The Baby Alligator Diary.

LOOK AT THE ADORABLE LITTLE GATOR! LOOK AT IT! LOOK AT- ahem.
Hello once again people of the world! Today Chief Mother has assigned me with the order to do a post on an alligator. But not just any alligator post, I'm going to be telling you of an alligators point of view! Who's ever heard of Diary Of A Wimpy Kid? Yea well, this is kinda gonna be like that. Except shorter. And less funny. And without moldy horrifying cheese. Cheese...  Well without further ado , on with the post! [Mom's making mac 'n cheese for dinner. Cheese...]

I am a baby male alligator. I just hatched from my egg only 6 days ago. I was the third one to hatch out of 10. My mom is still taking care of me. She'll protect me in her jaws (literally) until I am 2 weeks old. Then I will venture off on myo own.

I'm still learning how to catch fish and other food. It's really hard when you're only 12 inches long. I rely on my mom for basically everything. I know how to swim, though, because alligators are born knowing how to swim.

Two weeks have passed, and I'm finally big enough to catch our own prey. Mom says it's time for us to move on though. It's going to be hard living by myself, because there are many predators out in the wild. Like hawks, large fish, pythons, and even other alligators. Without my moms help I might not survive.

-1 year later-

I am now a juvennile alligator. I can hunt medium sized prey and hold my own in a fight! I can also hold my breath underwater for almost 30 minutes and swim without anyone seeing me. I am a male allligator, and this was my story. The End.

Types of Erosion

This is an assignment for my FLVS Science class. These are the types of erosion I had to find. All of these images are mine, except for the funny shaped rock which I got from winderosion.com

Picture number one is an example of cracked pavement which is mechanical weathering.  Picture number two shows rust on a bike which is an example of chemical weathering.  Picture number three is water erosion of the dirt as it leaves the drain pipe.  Picture number four is an example of wind erosion, that has eroded this rock into an interesting shape.  Picture number five is the extra one I chose, and is water erosion, water erodes the beach when the tides come in.

The Talking Controller, by Darien

Hello once again people who can read! Today (on a very short notice) I'm going to be telling you about a little tall tale I literally just got done writing, The Talking Controller. One day, like any other day, I was playing video games after a long, hard, stressful day of school. It was the same as every other day, sitting on my bed powning a video game. Then the game began to get harder. And harder. And harder! So hard I couldn't even move an inch without losing. So I stopped to go have a quick snack and watch some Spongebob Squarepants. Twenty minutes later when I went back in my room, I saw my controller. But it wasn't just laying there like any other controller. It was sitting upright and beating the final boss on my video game! Even more amazing it was yelling at my TV like it was about to have a rage quit. I guess controllers get angry too. Well, I guess you'd be angry too if you were being smacked all day. "BUTTON MASHING BUTTON MASHING!!!" is what he was yelling. All I could get out was "Uhh... you can talk?" The controller looked at me (well I'm assuming it looked at me) and just replied "So a bird that can repeat everything you say doesn't amaze you, but a talking controller does? Kids these days." "Its just I've never heard of a talking controller before." The controller sighed. "Nobody has in many years, kid. We come to life when people truly need help on games, like you right now." I wanted to say "Then where were you all those other times..." but I didn't know what talking remotes were capable of. For all i knew he could whisper some code and make all my electronics explode. So I just watched in aww as he beat the final boss like it was a baby. I was quite pleased, for I had been trying to beat it for several days. Then the controller literally had a "spark" of intelligence. "Hey kid," the controller asked "How about we take this to the next level? I'm talking beating every gamer in the world and becoming famous! What do ya say?" It did sound nice, being famous and all. So I shook his hand as best as I could and said "Deal." We started off small, beating all the kids in our neighborhood. Then we moved on to the other towns. Then the small city's. Then the major city's. Soon all of Florida had been beaten by us! One day, while playing the newest racing game, I got a letter. "Dear Darien,"the letter said "How would you like to participate in the National Gaming Championship? There will be games like Halo, Need for Speed, Super Mario and Dragon Ball Z all for playing. And the winner gets $1,000,000! If your up for it, head to the football stadium in Tampa on November 21st. Hope you consider it!" I was so excited! One million dollars? I was so getting that. I grabbed my controller, convinced dad to take me to Tampa, and we were off! Imagine an entire football stadium stuffed with video games. Now imagine its also stuffed with millions of people pushing you aside just to try out a demo. Then imagine speakers so loud you could go deaf by just listening to someone say "Hello!". That would basically sum up the Tampa Football Stadium. We managed to find the competition area, and my controller was eager to fight. "Let me at em! This will be easy!" he kept yelling inside my backpack. But I'd been thinking. Would it be right to win by letting a master gamer do all the work for me? I decided to play it the legit way and do it myself. Mr. Controller (so he called himself) was highly disappointed and went back to normal. Then the games started. I came in first in Need for Speed (naturally) and earned myself a nice 2000 dollars. I came in 3rd in Halo, only because someone had messed with the game so he was invincible. I came 2nd in Dragon Ball, which gave me 500 dollars, and last in mario kart. Never was truly good at that game. After that we went home, had pizza, and went to bed. So in the end, playing fairly and coming in last is always better then cheating and winning. The End. That's my story on The Talking Controller. I got the picture from www.Google.com and the story from my genius brain. Hope you enjoyed it! That

The Time Machine Book Report

Hello once again people of the Earth! Today I'm going to tell you about my most recently read book, The Time machine by H.G wells. The time machine is a great book and one of the first classics I've ever read. The story is about a man known as The Time Traveler and his adventures into the far, wait no, EXTREMELY far future. So far that normal people have become cute little doll-like people and the underground workers have become savage man-eating white monkey men! Sounds like my kind of field trip. The book is filled with twists and turns, so you never truly know whats gonna happen. One second you'll be like "Oh no this is where gets captured!" and the exact opposite will happen. That one characteristic is what made me truly love this book. I recommend this book to people who love to think and try and figure out what's coming next. That's my report on The Time Machine. I got the picture from www.Amazon.com. The End.

