The Mississippi River

I am going the times we went fishing. It all started when my dad started dating this girl, Jill lived in Fort Dodge. She is nice and can cook. They dated a while before he met her parents. When he did meet them it was for a homemade dinner. He wanted to go by himself this time which I totally understand because my brother and I are kind of crazy; especially my brother.

The next time he went by himself again but this time they went to Lansing, Iowa to her parents trailer home that they have. To get to Lansing It took them six hours just to get there. Lansing is kind of in a bowl of hills. Its really fun to get down there because there is sharp turns and really wavy. My dads girlfriend Jill calls it her NASCAR driving practice.

When they got there it was late so they decided it's too late for fishing. They decided to just go ahead and go to bed for the day and in the morning wake up and hit the lake; So that morning around 6:30 they woke up and hit the lake. There was Jill, My dad, Jill’s sister Jess, Jess's boyfriend josh, Jill's mom which I can't remember her name, And last but definitely not least Roy Jill’s dad.

They all loaded up on a little 75 horsepower fishing boat and took off. First they went Perch fishing which is what they call Pan fishing. WHich is with a bobber and you sit there in the middle of the lake and fish. My dad ended up catching a sheephead which is the ugliest fish ever. It's a warm and slimy fish.

Then they decided to go trolling. Trolling is when the boat goes at a slow but steady pace. Then you cast your line out from the side of the boat. It feels like you have a fish but you really don’t. When you do have a fish you definitely can feel it. At the beginning my dad had a fish on the line and it went to go swim in another direction and my dads pole smacked Jill right in the kisser. After that they didn't really catch anything good while trolling.

By then it was saturday night and they had dinner. Then next morning they headed home. That's when they told my brother and I this story. A couple weeks after that our dad told us to bring our fishing stuff to his house this weekend. We didn't think of he was going to take us to Lansing. Of course we fell asleep on the way there.

When we got there we didn’t know where we were because where they live is like a trailer home park. Then we unpack our stuff and bring it inside. When we got there it was around six or seven so we didn’t go fishing that day. We did get a really good meal, It was grilled chicken breast red potatoes the sliced and cooked ones last but not least we got cheesy potatoes. They aren’t really my favorite, but my dad loves them. He ate them till he got sick.

Then we decided to go to bed and wake up in the morning to go fishing. We woke up and Roy got his coffee we got our breakfast, I had a banana and a granola bar. We then hook the trailer up to the Ford explorer and headed to the boat docks. My dad backs the boat into the water. Roy is in the boat and unloading and then brings it to the dock so we can get on the boat and then go fishing.

We take off and we go perch fishing first. Perch fishing is Pan fishing. It is where you sit on a boat in the middle of the lake. You have to drop your anchor and then cast. You usually have a bobber on and wait for a fish to bite and reel it in.

When we get there we dropped our anchor by a peninsula. We caught some many perch. The great thing is when you go home and cut it up. If you aren't going to eat it right away then your can freeze it and it will last longer.

After catching Perch left and right we decided we should go trolling. We started driving around on the boat to find a good spot. Roy knows these places like the back of his hand. We get to one area of the lake where it isn't deep or wide. There also was a stump almost poking out of the water. It scrapped the boat and it scared the crap out of everyone but Roy he was ticked off because that boat is his life

“Watch out boys we got to get up and go” Roys said with a smile on his face.

My brother was the first one to catch something. He catches a Northern Pike. It was about 10 inches. At the time that was big for us. The reason is because we are used to Bluegill and Crappie.

Then something amazing happened. I had a bite I tell Roy. He stops the boat and i start to reel. The my luck turned my pole broke in half where it comes apart. My dad rushes to grab it he does. I keep reeling and then I seen color. I told Roy and he grabbed the net. He got it in the net. When we got it home we measure and it was 19 inches long. That was and still is the biggest fish I have ever caught.

Smile

Smile

Last summer, on May 13, 2015, I was spending my night in Oakland, Iowa. Having softball game after softball game was a nightly routine for my family. My sisters and I both had games on the same days, which made things a lot easier for the family and traveling.

The sky looked dark; it had rained all day. I got out of the vehicle and stared at the all of the mud puddles, wondering if my sisters and I would even get the chance to play. The opposing team was warming up on the opposite side of the field, so we assumed that it would be an okay day to play softball.

I sat in the bleachers and chewed on dill pickle flavored sunflower seeds with my friend’s little sister named Alyssa. Alyssa was around the age of four at the time, so she didn’t know to eat the middle part of the sunflower seed, not the shell. She chewed up the whole thing and spit it out. The crunched up seed would land on the seats below us. I always got a good laugh out of it.

With the wind picking up, I ran to my van and picked up my white Under Armour shirt. I changed quickly in the bathroom, I fixed my hair also. When I got out of the bathroom, I saw a few of my teammates. My sister’s game was in the third inning, so we thought that it would be a great time to play some catch and get our arms warmed up before our game.

