Biology Lab/Assignment: What is a Vertebrate?

"Tell what a vertebrate is by definition and how you can tell a vertebrate from invertebrate. Then pick a vertebrate and talk about it."

Hmm. Seems easy enough.
Hello everyone and welcome back to another blog post! Man, it feels like it's been ages since I've done one of these.
...Maybe because it has been ages. Oh well! I'm here now, and today we're going to be talking about invertebrates and vertebrates!

Now, there's around a 50/50 chance right now that you're thinking "DJ!! WHAT on EARTH is a VERTEBRATE?"
Well my friend I'm about to tell you. A vertebrate, is an animal that has a backbone. These include, but are not limited to:
Dogs,
Cats,
Hippos,
Frogs,
Bony fish,
Dinosaurs,
And humans. The backbone, or better known as the spine, is a very crucial part of every vertebrates body. It travels up and down your, well, back and carries messages from the rest of your body to your brain, and vice versa. If your spine were to be broken, not only could you be permanently paralyzed due to lack of nerve messages being transmitted, but you could  also get stuck in a sideways-bent position. Forever.
Imagine watching TV sideways. Doesn't sound too fun, now does it?

Now, your spine also allows you to twist and turn, bend and stretch. Without it, you'd probably be a slumped over gelatinous mass. The same thing qualifies for all other vertebrates in the animal kingdom. An invertebrate, however, lacks a backbone. These creatures still send signals to their brain and back, but their nervous systems are usually much more complex than ours. Most of them are also unable to twist and turn, bend and stretch. Some invertebrates include:

Jellyfish,
Mollusks (such as clams and octopi),
Some worms,
Sponges,
Some cartilaginous fish,
Spiders,
Scorpions,
Anything else like them,
Crabs,
And insects. Bugs, bugs, and so many more bugs are all invertebrates.

Truth be told, around 90% of all animals on Earth are invertebrates. Don't believe me? Okay, think of it this way. There's around... 7 billion people on Earth? Well most invertebrates are, in fact, insects. And for every single person on Earth, there are 170 MILLION insects. That means there's..... hold on let me find my calculator.
1.258E18 insects on Earth. What does that mean? Well, to put it into actual number terms, there are roughly:
1,258,000,000,000,000,000,000 insects on Earth! Now isn't that just incredible?

Well, now that you know what vertebrates and invertebrates are, according to my instructions I'm supposed to tell you about one vertebrate.
I hate it when she does these things. Only one? There's so many to choose from though!

Hmm... Oh well. Lets talk for a second about the Birds of Paradise. I'm not going to talk about one specifically, because they're all so incredible. Here's a link to a photo gallery on Bing: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Birds+of+paradise&FORM=HDRSC2

Anyway, Birds of Paradise can be found over by good-ol' Indonesia, and there's around 42 species overall. These birds are simply incredible. Each one of them is incredibly different from the other, each with their own magical display. Some of them use their psychical abilities to scare off predators, others use them to attract a pretty lady. Some use them for both! The best part? Due to living in such a remote location, not only do they lack predators, but they also haven't been tampered with by humans yet!
Well, most of them anyway. The Birds of Paradise are an incredible example of why we need to preserve this planet, not destroy it. Both our rural, neighboring, and foreign areas need our help to stay strong.

Well, that's all I've got for today. Credit for the link goes to Bing.com, and I will see you all later on in life!

American Timeline analysis, section 2: 1520.

Hellllllo once again people who read this blog! So today we're continuing the American timeline, except there isn't going to be much to talk about this time around. So without further stalling, lets begin.

In the year 1520 only two major, mentionable things happened. The Spanish conquest of the Maya Civilization began, and the Spanish conquest of Yucatan. The End.

Yeah there really isn't much information to go bye. I could do a whole exam on the Maya civilization, but that has nothing to do with American History.

That's all for today, I'll see you tomorrow.

Haunted House Persuasive Writing Be The Realtor

Hello once again people who read this blog! I have decided to take a change in my career, and today I'm going to be selling a house. Now I know the looks of this house are a little.. discouraging, but I assure you it's OK! Hang on, let me go into detail.

The house was originally built in 1852, and has a lot of history attached to it. You see, an elderly woman used to live in the house. She used to report strange noises and even floating objects during her time of living there. Then again, she was around 90 years old. Who knows what else she might've seen. So I'm sure there's nothing to worry about!