Freaky Friday the letter E - Elves!

Hello once again people of the world! Guess what? Its the return of Freaky Friday because we were too busy on Monday! Last time we left off at D which stood for Dragons. So today were going to be covering the letter E. And sorry, I couldn't help it what with the long pointy shoes, pointy ears, short bodies and jingling hats; today were going to be talking about Elves!

Elves, we all know about them. They were invented by Santa Clause to help him with his toys. Hahaha WRONG! Santa only just adopted them, and they chose to stay. Elves are little people who have been in legends sense the beginning of time. They've been in Greek mythology,  Roman mythology, Native American mythology and so on. Most elf stories are about cute little 2 foot tall people who help you get through stuff you need done. However, there are stories of  elves who lure people into dangerous traps, and from what I've seen, preferably children. Note: Elves and Gnomes are NOT the same thing. Gnomes are ancient "guardians" of forests and apparently old lady's gardens. Elves however do as they please. They'll help you if they feel like it, but they'd much rather annoy you by being mischievous.

There are many different kinds (or races you could call them) of elves. There are snow elves, wood elves, Nimphs which I don't know much about, desert elves, Santas elves, and fire elves. There's probably more but those are the ones I can name. Snow elves, as the name suggests, are found in snowy places. There are two old legends that I can say about snow elves. One is that when they come out at night their dancing and cheering is what causes the Northern Lights. The other one is that blizzards form by snow elves having huge snow ball fights with each other. Personally I like the Northern Lights one more. Wood Elves are probably the ones I know about the most. As the name suggests, they live in densely forested areas. Legend has it that wood elves play a magical song on their flutes to make the trees grow faster, but when a wood elf dies most of the magic it's caused drains away. Might explain why moms plants keep dieng.  Nimphs I really don't know about. I think they're the same as wood elves but have more forest magic, I really don't know. Desert elves are kinda rough. There's an old legend that when a bunch of desert elves get mad at each other horrible sand storms form. And volcano elves, well, they're a little "hot headed".

That's basically my report on Elves. I got the picture from www.Google.com and the info from www.Wikipedia.com and my own memory. The End.
                                                                                 P.S, I really don't know any cryptids that start with F. Mind giving me some Ideas in the comment box?

Our Birds of Prey Field Trip

Hello once again people who read this specific, one of a kind, pizza loving blog. I mean really, who doesn't like pizza...? Anyway, today I'm going to tell you about our multi-purpose class at the Lower Swanee Nature Refuge that we did last Tuesday. I was supposed to do this last week but we never got around to it. So today instead I'm going to tell ya.

Last Tuesday was a rather fun day. We were going to the Nature Refuge to do a class on birds of pray! Little did we know though that before that we were going to be riding down by the river to test the water (see if it was OK for animals to thrive in) so we almost missed it. If mom had done what she wanted to do, wait another 10 minutes, we WOULD have missed it. But she changed her mind so we left just in time.

A few minutes later we were down by the Lower Suwanee River. We spread out into 5 groups to test the water: 1 dissolved oxygen, 2 me and a little girl taking records of everything... I can't remember the rest, they're big words ... Moving on. Turns out the river was just right for animals to live in. Yay! So after that we headed back to base to do our birds of pray class.

Back at base we went into our little "club house" to do our birds of prey class. We learned quite a bit, or at least I did. There was an Osprey, a Bard Owl, a Screacher Owl, a Barn Owl, and a Great Horned Owl. I like the Barn Owl the most. Can you guess which is which below?

After the class was by far the very best part - we got to eat Doritos! Naw I'm just kidding, the class was really awesome.

That's my report on our Birds of Prey class. I got the pictures from our own camera. The End.

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

 Hello once again people of the world. Today I am going to tell you about my most recently read book, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood.

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, by Roger Lancelyn Green, is one of the greatest Medieval books of all time! It's about a young man - Robin Hood - becoming an outlaw and going to live in Sherwood forest. He soon forms a band of some of the strongest men in England including Little John, Allen Edall, and Robins nephew John Scarlett. He also makes many enemies like the evil/greedy Sheriff, and The Bad Man a murderer who kills ruthlessly for money. I could keep going on considering there's like 50 more people in Robin's band but I think that would be going a little over board.

I recommend this book to people who enjoy Medieval books, sword fighting, and yes especially archery. Not to mention its kinda funny! With all the humor and the way they trick the Sheriff over and over and over again, it's enough to make you laugh.

That's my report on The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green. I got the picture from www.amazon.com where everything is a good price! *wink wink*
                                                                                                     The End.

Freaky Monday: Dragons.

Hello once again people of THIS world. You people from an other world can just sit down and read... Anyway, today I am going to be going over the letter D, which can be nothing other then... Dragons! Mom and I wanted to be funny and do a post on Dad, and Caitlin wanted to do a post about Darien (I can hear Caitlin laughing in the background) but neither of them seemed to fit. So instead I'm going to be doing a post on dragons.


So, dragons. What is there really to say? They're big, mean (usually), and practically everyone in the world knows about them. Their name literally means "Big Snake" or "Giant Sea Creature". And if you DON'T know what a dragon is there's something wrong with you. But just in case I'm going to sum it up.

