the edge of town to the Four Mile cutoff.

In addition to his current work, Norwegian also drives a bus for the school on an as-needed basis and volunteers at the health centre as an ambulance driver, meaning he could get a call at any hour. He has brought nurses to accident scenes along the highway many times and has transported injured persons to the airport for medevacs too.

"I like that," he said of the excitement.