The snow melted and it was muddy then it snowed again. Then it'll melt and be muddy again. I like summer better than winter. So we are snowed (mudded?) in again and we are back at doing nothing. Doing nothing is extremely boring. Seriously. If you've never done nothing, you should try it someday just to see how boring it is. Since we don't really enjoy being bored, we find inside things to do. Like playing games... Jacob and I had a very exciting game of Monopoly going (the only board game that I will play) and because Monopoly takes a long time to finish, Jacob and I were playing in-between chores, etc. Donut saw our game sitting out and decided it needed cleaned up. Nice of him, but Jacob and I were pretty bummed.
Just real quick... (and I hate talking about TV because then it seems like that's all I do [watch TV] but when really, it's one of the few things I'm allowed to talk about, thanks to an excellent lawyer.) Anyway, we watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone just a couple days ago. It was the first time any of us had seen Harry Potter and it was really fun watching it. Some people don't like Harry Potter because of the witchcraft. I completely understand that. But the thing is, just because I watched a movie about witchcraft doesn't mean I'm going to start practicing witchcraft or try to play a game of quidditch. I don't mean to offend anyone with that sentence, I just want to let everyone know what my opinion is.
On another note... I made grilled Tilapia last night for me and Jacob... Mmmmmm..... While it was grilling I put salt and pepper and lemon juice on it. When it was done cooking I put more lemon juice on it. Seafood isn't seafood without lemon juice.
And I don't remember if I said this before, but I really like Indian food, especially Chicken Tikka Masala. Since the restaurant is really expensive I decided that I need to make my favorite dish at home. So I found a recipe (it's the only one on allrecipes.com) but I haven't tried it yet. I'm going to make it soon because we have all the ingredients. I will inform you of the results. :)
Just a random tidbit of interesting information: Do you know why some plants do better after a snow? Because plants like nitrogen. Little bits of nitrogen are connected to the snowflakes, and as the snow melts the nitrogen is absorbed into the ground, making the plants happy. :D We like happy plants.
There's your Random Tidbit of Interesting Information for the day. Join me next time for another Random Tidbit of Interesting Information. Maybe. If I remember.
Anywho.... I'll blog again in a couple days. I promise. Unless I'm really, really, REALLY busy and in that case I un-promise. But I shouldn't be really, really, REALLY busy, so I think we're good. See ya later.
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
Well, I promised I'd blog again. Well, I kinda promised. Not really, but I figure I'd be nice and give you something to read, even if it's not interesting.
I don't remember if I said this already, but we got 4 or 5 inches of snow. Great sledding snow, not like last time. Good for packing, too. Everyone knows what good packing snow means. It's simple math. So simple even my youngest siblings could do it. Good packing snow = snowballs. Snowballs = snowball fights. See, very simple. Even better than snowball fights or sledding is sledding and snowball fighting. Try to out-sled the snowball thrower. Pretty awesome if you've got a good sledding hill.
And since it's cold out and the snow is melting, we're doing inside things like watching TV, listening to music (awesomeness) and..... watching TV. Eating? Does that count? There's really a lot of different things to do inside, but I just can't think of any. We read books, draw, play games. The little kids play with the toys. I play on the computer.
At night after the kids go to bed Mom and I stay up and watch the good shows that come on at night. One of our favorite shows is Forensic Files. It's pretty awesome because these criminals try to cover everything up, but they always slip up somewhere and get caught. It took 10 years to convict this one guy. After they did he got a life sentence. Just goes to show ya that you can never get away from the law. One show that I was watching recently is on Food Network. It's called Worst Cooks in America.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/worst-cooks-in-america/
The finale was just last night. I was surprised that Rachel won.
Anyhow, I'd better be going. See ya later.
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
I decided it's time for me to tell you what I'm doing right this very second. Well, right now I'm waiting for my brother to wash 16 potatoes so that I can cut them, season them and cook them for breakfast. Ya wanna know how I'm gonna season them? I'm going to put salt and Lawry's Seasoned Salt on them. So yeah, waiting for my bro... I'm listening to music on my newly-got MP3 player. We got money for Christmas and that's what Jacob, Jason, Jessica and I bought. MP3 players. :) Thank you Grandma and Grandpa B! Thank you Aunt Jenn!
Okay, I'm back... I was cutting potatoes. My MP3 player needed charged, so I'm not listening to music anymore... I'm just sitting here. Since we got a lot of snow (about 5 or 6 inches, not that much, but still quite a bit) we've been watching movies a lot. We bought movies slowly, as they were on sale and ended up with a bunch of good movies for cheap. We got all of the Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure 1 and 2, Bedtime Stories, Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones: Last Crusade and Night at the Museum. Out of all of those, the only ones that we had seen were National Treasure 1 and 2. So those movies are keeping us occupied while being cooped up in the house.
