The Pony Express

     During the Civil War days the Union and the Conferdacy both wanted the state of California. California's population had grown to 380,000 because of the gold rush. The Union tried to find a way to communicate and West mail delivery was the best way of communication. The problem was that it took 6 to 9 weeks to deliver mail. They had to find a faster way to deliver mail.

     B. F. Ficklin had found a way to transport mail and knew it would work. He shared his plans with Senator William Gwin. Gwin introduced it to the Senate in 1855 and it was approved. They called this plan The Pony Express.

     It took five years to set up the Pony Express. They had to put ads in the newspaper and on signs to advertise for riders, station men, and stations. In 1860 they were ready to start with 190 stations, 420 horses, 400 station men, and 80 riders.

     On April 3, 1860 the Pony Express started his first ride. Nobody knows who the first riders were but they have boiled it down to Johnny Fry and Billy Richardson. Most of the riders rarely weighed over 120 pounds so that the horses could run faster. Even though it was a good paying job, with about $50-$150, there was still dangers. One danger was Indians that wanted to stop white men for anything even if it meant death. The trails had bandits that wanted to steal the mail and kill the rider. Also the rider could get lost and starve to death.

     At each station the rider would get a new, fresh strong horse. It took about two minutes to put the mail on another horse and start off again. Sometimes another rider would take the rider's spot and ride off while the other rider rested. The fastest mail ever deliver was a letter written by Abraham Lincoln. It took the letter five days to go from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California which is 1,966 miles!!

     Sadly after 18 months the pony express had to shut down because of the telegraph and the $700,000 debt they were in.The Pony Express will be remembered by all Americans through history as "the mail delivered by men and horses 10 in days".

My First Deer!!

Me with my first deer.

The "Perfect Shot" was pictured here and was taken about 60 yards.

Proud of my six point buck.

We moved to Lawrenceburg, Tennessee this past July and I have made three friends, Ryan, Kyle, and Ben. They have killed deer and seen some, but when we first came they were all into fishing. I knew alot about fishing so I had alot to talk to them about, but when fall came something changed. They said that it changes every fall of every year. I did not know much about this thing so I did not have much to talk to them. I don't know if you have figured out what it is so I will tell you..HUNTING!!! I did not know much about guns or hunting so I was starting to feel a little bit left out. I kept on talking to them and soon enough I was starting to know about all this stuff. Soon I was making a goal, to kill a deer this year. 

I have been wanting to kill a deer so bad this past month. I went hunting the day of the juvenile hunt and went both that morning and that night, but did not kill anything. I went over to another man's property and did not see anything. I started getting frustrated because my friends had at least killed one deer this year. Then one morning we heard some shots in the green field behind our house near my tree stand where I would hunt. Later my dad went to check it out so I would not shoot anybody and they would not shoot me. When my dad came back he told me that the guy was in his tree stand and he said that the deer were taking a different trail and it was leading them to the other side of the green field. My dad asked him if he killed anything and he said that he had killed a 8 pointer. He told my dad to tell me that I should hunt at the corner of our property and down there was the creek they followed that lead out to the other end of the green field. I went the next Monday,(November 25, 2013) in my tree stand and did not see a thing. I decided to go where that man told me to go that afternoon. So around 3:15 I went and got positioned on the ground where I could see the creek. I thought I would not see a thing and started just kind of fooling around. Then I looked to my right and saw him, the deer I had been waiting for. Thankfully the wind was positioned just right where he could not smell me. I was so nervous that I was shaking. I did not have a clear shot sitting down so I decided to stand up, but I was shaking too bad and had one choice. To kneel on one knee and prop my elbow on the knee pointing up. BAM!! I shoot and the deer drops. I run up to our house and told daddy and we brought it up to the house, but he had to leave to go to church so Ryan and Brett came over and gutted it and skinned it and deboned the meat and put it in the freezer. I could not believe and still cannot believe that my first deer was a 6 point buck.

Thank you friends for getting me pumped up about killing a deer and helping me gut, skin, and debone the meat off the deer.

Dog Outfits!!!

 Old Dan looks cool in his new sharp looking outfit.

 Little Ann loves her outfit because it makes her have more "fashion".

We as a family decided that we needed to get the dogs some outfits so they don't freeze to death. We went to Walmart and looked at the dog outfits and they were $5. So we looked and found some old green sweat pants that were my dad's. We took some scissors and cut the legs out of them and cut them two leg holes and a tail hole. We decided that could be their "undershirt" or if it was just a little cold we would only put that on them. Then Dad went to the Goodwill and got a black with light blue striped sweater for $6 and cut the sleeves out of it and cut two leg holes. We only put the sweater on them if it is going to be pretty cold. We have sometimes have trouble getting the outfits on them, but when they realize what we are doing they will sit there and let you put 50 different outfits on them!! They are so cute with their outfits. So if you want to save some money on outfits go to the Goodwill or just look in your closet for a sweater or sweat pants and then you will have two outfits for your pups.

