My summer

    Well, it's been a while since this summer rolled around, but I'm gonna write about the parts I remember:
    I'd have to say the best part of my summer was the beginning.  Every year, we get to go to Emerald Isle, up in North Carolina.  When we went to the beach in 2016, we decided to use our camper rather than renting a condo.  That was not a very bright move on our part.  The year we did that, it was absolutely SCORCHING.  It seemed that everyone who had gone to the beach that year had decided to use a camper too, so we were all packed together in the tiny little spots like little sardines.  The little tree that each camping spot had was just enough to cover a tenth of our camper and the air conditioning was just about to keel over and die from working so hard.  That was two years ago.  This year, we rented a condo, which was great compared to the camper.  We did everything, from visiting the aquarium to walking down the beach to boogie boarding.  The time we spent there was very refreshing and relaxing and took off the burden of the school year's work.  While we were swimming though, a shark was spotted swimming near the shore!  Thank goodness no one was hurt, but it did me a little spook and we decided to stop for lunch.  The shark wasn't seen again for the time we were there, so we continued to enjoy ourselves.  It was an awesome way to start off the summer.
    After the beach, my summer was filled with relaxing at home, with the occasional hike or family trip to see my grandparents.  I don't really think anything was bad with my summer.  It was one I really enjoyed!  If I had to choose something though, it would be the radish experiment.  See, I got all of my schoolwork done except for a science project involving radishes.  I wasn't able to do it because we didn't have any radish seeds on hand, and as we were ending the school year, there was a lot of stuff going on and we didn't have time to go out and buy them.  This meant that I had to do it over the summer, after our beach visit.  Being the procrastinator I am though, I ended up starting the project way after we had come home from the beach.  However, that seemed to be the one negative event that occurred, so I'm not going to let that overshadow the fun I had.
Thank you SO MUCH for reading my content!  I had my second official kayak trip this summer, so I want to recap what happened there, but I want that to be it's own post.  There is A LOT to recap there, so I'm going to tackle it in its standalone post   Thanks again and have a great day!

Finished (Finally)

       Well, it's been a couple of weeks since I've been finished with 9th-grade homeschool, and I can honestly tell you, it feels great to be finished with this school year.  Don't get me wrong, being homeschooled is COMPLETELY AWESOME, but it's still school.  Just about ANY kid who goes to school feels like they're carrying around an anvil, just waiting for the magnificent days called Saturday and Sunday.  When they finally reach their goal, the anvil is lifted... only to be put on the next week (I assume adults who go to work also have those "anvil days"😉 ).
        Summer is those wonderful three months that kids can wake up in the morning without worrying about catching the bus, or about that one science test you forgot to study for.  This is when the anvil is completely lifted off, and kids can do whatever they want, which can sometimes play out like this:

                       School days:                 No School Days:      

In my next post, I'll talk about my summer, so STAY TUNED!

(Go ahead and comment what your summer has been like so far, or if your summer hasn't happened yet, tell me what you are going to do!)

History is history!

 Halleluja!  this year is wrapping up my second year of homeschooling.  We plan to be done in the middle of May or so.  However, something quite historical (heh heh) happened.  Today was the day I finished my history course!  I finished the last history exam, and am done with history for the rest of the school year.  This will admittedly mean that I have to double up on some of my classes, (meaning that I get to finish up those faster!) but still, I think I deserve a good old pat on the back and a celebratory YEE.  

 

Kayaking down the James River!