(This is no longer a "What I'm Doing Right This Very Second" post)
And because I wasn't allowed to say anything for a while I had forgotten. Mom had the baby! It's a boy and his name is Joel. The meaning of the name Joel is "God will be willing". I think he's cuter than everyone else was when they were little, myself included. ;) He's about a month old now and he's doing wonderfully. Sorry, I can't post pictures.
Well... I guess this post is long enough for today. I just want to let everyone know that even though I'm not posting very often here, I'm still alive and I hang out on Facebook quite a bit. I think I'm the only Jenna Bettendorf on Facebook, so search for me and add me. Please comment here if you do, so I'll know who to add and who not to. Be warned: I'll not add you on Facebook if you do not comment here first. I will also not do a search for you. Sorry, I just won't.
Anyway... I'll try to post here again in a couple days... weeks... months. Someday... Maybe.
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
I had to write an essay on the Panama Canal for school (I might add that I really, really dislike writing essays. That could be translated "hate" or "loath", but those words are kinda strong. Not meaning that I don't hate writing essays, I do. Just I would rather say "really, really dislike".) and since my laptop can't connect to the printer, I need to post it here for documentation. I don't care if you read it or not, it's just here for documentation. I know that I wouldn't read an essay on the Panama Canal if one of my friends posted it on their blog, so don't read it if you don't want to. So without further ado here is (whether you read it or not) my essay on the Panama Canal.
The Panama Canal probably one of the most important things that anyone ever thought of, and it was also one of the hardest things to engineer. The French tried once and failed. The United States bought their equipment in 1904 and succeeded in opening the canal in 1914. Over 21,900 people died because of sanitation problems, but many lives were saved as well, because now ships did not have to travel around Cape Horn. And though there were tolls to use the canal, life is more valuable than money.
The Panama Canal is a 48 mile ship canal that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. It is located in Panama, Panama. Panama is located in South America. It is an Isthmus, which is a small strip of land connecting two larger pieces of land (in this case, South America and North America). So Panama is somewhat like a land bridge. The Panama Canal is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Nowadays the Panama Canal is being used even more than it’s builders thought it would. Annual traffic has risen from about 1000 ships/80 million tons in the canal’s early years, to 14,702 ships/309.6 million tons as recorded in 2008.
The Panama Canal was one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken. The concept of a canal near Panama dates back to the early 16th century. The first attempt to construct a canal began in 1880 under French leadership, but was abandoned after 21,900 workers died, mostly from disease (largely malaria and yellow fever) and landslides.
Under President Theodore Roosevelt, the United States launched a second effort. They bought out the French equipment and excavations for $40 million. They began work on May 4th, 1904 with a target finish date of June 1st, 1916. John Frank Stevens was Chief Engineer from 1905 to 1907. In 1907, Roosevelt appointed George Washington Goethals as Chief Engineer on the Panama Canal. He remained Chief Engineer until 1908. This George Washington of the 1900’s was not the same George Washington of 1900’s that invented instant coffee. Though instant coffee was invented around that time (in 1906), it was invented by George Constant Washington, an English chemist.
When the United States took over construction of the Panama Canal in 1904, The Canal Commission put Colonel William Crawford Gorgas in charge of hospitals and sanitation. The sanitation work included clearing land and establishing quarantine facilities. Colonel Gorgas divided Panama into eleven districts. In each district inspectors searched houses and buildings for mosquito larvae. If they found any, carpenters would be sent to the building and work would be done to eliminate any places where stagnant water could collect. This greatly reduced the number of mosquitoes, and therefore, the number of deaths due to disease.
Another 5,600 workers were killed, but the United States succeeded in opening the canal in 1914, two years before their target finish date. The Panama Canal was officially opened and first used on August 15th, 1914. The first ship to use the canal was the cargo ship SS Ancon. The canal had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans. No longer would ships have to travel the dangerous route around Cape Horn at the Southernmost tip of South America. Nowadays, a ship traveling from New York to San Francisco travels 6000 miles via the Panama Canal, whereas before, ships had to travel over twice the distance: 14,000 miles by the Cape Horn route. Although Cape Horn looks easy enough to sail around, it’s not. Firstly, Cape Horn has many islands. Secondly, the southern latitude of Cape Horn is 56*. That’s very far south, especially when compared to the southernmost tip of Africa (35* south), and New Zealand (47* south). The extreme southern latitude made for cold weather and cold wind. In addition, the Cape Horn area is notorious for rouge waves, which can reach up to 100 feet. So you see why the Panama Canal is so important.