Dragon details:
 Come in any color,
 Come in any size,
 Have 4 legs and wings (unless its a Wyvern, see picture up top),
 Are said to be found practically anywhere the world,
 Can breathe any element from their mouth, preferably fire,
 And just love to ruin peoples day.

Dragons are a popular form of culture in many parts of the"Old World", mostly in China from what I've seen, and have also played a huge part over in the "New World" from TV shows to video games! Dragons are everywhere.

There are several story's about dragons. Some are about dragons that warn of bad things to come ("Omens"). Some are about evil dragons that burn random people to a crisp. Some EAT the people they burn to a crisp. Some kidnap women and cause knights in shining armor to go slay and rescue them. And some are about friendly dragons who serve as guardians/bring good wealth. Me? Meh, the most I see of dragons is in my Monster Hunter game.

Rumors of dragons have been around as long as anyone can remember. The Chinese Dragons are probably the most famous. Dragons are so popular over there that during the Chine New Year (or any Chinese Holiday) they have a huge dragon costume that everyone sits inside, holds up a stick, and sways it around like its the real thing! If I remember correctly, the legend is if you do that you'll have another year without dragons (Someone correct me in comment box if I'm wrong?).

Sea dragons. Whats not to love? Over 100 feet long, giant snake like body, and love to sink ships. They're probably exactly what you do not want to see on your luxury cruise vacation. Sea Dragons are probably most common up by Europe.. or used to be. The vikings actually thought that whirlpools out in the ocean were caused by dragons, swirling around in circles for some delusional random reason. One viking actually wrote "I had never seen anything like it. A huge, swirling hole in the middle of the ocean. You could almost feel the ground shaking below the ocean. One of our crew mates says he saw a giant snake swimming inside, then again he did just come out from below after drinking 3 jugs of rum." or something like that.

You know I could go on and on and on with this post because there's also sky, desert, forest, lave, infinite element dragons, but I feel that would be too much. Just a little. So that basically wraps up my post on Dragons. I got the info from www.wikipedia.org and my own memory, and the picture from www.Google.com. Next week I'll be doing the letter E! If you have an idea, please leave a comment in the comment box. The End.

 

Me and Jack the Pumpkin.

Hello once again people of the world. My mom had a genius idear the other day. When I was 8 I wrote a hilarious poem about a hot dog. So my mom came up with the idea for me to do a poem about...wait for it... a pumpkin! So, today I am going to tell you a poem about a pumpkin. Once I had a pumpkin, his name was Mr. Jack. We found him at the farm, he was alone and had a crack. I snuck him right home, without mom knowing at all. Though it wasn't very easy, because hes 6 feet tall! When I got home, I gave myself a pat. Then I put him in a coat, pants, and a hat. I named him Mr. Jack, it was a nice name. If I just named him Pumpkin he would just seem the same. We went everywhere, from the movies to the mall. Mr. Jack fell on someone who was making a phone call. We went to the part, and Jack went ice skating. He cracked all the ice and we all fell in, shaking. After getting out, we went back home. My room was nice and warm, like a pizza oven dome. He wanted to go swimming, but it was too cold. When dad tried to go swimming he turned white and looked old! Then he went skydiving, the first pumpkin to fly! He did a triple flip, a summer sault, and a 360 oh my! Then we went home, again to relax. Mom was inside with her machine that made fax. But I noticed something different, Jack had turned green! He looked like an ugly whoopie cushion, not to be mean. I made a decision, and it broke my little heart. I put him in a musher and made a Pumpkin Pop Tart. I put him in my mouth, and swallowed him whole. It was vile! It tasted like a big fat mole! Now we were together, and nothing could spoil it. That is until I had to go to the toilet... And that is my poem on me and Jack the Pumpkin. The End.

New Freaky Monday instead on Tuesday for a change! Letter C, Chupacabra. Yea big title.

Hello once again. It's the return of Freaky Friday! Except now its called Freaky Monday. And its being done on a Tuesday because we were too busy yesterday. Yea... Anyway, not sure if all of you remember but I left off at B. Summer Vacation made me completely forget about my blog. So today I'm going to be studying C, and C stands for.. Chupacabra! Yup everyone's favorite hairless vampire dog. Mom has posters of it on her wall :D. Now then, on with the post! The Chupacabra is a legendary creature found in several places in the Americas.I don't know very much about the chupacabra, but I'll post what I can. It has several descriptions from a hairless dog, a creature resembling Bigfoot (see Scooby-Doo and the wrath of the Chupacabra for more details)and even a weird alien in a flying saucer. What do they all have in common? For one its their name, which means Chupa = to suck and cabra = goat. Goat sucker. Lovely name. And the thing is all of the descriptions have been seen stealing/drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. I'm personally more familiar with the hairless dog form. Now, there is some debate on whether the hairless dog form in in fact a disease spreading from coyote to coyote, parent to child. That does kinda make sense - except for the fact that its 2 feet tall, has weird back legs, blueish eyes and no hair. Oh, and it runs like a deranged jack rabbit. Could be a coyote. (sarcasme) There is actually a lady in Texas who has seen the creature on her property several times and has even found a dead one and has it mantled on her wall! She claims it looks just like it did when it was alive, except it looks so much alive it could bite your hand off. It has crystal blue eyes, brownish red fur and a body of a midget dog. And don't forget the vampire like teeth. The chupacabra legend originally started in Mexico some time ago when a man saw the creature sucking from his chicken. Next day, his goats are dead. He then shot the creature the following morning and never saw it again. Since then, sightings have been reported from Mexico to Puerto Rico, Chile to Texas, and Florida to California. Its even been sighted all the way up by Maine! That's insane and probably a hoax if you ask me. The chances of you confronting a chupacabra somewhere like Montana or The Carolina's are relatively low, but it is definitely a threat if your a farmer and you live out by Mexico. The creature could wind up making you go bankrupt. That is if it doesn't do anything WORSE in the process. Like I said earlier the chupacabra might also have an alien-like form, so you might end up getting abducted while your out feeding your chickens. Either way, don't go outside in Mexico at night. That just about rounds up my post on the Chupacabra. I got the info from my own memory, www.Wikipedia.org, and www.Google.com. Tune in next week for the letter D! The End.

