Author: Mark

Rock Hounds

We went to the Upper Peninsula on vacation last month!

It was fun! We went to Copper Harbor. It is a small town. It was so small there was no cellphone signal!

There were loooots and looots of rocks up there. We went looking for copper, green stones and other fun rocks! We found some copper and maybe green stone at a mine dump. We also found agates and other colorful and some almost perfectly round rocks by Lake Superior.

The Cliff Mine is a dead mine and they made a pile of the stuff they do not need. If you are up there, you can go there and look for neat rocks and artifacts. Momma went up there looking for copper when she was little. I found lots of neat rocks. We think some of it is Greenstone. I found three rusty nails, one broken. I also found one “thing”. If anyone knows what it is part of,  please let me know 🙂 . While there, Adrian was looking in the water. He found some polished rose quartz,  he held it up high and shouted, “I found a diamond!”

 

Do you know what the "thing" on the right is?

We had fun!

Collecting Rocks
Unknown Author

I think that there shall never be an ignoramus just like me
Who roams the hills throughout the day
To pick up rocks that do not pay,
For there’s one thing I’ve been told
I take the rocks and leave the gold

O’er deserts wild or mountains blue
I search for rocks of varied hue.
A hundred pounds or more I pack,

Greenstone, copper, agates, Petoskey Stones, fossils and other fun stones

With blistered feet and aching back.
And after this is said and done
I cannot name a single one.
I pick up rocks where ‘ere I go
The reasons why, I do not know
For rocks are found by fools like me
Where God intended them to be.

 

Summer jobs

I have two jobs this year.  One is mowing a lawn for a neighbor. I might do that once every other week.

I like the other job better. It is helping some other neighbors with their alpacas and goats. It is fun!  They have six alpacas and two baby alpacas–their names are Chewbacca and Princes Leia. I feed them and sometimes clean their area. Once a month I help do a major cleaning and help with their shots.

The  neighbors got two Great Perinees puppies yesterday to help guard the alpacas! Both the dogs are ankle biter size. One dog’s name is Lisa, the other is Lucy.  They look almost the exactly the same! I will help teach the dogs where they can go and where they can’t go. They were born on an alpaca farm so they watched their mom do what they are supposed to learn.

I think the alpacas are more intimating then the fuzz ball dogs!

I like my jobs! I like getting to know my neighbors better too. 🙂

4-H Surprise

This year for 4-H I chose to do a molded candle. We made one out of a Pringle’s jar but I did not like that one because it was not different.

I really wanted to do a egg candle. We cut a hole out of a blown egg, put the wick through the top of the egg and then I poured the wax with the shell upside down. I kept the wax white because I hoped it would look like a real hardboiled egg. We let it cool. Then I filled it up the rest of the way because the wax sank. I took the shell off the candle. I dipped it in wax so that it was smoother and pushed the bottom down on a hot pan so it was flat. Oma found me the perfect egg cup to display it.

I liked the egg a LOT better than the Pringle’s one. Mom said when she dropped off the candle, the checker inners, asked if we had been in Germany because they have that kind of egg there. Mom thought they liked it.

On the first day of the fair, we got a call from Auntie Lilly. She said that Momma would be a proud Momma, but she would not tell how well we did. On Sunday, my 4-H Leader said “Congratulations!” but would not tell how well I did, since I did not know yet. We went to the fair after church and saw that I got a Champion Ribbon! That is the highest I can get because candles do not go to State Fair. My candle was chosen as the best by the judges! When we got the paper saying how well I did, the judge asked “I wonder how many egg shells that took?” Momma said that she was told by my leader the egg was perfect!

My goal for next year is to do better on my pictures. I earned honors this year, but would like to do better.

Camp Song to Annoy Your Parents

This is a repeat after me song, so you say what I say and you do what I do 🙂

Tarzan,
Swinging on a rubber band,
Smashed into a frying pan,
Now Tarzans got a tan.

I hope it doesn’t peel
Like a banana! (Beat your chest)

Jane,
Flying in an aeroplane.
Crashed into a traffic lane,
Oh, that hurt! (high squeaky voice)
Now Jane has a pain,
Now Tarzan has a tan.

I hope it doesn’t peel
Like a banana! (Beat your chest)

Cheeta,
Was dancing to the beata,
Crashed into the streeta,
Now Cheeta is Velveta,
And Janes has a pain,
Now Tarzan has a tan.

I hope it doesn’t peel
Like a banana! (Beat your chest)

The Leap

At camp, the Junior Highers got to do THE LEAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was fun. To do it you

  1. got in the harness
  2. prayed with your councilor
  3. climbed
  4. and climbed
  5. and climbed
  6. and climbed
  7. got on to the platform
  8. and jumped!!!!
  9. If we wanted to, we could try to hit the red ball.

As I was climbing, I wished I had chosen the shorter Leap. When I got to the top, I was still wishing that. As soon as I got to the ground after jumping, I was glad that I did the big one.  Since the small ones were not so tall, they would not have been so much fun. I wish I could do it again. I would have gone for the ball!

 

4-H Projects

This year I did

FIVE

projects for 4-H!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did

  • one candle
  • two posters
  • two Salon prints!

Here are some pictures so you know what to look for.

Saturday Soccer Game

Every Saturday we have a soccer game. Andrea’s game is at 9:00, Audrey’s is at 10:00 and mine, David and Adrian’s games are at 11:00.

You are invited to come and watch us play.

Our first game we lost 🙁 . BUT we are playing the same team next week and the next and the… There are only two teams of my age group boys, so we play the same team every single week.

The final score was only 2-4.  Daddy said it was a good game. He does not like games with high scores, because the games are not evenly matched.

I think we have a good team this year. Daddy is my coach and my cousin David is on my team.

 

Happy Birthday Samuel Morse!

This is the translation of the Morse Code from earlier. 🙂

TODAY IS MORSE CODE DAY! IT IS MORSE CODE DAY BECAUSE IT IS SAMUEL MORSE’S BIRTHDAY. HE WAS BORN IN 1791 AND INVENTED MORSE CODE I AM GLAD I DID NOT HAVE TO LEARN IT TO PASS MY TEST.

By the way I got my license in the mail today

Here are some links to translating and fun MORSE CODE sites.

English to Code and Code to English

Morse Code Music, Lots of fun!