Tolls for the canal are decided by the Panama Canal Authority and are based on the type and size of the vessel and the cargo carried. As of 2008, the toll for most types of vessels is $3.90 for per ton for the first 10,000 tons, $3.19 per ton for the next 10,000 tons, $3.82 per ton for the next 10,000, and $3.76 per ton thereafter. The most expensive regular toll was charged on May 16th, 2008 to the ship Disney Magic, which paid $331,200. The least expensive toll was 36 cents to American adventurer, Richard Halliburton, who swam the canal in 1928 when he was 28. He died at the age of 39.
Had the Panama Canal not been built, many more lives would have been lost at Cape Horn. Not only is the canal a way for quicker and safer transportation of goods and people, but it is also a way for Panama to make money. Though many lives were lost in the making of the canal, many lives were saved because of the workers’ sacrifice.
If you read that, congratulations. If not, congratulations on scrolling down here to read this little bit at the end. Either way, congrats. :)
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
Well, I wasn't really tagged, but I've been wanting to do a tag lately, and this one was what I found.
1. What does the 5th text in your text inbox say? Something stupid from Dada.net. It was SUPPOSED to be sending me a ringtone. It didn’t and now all it sends me is stupid update things that I don’t care about. I just wanted the ringtone!!!
2. Who was it from? Dada.net.
3. What is your favorite way to fix your hair? I don’t. I like it after I sleep on it.
4. Do you wear makeup? No.
5. Where is your dog right now? They're both sleeping in the closet 'cause it's cold out.
6. Your mom? Right here with me.
7. Are you wearing socks? No, but I should be. My feet are cold but my socks are in the habit of
disappearing.
8. What are you wearing? Long underwear and a long-sleeved shirt. The shirt is actually my mom’s but we’re about the same size.
9. Ever been to Target? Man, that’s almost offensive. I don’t live under THAT big of a rock! I’m just kidding, I’m not the least bit offended. Yes, I’ve been to Target.
10. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My mom… I think.
11. What color is your phone? Black. Actually, Reba uses the same phone… and so do the Jonas Brothers.
12. Do you play a sport? Um…. Kinda, but not really. I ride my horse, but not competitively… Does that count?
13. Would you say you're athletic? Heck, no.
14.Last thing you said? Ya know, it was so long ago that I forgot. Oh, yeah, I read Mom my answer to question #9. :D
15. What did you do today? Nothing, really. Eat, breathe… I ‘rasled with my brother and got all muddy… I listened to music with earbuds that hurt my ears and threatened to fall out every 15 seconds. I think that’s all. I made really yummy pork chops for dinner. So I guess I did do something.
16. Nickname? Nope. Nada. Sad, huh?
17. What size jeans do you wear? I have no clue. Whichever size fits me. It depends on the brand. I have a size 6 that fits me really well.
18. What's your favorite dessert? What kind of question is that??
19. When was the last time you cried? Mmmmm….. I don’t remember.
20. What color is your bedroom? Red-ish maroon. Not my choice of color, but whatever. I sleep in there. With my eyes closed. So I really don’t care.
21. Do you play any instruments? Yep, I play guitar. I also play the keyboard by ear.
22. What color are you eyes? Blue.
23. If you could change the color of them, what color would you change them? I wouldn’t. Blue is the awesomest color EVER. :D
24. Who was the last person that called you? My mom.
25. What does the 5th text in your outbox say? Agh, now I’ve got to go get my phone again! Why didn’t you ask this earlier?? It says, “X”. I was texting Verizon telling them to stop texting me.
26. Whose picture is on your wallpaper on your cell phone? It’s a picture of our property that I took myself. One of the most beautiful places in the world.
27. What do you hear right now? A commercial on the TV.
28. What are you saving up for right now? Weird that you should ask. An MP3 player. Sweetness.
29. What's in front of you? The computer screen, obviously.
30. What are you excited about? Several things.
31. What's outside your window right now? The night. The dark. Whatever else is IN the dark.
32. What was the last thing that came in the mail for you? For me, specifically? Um… I don’t remember.
33. Do you wear glasses? Nope.
34. When you woke up this morning, what did you think? The first time I woke up, or the time I woke up and stayed up? The first time, “Ahhhhhhgh.” The dogs wanted out and I had to get up and let them out. The second time? Um…. I don’t remember, actually. I think I was thinking about sleeping in. “What time is it? I can sneak in a few more minutes.”