Wanna buy it? No? Umm but hang on there's more! The house has 3 stories, complete with an attic and basement, along with a wine cellar inside the basement. It has a built in piano which is attached to the wall, incase you might know how to play. Don't worry, it's not one of those creepy pianos that play themselves. I think.

The backyard is fairly nice as well. The grass is all dead for some reason, but I'm sure with the right plant food it'll grow nice and beautifully! There's also a large strip of wilderness in the backyard, good for hunting during deer season! I hear there's a creepy old cottage somewhere in there. Be cool to go exploring, eh?

The house itself comes with 8 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 kitchens and 1 dining hall. As well as 2 living rooms. There's also large windows everywhere to let natural light in, but you'll need to clean away the several inches thick cobwebs and repair the broken glass first.. No big deal.

 Well that's a basic rundown of the house. I could go through the rest, but what's the point of buying a new house if you can't explore right? Right? RIGHT?
Overall the house costs 50,000 dollars. I'll leave you to discuss whether or not you're interested, while I go investigate an odd noise I heard.
Yeah the house can be pretty rickety at times because it's, you know, kinda old. Also- Wait is that a person? Hello? Oh hi friend! Is.. Is that a knife you're holding? Sir, sir what are you doing? SIR?-

Book Review for The Hunger Games book one

Hello once again people who read this blog! So for the last few weeks I've been reading one of the more, um, "popular" books. Can you guess it? Yup, it's the Hunger Games. I'm assuming you know where I'm going with this, the whole "mom wanted me to do a book report on said book" thing. And you'd be correct! So, lets get on with the show. So the book is based sometime in the near future where America is no longer America, it's Panem. And also all the other countries apparently don't exist. The states have now been jumbled up and divided into things called "Districts", 12 each. There used to be 13, but we won't go into that. Every year the leaders/dictators of the country, which don't live in a District, organize an event known as the Hunger Games. They will choose 2 children, ages ranging from 12 to 18, from each District and they will be sent to a massive arena to fight eachother to the death. For the 74th annual Hunger Games, the main character (Katniss Everdeen) gets her younger sister Prim, who's only 12, voted into the Hunger Games. Devastated, Katniss offers to take Prim's place in the Hunger Games. She then steps up onto the stage, and her fellow male tribute Peeta Malarkey steps up to join her. Peeta actually saved Katniss's life years before when they were close to starving and he threw her some bread. For the next few days they spend their time fighting and grieving as they make their way to the Capitol. Once they reach it, they train for several more days to prepare for the Games. Oh yeah, and Katniss shoots an arrow at the judges pig. Good job! However, she surprisingly got a score of 11 despite her aggression. The day of the Games comes along, but if you haven't read the book I'll leave what happens next for you. I personally think it was a great book, however my mother begs to differ. It does have a dark and somewhat disgusting story line, but it's a good read none the less. If I had to pick a favorite character it would probably have to be Peeta, because he's smart and witty. I also felt a lot of pity for him. Poor guy. But all around it's a great book and I highly recommend it. The movie however, don't even bother. Well that's my report on the Hunger Games book 1. If you haven't read it then you really should, you might get a good kick out of it. Either that or you'll hate it. Opinions vary. I will see you all in the next blog post, so goodbye! End

My Summer Vacation

Hello once again people who read this blog! It sure has been awhile sense I've done one of these, and today I'm gonna go over something very amazing and fun: my Summer Vacation!

So my Summer Vacation started in May. School had just "ended", but I was shortly greeted by the bitter fact that I still have to do school over the Summer. If Math weren't involved, it wouldn't have been so bad. For most of June we pretty much just hung out around the house, did school, and occasionally went to Church on Sundays. Mostly on Wednesdays. At the end of June, however, I left from June 31st through July 4th to go to a Christian Camp known as Camp Anderson. At this camp not only did I get launched in the air by a big balloon called "The Blob", but I also made some new friends and I got Saved. When I got back from Camp it was my 14th birthday, and I enjoyed a nice evening with my family. We went to Applebees, I drank mango tea, and then we went to watch fireworks. Mango tea though. It's so good. For the rest of July we did everyday things. Luckily though, we didn't have any school in July. Or August. It was beautiful. Once August came along we went to the Springs every Wednesday. We went to Poe Springs, Blue Springs and Fanning Springs twice. Blue Springs was my personal favorite though. The water was so clear and the boil was really deep. That picture is of me jumping off the dock at Blue Springs. Look at those ultra manly pink goggles. And for the last week, my Grandpa has been here and we've gone all over the place. We went to Saint Augustine, Blue Springs, Dairy Queen, Hobo's, and hung out at the house. I also got a really cool new game called Destiny, which is better then anything I have ever played. Now I'm back in school, and this is my first writing assignment.