My Summer Vacation 2012

Hello once again people of the world! I am BACK from my Summer Vacation and ready to do some posts. So today I am going to tell you all about my time line I made about my Summer Vacation and the details!

This was my moms idea to do a time line instead of telling about what I did in one big paragraph like the past few years, so sense I was learning about time lines in school (Reading) my mom came up with the up with the idea to make me do a time line on my Summer Vacation. Did I already say that? I think I did.... Anyway, here's my Summer Vacation Timeline!

June:

June 10th: SUMMER VACATION!!! Best day of the year next to Easter and Christmas! Every kid in America waits for the day to get free from...school. Caitlin and I couldn't even wait for the Summer, considering we got the news that our Grandpa (see up top), who I haven't seen since I was 6, was coming down to Sunny Florida in August! It was also a special time for me personally because I was turning 12!

July:

July 4th: Ya, not much happened in June. Just sitting at home, playing video games, chillin', and hoping a hurricane doesn't come towards Florida. The Suwanee was already 5 feet higher than usual, last thing we needed was a tropical storm or worse, a hurricane, hitting us. But then came that one day of the year for me that makes everything in the world look happy and friendly - my Birthday! It was the best birthday yet what with the fireworks, the awesome game my dad's friend got me, my new XBOX 360, and my awesome Birthday Party I had the next day! It was also my Dad's birthday. Makes me feel lucky to have such nice friends and family.

8 days later, July 12th: Oh boy, evaluation time.Evaluation for home-schoolers is like a small test we take to make sure are able to go to the next grade. My evaluator, Mrs. Sherri, talked with my mom for a while about my grade level, along with my sisters. In the mean time, I was over on the couch or outside with Mrs. Sherri's twin daughters. I enjoyed talking about animals with them, a lot.
Later that day: It was time for my very first Sleep over! Even more important, it was my best buds (Jacob) Birthday! We played games, went swimming, played more games, had cake/sang "Happy Birthday to you" to Jacob, opened presents (Not for me of coarse, and I swear the new game controller I got Jacob glowed up in his face like something from a movie) played even more games, had more cake, more games, then went to bed while watching Scooby Doo on Zombie Island. And yes, the next morning before I left for home, more video games.

August:

August 8th: Mom's Birthday! Yup, Mom's 43 now! We didn't do much till later that day, except give birthday hugs and all that. And Mom's birthday was celebrated with someone from up North..
Later that day: The arrival of the most tan New Yorker I have ever seen; Grandpa Ed! Boy did things change sense I last saw him. But hey, I hadn't seen him since I was 6! That made Caitlin 2 years old! Or something like that.. Anyway, we did a lot the next few days. We went to Clearwater to see my dads old house, see the sea, ate at Denny's where "Americas diner is always open", and to the springs! I was hoping on swimming with the fish, but because of all the flooding it was impossible to see the hand in front of your face. And mom swears she saw an alligator, I didn't believe her at first but later down the boardwalk I saw two different alligators, so I quickly lost my courage to go swimming.

August 17th: The Annual 4H dinner. Yeah Grandpa Ed was gone. I'm gonna miss him, I still do. But now I had something different on my mind, The 4H dinner, where you get ribbons/pins for stuff you did over the year. I got 5 ribbons in one night, and 3 pins! Caitlin got 3. Though, 5 may seem like a lot, but my friend Spencer has WAY more. I'm not sure how many ribbons she has, I'm assuming between 10 and 10,000, but she has pins all over her 4H jacket. She has pins pinned to her pins that are pinned to her pins that are- you get where I'm going. But the best part over all was the food! You can't go somewhere and not have fun if there's 4H cake. That is a fact.

The next few days: 4H dinner was done, birthdays had passed, and it was only a few days till school starts. You could hear mom yelling at least 3 times a day "Schools almost here! Yaaaaay!" Meh.. I'd rather just sleep till Noon and do nothing all day. But those few days we had to keep our heads held high and eyeballs on the Weather Channel. Because there was a hurricane - Hurricane Isaac - in the Atlantic Ocean. And it was on a direct coarse with Florida. Fortunately, we got lucky again for the 7th year in a row. Apparently Isaac hit the Caribbean and that turned it off coarse. So instead the flippin Huge Category 1 Hurricane went on a marathon run to New Orleans, Louisiana. The same thing Katrina did several years ago. Now, because people knew about it this time, people evacuated. Meaning 3,000 people didn't... leave us this time. Thank God.

September:

Labor Day: The last day of Summer Vacation. Ugh... I was hoping it would never come. But all good things must come to an end. But I was actually kinda excited. I would be studying Marine Biology this year (My specialty) and I had some awesome new books! So I can't say it was all bad, just most of it.

The next day, first day of school. UGGGHHH! Dang! I am not used to getting up at 7:30 a.m! Even worse, I had to get up and go for a walk?! Evil...just evil... But the day wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I started my new Marine Biology coarse and learned some new stuff. So ya, school can be fun. If only they made math extremely simple.

Present day: That basically sums up my Summer Vacation. I'd like to thank my family and all my friends for having a pure awesome Summer. And I got the photo from my moms camera. This is Darien "The Darbear" signing off.