My friend Sydney and I went behind the concession stands to play catch, and the rest of the team followed us there. We were all bunched together, and none of us seemed to be paying attention. We were laughing and having one heck of a time. Our team bonds more than any other team probably. While looking the other direction, Sydney accidently threw the ball way behind me, so I slowly dragged my feet over to the ball.

As I bent down to pick up the ball, another ball came spiraling in, which hit me in the face. In that split second, I felt like I was in a dream. I thought that none of it had ever occurred, and I prayed that it was all in my head. I tried to stick my tongue out, but before I could do anything, I looked at the blood dripping down my left elbow which was from holding my hand up to my mouth. I felt like vomiting after seeing all of the blood. I screamed and shouted, so Breanna Osbahr took me over to the bathrooms to check my mouth. My teeth were lodged an inch back, and my lip was completely caught in my braces. My mom rushed in, and right after looking at me; we were headed to Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Omaha.

Friends of our family took my bag home with them so it wouldn’t be left in Oakland overnight. We drove around 90 miles per hour to the emergency room. It didn’t seem to frighten me as much as what was going on at the moment. I remember yelling, “Mom, I am going to be so ugly!” I was beyond scared of what would happen. I believed that my teeth would be pulled out, and I would have to have fake teeth. The blood continued gushing out of my mouth. I couldn’t help but cry.

When we arrived at the hospital, I got out and had ahold of a few napkins we found in our van. I also had an ice pack; it wasn’t doing anything to ease my pain. I walked in through the hospital doors, and a lady at the desk was asking for all sorts of information. She asked what my name was, when my birthday was, etc. The lady led us into a room with a nurse who asked for my height and weight and asked a few more questions. I was furious that they weren’t getting me into a room immediately. My teeth were basically dangling in my mouth.

The nurse took us into a room that would soon have a few doctors in it. I lied down on the hospital bed and hoped that they’d be able to fix my teeth. My mom and grandma both held each of my hands; they assured me that I was going to be okay. I was drained from crying and screaming, so instead my legs just shook like crazy.

When the few doctors came in, they handed me a bucket where I could spit some of my blood out. They were nervous of the blood pooling in my stomach and me getting sick. They had me open my mouth and after examining for a couple of minutes, they were unsure of what to do. They ask me if I had been knocked out by the accident, and they were very surprised when I said that I hadn’t. They took a picture of my teeth and sent it to Children’s Hospital in Omaha. They wanted to get the facts straight before they attempted any adjusting.

While they were gone, I got up and went to the bathroom. My mom told me to not open my mouth; she was scared I would panic again or pass out. I walked back into the room and behind me were the doctors. They sat me down, and very calmly they said, “We will have to move those teeth back up without any type of pain medicine. I am sorry, I’ll have to do it, but it is the only way that they have a chance of surviving.” At first I kept yelling and disagreeing with the doctors. My mom snapped at me, and she told me that they knew what was best.

They moved the chair back, and my whole entire body began to shake. One of the doctors covered me in a blanket so that I wouldn’t go into shock. Both my mom and grandma held my hands, and the doctor behind me was getting prepared. He said, “You’ll feel a lot of pain, so just grip onto the hands when it begins to hurt.” He grabbed my teeth from behind and slowly moved my teeth back up. I heard every part of my mouth crunch; it was disgusting. It really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but my teeth weren’t all the way straight yet. The Jennie Ed doctors weren’t able to do much more because they weren’t dentists, so they sent me to Children’s for final adjustments.

On the way to Children’s, I fell asleep. When I woke up, the bright lights of the hospital had awoken me. My mom carried me out of the van and into the hospital. I finally had awoken when we walked in, so I stepped down and the Children’s doctors led us into the dentistry part of the hospital. My family was not allowed into the room, so I sat down on the chair and they began to ask me questions right away. I could tell that they were trying to comfort me, but I was still so nervous.

They got out a few needles and injected numbing medicine into my gums. I couldn’t feel my teeth at all, and they said it would be like that for awhile. They used their fingers and a popsicle stick to slowly move my teeth back up into place. After they were done moving them into place, they needed to keep them stabilized. They attached two brackets to two of my teeth and then put a wire across. They glued the wire to my teeth to make sure they wouldn’t fall out.

Once they doctors were done, they led me out of the room and told my mom they would have to monitor my teeth for the next five years to make sure the nerves were not dying in my front teeth.

The recovery process was the worst of everything that had happened. I was not able to eat normal, solid foods for awhile. I lived off ramen noodles and mac and cheese for a month or two until they decided that it was time for me to begin using my front teeth again to eat foods. It was very frustrating trying to bite. It hurt my teeth a lot. I got used to it as time went on, and then they put my braces back on.

Currently, I am still going back for check ups every two months. They are planning on my teeth staying alive, and I am able to keep playing sports. If I took anything out of this, it would be to always wear a face mask while playing softball, regardless of what position I am playing.