Birthday Party!!!

I (Isaac) had a surprise birthday party. My dad and I had gone out to fish with jugs and when we came back I found these two guys in my house. I was so surprised that I was laughing. We ate supper and went back and fished some more at a private pond. When we got there there was a milk jug (a gallon) bobbing up and down. We knew what it was, a catfish. Well we kept on fishing and just before we left we pulled the jugs and the jug that was bobbing would not move. We all of a sudden got a bad feeling. It had made itself stuck on a pole that was sticking out of the water. So we had one choice the hardest choice a fisherman has to take. To brake your line. We broke the line and just knew that there was nothing on the rest of the jugs. So we started to pull in the jugs when all of a sudden it was still heavy pulling it in. We knew we had something that was not bobbing a jug. So we kept on pulling and then we hit the money. We pulled the jug out of the water and what did we see? A BIG snapping turtle. We all was scared to pull it out until my good friend, Kyle,  (In the middle of the picture) pulled it out with his bare hands!! Of course by the tail. Ryan (far right on picture (and my other best friend)) loves to kill stuff so we all decide to kill it. Nobody wanted their pocket knife to kill it so I gave them mine (Winchester 3" blade). We kept on sticking it on the belly with it turned upside down and it would not give with that hard shell. Finally we decided to get big rocks and throw them on him. We kept on trying with no success until my dad got this big boulder and cracked open its shell. We decided it was done. Well all of us except for Ryan. He decides to jab it with my Winchester one more time. So he stabs it from the bottom lip and it goes all the way threw until it hits the top of its head. So he is dead. Nobody knows how many fish we saved from that 8 pound snapping turtle. And nobody will know what was on the first jug. But all goes well and ends well. we went home got a good sleep and woke up fishing then eating breakfast. After breakfast we went squirrel hunting. Even though we did not caught anything or kill anything we still had fun being together. That was one of my favorite birthday surprises and will probably be one of my favorites for my whole life.

Puppies!!!

 This is me with my puppy.

 Sarah loves her puppy almost as much as I love mine.

In August we had a race on the first Saturday of the month. When we came home we had to get ready to get these puppies. Then on that next Monday we got our puppies. I got a boy and named him Old Dan. Sarah got a girl and named her Little Ann. We got the names off of the movie Where the Red Fern Grows. We love our puppies!! They are 1/3 mountain curr, 1/3 fiest, and 1/3 jack Russell. They are suppose to be good squirrel dogs and that is good because we have lots of woods around our house and have several squirrels. I have been teaching them to tree squirrels and so far they have treed three squirrels. They love us and love being around us. They now weigh 13-14 pounds. We are looking forward to many years with them.

Catfish I Caught Out of My Pond!!

This is a Blue Catfish I caught out of my pond.

This is Isaac. We just moved to Lawrenceburg, TN and the house we moved to has a pond. The first time I went fishing I was not paying attention and a fish pulled my rod in the pond. After that I said that I would never fish in our pond again. But you know what I did? I went fishing again and caught one blue catfish and a hybird. Then I went fishing again and caught this blue catfish and another blue catfish. Oh, and also I found my fishing pole and fished it out.

Big Daddy Redtail!!!

 Big Daddy Redtail on the rocks.

Trying to find a good spot to put the hickory.

Big Daddy Redtail is a Fox Squirrel and is the biggest squirrel we have ever seen!! He looks like a beaver climbing in the trees he is so big.  We found his nest and love to watch him climb through the trees. We will not kill him because he is the only squirrel that lives around here and we are hoping he finds a mate and has kids so there can be more squirrels. I took these pictures when one day I was watching him get all these hickories that Elijah and I put behind a rock. I wanted to take more pictures so that I might get a better picture but I had school to do. I hope ya'll love the pictures and that ya'll can come back to read some more post.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!!!

 The turkey shoot!!

By the end of the day I won a turkey and a ham.

Like father, like son.

In October there was a turkey shoot that Pop, daddy, and I went to. First you had to pay for each shoot and once when you paid you got a small piece of paper. On the piece of paper there was a round number and a shooter number. If you won anything you kept the piece of paper and if you didn't win you put your name on the back and put it in a container. The first couple of rounds we didn't win anything, then one round I won a ham. After the 10th round they drew a name out of the container and that person won a turkey and they drew my name to win the turkey. Then at the end of the day the top 25 shots got to shoot for the $100 shoot out. The closest person won a $100, but I didn't win that. I was still glad to win a turkey and a ham.

Then another time, in October, Paw got to go with me to another turkey shoot. There I won another turkey. I decided to give the first turkey to Paw and Maw and keep the ham and the second turkey.