Well, that pretty much sums up my Summer Vacation. I hope everyone else had a great one as well, and I will see you all in the next post!

My Homeschool Schedule For 9th Grade

This is DJ's Mom, and I am writing out the options and classes that DJ will be taking in the 9th grade.  This is for record keeping purposes only, but can also give you some ideas should you need them.  He did 9th grade Language Arts in 8th grade, and received credit, so he will be doing no Language Arts in 9th grade.  However, I will occasionally be giving him creative writing and research assignments to be shared on this blog.

9th Grade:

1-  Algebra1  Math U See

2-  History  AP American History on website https://archive.org/details/ap_us_history  left off on lesson 7

3-  Science Apologia Marine Science with Labs plus Marine Ecology with 4H

4-  Foreign Language Japanese at www.linguana.com and www.easyjapanese.org

5-  Music Music Theory, Ocarina, and Guitar with 4H  www.musictheory.net and Youtube

6-  Nutrition and Cooking Class after school for dinner

7-  Art on Mondays only

8-  Run Club and Weight Lifting for PE

We Will Bark At You- 8th Grade Final Exam in Writing

Hello once again everyone! Today I'm going to be posting my final exam, and its a song parody called "We Will Bark at You". If you couldn't tell, its a parody of the hit song "We Will Rock You". And it stars my dog Biscuit! It also somewhat stars Beaner. Anyways, on with the show! We Will Bark at you. By Darien. Biscuit you're a small lab, playing in the front lawn, enjoying life you'll be a big dog one day! You've got a small chubby face! You're not a disgrace! Chasing little birds all over the place!

 Singin, We will, we will, bark at you! We will, we will, bark at you!

 Biscuit you're a dog now, sleeping in the courtyard, dreaming that you'll be the house guard one day! You've got fur on your face! You'll sleep anyplace! Resting just incase you need to race! Singin, We will, we will, bark at you! Again! We will, we will, bark at you! Biscuit you're the guard now, sitting at the table, getting fed you'll be a fat dog one day! You've got crumbs on your face! You're in love with this place! Eating food you get all over the place!

 Singin, We will, we will, bark at you! Again! We will, we will, bark at you! Once more! We will, we will, bark at you!

 Biscuit you are an old dog now, there's a new dog now, gotta raise her to be a big dog one day! You've got slobber on your face! This little dog's a disgrace! You're kicking Beaner all over the place!

 Singin, She will, she will, bark at you! Again! We will, we will, bark at you! Last time! She will, we will, bark at you! (End)

Romeo and Juliet Book Report

Hello once again people who read this blog! So for the past month, I think, I've been reading a very specific book. In all honesty it is probably one of my least favorite books of all time. Me least favorite probably being A Christmas Carol. Oh that was brutal trying to understand the English "accent-like typing". But this book is a close second. Today I'm going to be doing a book report on Romeo and Juliet.


Now, my understanding of this book may not be the same as yours. I have a hard time reading poetry in the form of a story. But here's what I understood. So Romeo and Juliet's families don't exactly like eachother. I never understood why. Rome and Juliet however are in love with eachother, so EVERYONE just jump into the drama circle now! Apparently Romeo is married to another woman who never even says anything in the entire book (I forget her name) so even more drama. Then Romeo decides that he's going to go for Juliet so he begins to sneak to her house every night. After about 5 chapters (Or "Acts") Juliet finally says something and once again I get confused. I can't read poetry man. So Juliet loves him back, but their families still won't let them be together. Juliet is also going to be forcibly married soon to some Paris guy. Just throw that out there sure why not? Romeo still wants to be with Juliet though. Not happy with this, Juliets cousin Tybalt decides to attack Romeo. Thinking he's better he engages him in a sword fight, only to be killed by Romeo. NAILED IT! So now Juliets family (Why can't I remember their family name?) is after Romeo to kill him. All because he was forced to defend himself. That's fair. Hearing of her cousins death, Juliet drinks some potion or poison or something making her fall into a deep sleep. Now everyone thinks Juliets dead! God forbid you lean your fancy rich pants down and check for a heart beat. So Juliet is now to be buried. Paris hears about this and goes to her chamber, where Romeo soon arrives. The two fight for some reason, and Romeo kills Paris. So now he's dead. Then Romeo finds out that Juliet is "dead" and decides to commit suicide (Because that ALWAYS solves your life problems) by drinking poison. Now the main character is dead. Then Juliet wakes up to find Romeo dead on the floor. She then decides to go with him into the great beyond by first licking some of the poison off of his lips, THEN stabbing herself! So now the second main character is dead! Then the rest of the book is the families moaning about their losses when none of this would've happened if they had just let them be together. Good job people. Good job. So there, that is my report on Romeo and Juliet. Probably one of my least favorite books of all time. The End.