Birthday Party

My 13th birthday party was fun; Gavyn, Ethan, Dakota, Lucas, Christian, and I were staying at my house. It all started Saturday when Gavyn, Ethan, and Lucas came over and we hung out for about two hours. We went down played some basketball and then we played some Playstation 3. We played NBA and Madden 25.

It was time to go to the Sky Zone. We all got in my dad's car and started playing some music. We were all pumped because the dodgeball at Sky Zone was fun. We hoped there would be people around are age for us to play against. It was never fun when you faced little kids that couldn’t even throw across the half mark. It was about a hour drive to Sky Zone so we all had our phones and were playing on them and stuff.

We were almost there and we were all wondering if we should do dodgeball the whole time or not and we voted to. We got to Sky Zone and we talked to the people at the counter and they had to ask us who we are and check us in. Once they checked us all in and put the things around our wrists we got the socks and put them on. After we put our shoes and our original socks inside a cubby we went out to the dodgeball and got in line. You had certain times you could be there so we stayed there for a hour.

We got inside the dodgeball and were up against quite a lot of people so we weren’t mad. We sometimes split up teams because they were uneven and didn’t look very fun. We would try to have fun with it but sometimes the ref was blind and wouldn’t see something or he would say something that didn’t happen. You had to deal with some things like that but you got over it after a while. You didn’t finish very many games because the ref would usually say jailbreak. Once we got tired of it we would take a minute break and go get a drink.

Once our hour was up we got ready to go and left. My mom was at home with my sister. My mom had some Pizzas ready for us and once we got home Christian, Dakota, and Jaedan came over. We ate and then played some more Basketball. Once we got bored of that we played some tag around my house a bit. We didn’t want to make tag boring because we usually played it when it was really dark out so we only played for a short time.

We played some playstation and screwed around until about 9 o’ clock. We all got our stuff on and went outside and got ready to play tag around the block. The hardest part was seeing who would be it. It ended up being Jaedan because of rock, paper, scissors. Once we all hid Jaedan came out looking for us. We usually all hid in the same spot so when he saw us we all ran and tried not to get tagged. Once you tagged someone they were it with you and had to finish the game with you. Since Jaedan tagged Ethan first he was it first for the next game. Ethan had a harder time tagging us though because we ran around the house in circles. Wherever he went we tried to mirror so we were always laughing. Once we eventually got out of our sight he came behind us and tagged Christian, which they tagged the rest of us.

We did this for a few hours then we went inside. My parents weren't home so we played hide and seek. We always scared each other because we made it pitch black in the house and made noises. The seeker usually was creeped out, and had a flashlight on because he was scared. When I had to seek I tried to scare them because they were all hiding in the same spot and I knew where they were. We also did the for about 2 hours. It was about 1o’ clock in the morning and my parents got home. We started watching scary movies in my living rooms. We watched the Insidious Movies and Sinister. We were all creeped out by it and then we went up stairs and the ones who were still somewhat awake played some playstation.

We screwed with the ones who were asleep. Sometimes we slapped them as hard as we could and sometimes we got like three of us to grab a pillow and hit them on the face. Once we got bored we all got tired and went to bed. When we all woke up some people had to go home. Jaedan, Ethan, and Christian had to go right away but Gavyn and Dakota stood over for a little bit. After a while they went home and I had to spend my day cleaning and eating some leftover Pizza.

The rest of the day I just played some Playstation and shot some hoops which was okay, but not a very fun day. After Sunday we had School which we all hate. We dealt with it and from there on out it was just regular.

It was a really fun Birthday and plan on having another party soon. I probably will not go to Sky Zone though because we have done it two years in a row now and need something else to do. I’m thinking about taking a few people to Scheels or somewhere and maybe buying some stuff. I really don’t mind where we go just having fun with my friends is the best part. I had my first party on my eleventh birthday which I just had friends over but now we get to go places which is great.

Church Lock-In

Church Lock-in

It was a Friday, and we didn’t have school the day before. I went to bed earlier the night before, so I woke up early. Jackson was suppose to come over that day, but he had to do some chores before dark hit. I just chilled out all day and I didn’t do anything too exciting. Then evening came around, and Leland showed up.

Leroy and I didn’t do a whole lot before the lock-in. We just kinda hung out at my house, and we went to Casey's for a little bit. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the night before. After school on Thursday, Jackson came over for the third day in a row. We went over to Madison Thornton's house to hang with some of our other friends. The people that were there were Grace, Emma, Emma, Saige, Baylee, Kinsey, and Madison. It was fun because Lane, Madison’s little brother was there. Jackson and I wrestled and Lane wrestled with us.

After leaving Madison Jackson and I went home with Baylee and Saige to Baylee’s house. We played some football, and it was pretty fun. The girls were the quarterbacks, and the boys were the wide receivers, so it made it a little harder.  After that Jackson went home, and I went to my room and played Call of Duty the rest of the night. Later that night I fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning, my day began. That was my flashback. Now we are where the story starts. Like I said, Jackson couldn’t come over so, it was a pretty boring day.

