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Well, I'm FINALLY back!! Did you miss me? I'm sure you all want to know all about what I did in those weeks that I was gone, so here it is:

  The first week was spent visiting all our cousins and grandparents that live in Nebraska, then the real work started.
  On the first day of detasseling we learned everything that we needed to know about the job which is: Tassels are the tops of the cornstalks which pollinate the corn like it shows in the picture below, except it wasn't in bloom, we had to take them off before they bloomed so they didn't pollinate.

  The fields had a pattern of 1 row of one kind of corn and then 4 rows of a different kind, then the 1 row, then 4 rows of the other kind, over and over again (there also is fields of 1, 4, 1, 6, 1, 4, 1, 6). The rows we detassel are the 4 and 6 rows. The 1 rows are not detasseled because they are used to pollinate the rest of the corn in the field. Am I making sense?

  If you got what I said up there (I know it is a little confusing) then you should know all I knew on the first day. Now about my experience detasseling, in the first field we went in sqauds of 4 and pulled 3/4 mile long rows, doing about 10 rows, or passes as they call them, in the whole day. That was a pretty easy day compared to most of the rest.
  The next few days were off and on because this year was starting out bad and there weren't many fields to detassel. On that Saturday we had our first hard day. It was a big 60-80 acre field with corn 7 ft tall! Which meant over 6 rounds (a round is two passes) to do. It was also VERY hot and humid, which made it alot worse. We worked till 3:00 in the afternoon, oh yeah forgot to tell you, we woke up at 4:00 AM everyday to work (Where's my coffee? ).
  I think the best fields were the ones with really, really short corn, they were always the easiest! The longest day was the last day when we had two fields with 8ft tall corn in both! And in one there was water that was halfway up your leg and foot deep mud at the bottom! We work on those fields from 5:00 AM to 6:00 PM and only had water and lunch breaks.

But now for the best part of working................. ........................ .................... The MONEY!!! I'm getting around $400-600 for all that work!! I don't know exatly yet because I have only got one of the checks so far.

I also took a jet flight back to where I live, I'll talk about that and have some pictures in my next entry.


Here are some tags that I got tagged with while I was gone:

If you are seeing this entry, I have left to go to NE (which is a few days drive away from where I live) to detassel (pulling off the pollen from corn stalks)! I think I might get a few hundred dollars for doing it for the few weeks that I'm there :). I will say more about it when I get back in a month or 2. So COMMENT lots while I'm gone!!

There is also another reason why we have gone, its because my grandpa is have chemotherapy because he has cancer, so PLEASE pray for him!!

I have also done a few things to my blog, like change my avatar (Didn't you think it needed it?) and put a poll up, so I hope you like it!

The first tag is one by Dawn90:
7 fav books:  The 3 books in the Lord of the Rings (Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers, and Return of the King), The Hobbit, Narnia (I'll just count that as 1 book so I can write more), Kingdom's series, Dragons in our Midst series, and the Oracles of Fire series.

7 fav movies: The Lord of the Rings (all of them), probably The Hobbit (When it comes out), Narnia the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, probably Narnia Prince Caspian (Again, when it comes out), and Pirates of the Caribbean.

7 fav foods: Reeses, chocolate (and if it can't be bad food): Spaghetti, applesauce, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and alot more but I can't think of any at the moment.

7 fav drinks: 7up, sprite, mountain dew, chocolate milk, water, mandarin-orange juice, grape juice.

7 people I tag: that's a hard one.....um.....Burger, haffgrim, ljcool, legolas, Luthien, and anyone else who wants to.


And another one by DoubleTalk:
1) What is your nickname? hmmm............I don't think I have one.
2) Favorite Sport? Soccer!
3) How many people on your AIM buddy list? AIM? sorry I have Yahoo so I say about 15.
4) What is the current weather outside? extremely HOT!
5) What is your favorite day of the week? Saturday
6) What is your favorite video game? I don't have a TV so my fav computer game is Age of Empires 3!
7) What is your favorite website? Homeschoolblogger, of course!
8) What is your favorite vacation spot? the beach, I guess.
9)  What is your dream car? a Mustang (but I like pretty much every cool car)
10) Do you wear a watch? no
11) What is your favorite restaurant? Hmmmmm.....I can't decide.
12) What is your favorite thing to do on Friday night? Blog or play on the computer
13) Do you have cable? No, I don't have a TV!
14) Do you have DSL? No, we have fiber optic :) My dad says that's even faster!
15) What is the longest word you know? Superfragileisticexpealadocious if you call that a word.
16) What is your favorite text note? lol (<--- that's it)
17) Do you have a myspace? No, I like homeschoolblogger! :)
18) One random thing about you: I like cold pizza
19) One thing I need to survive: To be saved by Jesus.....
20) Five people to tag: anyone who wants to be tagged!



And Remember to COMMENT while I'm gone!!!

Last Monday was Memorial Day, a day when we need to think about the people who died to save our freedom in America.