35. What do you normally do when you're bored? If I’m bored, it means that there’s nothing interesting to do on the computer, nothing good on TV, I don’t feel like playing the keyboard… So I’ll play guitar. I LOVE playing the guitar. I’ll never tire of playing guitar. I would play guitar ALL STINKIN’ DAY if I could. And I listen to music. Today on playlist.com, someday on an MP3 player. :D
36. What was he last thing you bought? I don’t even remember. I think I bought a BB handgun for $10. I thought it was a steal, but ya know what? It was. Of my money. That gun stinks!! It also rocks, though, that’s the reason I haven’t sold it yet. Don’t ask.
37. What were you doing a year ago today? How the heck am I supposed to remember that?
38. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go first? Our friends' house.
39. What's your favorite fruit? Watermelon, strawberries, apples, oranges, lemons, all of them are amazingly delicious.
40. Do you have a digital camera? Yup. My phone and I have a camcorder that has one on it.
41. Do you get nervous easily? Heck, no. Not at all easily.
42. Did you know that it takes more muscles to frown that it does to smile? Yes I did. I’m homeschooled, remember?
43. Ever ridden a horse? Yup.
44. Do you know anybody whose name starts with a K? My mom, Kaylea... I think that's it. Weird thing is, I know I'm forgetting someone.
45. Where did you last go before you sat down at the computer? I was sitting in a different chair, then came and sat in this one to play the computer.
46. Is your room clean at the moment? I dunno. Probably not. It should be. I would like to think that it is. But it’s probably not.
47. Turn fully around...what do you see? My mom sitting in her chair.
48. Where are you going to be in an hour? Either in bed or watching TV.
Well, that’s that. I hope you enjoyed hearing from me, even though it’s not really a real post, just a tag. I needed blog fodder and I don’t really want to talk about what’s going on right now. It’s no fun when you can’t give all the details. :-/ Anywho… I’ll talk to you later. :) And if there are J's in random places, they are supposed to be smilies. :)
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
Wow, only two more years 'til the world ends! I'm just kidding, I don't believe in that kind of stuff. :)
Last night we stayed up late and watched The Next Food Network Star (We missed the ball drop because we thought it would be on midnight our time, but it was live.), ate cookies and cake and the kids slept out in the living room. I slept in my bed because I'm smart. Not to say that the kids aren't smart... I'm just... a little smarter. Yeah. Then we had more cookies and cake this morning. :)
So what'd you do?
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
Only two for right now, unless you comment saying you want more. I love quotes because a lot of the time they are funny and wise at the same time. I think this next one is the one I go by a lot.
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
-Abe Lincoln
Now I've never even heard of Emma Goldman, but I think she's right.
If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.
- Emma Goldman
Well, I needed something to blog about and this is one of the first things that came to my mind. I'll try to find something more interesting to blog about tomorrow. :)
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
Hey! It's been a while. I'm not allowed to talk about the things I would LOVE to talk about, so I'll talk about other things. Happy things like friends, music, food, etc. That's happy stuff, right? I think so. I'm not going to say anything more about our friends, other than that they are awesome people, because I'm not sure how much I can say. Music... I like music. I play guitar (as I think you know already, but for some reason I feel like re-introducing myself), and I play keyboard by ear. I figured out the Pride and Prejudice song. Think about it and I'm sure you'll figure out which one. :) I can play all of Mozart's Turkish March. Yes, it's fast. Yes, I can play it as fast as it is supposed to be played. Look it up somewhere and listen to it. It's pretty cool. I can also play Scarborough Fair ambidextrously. Ambidextrous is Latin and means "as if having two right hands" or something like that.
Speaking of Latin.... Have you seen The Matrix? Well, if you have, you'll know what I'm talking about, if you haven't, you probably won't and you'll either have to deal with it, look it up, or watch the movie. It's been on AMC a couple times, so maybe you could look up when it'll be on. Anyhow, I was wondering what the word matrix meant. My dictionary says: "That within which something originates or develops." Yeah..... that'll give ya something to gnaw on for a while. So I decided to look it up in the Microsoft Word Processor dictionary. It said something else. It said: "[14th century. Directly or via French matrice from Latin matrix “womb” (the original sense in English ), later “list,” from, ultimately, mater “mother.” The underlying idea is of something growing.]" Ahhhhh..... It makes perfect sense now. The Latin word Mater (Mah-tayr) means mother. Mater, Matrix.... see? I did learn that in school, I just didn't think. If you had told me that I knew, I could have figured it out without looking it up. Where were you when I needed you?! Just kidding. :)
Anyway, cooking, food, whatever. I like cooking. I used to HATE cooking. It's so much more fun when you can experiment without getting yelled at. As far as eating goes... I love Indian food. In Springfield there's a resturant called Gem of India and they have the BEST food I have ever tasted. My favorite dish from there is Chicken Tikka Masala. There's only one recipe on allrecipes.com and it is wonderful. Chicken Tikka Masala over Basmati rice, oh yeah..... I could eat a whole plate of that stuff. Two whole plates of that stuff.