Then Leland came around, I went and got him, and we hung out for quite a long time. Then we went to the church. There were not very many people there, just Madison and Baylee.

Later on everyone started to show up. The people that were there were Madison, Bailey, Jackson, Brittany, Massen, Adrianna, Leland, Kyle, and myself. Before we started, we circled around, and Shari had us do this bonding thing, and it was alright, I guess. After that we went straight to GaGa ball, and we played that for a while. Of course Jackson and I teamed up on everyone, even Leland.

We did that for a solid 30 minutes then we played some other games. We played this one game where you had a potato, and you carried it through your legs and dropped it into a bucket. It was easy, but it wasn't. I am saying I sucked at it. Then we played four square for a little bit but not for that long. When that was all done we were sitting at like 9:30, which was when we ate. Another good thing about the lock-in was that there was unlimited food. Even though there were piles and piles of food I barely ate any of it because I was ready to play some more games.

We were hitting about 10:00 now, and we started to make these care package like baggies for the truckers at Wings. What was inside was a water bottle, one piece of fruit, a hygiene item, and a couple pieces of candy. We made like 100 of these bags, and we stapled a prayer to the bag.

We did that for a good 30 minutes, and then we played Pew Battleship. Wasjust like it sounds we're just using pews. That took like 45 minutes, then we took a little break. After that we played hide-and-go seek. The game everyone looked forward to. I don’t think it was as fun as it was last year. We started, and I made a little team. It was a good team, and we strategized the whole thing, just kidding we just ran around everywhere and hopefully we didn’t get caught. Which we didn’t.

When we were in Caraway Street, which we weren’t suppose to be. We just snuck around up stairs and hid in the closet. The first person that was it was Jackson so it wasn’t going to be easy. Jackson found us and I was bolting out of there, he ended up getting Madison and she was it. She had a hard time getting everyone. I never got it because I know the church like the back of my hand. I know almost every hiding spot there is, some smaller than others.

About an hour flew by and Shari said it was time to go to bed and so we did. We all went upstairs and went to bed, well some of them did some of us screwed around for like 30 minutes then we adventually fell asleep. That morning we woke up around 7:30 a.m. When we all woke up we just started to walk out the door one by one. There wasn’t a proper sending we all just left.

When everyone was leaving, I asked for a candy bar then, I got one too because there were a lot when I asked. When I left I had to take Leland to Seth's house for some odd reason. I went home and slept until 2:00 p.m. It was great and I felt amazing. After that I went to my cousin Holly’s house to ride my dirtbike.

It was fun and we had lots of fun together, but it all ended when the bearings to my back wheel fell off when we going to the gravel road. My chain fell off as well, my dad came and we had to pick up the bike. We ordered the parts and then we went out to eat for my sister's birthday. We ended up going to Hu Hot. It was really good and fun to watch them flip around our food.

When I got home I went straight to my room and played Call of Duty. I had to get up early that morning though because I had to go to church. After Church I went to Holly’s again and we got in lots of trouble, I fell in the creek to. We messed around with the chickens for a little bit, and I also drove to the grocery store. Which is where we had to go in twice because she wrote the wrong check. That was my experience over the past couple of day.

March PPOW

J.H. Wrestling

All the success that I had the past two years in Junior High is because of the work I put into the sport and the people who were around me. Especially the people who said I couldn’t do it. The four people that helped me the most are my dad, who has been with me since I first began, Coach Sampson, who has been my coach since I started, Coach Brix, who has been my coach only in Junior High, and Gabe Pauley, who put a beating on me everyday in practice and taught me different moves which I still use today.

I was never really successful in wrestling until 6th Grade, which was the year I started wrestling for Avoca.
In 7th grade I started wrestling practices which made a huge impact on my ability on the mat. At my first J.H. wrestling meet, I finished 1-1. I lost my first match early in the first period, and I said to myself it is going to be a long year if this keeps on happening. My second match I won in a nail-biter. We were tied with about 30 seconds left in the match, and he went in on a lousy shot, which I used to my advantage and got behind him to win the match by two points.

At our next meet, I finished 2-1 with a loss to a very tough Logan-Magnolia opponent, who wrestled multiple times that year but could never beat. After that meet, I went on a win streak until our second home meet. I lost someone that I had beaten multiple times that year. That is when I truly learned to take nothing for granted.

At AAU Districts I wrestled at C-160 along with Gabe Pauley, the tough opponent from Logan-Magnolia, someone from Glenwood, and someone from Atlantic. I wrestled the person from Atlantic and won by major decision, 8-0. Second round I lost to the person from Logan-Magnolia by pin in the second period. Third round I lost to the person from Glenwood. Fourth round I lost to Gabe Pauley by a very quick pin in the first period.

At AAU State I went 0-2 ending my 7th Grade year.