I Wonder: How Are Crayons Made

Hello once again people who read this blog! Mom came up with a new idea the other day, and for once, its one I actually look forward to doing. She wants us (I believe every Friday) to write a report on something that we've always wondered. Now there's a lot that I've always wondered. A LOT. But if I were to write a paper on such a thing you'd be able to stretch it around the Earth 10 times. I also don't think anyone wants to read a blog post that long. So I had to choose one (BOOO!). So today I chose something that I've wondered for a while: How are crayons made? The reason I've always wondered that is because when you're a little kid, you watch a lot of little kid TV shows. A lot of those TV shows show little kids using crayons, markers, chalk, etc. Sometimes there will be episodes on how crayons are made. Like dipping them in juice, stuff like that. But I always wondered what the true way to make crayons was. Now I know, and its actually pretty interesting. Video should be down below here, unless Blogspot is being stupid again. Thats all I got today, I'll see you next time I post something.

The Legend of Orphan and The Riku: Part lll

Welcome back everyone! This is it, part three of the Legend of Orphan and The Riku! Hope you all enjoy it!


- 3 years later -

It's been 10 years now sense what happened at Magnolia, and Orphan and John Louis are drawing close to the leveled city. They both know what lies ahead of them. One way or another their adventure was about to end very soon. As they rode on Marigold towards Orphan's demolished house, they take great caution in their surroundings. They both know that the Riku's den is a small 5 miles away from the wreck. That's plenty close enough for the Riku to smell them coming. If they're not careful, and fast at the same time, they'll be killed before they even reach their destination. Coming out of the dense forest they spot a chilling sight: The destroyed city of Magnolia. There was no way around it, they had to ride through it. As they rode through the tragic scene that was once a great city they couldn't help but notice a few things. For example, there were people living there! Living in the destroyed, grey, ash filled homes were poor people as far as the eye can see. Some looked hungrry, some looked angry, but all of them looked sad. "Poor lads. Must be horrible living here, knowing that at anytime the Riku could come back and if they left it would pick them off." said John. That made them wonder. If the Riku won't let anyone leave, why did it let THEM in? Was it expecting them, or was it off somewhere? They'd find out soon enough. They rode through town on Marigold at full speed, jumped over the fence surrounding the city, and headed up the hill to Orphans house. When they made it to the house they were greeted by a pile huge pile of ash and wood. They wondered how the ashes had remained here all these years. John hopped off of Marigold and began looking through the rubble for Dragonsbane. As he was searching, Orphan just sat on Marigold staring blankly at the sight. Horrible memories were flooding back into his brain: The dragon blasting the roof off, his parents telling him to run, his parents obliteration... They were coming back so fast that they made his head hurt. He wanted to cry. But he couldn't. He couldn't grieve over old memories, not now. Now was the time for action. He hopped off of Marigold, wiped the tears from his eyes, and joined John in the search. Five minutes into looking though they heard screams coming from the destroyed town of Magnolia. Horrified screams. Orphan and John stopped to see what they were screaming about, even though they already knew. The Riku was flying over the decimated city, and they noticed two things. 1: It was coming in the opposite direction of its den. And 2: It was heading straight for them! They began to look faster, but the Riku was closing in. 4 miles away...3 miles away...2... Right before it reached them they found the sword, lying in a pile of ash with the bone remnants of a human hand. They ran back to Marigold, hopped on, and began riding. They turned around and rode towards the Riku. But they couldn't fight it, not while it was in midair. They rode towards the destroyed city of Magnolia. As they rode in John kept screaming "Run everyone! Into the safest places you can find, NOW!" The Riku was momentarily confused at where they had gone, but it shortly spotted them. The Riku flew at the city full speed, and Orphan and John hopped off of Marigold. "Go find a safe place girl. We'll be fine." Orphan