Module 7 story #1

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

I’m not wearing green.  Just for spite, ’cause pinching always bothered me.  Sorry.  I’m like that.

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Trusty wreath always gives me pictures to post on holidays! 🙂

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Mom turned on Irish music; so I’ve spent all morning dancing around the house to the fiddles. 🙂  We switched to Rend Collective after lunch.  Still Irish, right?  Well, whatever you say, it’s at the top of my list–’cause Rend Collective’s at the top of all my lists. 🙂

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Okay: this wasn’t actually what I was planning on posting today, but then I realized I should post this story, so I’m going to post that ‘other thing’ I’ve been saying I will on the Tuesday after I get done with this story.

So I’ve always really like science.  But this year I started General Science and detested it.  Especially when he started trying to tell me that math was an indispensable aspect of science.  But we were reconciled when I got past pulleys and levers and how-to-perform-experiments, and started studying geology and archaeology.

But the tests were still torture.  So Mom told me not to do them.  She said I could write  a page about the module instead.  And that wasn’t so bad; but I wasn’t happy about how my papers turned out.

So (in a very round-about way) we came up with the idea of my writing a story for every module.  I feel liberated. #ILoveHomeSchooling

So this story goes along with Exploring Creation with General Science by Dr. Jay L. Wile, Module 7.  I borrowed a little information about how rocks form from Module 6.  (7 is the first module I wrote a story about.)  Okay, here it is:

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My dear reader,

This story is probably the most scientific story I’ve ever written. It was inspired by a chapter in my science book. And, as it was only one chapter and I haven’t finished the book, I don’t really know if it’s accurate. The only thing I’m sure of is the information about fossils. I don’t even know anything about Siberia. Nothing. This is my idea of how something like this might go, based on what I’ve heard. Enjoy!

H.M.R. on 3/7/15

Module 7 story:

I pulled my scarf up over my mouth and nose with my stiff, mittened fingers. That was the one thousandth time it had slipped down around my neck—I was sure. I glared down at Dr. Peterson and Dad’s boots crunching in the snow ahead of me. My backpack had felt like lead before Dr. Peterson offered to carry it for me. The thrill of being here did not really make up for the nose-biting cold and the fact that we had to drag our luggage up here ourselves. Who cared that I was in Siberia—I was in SIBERIA for pity’s sake, and I couldn’t think of the last time I had been this miserable.

I knew it was really a great privilege to be able to come up here: the public was not usually allowed to see this kind of thing, but Uncle Jonathan had said we could come up and watch them excavate. But couldn’t this incredible fossil have formed just a little closer to the nearest city?

“Are we almost there?”

Dad turned around and smiled at me sympathetically. “Getting tired?”

“And cold! This is hardly worth a fourteen-hour-plane-ride.”

“You haven’t seen the fossil yet!” Dr. Peterson was obviously amused. “Don’t worry though—we’re almost there.”

“Okay,” I answered wearily. I purposely fell behind the two men and walked next to Mom.

“Doing okay, honey?” she asked.

“Yeah, I guess so. Um, Mom, I was wondering… I mean, what do I call Uncle Jonathan? I’ve called him ‘uncle’ all my life, but I’m calling him (nodding towards our guide) Doctor, so should I call him ‘Dr. Millard’ instead?”

“Oh! you can just call him ‘Uncle Jonathan’—he won’t mind.”

“There it is!” Dr. Peterson announced, interrupting our conversation. I looked up, and saw a long, one-story building that looked like a warehouse next to a large tent that was pitched in the middle of the snow. It was less than impressive.

We reached it at last, and dumped our backpacks in a hap-hazard heap outside the tent, and the scientist pulled the curtain aside and let us in. Uncle Jonathan was kneeling on the frozen ground next to the fossil; just as bundled up as we were, with tools lying scattered all around him.

He stood up and walked over to us when we entered. He shook Dad’s hand and gave Mom a hug. He smiled at me. “It’s so nice to see you again, Cassidy! I wish I could think of something more original, but my word! have you gotten big!” I smiled politely and wished I could think of something to say. I did not tell him that I usually went by ‘Cassie’ instead of my full name. I also did not mention that I had not seen him for seven years, since that Thanksgiving party back in Pennsylvania before he became a scientist, and could hardly remember the last time I had laid eyes on him.

The grown-ups talked for a while, and then Uncle Jonathan turned towards me again. “Wanna’ come take a look at this fossil?” he invited.

“Sure,” I said, following him over to where he had been working, while Mom and Dad remained near the entrance talking to Dr. Peterson.

“Specimens like this mammoth-fossil are very rare,” my uncle explained. “Usually only part of the organism gets fossilized, while the rest deteriorates—without a trace. We’re really excited about this, because it was entombed in frozen mud, which kept it from decomposing—like your freezer back home. Most of this creature has been saved, including it’s skin and hair and other soft body-parts, giving us more detail about what these per-historic mammals looked like than most fossils do.”

“That’s kind of gross,” I said, skeptically.

Uncle Jonathan laughed. “Well, the definition of fossil is the preserved remains of once-living creatures—it’s going to be rather gross.”

I choked back a second comment on how disgusting that was. “That doesn’t bother you, does it?” I asked dryly.

He laughed again. “Oh, it used to. I’ve just grown out of it. You won’t mind it either someday!”

The other three joined us then. “So this your first time out of America?” Dr. Peterson asked me.

“Yes, it is.”

“Are you liking it?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s been interesting,” I said, trying to smile.

“How do you like Siberia?”

He had gotten my take on this country on the walk up, hadn’t he? He was smiling! Being laughed at was not something I had ever taken to easily.

“Oh, it’s thrilling!” I said exaggeratedly. “Ice, snow, frozen mud, frozen elephants—what more could you ask for?”

“Hmm… a little optimism, maybe,” he said, rubbing his chin.

“It’s not an elephant—it’s a mammoth,” Uncle Jonathan corrected me.

“It’s the same thing, isn’t it? I mean, mammoths just have more hair, don’t they?”

“No, they’re quite different,” he said decidedly. “Come on, I’ll show you. There’s a picture inside—let’s go warm up!”

I opened my mouth to say that I knew what elephants looked like and there was a mammoth right next to me, but everyone else was already moving out of the tent—and I was not really going to pass up a chance to get warm!

We picked up our backpacks and headed into the other building. The door was in the exact middle, and let into a small foyer with a door on either side. “That’s our laboratory,” Uncle Jonathan explained, pointing to the door on our right. “And this (opening the door on the left) is our house—for now.”

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Sorry this is sooo long!  I can’t write short things.  Oh! and I might post again before next Tuesday–we’ll see. 🙂

19 thoughts on “Module 7 story #1”

  1. Love the story, Hanna! It’s great! I totally don’t mind that it’s long :-). Will you be posting any other science stories on your blog?
    I can’t stand science either. It’s hard!
    I didn’t wear any green today, and so far, I haven’t been pinched :-). ~Savannah

        1. I only got pinched once. Guess who that one person was??? I did point out that I had noticed and hadn’t bothered to change. 🙂
          I’m planning on posting all of them I write. We’ll see if it works out.
          I’m probably going to post another part of this story before next Tuesday. I guess I’m just impatient to post that ‘other thing’ when I get done with this! 🙂 HINT: it’s not a story. 🙂 I just love being mysterious! 🙂 🙂 🙂

  2. Great story! I really like her name too!
    We listened to Irish music also today, and to say the least, I was keeping the beat. 🙂 😉 I’m wearing green, so, ha! 🙂

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