My 8th grade wrestling season started with high school wrestling practice, which once again, made a big impact on how the season went. Before my actual Junior High season started I set three goals. They were: finish the regular season undefeated, win districts, and place top 5 at State. Sadly, I only completed one of those.

Our first meet was in Atlantic. I had two very tough matches against two people who I have been wrestling for years; both of which I have never defeated. My first match was against Cale Roller. I won 7-2. My next match was against Dylan Steinhoff.  He pinned me in the second period. I was disappointed because I didn’t do well that match, and I didn’t complete my goal.

A few meets went by then it was time for districts. I only had one other guy in my bracket which meant that I automatically was going to state, but I still had to fight for a #1 seed. My only other opponent was Cale Roller. Since there was only two of us, it was best two out of three. My first match I won 3-1 because he took a bad shot at the end, so I got around him and got my two points. The second match I pinned him in the first period. It was the one goal that I had set and achieved.

There was one kid that I wrestled all year from Missouri-Valley. I wrestled him three times, and I won all three times. The first two times I pinned him very quick. The third time I didn’t pin him fast, but that didn’t mean anything because I had him on his back at the end of the first period, and I made him cry. I then pinned him in the second period. He refused to shake my hand after the match because he was so mad. The referee docked his whole team two points for unsportsmanlike conduct.

After that, I didn’t lose until our last meet. The guy I wrestled was a behemoth from Southwest Iowa. He had at least 40 pounds on me. I wrestled a very good match, but he walked out with the victory by pinning me in the second period. He ended up getting 3rd at state at C-260. That was our last meet, and it was only two days before state. I had no problems making weight, so I didn’t have to starve myself.

First round at state I had Caleb Hobart from I-35. The match only lasted about a minute, and I came out on top. My second match was against Samuel Kessel. I wrestled very well for the first minute and a half. I almost had him in a cradle, but when I went to flip him over my feet went out of bounds. After that, I was gassed, and he pinned me in the third period. My third match was a close one. At the beginning of the third period I was ahead 5-3. He got a takedown early in the period which tied it 5-5. With about 15 seconds left in the match. I got a reversal which put me ahead 7-5. My fourth match which was sadly my last was one of the best matches I’ve wrestled all year, if not than the best match I have ever wrestled. I lost 2-1 in 2OT. It was the other goal that I didn’t complete, but it will always be there waiting to be accomplished in high school.

I was very upset, but at the same time I was proud because I proved that I belonged in the state tournament, and that showed how much potential I have for high school. It doesn’t really matter what happened in the past 10 years I have wrestled. All that matters is the next four.

Animal Facts

Animal  facts

Gorillas can catch human illnesses. A new born chinese water deer can be held in your palm. Male ostriches can roar like lion. A lion makes no more than 20 kills a year. Female lion do ninety percent of the hunting. The only dog that doesn’t have a pink tongue is the chow chow. Turtles, water snakes, crocodiles, alligators, dolphins, whales, and other water going creatures will drown if underwater for too long. Almost half of the world's pig are with farmer in china. Dog are color blind, they can still see better than a human's.

Deer have no gall bladders. There is an average of 50,000 spiders per acre in green areas. In Alaska it’s illegal to whisper in someone’s ear while they’re moose hunting. Bats are the only mammal that can fly. Bats leg bones are so thin that they can't walk. Some male birds sing more than 2000 times a day. Chicken and fish are the only animals that we have eaten before they are born and after they die. A tarantula can stay alive for two year without food. For every human on the world there are one million ants.

If you lift a kangaroo's tail it can't hop. If you put a goldfish in a dark room it will turn pale. Cows can sleep standing up, but they can only dream lying down. The average fox weighs about 14 pounds. A red fox's real name is Vulpes vulpes. Gators can live to 100 years old.

An elephant's tooth can weigh 9 pounds. House fly hum to the f key. In WWII we tried to train bats to drop bombs. Even a small amount of alcohol placed on a scorpion will make it go crazy and sting itself to death. A flamingo can only eat with its head upside down.

Animals make 30 times more waste than humans, which is 1.4 billion tons every year. Ants never sleep and they don't have lungs. Just one cow gives enough  methane  in one day to fill around 400 litre bottles. Apple and pear seeds can be deadly to dogs. Cow have four stomachs. An anteater is 6ft long yet its mouth in only an 1 inch wide. A blue whale weigh the same as 30 elephants. A grasshopper can hop 20 times its size. Baby kangaroo are only an inch long at birth. You can smell a skunk from a mile away. There's is a butterfly in africa that has enough poison to kill a human. Cats have lived with us for 7000 years. A black panther is really a black leopard. The honey bee has been on earth for 30 million years.