said to Marigold. She obeyed, and trotted off into the grey buildings. Halfway at the city the Riku got smart. It flew down to the ground, and started to stalk them. It's silver, dagger like scales allowing it to blend in with the buildings. Orphan and John looked everywhere for it, but they couldn't find it. John pulled out his tiny dagger and Orphan uncapped Dragonsbane. Then it happened. The Riku barged through a building, thankfully with no people inside, and lunged at them at lightning speed. Orphan and John barely had enough time to dodge its huge mouth, but quickly recovered their footing. The Riku slammed into a building, dizzying itself, but quickly recovered. It turned around to face its makers. This was it, the battle that would settle it all. Orphan and Louis charged the beast, and the Riku charged at them. The Riku was strong, but they were quick. John rolled around it, quickly stabbing it in the feet and legs every chance it got. While John distracted it, Orphan stalked around it in a circle waiting for the perfect opportunity. John hit it in a weak spot, stumbling it. "NOW!" yelled John. Orphan ran in as fast as he could, Dragonsbane in hand, and stabbed right at the Rikus head! But something went horribly wrong. It bounced off of its hide! Stunned, confused, and horrified, Orphan and Louis had no idea what to do next. The Riku did though. It quickly swung its tail around at them and, sense they had no armor, sent them flying into a collapsed building. Orphan seemed fine, with only a huge bruise on his leg. John, not so lucky. He had a bump on his head, a piece of wood sticking out of his side, and he was holding his chest. His ribs were broken! The Riku got up and slowly walked towards them, triumphantly. The Riku leaned over them, and Orphan noticed something. It had a huge scar over its eye, made by Orphans father 10 years ago. Orphan began to cry. Why didn't Dragonsbane work? Why? It began to charge up a fireball in its throat, and they knew they had lost. They were going to be turned to dust just like Orphans parents. It was the end. The Riku fired, but out of nowhere Marigold came racing in. She took the hit for them! Marigold collapsed a few feet away from them, a huge burn mark in her side. She was still breathing, but barely. "MARIGOOOLD!" Orphan yelled. The Riku took its eyes off of them for a second and began to close in on the horse. Orphan was angry now. He was angry at himself for failing. He was angry at Marigold for disobeying. But most of all he was angry at the Riku for every horrible thing it had ever done. Orphan stood up, and he noticed something. Dragonsbane was now glowing in his hands! Similar to the way it did 10 years ago. The Riku was now leaning over Marigold now, charging up another fireball. Orphan had to act fast. He was desperate, so he did something any panicking person would do. He threw a rock at it. It hit the Riku in the eye, and caught its attention. The Riku, enraged, charged straight towards Orphan. But Orphan dodged, and grabbed onto the Rikus tail. He climbed up its tail, and onto its back. The Riku was shaking around furiously, and Orphan had to be careful not to thrown off or cut by one of the scales. He climbed up even farther, and sliced the Rikus wings off! They cut clean through like tissue paper. The Riku fell to the ground, and Orphan was thrown off. It got back up and walked towards Orphan. It attempted to step on him, but he rolled out of the way. He kept stomping at him, but Orphan kept rolling. The Riku tried one more time, but Orphan reacted and stuck Dragonsbane straight up. It disintegrated the Riku's foot on contact! The Riku fell to the ground, and Orphan walked up to it. He walked up to its one working eye, and stared into its soul. It looked angry, very angry. Orphan raised Dragonsbane and with one final swing jammed it straight into the Riku's eye! The Riku let out one last painful roar before exploding into silver dust. Orphan had done it. He killed the Riku! He looked around and saw people coming out of their hiding spots. They were smiling, crying, and everything in between. These people were free now! He turned around to find Marigold somehow back on her feet, and John Louis leaning on her. They shared a huge smile. For the next 20 years Orphan, John, and Marigold worked with the poor people of Old Magnolia to rebuild the fallen city, and it became even bigger and better then before. To this day you can still visit the city of New Magnolia, and you may even see the statue of Orphan and John on top of Marigold, Dragonsbane in hand.

The End.