For love of country they accepted death...  ~James A. Garfield

All we have of freedom, all we use or know -
This our fathers bought for us long and long ago.
~Rudyard Kipling


History of Memorial Day: 

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day to remember those who have died in our nation's service. After the Civil war many people in the North and South decorated graves of fallen soldiers with flowers.

In the Spring of 1866, someone in NY, suggested that the patriots who had died in the Civil War should be honored by decorating their graves. General John B. Murray liked the idea and a committee was formed to plan a day devoted to honoring the dead. Townspeople made wreaths, crosses and bouquets for each veteran's grave. The village was decorated with flags at half mast. On May 5, a processional led by veterans was held to the town's cemeteries. The town observed this day of remembrance on May 5 of the following year as well.

Decoration Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, and was first observed officially on May 30, 1868. The South did not observe Decoration Day, preferring to honor their dead on separate days until after World War I. In 1882, the name was changed to Memorial Day, and soldiers who had died in other wars were also honored.

In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday to be held on the last Monday in May.

Today, Memorial Day marks the unofficial beginning of the summer season in the United States. It still is a time to remember those who have passed on, whether in war or otherwise.

It's My Birthday Today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippee!!!   I'm 14 now!!

I helped at an Air Race on the weekend, it wasn't just any race, it was fuel race. The racers try to use the least fuel as possible and still get a time, AND they try to predict how much fuel they will use throughout the race, AND, at the end of the race (but still part of it), they have to fill up their tanks with the gauges covered up--so they don't know how much they're filling the tanks with. Pretty weird, huh?

Please Comment!
 

P.S. Do you think I need to change my Signature?

 In life news, (Although I have already told some of you) I have promoted in Civil Air Patrol! I was a Airman Basic (The lowest rank next to a new member) to an Airman!! Here are all the ranks: 

I also have been tagged 3 times:

Here is #1 from Sharla88:

7 things i love doing:
Blogging, playing computer games, playing video games, playing board games, reading, sleeping, playing anything else that I haven't listed.

6 things i don't like doing:
dishes, chores, cooking, having to stop blogging, cooking.....and cooking (lol).

5 of my fav. books:
LOTR, Narnia, Dragons in our midst series, Oracles of Fire series, the Bible.

4 things that scare me:
how people can actually eat mushrooms and peppers (they are gross!), spiders, and......I  can't think of anymore.

3 actors/ actresses:
Viggo Mortenson (the guy who plays Aragorn), Orlando Bloom, and Johnny Depp.

2 movies i like:
LOTR and PotC.

1 thing that is special to you:
My family (well I guess that's 6 people.........)

8 people I'm tagging:
Hmmm.......AuthorElf, AnonymousGirl, Burger, Dawn90, and anyone who wants to do it!

And this is #2 tag from Burger:

What are your most common...

CLOTHES.
hat: One that says "God bless America"
shirt: blue or grey
pants: blue, camo
shoes: sneakers

FOOD.
breakfast: cereal
lunch: sandwiches, spaghetti
Dinner: spaghetti, pizza, quiche

WHAT ARE THE FIRST THINGS YOU DO WHEN...

you go on the PC: play a game or check my blog
you go to bed: sleep
you wake up: ask myself, "What am I going to do today?"
you have just finished lunch: blog, school
after dinner: play on pc
after breakfast: school, chores

PEOPLE I'M TAGGING:
legolasskywalker, and ljcool.



And #3 from Dawn90:

(1.) What is your middle name?
I'm not telling!

(2.) Do you like you first name?
if you could change your name what would change it to? I do like my name but if I could change it, I'd change it to Jonathan.

(3.) What is your pets name? (If you don't have one)
What would you name a pet if you had one? I don't have a pet, and I haven't thought about a name for one........

(4.) What are your favorite books in the world?
definitely LOTR (lol), and Narnia, Dragons in our midst series, Oracles of Fire series, the Bible (have to have that one!!), and any book that's long and very good.

(5.) What is your dream house?
A house that has a lot of room!

(6.) Do you enjoy being the age that you are? (If not)
What age would you prefer to be if you could go forward in time right now? Yeah I do! 13 is a good age!

(7.) Do you have any siblings? (if so) Do you enjoy having siblings?
Most of the time i do....... but sometimes they are very annoying.

(8.) Do you enjoy to cook? (If so) What is your favorite thing to cook?
c-c-cook?!?! I don't like cooking, and I won't like cooking for a long time..................a very long time.............

(9.) What girl names do you like?
Elizabeth, and some others.

(10.) What boy names do you like?
Jonathan, William, Jacob.

(11.) What is your favorite colour(s)? 
Blue, gold and silver. 

(12.) Who are the bloggers that you are going to tag next?
Whoever wants to be tagged with this!

I went flying twice this weekend! This time I went in a plane on Saturday and a glider on Sunday.

Plane Flying

 In the plane flight, I landed a couple times (which is normal) but I also learned some other things too. The first thing I learned, was how to do a controlled stall, the flight instructor told me to go up 10 feet per minute while he cut the power, which is usually 100 knots, down to 40 knots. And, if your still going up, it stalls. But he quickly put the power back up after it stalled a little because we didn't want to stall all the way to the ground!