In November Paw and Maw came back up again and Paw fried those turkeys. Yum!!! That was some of the best fried turkey I have ever had.

Isaac C. Camp

Hawks!!

 Two hawks hanging out.

 The back and the front.

My favorite picture.

These are hawks that I took pictures of. Aren't they pretty? One day Elijah started telling me that there was some white things on the limb. I was like there is no white things on the limb. Until I saw them with my own eyes. They were redtailed hawks. I took these pictures while they were still on the limb and mamma made it closer where you could see their red tails.

Christmas!!

My new book and the best hat (it isn't crimson and white)!!

This Christmas my family went to my Uncle's house for Christmas. Despite the long trip we had lots of fun!! I             got a book, a Texas A&M hat, a glow in the dark gel ant farm, a Lego City set, a big road atlas, and a stunt car.

Then we went to my mom's parent's (Paw & Maw) house to see them. After a while my dad and I went to my other grandparent's (Pop & Gigi) house to spend the night, while the others stayed behind to spend the night. My dad and I went to Pop and Gigi's house to go hunting on their property and they live a good 45 min. drive from Paw & Maw's.

I took my stunt car to their house and it was as big as their chihuahua so I tried to play the chihuahua. The next morning my dad and I went hunting and jumped about 5 deer right before we got to our tree stand. Then we saw 4 good size ones in between us and our tree stand. Unfortunately it was dark and we could not get a good shot at them. But it was a good hunt because we saw something.

Yikes! It Is A Snake!

 Going to strike!

Let it go!

Stand back!

When my daddy was running he spotted this snake. So my dad called Isaac, Sarah(me), Rilley( my friend), and Elijah.we captured the snake with a bucket and a shovel. Then we were wandering how are we were going to get to the house. So we put the shovel under the handle of the bucket and Rilley and I carried the bucket to the house. It was fun catching the snake but it jumped out at us and didn't bite us. Then we let it go in the tall grass where it belonged.

Sarah 

Football Time!!!

 The Vanderbilt Commodores!!

 Talking to a coach.

 Practicing before the game!!

 Two guys parachuting on the field before the game.

 The Vanderbilt Commodores get the ball!!

 My favorite restaurant!!

 Jeff Driskel calling the plays.

 Inside their own ten yard line!!

 Whew!! Now they can breath!!

 More Florida fans than Vanderbilt fans.

 Dad and me having a ball.

 The final score!!

On October 13, 2012, my dad said that there was a envelope at the church office for me so he had brought it home. I opened it expecting a nice letter from somebody, but I opened it and saw two tickets to the Vanderbilt v.s. Florida game that night!! So the letter was not a nice letter it was a terrific letter from Mr. Brent that goes to our church.

I was so excited I could not wait for that night. We went to Nashville and had a great time. I got a pack of popcorn and my dad got a hamburger at the stadium. I got to put the toppings on dad's hamburger so I snuck a big onion in there and he was not expecting it. You should have saw his face!! He made me eat the onion part and the burger was delicious!!

Right before the game there was two guys that parachuted on the field. It was AMAZING!!! The game, band, and players were great!! It was a close game until the second half. It was 7-8 at the half Florida up. Then things started to get embarrasing for Vandy. The reason Florida is so good is that they do not give up and will pound you in the second half. We left after Jeff Driskel ran for a touchdown and that ended it. There was no way Vandy was coming back.

Some times in life God will give you something that you did not deserve.

Poor Meowy!!

 Shh!! She is going to sleep.

Looking at who came to get her picture.

On the night of August the 7th before we went to bed my mom thought she smelled a skunk. Then in the middle of the night my dad heard some noise in our garage. He went to see what it was and he noticed that the small garage door was opened. Then he saw a yellow blurr run out of the garage. He started to look for Meowy and found her behind the wheelbarrow and she would not come out. The yellow blurr was another cat and was fighting Meowy in the garage. The next morning she was not bleeding but one of her eyes were swollen and we put some medicine on it. Now her eye is better thanks to God that He protected her.

Siblings

Isaac, Elijah, and Timothy

 Timothy is cute as a button.

Joanna wrapped up.

Taking lovely pictures.

Elijah is driving the gator.

I love to play with my siblings! They're the best. Joanna is a sweet pie and Timothy is cute. Isaac is a good big brother and Elijah loves to play dogs. When we play dogs Isaac is Roy, Elijah is Chocolate Chip, Timothy is Fudge, Joanna is Peanut, and I am the owner. It is so fun to play with them!

Sarah

Snake!!

 A picture of the snake.

This is the snake's head.

One day in the spring we were playing outside near the rocks to the right in our backyard while my dad was running. Suddenly I saw a black snake where we were playing.  The snake was not moving and we started calling dad. It was alive and when my dad got there he killed it with a shovel.