Well, sorry about that long, random post. Someone threw off my blogging groove.
I'll be back. I shall return. Or so I hope. :)
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
Strawberry shakes from McD's are good. But I've never tasted them. Mmhm. Do you know what they put in those things? Remember Disgusting Food Fact Friday? Remember those little bugs? I can't post a link, sorry. But the little bugs they use to make the shake pink? But they're good. It would be a lot better if they used real milk and real strawberries, but it's still really yummy. But I've never had one. Never. ;)
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
It's nice to be blogging from a computer, not a phone. I saw my blog template for the first time in months and it gave me warm fuzzies. I'm very pleased with the work I did on it. Makes me want to make more templates. :) That reminds me, I need to check on my test blog before they delete it. Anyway, I've only got a few minutes left, so I'm going to go do that.... homeschoolblogger.com/jennastestblog
I've missed blogging more than I thought I would. :-/
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
Hello faithful blog readers! It's been a while since I've blogged, hasn't it? I got my hair cut and dyed. :D We went to walmart and got it cut, I dunno, 3, 3 1/2 inches short and got blue highlights. It does need squirted with water and combed every morning, but I have to say that I like short hair better. Sorry, I'm not going to post a picture of it because I don't know how to put pictures here when I'm using a cell phone. So.... Yeah.
Well, I guess I'll be done here so I can read my books.
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
Okay, I'm considering moving to Wordpress. Same blog, same person. I'd be sharing with Jacob, probably, but that's twice the fun! I was going to quietly move without telling anyone, but I checked my sitemeter and found out that I have on average 47 visits a day! That, I did not know. So I am currently blogging at WP, but I want to know if you guys would be up to still visiting my blog if I moved. Let me know, you could even comment anonymously. That's fine with me. Just let me know. If you are my father, please don't bother commenting. I don't care what you think. Anyone else, go ahead and comment away.
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. BTW, this is post #150! That's including drafts, sorry. :)
There's another entry below this one that only friends of mine can read. If you have an HSB account, login and PM me telling me who you are and asking me to add you. It's easy to create an account at HSB, just go to homeschoolblogger.com. Anyway, it's blocked because my retarded father is stalking me. Retarded is not nearly strong enough, but there aren't any strong enough words that would be okay to post here. :-/
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye.
Guess what I found? Well, you probably know what I found if you paid any attention at all to the title of this post. I was just a-looking at firefox addons (because I like addons because I'm cool that way) and I stumbled upon Stumble Upon. It seemed pretty cool and it had 5 stars and a gajillion ratings and whatever, so I downloaded it.
.........
.........
.........
.........
What? You want to know what I think about it? I think it rocks! It's a firefox toolbar, so that means it sits right up there by the address bar in your internet browser (in my case, this is firefox) so it's always sitting there watching every move you make. Freaky, I know. But anyway, click the Stumble button and it will take you to a random site. )However, this site will not be completely random, because before you get stumbling, you have to login and select all the thing you are interested in. For example, Music, Art, Animals, Funny, etc, etc, etc.) If you like the site, click the little blue thing, and if you don't like it, click the little blue thing. You are not required to rate anything, but if you do, it will bring up more pages you like, and less that you don't like.
I hope that was understandable to at least a couple people out there. :)
Next post will be about our awesome motorcyclist bodyguards. They've even got codenames, like Stormy, Firedog, Taz, Animal, Stitch.... Okay, that's another story.
Oh, by the way, I added a little Stumble button to my blog below each post. If you like this post, Stumble it!
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye.
Okay, you like news, right? Of course, who doesn't like news?
You're probably wondering a lot of things... I'll start with the questions you asked.
1) Do you have a special routine for writing? I have my laptop that now spends most of it's time (guess where?) on my lap. If I have an idea for a story, I sit down and start writing. Most of the time I get these really cool ideas and start writing but then I realize I don't have information on the subject. :)
2) Are you studying any new subjects in your schoolwork this fall? Not this fall, but this winter I'm going to be studying for college. I'd like to get a degree in veterinary care and (get this) criminology. That way if I stink at being a vet, I can be a cop, and if I stink at being a cop, I can be a vet. I'd like to be either an animal cop or just a regular cop, but I'd like to be involved in fighting crime or helping animals.