The Swiss Family Robinson.

Today I'm going to tell you about the most recent book I've read, The Swiss Family Robinson, By Johann Wyss.

The Swiss Family Robinson is about the Robinson family (hence the title) getting stranded on an island in the middle of who-knows-where. The huge family was on a ship to New Guinea when a huge storm came through and destroyed the ship. They managed to reach an island where they lived for the nexy dozen years. Now, this is no ordinary island. This ONE ISLAND has all of the following: Lions,  penguins, bears, flamingos, oysters with pearls inside, donkeys, iguanas, boas, and so much more. Plus, its got a happy ending! Everybody loves a good happy ending. This is definitely a book for you if you love action and adventure.

That's my report on The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss.

The Indian In the Cupboard: Book Report

Today I'm going to tell you about the book, The Indian In the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks. The Indian In the Cupboard is one of the greatest books I have ever read. It's a story about a young boy named Omri who gets a magic cupboard and a key for his birthday. One day he puts a plastic toy Indian in the cupboard and locks it, a few minutes later he hears a bumping inside the cupboard. He opens it only to find an Indian- a living Indian. From that day on his life would never be the same. I recommend this book for people who love to think, to imagine, to dream. It will definetly send your mind racing. That's my report on The Indian In the Cupboard. The End.

Love Bugs

Ok...how do I put this? Meh... Today I'm going to be talking about one of the most annoying bugs I have ever met: The Love Bug. Love Bugs are one of the most annoying (non poisonous) bugs in North America. Don't get me wrong! I love bugs, just not LOVE BUGS. I mean, they only come out for a few months of the year but when they do its not very fun. They get everywhere. A few days ago I went to a waterpark known as Water Works and it was just nasty. The rides where good, but the food stands.. They were completely infested by love bugs. No one was even there it was so bad! Love Bug season is one of the only things I don't like about living down south (that, blackbirds and hurricane season). Even the rides where covered in them! You couldn't even stand in line without being covered. And whatever you do, do NOT go out in the country during love bug season. Between them and walnut sized horse flies, you'll be having your hands full...with bugs. Ok, now that I'm done giving my opinion, time to get on with the scientific info. Love bugs are a member of the march fly family. A large rumor is that the University of Florida made love bugs to get rid of some of the mosquito. If that's true that is just messed up. Making a new species in my opinion is like playing God. And besides, even if their goal was to get rid of mosquito's it didn't work. They feed on pollen instead, which isn't a bad thing. They also have this acid in their body that, if splattered by a car, corrodes the paint of your car! We might have that problem because our car is tan, but trust me. I haven't yet seen a car with more love bugs on it then ours. On the good side, there are some insects who actually feed on them. Spiders (which isn't actually an insect), centipedes, beetle larvae, and earwigs all are predators of the love bug. Me and my dad are predators too! Except we don't eat em (bleh) we just swat em. That's my report on the love bug. I got the info from www.Wikipedia.org and the photo from www.Google.com Thanks for reading. The End.

Owls and Owl Pellets Yaaaay!

OK. So today instead of Freaky Friday (sorry haven't been doing it) I'm going to tell you about owls and..owl pellets. Owl's are members of the Raptor family (Hawks, eagles, etc.) and are found everywhere except Antarctica. There are more then 200 species worldwide and have been a part of culture for generations. Owls are nocturnal, only coming out in the day if they absolutely have to. The largest owl's can reach up to 3 ft long and weigh 20 pounds. The largest owl known to man is the Great Grey Owl, which can reach lengths of 3 1/2 ft long. The tiniest owl is the Elf Owl, only reaching 5 INCHES! Sounds like my sister. Owls feed on many different animals. They are usually the top predator in their ecosystem. They feed on rats, mice, small birds, other owls (CANNIBAAAALS!),cats and pet dogs if they get the chance, and they've even been known to eat snakes. What they can't digest however is coughed up into owl pellets. Mmmmmm owl hair balls. Last Monday we dissected owl pellets and found a ton of stuff. First you put the owl pellet in a bowl of hot water (Soups up!) to get all the hair off, then you take it out of the bowl and begin picking at it with your forks. As you pick it apart (It has a strange earthy smell.) you begin to notice bones. Each pellet had leg bones, spinal cord, and a skull. Though me and my friend Jacobs pellets got 2 skulls in them. Yaaay us? The scariest natural thing you can possibly see outside your house at night is a big owl looking at you with those big yellow eyes. Owls are highly known for their eye shine. They have huge eyes that allow them to see perfectly in the dark of night. So,if you live out in the country, go outside one night and shine a flashlight into the trees and see what you find. You might just find a owl looking at you. Remember, THEY'RE WATCHING YOUUUU! The main things that makes an owl so dangerous is its talons and its beak. Talons are basically huge claws at the end of the owls feet. They help hold down or scoop up the prey while the owl begins gnawing at it with its beak. So, if your a mouse living out in an open field and an owl sees you, guess what! Your dinner! :) That's my report on owls and owl pellets. I got the info from www.wikipedia.com and from my own memory. The End.

Camels In the Desert

Last week my mom gave me and all my friends a camel (Yes, those yellow things with the humps on their backs) assignment. I was supposed to do it last week but we we were too busy. So now I'm doing it before we go to our Co-op. Yay me!

Now then, the goal of the assignment is to tell:
What I know about camels.
What I want to know about camels.
And what I have learned.


So first out of the Bucket-Of-Fun..ness, I'm going to tell about what I know, which isn't much. Haha camels have never really been one of the animals I was very intrigued on studying.