Cats have 32 muscles in their ears. Dogs shoulders are in attached to the rest of its bones so it's easier to run. Tiger have striped skin like their fur. hippos can run fast than humans. A woodpecker can peck 20 a second. The great horned owl can't smell. The flea can jump up to 200 times its own height. This is equal to a man jumping the Empire State Building in New York. Most elephants weighs less than a blue whale's tongue. The first bomb that ailles drop hit an elephant. A caterpillar has 242 muscles in its head. A moth has no stomach. An elephant can smell water from three miles away. Deers can't eat hay. If you cut off a snail's eye it will just grow back. Jaw is the most common name for a goldfish. Cows poop 16 time a day. We share 70% of our DNA with a slug. Dogs have sweat glands in between their toes. A whale's heart only beats nine time a minute. Elephants are covered with hair. Anything with caffeine is very bad for dogs. A panda weighs about 4 ounces when born.  Hummingbirds beat their wings 60 to 80 time a second. Rat teeth never stop growing. It takes about 3000 cow to get the NFL enough leather for their footballs. A bat can eat 1000 bugs in one hour. Dogs have about 1700 taste buds. Elephant have 15000 muscles in its trunk, and they drink about 200 liter through it each day. Ferrets sleep about 20 hours a day. A starving mouse will  eat its own tail. Sharks are immune to cancer. A butterfly has 12000 eyes. Hippos sweat pink. The biggest squid was 800 pounds.

Tuna can swim 40 miles in a day. Penguin can jump six feet out of water. Bees have hair on their eyes. Some dogs can smell dead things under water. Cheetahs only live 12 years in the wild. Flamingos are pink because the food that they eat. Dogs are as smart as a 2 to 3 year old

kid. Baby whales grow up to 200 pounds a day. Butter flys can only see green yellow and red. 2 dog survived the titanic. China has the most goats in the world, they have 170 million goats. A puppy is born deaf,blind and toothless. There are over a million animal species on planet earth.  There are 3000 type of lice in the world. The lifespan of 75% of wild birds is 6 months. Denmark has twice as many pigs as there are people. There is a dog that can run 45 mph. There are five million monkeys in the world

8th Grade boys Basketball Team

Our 8th grade boys basketball team was quite talented. The players were Joey, Clayton, Ethan, Brody, Lucas, Evan, Dakota, Christian, Brock, and I. We went 9-1 that season which was good. The only team we lost to was Treynor, which is a very good team.

During the season we had a great time, we had some wins that we should’ve had last season, like Underwood. Last year we lost to Underwood in the last few seconds due to fouls. Some teams we still beat like Riverside and Tri-Center. Tri-Center was a better team than they were last year, and we had competition that game. Other teams were normal, and we won.

Though our team is good we still need to improve a lot. One thing that we need to majorly increase in has to be defense, our defense isn’t very good against teams that are better, like Treynor. If we had a solid defense we would be a great team. Little things like putting your hands up and stealing could change the game. We also could work on shooting and looking for open people more often. Our shooting is pretty good, but a team that can’t miss would be amazing.

We practiced every day and did drills and plays to try to make us better. The plays were pretty simple and worked sometimes. When the plays didn’t work we would just wing it and do what we can to get someone open to score. The drills that we did were one on one and some more like passing drills, dribbling drills, and things like that.

Another thing is practicing outside of school, which most of us did. Practicing dribbling and shooting outside of school can help a lot. It can make you better overall. I would highly suggest this for all sports if possible. Practice makes perfect. If you don’t practice then you probably won’t be as good as someone who does practice.

Some of the boys on the Basketball team play on an express team also they are Joey, Clayton, Ethan, Lucas, Brody, Blake Holst, and I. Our express team goes around the area and plays better teams. Some of the teams have beat us and we have beat some of them. In a recent tournament we got second place. We have played in Omaha, Tri-Center, and other places around the area.

The express teams we face are a lot more of a challenge because they are select teams from around the area (Teams pick up random players that look good from around the area). Our team is just our basketball team instead of a select team. We try our hardest to win those games because it is a challenge that we want to win, which will make us a better team.

One thing about our express team is that we don’t have very many players which means we have more playing time, but also means that we only have two backups. If we were to have two people hurt or sick then we would have no backups. Though we are a small team we still have enough players to win, and we enjoy how much playing time we get.

We have a tournament coming up on the 12th in Underwood in which we hope to win and get the 1st place medal. This is the last tournament for our express team, so we want to make it a good one. Our express team has been on this year for a few months so we’ve been getting better as a team and have had some good moments.

Back to school basketball, in high school we plan on being a great team and beating Treynor. We want to beat all the teams in our area and go undefeated in high school. We’ll have some good coaches and good players with some of the drills that they do in high school. The practices are a lot more intense and can improve a player more on the spots that he is weak in. I’m ready for high school because of the new experiences and sports that are coming.

Thinking about where are basketball team can go is quite the distance. We are a great team and I think we could be a great team in high school. The only thing I’m worried about is high school itself because it’s a lot more challenging.

I’m not sure if we are going to have an express team in 9th grade but if we do I’m most likely gonna go out for it if I can. If we don’t then all I’m gonna do is play school basketball in high school. If we were to have express I’m not really sure how it would work because Track is basically right after high school basketball.