3) Which do you prefer: winter in Arizona or in Missouri? Hm, well... I really don't remember winters in AZ because we left just after I turned 11 in August. I am really enjoying the Missouri weather... I love cold weather and snow and ice, so I guess I'll have to say Missouri winters. :)
Okay, ya wanna know what's been going on? Here, read this:
My dad and my brother John did really bad things (when I say really bad, I mean really, really bad) to some of my siblings and they are both gone (out of the house) and are never coming back. I have very strong feelings about this, and I am not going to state them here. HSB would ban me or something. :)
Feel free to ask questions, but I can't guarantee that I will answer them. :)
Sorry for not posting for so long, between writing up guitar loan contracts and hacking facebook, I haven't had much time for my blog. We'll get back to the story in a few days. :)
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
Oh, BTW, I really haven't been hacking facebook, just trying. :D
Okay, it looks like I scared everyone off with my quizzing. :D Alright, answer time! An atom is made up of....
Neutrons, Protons, and Electrons! Here is what an atom looks like:
There ya go, you've had your science lesson for the day. Now you can tell your friends you know what an atom is made up of.
Okay, I'll leave you alone and let you get to the story. Enjoy!
Chapter Five
I knew how I could get the money for a horse before my birthday. Julie! Julie’s been saving money since she was two or three and she’s never spent any of it. I realize that this would be the first time I’ve mentioned Julie in this book. That wasn’t intentional, I’ve just been a little busy writing about other things that I forgot about her. I also forgot to write much about Mom. I guess I’m just a Daddy’s Boy. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom. It’s just that now that I’m a teenager, Dad and I talk about the same sort of things like electronics and football and stuff. Two of his most favorite things. The funny thing is though, he doesn’t ever want to talk about what I want to talk about. Mom would, though, so I don’t understand why I don’t go to her instead. I guess it’s just because Dad and I are guys. Even Julie would gladly talk about horses with me. Ponies, that is. Though that would be better than TV and football, it’s still really different. Like, I’m a guy and I’m talking to a little girl about ponies. And they’re not even real colors of ponies. They have to be pink and purple and rainbow ponies. I really don’t get it. I mean, she talks like a horse lover, sure. But when we’re talking real horses, she always tries to squeeze in something like: “When I grow up I’m going to get a pink pony.” And stuff like that. And that’s in reply to my “I’d like a good cutting horse when I grow up.” See what I mean? It really bugs me sometimes. It’s not too bad most of the time, but it can get pretty annoying. So when she turns on the pink pony talk I just excuse myself to go to the bathroom and not come back. Sneaky, I know. But necessary. Absolutely necessary.
“Hey Mom, do you know where Julie is?” I asked.
“Yes dear, she’s up in her room,” Mom replied.
I went upstairs to Julie’s room. The door was shut. I knocked.
“Who is it?” I little voice answered.
“It’s me,” I said. “Phil.”
“What do you want?”
“I just wanted to ask you a question,” I answered, getting a little impatient.
“About what?” she asked.
“About… about horses.”
She cracked the door and peered out at me.
“Come in,” she told me. So I went in her room. She gestured towards a table with two chairs all set up and asked, “Tea, Phil?”
“Uh, sure!” I answered, and sat down. She poured me a cup of cold water, and offered me cream and sugar. I played along for a little while till she got serious and said, “Let’s get down to business.” I hid a smile and cleared my throat.
“Well, I was thinking, Julie,” I began. “You have a lot of money, right?”
“What do you have to do with it?” she interrupted.
“Well, you like horses, right?”
“Yes.”
“How much money do you have?” I asked.
“About 600 dollars, last time I checked,” she replied.
My mouth fell open. 600 dollars??? I knew she’d gotten about $100 for every birthday she’d ever had but I’d never really thought about it. If I had never bought that bike… or that collectors knife set. Or that… I would be rich!
“Julie…” I started. “You know you have enough money for your very own pony? Maybe even more than one.” Julie shrugged. I couldn’t believe it! Here she was, rich, and she didn’t even think about buying anything with it! This was pretty good news for me.
“Well, Julie… you know I really like horses, right?”
She nodded.
“OK, do you know how much money I have?”
She shook her head.
“I only have about $150. And, the lowest price Dad could find on horses was about $300. So I was wondering if you were going to use your money.”
She got up and walked around the room like a little lady and when she finally came back to me she said,
“I might be able to make you a loan, Phil,” she said, very business-like.
“How much?” I asked.
“Hmmm…”
“I need about $150.”
“I need some time to think it over. Come back later.” With that she escorted me out of her room and shut the door behind me. That didn’t go as well as planned, I thought. Not at all as well as I had planned. I had hoped she’d just give me the money. Not make me a loan! Crazy kid. I wouldn’t accept her offer. Not in a hundred years. It was just the thought about being in debt to my kid sister. Nah. I’d wait till my birthday. Not too far away now. Just a few more weeks. You can wait, Phil, I told myself. You can wait a few weeks. I knew it’d be hard, but I knew I could do it. Maybe a few of my gifts would be early. Though that had almost never happened, it still could. It still could…
I hope you enjoyed that! Chapter Six coming tomorrow or the day after... it depends on how many comments I get.