Here's what I know: 1, Camels are up to 6-7ft tall and are used an transportation in Africa and some parts of Australia (Learned that from Dora The Explorer. HAHA!!). 2, They where originally found in North America. So unless they swam all the way from Kansas to Africa they where transported there...I'm voting on they swam (sarcasm)! And 3...wait that's all I got. OK moving on to phase 2.

Here's what I want to know. How heavy they are, how many species there are, how they find food/water, and how many offspring a mom produces. Now you wait here while I go and study on Wikipedia. Be right back.

(2 hours later)

Ahh learning!! It hurts ma head!!.. But it pays off. So I didn't find everything I was looking for, but I found other stuff instead. Here's what I have learned:
1, Camel's are actually still found in in the Americas. Remember that old show Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius? Remember the fat little guy named Carl? Well he is obsessed with the cousin of the camel: The llama! So the next time you think camels are only in Africa and Australia, just think of those fluffy, green lugia spitting creatures found in Western North America and South America. 2, The camel only gives one offspring. However, (WARNING: The following statement may sound too creepy for young children and may cause them to stay awake at night.) there have been some reports of CONJURNED, or however you spell it, camels! A.K.A, two headed camels. It was bad enough knowing about two headed snakes. Unfortunately, 2 headed animals never live to adulthood so the 2 headed camel probably died at a few months old. 3, did you know camels are used in the army?! Even U.S soldiers use them! Talk about riding to victory in style. And 4, camels are one of the most populous animals on Earth between the wild camels of Africa, the domesticated camels of Africa, the wild camels of Australia, and the domesticated animals of Australia, theres about FIFTEEN MILLION camels out there! I doubt we'll have to worry about them going extinct any time soon, which is a good thing. Camels are one of the only abundant food sources those poor (Poor as in I feel sorry for them) people over in Africa have to eat!

Well, that's my report on camels. I got the info from www.Wikipedia.com (Best website EVER! That and youtube and wild-facts) and the photo from www.Google.com (Google's pretty cool too). The End.

The Horseshoe Crab

Today I'm going to tell you about the Horseshoe Crab.


First I'm going to tell you about my experience. Last week me and my family went to Shired Island to go visit my Aunt and Uncle on their one week vacation. While walking down the beach we happened to see a LIVE horseshoe crab, minus its tail. Poor thing. It had been dragged up by the water and the buzzards where flying all over him. So my Uncle picked it up by the shell and took it down to the water, with Roxie trolling behind. We kept walking down the beach till we saw another horseshoe crab, but this one was dead -_-. So we took it home so I could keep the shell, and left it outside for the bugs to eat the few guts still inside. While walking back up the beach we saw the same horseshoe crab. It had looked like he had moved quite a bit, but instead the tide had just gone down! Poor guy, he can't win. So Uncle George moved him yet again then we headed back to camp. What happened to him afterwards, we will probably never know. Then the next day I go outside and I find my crab shell ripped to pieces!!! You remember our pesky neighborhood cats? Ya, well, they dragged it out into the street and then it was either ripped to pieces by them or run over by a car. Either way it made me pretty upset.

Now I'm going to tell you about the Horseshoe Crab itself. They grow up to 60 inches and live off the coasts of America, Asia, Indonesia, and Egypt. they mainly feed on worms and small crustaceans. Horseshoe crabs aren't actually crabs at all, they're actually more related to spiders. Hear that mom? No matter where you go, land or sea, you will never escape spiders.

That's my report on the Horseshoe Crab. I got the info from www.wikipedia.com. The End.

Freaky Friday: Bigfoot, Americas Primate.

NO THIS WASN'T A HOAX!
So, welcome back to Freaky Friday. Two week's ago I covered the big meany of Jova, the Ahool. But today I'm going to be covering something I think we've ALL at least heard of. Yup, the big tree hugger of the world (no not smokey the bear, or my mom) Bigfoot!

Bigfoot is one of the most well known cryptids in the entire world. He has many names (I'm not gonna name all of them!) such as: Ts'emekwes, Stiyaha (Sounds like a guy saying stay, YAHA!),
Kwi-Kwiyai, Sasquatch, Florida's Skunk Bear (I've seen him!!!), and Yeti. He's said to be 5-10 ft tall, depending on where it is. All descriptions are usually of a large, muscular ape-like man with a large head,long arms, black eyes, big feet (hence his name) and blackish brown or dark red fur, except for the Yeti, he's usually white.

Bigfoot is said to be usually a calm, friendly, minding-his-own-business kinda creature (I'll be telling you about his meaner cousins later in the alphabet..) however that doesn't mean you should just walk up and say hi! I mean, we're talking about a 500-700 pound fluffy tank here! It's probably best to avoid him, like he does (pretty dang well) with us. There are SOME stories of Bigfoot...killing people, such as this one I'm about to tell you:

Long ago, probably long before you were born, Teddy "Bear Roosevelt" was president of the United States of America. One day, him and his friends went out on a hunting trip when they noticed a horrible smell nearby (one of the only way's to tell if Bigfoot is nearby) but they didn't think much of it. They had probably never even heard of Bigfoot before! So they went on on their hunting trip, then they noticed a loud moan, and it was close. A few moments later a Bigfoot sprung out of the bushes and ran right at one of Teddy's friends! He completely mauled the man to death before someone fired a gun at it, forcing it to run away. Teddy,or someone, described it "About 8 ft tall and dark brown fur."

So, I guess Bigfoot ain't to be completely toyed with after all. Next time you see a big hairy creature walking up to you, you have no food and it's NOT your husband, your best chance is to curle up in a ball. DO NOT RUN, a Bigfoot is like a bear, they are much faster then they look.