The Legend of Orphan and The Riku: Part ll

Welcome back! This is part two of the Legend of Orphan and The Riku. Hope you enjoy it!


-  5 Years Later -

Years have now passed, and Orphan has spent every one of them trying to find a lead on the Rikus whereabouts. He's traveled nearly everywhere on the continent on Pangolia, but all he's found is rumors, literature, and legends. He did find one eye-witness, an old man with a name no one knows. He told Orphan how many years before the attack on Magnolia there was one even worse. He told him of an old, legendary city called Dynamellow. It was the largest city on Pangolia, and was famous for its ore mines and fish-filled waters. Everyone loved the city of Dynamellow, until the Riku came. The old man said it was a horrible sight. Buildings were being leveled, the sky filled with smoke, and you could hear the sound of people screaming left and right. Screaming in pain. In under an hour the entire city was decimated, and just like Orphan was in the Magnolia incident, the old man was the only survivor. The old man seemed very sad telling this story, so Orphan told him he didn't have to go on. The old man smiled at him. He told him about an ancient library in the city of Kelpa, a huge city on the East coast of Pangolia. He told him if there was any place where he could find out how to fell the Riku, it was there. Orphan gladly accepted the info. So he hopped back on top of Marigold, said goodbye to the old man, and made his way towards Kelpa. That was two years ago. Now, Orphan has found his way to Kelpa. Not only that, but he's also managed to get right in the middle of a very busy fish market! Everywhere he looked he could see people hurrying to chop up fish, freeze fish, sell fish, buy fish, cook fish, bring in fresh fish, gut fish, and so on. He tried to ask a few people if they knew about an ancient library, but they either ignored him and kept doing what they were doing or gave him a look of annoyance. He rode around on Marigold for hours looking for someone who might help him. He would've gone looking for the library by himself if Kelpa wasn't so huge. He'd get lost before he came close to finding it. After 4 hours of riding around the market he found a fellow adventurer. His name was John Louis, and he was a weapons merchant. About the same age as Orphan, but with short blonde hair, wild blue eyes, and an excited look on his face. When Orphan walked up to him, he was trying to sell a sword to a young man. A sword that was being sold for WAY more than it was worth. John saw Orphan heading his way, and instantly "shoo'd" away the young man. Orphan sat down on a chair next to him. Instantly, John began trying to convince him to buy lousy swords. Orphan wasn't even slightly interested. He asked him if he knew about the Riku. Johns excited look instantly went away, and his eyes got sad. He said he does know of the Riku, but his story is so grim he doesn't want to speak about it. Instead, Orphan told him his story. John felt so bad for him that he decided to join him on his journey. He told him the ancient library was all the way on the other side of town. So they both hopped on top of Marigold and rode as fast as they could. Without running over any fisherman that is. When they finally made their way to the library, they ran inside and asked the very old librarian if he had a book on the Riku. The old man got up and, very slowly, led them to the forest of bookshelves. After searching for an hour, the old man handed them the book they were looking for. "The Legendary Riku". Orphan and John found a table, sat down, and began reading. They found out everything they needed to know: Where the Riku lives, its strengths, what to bring, but most importantly it's one weakness. The one sword and only that can harm it: Dragonsbane. Orphan looked at the picture of the blade, and at first didn't recognize it. Then it hit him. The only sword that could kill the Riku was his fathers family sword! He had to go back to his house, dig through all the rubble, and get the blade if there was any hope in killing the Riku. But there was one problem. The Riku's den was only 5 miles away from his old house.

To be continued...

The Legend Of Orphan and The Riku

So I've been studying middle ages lately (for the last week mostly King Arthur) and my mom found an assignment for me. I have to write a Medieval Legend! So I decided to make it about a boy who grows up to be a pony salesman. No just kidding. It's about a young boy, who loses everything to a legendary dragon knows as Riku and spends 10 long years plotting revenge. This is going to be a 3 part legend by the way, with a beginning middle and end. The beginning is just the prologue. Each part is going to be about as long as part one. So, on with the Legend!