 I also did steep banks while turning. We went almost sideways while doing the turns. And the last thing we did was feel some g-forces. 2 to be exact. I know it doesn't sound like very much, but it actually is enough to squish you down in your chair!

Glider Flying

And now for the glider flying. The glider's cockpit was kind of small, but the wings were longer than the plane's that I flew in on Saturday! I'd have to say that the glider flying was kind of disappointing, because the intructor (who sits right behind my seat, the back still has the same controls) only let me fly two turns and he did the rest! Well, on the other hand it was great because I took alot of pictures in the sky and on the ground. But you'll have to wait until I get them to put on my blog.

I'll try to get pictures on soon!

Here is another speech I wrote.

     Have you ever wanted to fly a plane? Or help save someone from a plane crash? You get to Civil Air Patrol!

     Civil Air Patrol, or C.A.P. for short, is a United States Air Force program that trains cadets, like me, to do search and rescue to find crashed airplanes, to actually FLY airplanes, and other things you will learn in this speech.

     Here is part of the history of C.A.P.: Civil Air Patrol was created on December 1st, 1941—6 days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor plunged the United States into World War II.

     America entered the war with poor defenses on the East Coast. Gasoline and oil shortages grew and vital war supplies for Europe were nearly choked off as enemy subs operated without threat being harmed – often within sight of the beach. Tankers and freighters were sinking in record numbers. While the American military frantically geared up to meet the threat, ships were torpedoed in the mouth of the Connecticut River and in the Saint Lawrence. One surfaced sub actually motored right into our outer New York harbor on January 15, navigating by reference to a New York City tourist map and visible landmarks like the Ferris wheel at Coney Island. Subs could blast their prey at night as targets became silhouetted against still brightly lit coastal resorts.

     As tankers burned, Philadelphia-based “Sun Oil”, along with other concerned companies, established a "Tanker Protection Fund" to establish civilian air patrol bases. Volunteers came from everywhere and within months, some 40,000 signed up, ranging from over-age World War I fliers to aviation heroes.

     The Civilian Air Patrol pilots provided their own airplanes and equipment, but often couldn't cover expenses on their $8 per flying-day government pay, which often arrived two months late. Civic organizations across the nation chipped in with "Sink-a-Sub Clubs," making fundraisers for the Coastal Patrol.

     The military required a 90-day testing period in early 1942 to prove civilians could do the job, so Coastal Patrol began as an experiment at the three "hot spots" of submarine attacks.

     Atlantic City's test flight was out only 15 minutes when it spotted its first torpedoed tanker and started coordinating rescue efforts. A C.A.P. crew first interrupted a sub attack on a flight out of Rehoboth Beach, saving a tanker off Cape May, New Jersey. Unarmed C.A.P. fliers dived in mock attacks to force subs to break and run.

     Radio calls to C.A.P.'s communications network brought C.A.P. twin-engine amphibian airplanes to the rescue. The first Air Medals of World War II presented in person by President Roosevelt went to C.A.P. pilots Eddie Edwards and Hugh Sharp for one such rescue, which saved one of two crew members down in a bitterly cold wintertime ditching.

     C.A.P. planes were refitted with bombs and depth charges after a crew watched in vain as a grounded sub off Cape Canaveral, Florida, escaped before the military arrived. C.A.P. Coastal Patrol flew 24 million miles, found 173 subs, attacked 57, hit 10 and sank two. By Presidential Executive Order, C.A.P. became an auxiliary of the Army’s Air Forces on April 29th, 1943.

     After the German surrender, one of Hitler's high-ranking naval officers was asked why the Nazi [Naut-see] U-boats had been withdrawn from U.S. coastal waters early in 1943. The answer was: “It was because of those little red and yellow planes!”

     Since air search and rescue had been one of C.A.P.'s primary missions during the war, it was obvious there was no other organization with the equipment and training to continue this vital job in the post-war years. Even though there were plenty of military aircraft available, they cost far too much to operate and flew too fast for accurate spotting of downed planes and personnel. Military pilots were expensive to train as well, and mission requirements limited their availability for search and rescue work.

     After the war C.A.P. went on to: courier service for the Army, Border patrol against enemy infiltrators crossing from Mexico, and air search and rescue. Non-flying C.A.P. members guarded airfields and trained a rapidly growing group of C.A.P. cadets. C.A.P. searched for many military planes that had gone down on training or ferry missions around the United States. After a B-24 crash landed atop Mount Baldy near Taos, New Mexico, a C.A.P. plane made six successful landings at 12,800 feet to deliver survival rations and recover crucial equipment.

     Nowadays, Civil Air Patrol still does search and rescue and finds crashed airplanes. Cadets, like me, also get trained in emergency services, survival, and, yes, even flying airplanes.

Haiku Poem

 I'm doing a contest from 4evrHischild and I have to write a Winter themed Haiku poem (a poem where there is a verse of 5 syllables, then a verse of 7, and then 5 again.) for it so here it is:

Snowflakes

Snowflakes are falling

Ev'rywhere they are falling

On cold Winter days