Even though high school is still coming I enjoyed junior high basketball a lot. I enjoyed some fun activities at practice and some of the things we did at the games. There was a lot of fun and I hope more and more fun happens.

All I hope is that high school basketball is fun and we win. If we win and do good throughout high school then I think it would be a good 4 years of basketball upcoming. I also hope to start in high school and be a good player. I want to keep improving and becoming a better player so I can maybe get to college and maybe even the pros one day. My dream is to be in the NBA and if I practice a ton that might come true.

Hopefully high school basketball can take me somewhere, if not hopefully education can get me a good life. I hope basketball will be fun for me and everybody else on the team because we all really enjoy the sport and want to get somewhere with basketball.

CoD Squad

It all started on a snow day, it was a very disgusting day out and all day I just snow blowed. Until my mom got home for lunch. I asked her if I could get Call of Duty Black Ops 3, she knew that I wanted the game really badly, so I think she got a little a hint to say yes. She said I don’t care and that was the best moment of the whole week.

I got on my PS4 and I went to the Playstation store and I bought it, but then I looked at the download speed and at that rate I wasn’t even gonna get to play until the next day. I was mad and then it started to get littler and littler. That day I forgot that we were going to rearrange my room and I couldn’t unplug the system because then the download would stop. My dad got home and we started to work and he realized that it was going to be really hard to complete it but we did.

Later that night when we got my room arranged and I was laying in bed I saw it get done and I instantly jumped up and looked at it and said to myself that I was going to be able to play a couple games. Then I looked and saw that the multiplayer had to install. My stomach dropped, I was so mad I just jumped into my bed and I almost started to sob. I texted people the rest of the night kept myself busy and tried not to look at my monitor. I fell asleep later that night.

I woke up in the middle of the night for some reason i'm pretty sure it was my dog licking me in the face, but anyways it still wasn’t done and I went to sleep fast. When I woke up in the morning I saw it was done. I jumped out of bed and took the fastest shower that i’ve taken in my life. I got all ready for school then I hopped on my PS4 and played 1 game. I ranked up my Kuda really quick I got a couple of levels on it. Then my mom took me to school. It was a boring day except after school when I went to the wrestling meet. After that I went right home.

When I got home I hopped right on my Playstation and I started to play. I was leveling up so fast, but then again it was really low levels so you level pretty quick. I played an extra 2 hours then everyone else. Then when everyone else got on it was one of the best moments of my life. I got an invitation from the Cod Squad. I joined the lobby a lieutenant level 8. They accepted and treated me like one of their own. We played a couple games and maxed out my Kuda that night.

When everyone got off it was pretty late, so I went straight to bed, when I woke up that morning I wanted to play so bad but I couldn’t because I already slept later than I should. I went to school and luckily it was a Friday. I got home and hopped right on the PS4 again. It was great because it was double xp weapon weekend, which means I would have to play a lot so I can get my guns up. I started to play and I was doing good and I didn’t want to stop but then I got distracted the rest of the night. I tried to play a couple more games but they just weren’t as good and I didn’t have my full focus so I just stopped for the night.

The next morning I had to go to a basketball tournament it went well, we ended up getting 2nd and we all played a little rough. That night was pretty fun because I had Leland over and it was blast you could only imagine what we did. Thats right you guessed it we played Call of Duty. We played for a majority of the night and we also went down stairs to work out a little bit. It was more fun than intense, actually it wasn’t intense at all. I had a blast. We went up stairs and Leland recorded me rage when I died he sent it to some people and it wasn’t embarrassing at all because they need to know that I get serious about that stuff. We went to bed that night feeling pretty good.

The next morning we had to get up early because I had to go to my sister's volleyball tournament, after we dropped Leland off we went to McDonalds, sorry Leroy. Now I slept on the way to Omaha and it was boring you couldn’t even imagine but I was there and there for one reason and one reason only. To get new shoes, and I did I got KD 8. I love them and they look sick to. When I got home I had to go to the girls practice because the next day they had to play the hardest team yet. That got over pretty quick.

When I got home I went and sat on the couch to watch the Super Bowl. I wanted the Panthers to win but that didn’t happen. At halftime I went upstairs and I played more video games and I was ranking up hard core I was moving up in the world or I should say the gaming world. I didn’t really watch the rest of the Super Bowl because I got distracted by my games.

The next morning I got up and my mom told me there was a 2 hour late start. So I went back to bed. My phone kept on vibrating and I started to get a little rattled so I just looked. Next thing I knew it was my mom. I got yelled and she gave me chores. The reason she gave me chores though is because we had no school. That means Call of Duty all day. I ranked up a 10 levels that day and it was great. I played with the Squad all day we played objective so we had to work as a team and we worked really well together and it was awesome we were all laughing and having a good time. I got yelled at by my mom that night but that's okay. I got on that night and I played for a good 4 hours, I couldn’t get off until I got the combat knife unlocked and I did. It was a good moment and I was happy. I made a paint job for it and I got off.