    A week or so ago, my Dad, my Dad's friend and I went on a two day trip down the James in kayaks!  We had a great time, fishing, camping, and racing each other.  The total trip was 11 miles long, so we traveled 6 miles the first day and 5 the second.  We reached our "checkpoint" when we reached Big Island (an actual place-look it up!).
    I'm going to go more in depth in the next post, with the things we saw, what we ate, etc.  The main topic I'm going to talk about in this post, however, is rapids.
    The rapids on the James aren't as near as bad in other rivers.  But that does not mean you shouldn't pay attention.  If you're a beginner kayaker (like I am), this is the river for you.  However, I learned my lesson the hard way.
    You see,  I had just caught a fish (a total of two were caught on the entire trip. There was a lot of biting, but the darn fish would not stay on!), and I wasn't paying much attention to anything else.  Feeling invincible,  I went over the rapids without scanning the water, went over the rocks, filled my kayak with water, and had to float ashore to bail water out  (there were no casualties, except for losing my fishing pole and my clothes were all wet with no change of clothes!)  Only 10% of the rocks show up above the water.  I pushed myself into the water, ended up backward speeding down the river, hit more rocks, and had to go to shore to bail out water a SECOND time.  This was pretty annoying, considering the fact that we still have 5 miles to go and I don't have a fishing pole to fish with on a fishing trip.
    All in all, however, the trip was awesome.  I'm hoping we can go again next year (this is a yearly thing).  In my next post, I'll post some pics and all that good jazz!
   *All you wannabe pro kayakers---WATCH THE RAPIDS.  Don't end up like I did and lose you're fishing pole because you weren't paying attention!!!*
   As a side note: after that, I did pretty well going through rapids, and they were worse than the ones I crashed on.
#Learnin from mistakes
#Watch out for rocks

The Computer (Pt. 2)

OOLLY WOOLLY POMP UMP FIZZ!!!

     Oh, my.  That is the sort of thing that should stay in my head.  Sorry for the outburst.  Allow me to explain myself:
    You see, if you read The Computer (one of my earlier posts), you would find out that a verrry slow computer was put under my possession.  So slow that I was tempted to bring out my inner Hulk, flip my desk and obliterate my computer.  This all changed, however, when I had my birthday!  I got a brand new computer, so fast that I used it as a Nascar to win the Indy 500 (not really).  With my fast new computer, I am enjoying myself tremendously; playing video games, watching movies, and blogging.  I do school work on there too.  While it's not video games, I am now able to do a Google search without constant crashing (an interesting habit of my old computer).
  So there you have it;  My inner Hulk has been tamed, and I can fully use the power of the internet.

1-800 callers: Meet Ronald's Chicken farm

   An unfortunate fact of life for some people is 1-800 callers.  I seem to fall under this category.  I wouldn't mind one or two 1-800 people calling me.  Five minutes of my time won't make me go ballistic.  What makes me rage is when they come in swarms.  5 to 8 1-800 calls a day!  ARE YOU SERIOUS PEOPLE?!?!?

   I can't get things done when the phone starts ringing, and I have to get up and see who it is, only to find it's another 1-800 caller.  The other night I asked myself:  "What would be a logical solution for this mess?"  I came up with several answers:

1. Each time a 1-800 caller calls me, politely tell them to take me off of their calling lists
2. Ignore it
3. Turn phone volume down 
4. Yell "Howdy!  You have reached Ronald's Chicken farm!  Do ya like chickens, pardner?" into my phone                                                                                                                                                  

          (I am fairly certain there is no Ronald's Chicken Farm, but in case there is, I apologize)  

Now, after think hard about the solutions, I tried to think of ways they won't work:

1. It's not the same 1-800 caller each time, so It will make no difference.  Soon, another one will take their place.  Then another.  Then another...
2. Same as #1.  Will make no difference.  They will keep calling back, so I will eventually have to resort to a different option. 
3. What about all the other innocent people who aren't 1-800 callers and deserve my time?
4. Hmmm...                                                                                                                                       

(Just so you know, I have one of those old Verizon flip phones, so my options were limited)

  Number 4 was perfect!  If I was going to have to listen to my phone ring like crazy, let's at least enjoy the result!

   And so, I am now content with the 1-800 callers.  As I walk over to answer my phone, I can't help but think "prepare to talk to Ronald's Chicken farm."

"

The Computer

  For me, one of the greatest tests of my patience involves my father's old Microsoft computer.
  You see, my Dad gave it to me as a test of responsibility.  I'm still using it, so that's a pretty good sign!
   Anyway, whenever I log on, it runs fine.  However, when I open, close, or refresh applications or tabs, time just seems to stop.  Sometimes I wait patiently.  Other times, especially if I'm not doing anything very important on it, I'll just walk away grumbling.  These two actions only occur when I'm feeling patient or just in a very good mood.  Unfortunately, more often than not, I do not have the patience to deal with it.  I am sometimes tempted to flip the desk, Hulk style.  I ignore this temptation, but it gets pretty darn close.