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye.
Okay, before I let you read chapter four, I'm going to give you something to think about whilst you read. Can anyone tell me what an atom is made up of? I'll give you a hint, an atom is made of of three things. I know what they are. Please don't cheat by looking it up. Not even in the dictionary. Isn't that funny how people say, "Please don't cheat by looking it up" when they really mean "Don't cheat by looking it up." I guess it's nicer to say please.
Okay, here ya go. Enjoy! Bonne Lecture!
Chapter Four
Dad’s email about the horse was replied to. They had already sold the little mare. I asked Dad to look for more horses and he said that the lowest price he could find was $300. Twice as much as I had. I had to start saving again. I had my weekly allowance. So that was another three dollars to add to my savings. My birthday was coming up. I always asked for money for my birthday. A lot of those relatives that never come to visit don’t know what a 14-15 year old boy wants and needs. So I always ask for money. Aunt Beth and Uncle Keith always sent me about $100. I’d always go out the next day and spend it all on candy and cheap toys. But not this time. This time, I’d be saving. My birthday is on November 15th. I’d have a little more than a month to wait. I hated waiting. But by my birthday, I’d have enough to cover the cost of a horse. I made up a sort of chart.
AB & UK: $100
AL & UC: $20
GR & GR: $15
GW & GW: $30
YEARLY ALLOWANCE: $168
TOTAL
___________________
$333
Based on the amount of money I receive each year, I guesstimated how much I would get yearly. Without my allowance, I’d only have $165 a year. I already have $150, so $165 would make my savings $315! I’d have enough! All I had to do was wait a month. But that was the hard part. I counted the days till my birthday. Still another month. I thought of ways to make the time go faster. More work, I told myself. I was right. Work did make the days go faster. A couple more weeks, and I’d be able to buy my horse. I was able to do my work happily, knowing that after this, I’d be riding. Of course, I was happy with Shiloh. She was a great friend. I let her sleep in my bed every night. But there was a problem. I couldn’t ride a Blue Heeler. A Great Dane or Great Pyrenees, maybe. But not a little dog like Shiloh. She was still a pup, besides. I wanted something to go check fences on. Like a quad. But horses are so much better than quads. I even had my argument with Dad all planned out. Horses live on grass, not gas. Horses repair themselves if they break down. Horses are just better. If there’s anyone reading this that needs some ideas to use, feel free to use mine.
So, Dad wasn’t too keen on the idea of me getting a horse, but I knew he’d let me if I paid for it. Mom didn’t care what I did with the barn. She just wanted a garden. It’s funny how Mom and Dad have such different hobbies, yet still like each other and understand each other’s want to do something. Mom likes to be out in the sun digging up worms and getting dirt under her nails, something that should be a guys job, in my mind. While Dad prefers to sit on the couch all day and watch football though he never actually wants to get out and play football. It’s all very strange. At least to me. If I were ever going to get married, which I hope I do, I’d marry a wife that had the same interests as me. Like horses. How Mom and Dad ever met is beyond me. Dad hardly ever goes outside and Mom hardly ever comes in. I tell you, I’m going to meet my wife in the Great Outdoors. At least I hope I do, anyway.
I was eagerly awaiting my birthday, but I didn’t tell Mom or Dad that I was. That was a secret that was just between Shiloh and me. I shared all my secrets with Shiloh. I knew she’d never tell them, that’s why. I just hoped no scientist came up with a shot or potion or something that made dogs able to talk. I’d be so busted if that happened, because Shiloh knew every secret I ever had. That included the time I stole a chocolate bar from a store and didn’t get caught for it. It wasn’t too long ago, so I still considered it a punishable crime. Or the time I told Mom I was doing my homework when I was really watching a movie. There were a lot more things Shiloh knew, and I didn’t want anybody to know them but me and Shiloh. That’s how much I loved that dog.
Okay, have you had enough time to think? Don't ask your parents, don't look it up... anywhere. If you know it (or think you know it), post it here. Please.
Forgot what we were talking about? Here's your big question:
What is an atom made up of?
Have fun!
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye.
Hey! I don't know where the time went. Yesterday went by before I realized it. Anyway, here's chapter three. Bon lisant! (I dare you to look that up!)