Once upon a time, in a quiet little town knows as Magnolia, there lived a young boy on a hill just outside of town. The boy was about 12 years old. He had long brown hair, olive skin, and deep green eyes. He wasn't too short either. He lived on a small hill, but high enough so he could see for miles around. He was a farm boy, and he liked it that way. The boy lived the average life of any farm boy; He milked the cows, fed the chickens and took their eggs, sheared the sheep, helped his mother with chores around the house, went into town to buy farming and cooking supplies, and every once and a while took his best friend out for a ride. His best friend was a horse, and her name was Marigold. The boys life was perfect. But that all changed on one day. He was out tending to the chickens when he heard them. The alarm horns. The Dragon alarm horns. The boy and his parents ran to the edge of their hill to see what was going on. What they saw sent shivers down their spines. Magnolia was being town apart by the legendary silver dragon, known only as the Riku. It's destruction left a long line of blue fire, broken buildings, and lifeless bodies. The boy and his parents hid in their house for shelter. But it was no use, for after the dragon was done with Magnolia it caught whiff of the boys farm animals. It flew over to his house using its powerful black wings. Up close, the boy noticed something. It was 30 feet tall and it's scales were like daggers. Blue fire leaked out of its mouth like drool. The boy just sat there, watching from the houses window, as the Riku slaughtered all of the farm animals. Except Marigold, which was for some reason spared. The boy and his parents hoped that if it ate their livestock, it would be full and leave their land. But they were wrong. For after the dragon was done with the crops, it got the whiff of something else. Something human. There was a moment of silence, and then the Riku tore the roof off of the boys house. He thought they were about to die then and there. But his father, heroically, pulled the family sword down from the wall and faced the dragon. His wife was next to him, frying pan in hand. "Run! Get out of here!" they screamed at the boy. He refused, but his mother was determined. She leaned down and put her hand on his cheek. "Go, live your life. We'll do what we can to bring this beast to the ground. Take Marigold and ride as far away as you can. Do you understand me?" The boy cried, but he did what his mother asked. He ran out of their house, past the dragon, jumped on marigolds back, yelled "Hyah!" and rode off with Marigold. After riding for about half a mile he looked back at his house on the hill. He saw his father fighting the Riku with the family sword, and he appeared to be winning. If the Riku bit at him, he dodged. If it breathed fire at him, he'd also dodge. When the dragon lowered it's head down enough, he made a lunge at its head and gouged one of it's eyes out. In pure rage and pain, the dragon sent a huge blue fireball straight at his parents. All the boy could hear was his parents screaming out in agonizing pain. Then the screaming stopped, the fire died down, and the Riku flew away. All the boy could do was sit there, on Marigolds back, and cry. He was homeless, traumatized, and alone (except for Marigold). He wasn't really sure of anything now. But he was sure of one thing. He wanted revenge. He wanted the Riku dead. For the next ten years he'd spend his life trying to learn how to destroy the Riku. His name is Orphan, and this is his story

Fun Friday The Letter O: Orcas

Today I'm going to tell you about the orca for Fun Friday.Orcas are the stars of the sea. Not only have they been presented in water parks all over the world(Such as Sea Worlds famous Shamu.) but they have proven there stardom in all of the worlds oceans from the poles to the tropics where I live and as a matter of fact when I was going to Cedar Key a famous beach in north Florida I saw a fin in the water.It could have been a orca or a shark but all my mom says is "You didn't see a fin" but what does she know but enough of story time on with the post.The orca is the biggest of the dolphin family with the males growing up from 19 to 26 feet and weighing up to 6 tonnes while the girls grow up from 16 to 23 feet and weigh up to only 5 tonnes and the baby's are up to 397 pounds and grow to about 8 feet.Now you know why there the biggest in the dolphin family.The killer whale is a carnivore with a big appetite eating almost every thing that swims from salmon to seals and penguins and even dangerous prey such as elephant seals,walruses,and even other whales.The orcas description is black and white and a rather large fin that grows up to 6 feet long.Mommy orcas are great at nursing their young having at least 1 offspring every year.That's my report on orcas.The End.

My First Blog Post

Actually my mom is making this post, and laying down the rules. My name is DJ, I am a 9 yr old boy, living in N Florida. I homeschool, and I wanted a blog for my writing assignment, for fourth grade. My mom will pick the topics, except on free days, when I can write about cars, animals, photography, and other things I love.

This is an adventure for me, and will not be perfect, I am after all only 9. My focus will be to stay on the topic, improve punctation, and use good spelling. I will also be starting to learn about paragraphs, and simple outlines, in the 4th grade.

My mom will monitor all comments, and visitors to this blog. I am not allowed to post, or share any personal information with anyone.

I hope you will join me on this adventure, in homeschool blogging.