Bigfoot is said to be omnivorous, meaning he feeds on plants and meat. Cryptozoologists know he might feed on root's, herbs,and berries. What meat he eats is not completely known. Squirrels? Birds? Chicken nuggets with Ronald Mc. Donald? (See up top.) We may never know.

Bigfoot sightings have been seen all over the globe, except Antartica, and has become a world wide phenomenon over the past few decades. Bigfoot use to be an actual species you know! Known as Gigantopithecus, it was the largest species of ape ever to walk the Earth. They all used to live in Asia, but the Russian's possibly hunted them to near extinction, so some headed towards the mountains (Possibly giving rise to the legend of the Yeti) and some were said to cross the land bridge that separates Alaska from Russia, then making their way down into the not-yet-found United States. It is possible they went into hiding here because the Indian's also hunted them. So they retreated to the woods, giving rise to the calm Bigfoot, and the highly aggressive Southern Sasquatch, which is said to attack and kill people for no reason. Maybe that's what Teddy Roosevelt saw...

That's my report on Bigfoot, Americas Primate. I got the info from www.wikipedia.org and my own info, and the pictures from www.Google.com. Next week I will be covering the letter C.
The End.

Terrific Tuesday: The Green Jay Butterfly

Wow, many new things have been coming to my blog lately. First Musical Monday (which will be continuing this summer), then Freaky Friday (I apologize for not doing B last Friday, we had to go shopping..) and now Terrific Tuesday; which will be about the butterflies I took pictures of at the Butterfly Museum...This is gonna be a loooong special, considering I took pictures of like 350 different butterflies!
Anyway, today is my first post (Not going in alphabetical order), the Green Jay Butterfly, aka Graphium Agamemnon.

The Green Jay Butterfly in most commonly found scattered across Australia and Asia in forest areas, or where there's flowers like your Australian/Asian garden (if you live in either of those country's). Did you know this butterfly has the same name as a type of bird way up in the Northern USA? Mhm, the Green Jay. -Back to the butterfly! They are small, about one inch high, brownish black, and have green spots all over their body. I don't know how to tell male from female (I'm new to butterflies! Mom just walked up and said "This is what your gonna be doing" and I'm like "Ohhk")...

The main plant these butterflies feed from is known as the Mast Tree, a type of evergreen tree (meaning it doesn't shed its leaves) which many of them gather in one place to feed off of...what on tree I'm not sure. Sorry!... The butterfly gets its name from an old Roman king named Agamemnon. He was a good king but, supposedly, he was cursed and died a few days later.

That's my report on the Green Jay Butterfly. I got my info from the www.wikipedia.org and the picture from my-moms own camera. The End.

Freaky Friday: Meet Ahool

OK, so today I'm going to do something a little different. I have decided to share some of my info on cryptids and legendary creatures with my viewers, and I'm going to do it from A to Z. Note: if you have a child who usually reads this blog with you, please know that some of these creatures are pretty creepy and may scare a child. So today, for the letter A, I'm going to tell you about the Indonesian entity, the Ahool.


The Ahool is said to be described as 3 forms: (1) A flying ape, (2) a living pterosaur, or (3) a giant flying bat (If the picture up top didn't already give you that idea). This creature gets its name from the eery sound its said to make at night, going something like a howler monkey and a wolf. AhooOOOOool. If you see anything with the following appearances, the best thing you can probably do is duck down low and pray for your life:

Adult human sized body,
Large black eyes, said to be red sometimes due to eyeshine,
Black/gray fur,
Large hands and claws,
And a over 10 ft long wingspan. If you see anything even remotely close to that flying at you in the rainforest of Java at night, you better hope its not hungry.

However, this is a legendary creature, meaning not known to science. The worlds largest species of bat, known to science, is the Bismark Flying Fox. It has reddish/brown fur and a six foot wingspan. Also, its a fruit eater, unlike the carnivorous ahool. Even though the Bismark Flyer isn't found in Java, there are also 2 large owl's who reside there: The Spotted Wood-Owl and the Javan Wood-Owl. They have a wingspan of about 4 feet, tiny compared to the ahool's gigantic wingspan.

The ahool is said to live in the caves native to Java with other bat's and, rumor has it, with other ahool's. The name Ahool in the Indonesian language means Grandaddy of All Bats, a worthy title, no? Ahool sightings have been going on back sense the Indonesians moved in, but the first recorded sighting was of a Spanish explorer and his crew being attacked by several of these creatures, oddly enough, during the day. He described these creatures "As tall as a man and a huge wingspan, at least 9 feet." About 3 of his men died and I don't know how the rest survived.

According to the Indonesian tribes, the Ahool is a evil spirit of the rainforest, and unless a proper ritual is done, it will come and kill livestock and even small children. Its even been said to kill a full grown horse! Note to self: never live in the rainforest of Java.

That's my report on the Ahool. Next week I will be covering the letter B, and I assume that the next post will be of hardly any new info, everyone's heard of him/her! I got my info from www.wikipedia.org and one of my favorite documentaries, Destination Truth. If you have any questions on the creature I've done today or a recommendation for a future Freaky Friday, please ask me in the comment box. I will answer as soon as possible.

The End.

Book Report: Treasure Island

Today I'm going to tell you about the book I have read last, Treasure Island.


Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, is a family book full of adventure, terror, and perplexion (Suspense). It follows young Jim Hawkins on his hunt for gold, along the way meeting new friends and new enemies, like the evil Long John Silver. You know, that seafood restaurant? It gave them all sea sickness. Haha! Just kidding, Long John Silver was a pirate who believed in persuasion and greed. He started out a good guy, then stabbed his fellow shipmates in the back - literally!

