Little Woman

Sarah Camp                                                                                                                 September 5, 2014
                 

                                                               Book Report

     Little Women is written by Louisa May Alcott. This is a three houndred thirty page fiction and takes place in the small city.

     Little Women is about the March family. They have four girls, Margaret [Meg], Josephine [Jo], Elizabeth [Beth], and Amy. In the beginning of the book, Mr. March goes into war, while the rest of the family stays home. It is Christmas and each of the girls have a dollar to  spend. They want to spend it on their selves, but they get Mrs. March [Marmee] something. Then they meet ' the Lawerence boy' Laurie. Meg goes to a friends house and learns that money is not everything. Thier father is sick in Washington and Marmee goes to help him feel better. Then when Marmee is away, Beth gets the scarlet fever. Their life lessons are often our life lessons too. Marmee teaches the girls to be kind, loving, giving, and patient.

     I highly recommend the book Little Women. This book teaches me about a lot of things. This is one of my favorite books. I have read this entire book.

     Sarah Camp 

                      

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.

The Delicious "Crumbling Wall Coffee Cake"

I love to read Nancy Drew books and I love to cook. For Christmas last year I got a Nancy Drew Cook Book from my parents. I would like to share a recipe with you.
                                         Crumbling Wall Coffee Cake
1 1/2 sticks of butter, melted
1/2 cup of maple sugar (I just used brown sugar)
1/2 cup of fine dry bread crumbs (just lightly toast two or one pieces of bread and crumble it up)
1 egg
1/3 cup of granulated sugar
1/3 cup of milk
1 cup of self-rising pancake mix

Heat the oven to 375.
In a medium-sized bowl mix together a 1/2 cup of butter, maple sugar, and bread crumbs. Press the mixture against the bottom and sides of a loaf pan.
In another bowl break the egg and add the white sugar. Add the milk and pancake mix to the egg-and-sugar. Stir lightly until all ingredients are combined. Stir in 3 tablespoons of melted butter. Pour the entire mixture on top of the maple sugar mixture already in the loaf pan.
Bake for 25 minutes. Let the cake cool 5 minutes before you turn it upside down on a warm platter and let it fall away from the mold. It tastes best when served warm. (Add more protein to your cake by mixing 1/2 cup of finely chopped pecans to the maple sugar mixture.)

I really hope you enjoy the cake!

Sarah

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.