I was hyped for the rest of the night and then when I got in bed I texted I had some flaming hot cheetos and a Gatorade. It was a good day and I love the new Call of Duty and i'm gonna go play it again tonight until i'm forced to get off.

Broken

Broken

Today I am going to talk about the time I wrecked my 4-wheeler and broke my arm. This happen on the year of 2013. It was the worst time of my life. My left arm had an arm cast on it which meant that I couldn't bend my arm. I couldn't shower or go swimming. I shattered my left elbow into pieces.

At the time my dad was dating a girl who had two kids. She brought them over that weekend. One was my age and the other was younger then me. We asked my dad if we could drive the 4-wheelers. He said yes we shouldn't have done this because that's the day I broke my arm.

We drove for the afternoon with no problem my dad called us into eat lunch. We parked the 4-wheelers and came in and washed our hands. We ate hamburgers and corn for lunch ,and nobody was talking ,so it was a good meal. We finished and put everything away. Nate who was my age at the time started to drive the 4-wheeler again.

We decided to go out into the bean field Where we find some ice. I drive on it first to make sure it is safe. He come across next. Josh, the younger brother walked his way over to the gate and wanted to ride with me. He crawled on and I started to drive. I took him safely on the ice. He likes it. and I am on the lighter 4-wheeler. So i tell nate if i ever flip this it's easy to flip back over.

We slid on the ice a couple more times. I started to get more risky. I shouldn't have because that how I wrecked, I got on the ice one more time, and I slid and slid I was sliding sideways now with josh still on my 4-wheeler behind me. We hit rock hard frozen dirt. Josh and I fly off I land on my arm and close my eyes in pain Josh had a bloody nose. Nate comes up and flips the 4-wheeler. He asked if I was ok I said “Yes take josh and go get my dad.” I hear them rush off. I close my eyes again and open them to my dad their asking if i was ok once again I said yes I am fine.

“Ok let's get you up and on your feet.” Replied my dad. He puts his hand out and i try to grab it with both hands but I couldn't move my left arm. My dad asked “what was wrong”?

I replied with “I don't know I just can't move it”.

“It's probably broken”. My dad said.

“What are we going to do then”. I asked.

Take you to the hospital and get it xrayed”. Said dad. We go to the emergency room in harlan and they asked me to put my arm on the table so i did. They then start twisting and turning my broken arm to take x rays it was the most pain I have ever felt I still wouldn't want that to happen.

We get done with that and the doctor tell my dad to put a sling on it and go to Council Bluffs tomorrow to get a cast so that is what we did. My dad tell me to go to bed so I crawl in bed and I couldn't Find a comfortable position to sleep in so I stayed up most of the night. We went to the hospital and they put a cast and did surgery on it. I woke up and the doctor and my mom and dad walked in and the doctor asked if I Wanted to stay the night I said no because I already missed my house and my comfortable bed.

We arrived at home and I went to bed I didn't eat all day because we weren't aloud to eat before or after the surgery. So I woke up and I looked at my left arm and honestly I forgot I got a cast so I laid there and wondered why I had it on my arm. That day my dad took me to my mom so I could take a bath I sat in the tube while my cast was out of the water. My brother all wanted to go to the wellness center se we went and put a trash bag over my cast and we went to the pool I played in the shallow end while my brothers had fun.

I got bored so we went home. I took of the trash bag and by that time it was sunday night so my mom told me I can't go to school for a week so i was happy to hear this new because it meant no school. My mom and brothers go to school and I am left at home with my dad we go trucking and find markers so my friends could sign my cast. We get back the same time my mom did and when I walked in the door my mom handed me cards from my classmates on how they thought I broke my arm.

I look through them all and I loved how everybody was wrong they all thought I did something cool instead of something stupid. My pain meds made me sick so I acked tired and never felt well. So I acted weird aswell I would throw up at random times it was the worst.After that I started to go to school and I had a lot of fun I told everybody the truth on how I broke my arm.

Everybody signed my cast that wanted to. The end of the month was coming close and I was so excited to get my cast off. The day came the day to get my cast off. My family and I go to the hospital and they get a power tool to cut the cast. They turn it on and the whole time i am thinking they will cut my arm because my dad kept telling me they were going to. They get 1 half of the cast cut and tell me to turn it so they could cut the other half.

They cut it and take it off my mom asked “If my arm felt heavy”

“Yes” I said they then said they were going to take the 3 pins out I asked if they were going to num it they said no so i was freaking out they grab 1 pin and yank. It hurt we had to wait to pull out the next one because it hurt so much. Yank their goes the second one it hurt worse than the first. Yank their is the 3 I was crying now I was in so much pain ,but I was happy to get my cast off. I continued to live my life how it was before the wreck. One thing never changed tho I still drive wreckless on the 4-wheeler.