This book, in my opinion, was just like A Christmas Carol - all topsy turvey and stuff. For example: Long John Silver started out a drunk man, then he became a good guy, then a sneaky guy, then a bad guy, then sneaky again, then a bad guy, then a good guy, then a bad guy yet again. Confusing, right? Its enough to get me confused.

I liked this book because of the suspense. You never really know whats coming next, unless if you already read the book of coarse. I recommend this book to people who like to think, to always wonder what will happen next.

That is my report on Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. The End.

Book Report: Call of the Wild

Today I am going to tell you about the book I just read; The Call of the Wild by Jack London.

The Call of the Wild is a great book for people young and old. It is focused on a dog named Buck who is kidnapped and shipped to a dog sled store. There he met his dog sled leader and for the first time delivered set out in the wild Alaska wilderness. Throughout the book he is traded to many different men, his last was John Thornton, even though he wasn't traded to him. Buck learned to love John Thornton more then anything, but when John was killed by Indians the call to go join the wild. In the end... Well, if you haven't read the book, you'll have to find out for yourself. Is this book a true story? Probably bot, but it is probably based on a different a true story. I recommend this book who love adventure and excitement.

That's my report on The Call of the Wild.
The End.

My First Public Speaking Experience

Today I'm going to tell you about my first 4H presentation.



My first 4H presentation was about the Florida Dung Beetle, also known as the Rainbow Scarab Beetle. We got the idea on doing the Florida Dung Beetle when we were doing bug class and remembered how mom loved watching them roll the dung all around the yard. She would literally sit out there for long periods of time watching them!

Anyway, when we went to 4H county events we had to wait till everyone was done to do our presentation, giving me plenty of time to edit my speech. And let me tell you, being up in front of a bunch of people (Like 12, plus judges and mom) and not publicly speaking in 6 years can really make your legs shake. Caitlin just sat there leaning on the table tricking the audience with her cuteness. DON'T BE FOOLED! Shes evil. But that's besides the matter right now. I was just happy when it was over! Even though there were less people then I expected...

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Now I have to do it AGAIN in front of more people this May at District Events! I hope you don't have to change your speech....

But I should be fine. I SHOULD. Me and Caitlin each got a ribbon for our presentation, even though she just stood there, and she also got a ribbon on her dress and I got a blue ribbon on my Ladybug Picture. Not bad for a first time presentation-er.

That's what happened at the 2012 County Events! I got the pictures from my moms camera and the info from my own experience. The End.


See you in May!

Book Report: Dolphin Tale

Today I'm going to tell you about the book Dolphin Tale.

The book Dolphin Tale is by far one of the best books I have ever read, based on the true story. This book will capture your heart in its amazing sense of suspense, sadness, and humor! This book (in my opinion) is approved for everyone, especially for animal lovers.

This book is about the story of a boy named Sawyer Nelson who finds a young dolphin stranded on the beach. With the help of her friend Hazel, Dr.McCarthy,and the Clearwater Marine Rescue Station, the dolphin, now known as Winter, would become a strong, healthy dolphin. It wasn't till the end that I realized it was the junior novel...

This book will probably make you a little teary eyed at certain points. The movie probably will too, although we haven't seen it yet.

I liked this book because it wasn't all sad and boohoo like I thought it was going to be. Everyone likes a happy ending, right? Right.

That's my report on Dolphin Tale the book. I got the pic from www.amazon.com and the video from youtube. The End.

I Have A Dream

Today I'm going to tell you about my dream. This is in honor of Martin Luther King .Jr day.


My dream is to one day become a Marine Biologist. I want to become one because my love for the ocean and its creatures is almost as strong as my love for my family. My goal is to find, study, and protect the worlds oceans and their many species. Fishy Friday was inspired by my dream. My knowledge for animals ( Both on and off of land) is extremely good for my age. Some people even say me and my sister know more about animals the anyone in our town. Although we do live in a small town...

Anyway, I someday plan on accomplishing my dream by getting a good scholarship and going to a good college. There I will study harder than I do now!

My main goal in all of this is to show the entire world the amazing world our oceans are and that we should protect them. Many species of animals like the blue whale are going endangered. Even the great white shark, even though you might not like them, need to be protected. We need them, and everything else. And I'm not talking about for food!

And I also have 2 backup dreams. If I can't manage to become a marine biologist, I either wanna become a video game designer (I love video games!) or a cryptozooologist. They study things like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. My friends Jacob and Luke also like cryptozoology.

That's my report on my dream. By the way, that's my sister when she was a baby and my dog sleeping sponsoring the I Have A Dream.

The End.

More Pictures For DJ's Photo Album

Book Report: The Great Brain Reforms

Today I'm going to tell you about my latest read book, The Great Brain Reforms.

This is one of the books from the Great Brain book series by John D. Fitzgerald, the brother of the Great Brain. These are all real stories by the way, although if you read it some things might seem unreal. The Great Brain many times try's to swindle children, and the occasional adult, out of many things. For example: In this book he used a boomerang (Never before seen in their town) to swindle a boy out of his Air Rifle by saying he magnetized wood. You can't magnetize wood!! And as a result the boy got a whooping by his pa. Really? Really. This book is mainly about the Great Brain reforming on his bad habit of performing constant swindel's. Believe it or not my mom head me read the 5th book. Ha!

I liked this book because it produced a good feeling to it. And the fact that its a true story really makes it neat! I recommend this book for people who enjoy adventure and suspenseful (not in a bad way) stories.



That's my report on the Great Brain Reforms. The End.

Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures

This is DJ's mom adding some of his photos to his blog.