Squirrel in a Trap

    Last year we borrowed a trap from Miss Be because it wasn't working correctly, and we were going to try to find out why.  This year we finally got it out, but we didn't catch any squirrels; atleast the first two times.  Something was getting the bait but not getting trapped.  The third time Dad kept the bait in by holding it in the middle of a loop from an old hanger.  It worked!  We caught a squirrel with it.  We will keep the trap until Miss Be wants it back.

Lord of the Rings

This past week I have been all about the "Lord of the Rings."  I have been doing things like humming some of the songs, reciting parts of the movies, and watching the movies.  Also, in history we learned about a man named Hannibal, of Carthage.  He trained elephants to be "war elephants" duing  the Punic Wars (between Rome and Carthage), and there are war elephants in the Lord of the Rings series.  Samwise Gamgee called them "olephants". 

I am also intending to read the three "Lord of the Rings" books that we own this summer.

Poetry

Two weeks ago we borrowed a poetry book from the library.  There were some poems in it that Mom and I recognized like "Casey at the Bat", "The Raven", "Wynken, Blynken and Nod", and... Frodo's Song in Bree by J. R. R. Tolkien.  It appears in The Fellowship of the Ring, the first Lord of the Rings book. We took a video of me reciting the whole poem (I memorized it.), but Mom can't get it to download on this blog.

We started a unit about poems in school.Mom taught us about rhy ming and rhythm patterns.  Then I wrote these poems.  I got the format idea from The Boys' Book - How to be the Best at Everything.

Archers
 Brave,strong
  Aiming, shooting,hiting
 Please help us win
olden day artilery


Ribs
 Tasty, distinctive smell
   Motionless, munching, going down my throat
  Delicious

Pigs' gift to us

Driving the 4-wheeler

Five days ago, my family went on a four-wheeler ride down the Denali Highway.  We have a new four-wheeler. It is a Yamaha Grizzly 660, and I drive it with Mom or Samantha.  I am getting better at driving it.  The first couple times I drove it 2-4 mph and was scared of doing power slides.  Now I go 8-10 mph in the driveway and have actually done power slides myself.  On the road or trail I drive about 15-18 mph and love it.  I am also learning to keep the correct distance so I don't run into Dad's four wheeler, and to look both ways when crossing streets.   Mom and Dad are both proud of how I'm improving. 

LEGO Ships

A couple of days ago, I built my first ever LEGO ships. First, I made an American ship, which I named Armed-to-the-Gunnels. Then I made a French ship that doesn't have a name. It was smaller than Armed-to-the-Gunnels. Then I made a British ship of the line. It's big and has two sails. I like all of the ships because they look real and they have good guns.

Flying Along at 10 Degrees

On Sundayof last week I got second place in a dogsled race! My dogs went really fast. My time was 1:28. Here is a fun story problem about the race:

If my time was 1:28 and the first place time was 6 seconds less, how long did it take the the first place winner to finish? And, if Samantha got fifth place with a time of 1:40, how many more secons than 1st place did it take her to finish the race?

Ranking Upward

Yesterday was our martial arts test, and everyone in our class ranked upward. I got the rank with a yellow belt. Two students in my class were given the rank higher than me. We had to perfrom three different forms that included moves like a roundhouse, snap-kick, and punches. It was moderately fun. I was nervous, but liked performing in front of my parents.

Family Soccer in the Imaginary Gym

You might be thinking right now, 'what in the world is an imaginary gym, ' or ' I did'nt know the ALBERS family plays soccer'. The imaginary gym is the sanctuary in our church. And, yes, we did play soccer. First ,we moved all of the chairs away. Then we got my almost-flat soccer ball and started to play. Mom and I were on a team, and Dad and Samantha were on a team. The first game was a tie (atleast that's what I think). Dad called a shot out of the goal that I know went in.
The second game, my team won. All in all, it was awesome!

Three little birdies sitting in a tree

Today while we were in school and talking about something , I suddenly said, "Birdie!" What I saw was a couple of red and black birds in a tree near the window. They were pretty, but we didn't get a very good picture of them. This is the best one we could find that we took.They are pretty much the first birds I've seen this spring besides gray jays and ravens. There are three birds in this picture. Look for the orangish-red spots. One is in the top right corner, one is in the bottom left corner (by the blue sky), and the third is a little to the right of that.

baking and making

For Christmas, one of my presents was a fudge recipe from Grandma and Grandpa. It was finally put to use on February 13th, and IT WAS GOOD!I pretty much made it all by myself. The process included some pouring, some stirring, more stirring, and more pouring.

The more exciting thing that we did this week is that we dug a fort/tunnel into the huge snow hill that Mr. Chesley snow blowed.

The funny thing is that we did it from 8:00 to 10:00 at night! It was really fun. I think it's going to turn out great.

ANIMALS+WARM WEATHER= LYNX ON THE ROAD

Today we saw a lynx on our way to visit some folks in town. It looked like a cross between a wild cat and a black city cat from a far distance. It is very rare to see lynx, so we were fortunate.

It has been very, very warm this last week. 20, 25, 30 degrees above zero! It has been more fun to play outside.

The Double Post 2

Last week we saw a moose in our yard. It walked right next to the front porch but then went near the church. Cinder wasn't outside,thankfully. Actually, it probably came into our yard because Cinder wasn't outside.

The temperature the last couple days has been pretty warm. -20, -5, and 4 degrees ABOVE zero today. However, the days before that were freezing! -40, -30, -40... Today I'm going to go outside with no jacket.

The piano 2

I have been playing the piano lately, and like the songs that are in my book. There is a song called "AURA LEE" that I like the tune of. I am also learning how to play intervals and chords.

Circulatory System

I wrote this report a week ago for science. We are studying the human body, and had to choose and research a specific system.

The Circulatory System hase three parts: pulmonary(lungs), coronary (heart) and systemic (everything else). About 5 liters of blood are traveling through the body by blood vessels. Valves on the heart open only one way, so that the blood goes one direction. Blood takes oxygen to all of the body. If you didn't have it, you would die.

The top sketch is of the blood vessels in the leg and the bottom sketch is of the heart and where the blood goes.

Bavaria's Castle

For Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa gave our family a 500-piece puzzle of a castle in Bavaria, Germany!.? It took about a week and a half to finish. I worked on the castle a lot. This is a picture of me putting the last few pieces on the puzzle. It was the biggest puzzle I have ever helped build, and it was fun (but only when pieces fit)!