Chapter Three
Shiloh and I got along really well. Mom and Julie loved her. But I just couldn’t get over the fact that I wanted a horse. I decided that I would go by the old saying, “The Lord helps those who help themselves.” I decided I would save all my allowance for a horse. I knew that I had a better chance of getting Dad to let me buy a horse if I had saved all the money myself. I got $3.50 a week for allowance. $3.50 a week would be $14 a month. That would be $168 a year. It would take me at least two years to get enough money to buy a horse at what the going rate is. I didn’t want to have to wait two years. I would be 16, almost 17. Then I thought that maybe I could do some extra work around the farm. It wasn’t much of a farm yet, just 30 acres with an old house, barn with a paddock and a few outbuildings. It was fenced and cross-fenced, though. I figured I could clear out that area Mom wanted to use for a garden. I could fix the broken down fences. Maybe clear out the paddock. Mow the lawn. I was sure Dad would pay me for that one. I worked out my plan, and decided to charge 50c to $5.00 depending on job size. First, I offered to mow the lawn for Dad. I told him I charged $5.00 an acre. He agreed and I told him I collected my pay in advance. He grumbled and handed me my ten bucks, but he gave me the job. We had a two acre yard, so this was working out fine for me. I’d just made ten dollars for riding the mower around the yard and if Dad was feeling the same way next week I’d get another ten bucks.
I later asked Mom where she wanted her garden. She told me the place and I asked her the width and length. She told me and asked me why. I told her I might be willing to clear that spot out for her. She said that would be wonderful. “I charge $3.00 an hour,” I had said. She didn’t seem too happy about that, but after I wrote up a contract saying that I would clear it for her, she signed on the dotted line, happy as can be. That was a hard job, clearing that garden space. I got out hatchet and started chopping. The job was done in three hours and I collected $9.
There was a lot more work that I did and got paid for. I added up all that I saved over the past year. Counting the money I just made, I had $130. Almost there, Phil. I told myself. But I didn’t know how far I really was from the goal.
“Hey, Dad,” I asked a few days later. He didn’t answer, like always.
“Hey, Dad,” No answer. I looked at the TV to see what was so interesting. Football. I should have known. I went over to the TV and pressed the power button.
“Now what?” Dad asked. Good. I had his attention.
“Dad, I was wondering… How much are horses going for?”
“I don’t know. Go look it up.”
“Dad, you know there are only certain websites I can visit,” I argued. Dad sighed and got up. I knew where he was going. Right where I wanted him to. He plopped down in the computer chair and looked something up.
“It depends on what kind of horse you want,” he said.
“Look up Grade Horse,” I suggested. He did what I said.
“There’s a chestnut grade mare for sale in Seymour,” he said. “They‘re asking $150 for her.”
I nearly jumped out of my socks. Only $20 more than what I had!
“Is there a picture of her?” I asked.
“Yeah. Says she’s 5 years old, broke to ride.”
I ran to the window.
“Dad, the lawn needs mowed.”
“It does?” Dad looked out the window. “Oh, it does. Well, here.” He handed me a ten dollar bill. Only ten more dollars. I thought. Only ten more.
“And, uh… I’ll trim the bushes for ten more dollars.”
“Alright. Here.” He pushed another ten dollars into my hand. I had it. I really had it. All the money I needed for that mare. I decided to tell Dad about it later, after I had done my work.
The mowing and bush trimming seemed to go fast with something to think on. I thought about that mare. I thought about what we would do together. Just her and me and Shiloh. Finally, the yard was done. I went inside to find Dad. He was watching TV again. At least the football was over, though. I didn’t really know how to say it. I never thought of needing to tell Dad I had enough money to buy a horse. I figured I’d just go up and tell him. So that’s what I did. I went up and turned the TV off without even trying to get Dad’s attention first. Dad looked surprised at first, but when he saw me, he let out a sigh and sat up.
“What is it now, Phil?” he asked.
“Dad… I have enough money for that mare.” He seemed to not know what I was talking about. Then it clicked. He sighed again. He got up and walked to the computer. He clicked a few things and then said, “This mare?” I looked at the screen then back at him and nodded.
“How much do you have?”
“I have $150 and 36 cents,” I replied.
Dad sighed again. Then he opened a up another window on the computer and started typing. I looked at what he was doing. He was writing an email! I would really get that little mare! Things were going altogether too smoothly and I should have taken notice of that.
Do you like cliffhanger endings? I do sometimes. Except on Sliders. Drives me nuts when they give me a cliffhanger ending on Sliders.
Betcha didn't look up what I told you to look up yet. Go to freedict.com.
Adieu. Adios. Au revoir. Ciao. Cheerio. Shalom. Bye. :)
I'm a 13 year old girl living on a farm in southwest Missouri. I am the oldest of 11 siblings. Now that we have a milk cow and all our other animals to take care of I won't be blogging very often. Not that I did before, but... You know what I mean. :) My avatar pic is of me and my horse Star. :)
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