I’m still coughing a bit, but today I really felt like myself for the first time since Monday.

And, of course, it was raining.  Oh well!  Who cares?  It was still a good day.  We sat on the front porch and watched the rain for a while like we always do when it pours, and I really enjoyed that.  Actually, I don’t mind rain that much, I just wanted to go outside and take pictures of the flowers today.  I’ll have all summer though, so we’ll be okay. 🙂

Anyway, I’m posting my next science story randomly when I feel like it so I can still do “Mystery Quote”.  (Do you guys like that as much as I do?)

The pictures is of a statue at a park in China.  It isn’t perfect for the story, but it works.  Isn’t it neat?  I love how that turned out! 🙂

The name of Module 8 was “Uniformitarianism and Catastrophism” which is pretty much Evolution and Creationism.  So… I got a little deep with this one.  It’s also very serious, not funny like the other one; but I think it turned out well.

I wrote this one in first person too.  Can’t say why.  Maybe because the first one was, so now I just think that way about science.  It’s also about a girl that’s about my age like the first one… I could have made them the same person, but I didn’t want to.  Enjoy!

My dear reader,

This chapter in my science book was about Uniformitarianism and Catastrophism, which is essentially how different people believe the earth formed. Dr. Wile made a point to say that he was biased, but would try to treat both sides with the same amount of criticism. He also pointed out that everyone is biased, so if you want a clear idea of both sides you should read things that were written by people who had different views and compare them. I, then, am also biased. But I am making no attempt to be even-handed. I am a Catastrophist, and that is the view that I am going to stress.

I also borrowed some of this information from other modules in my science book. Enjoy!

~H.M.R. on 3/30/15

The screen door squeaked loudly behind me as I closed it. I stood for a moment in front of it listening to the chaos of voices and drinking in the coolness of the house. It was steaming outside. I felt hot and sweaty, and was aware that my face was probably red. Playing tag in ninety degree weather was not prudent. Anybody could have told me that before I started running around, but all the other kids were doing it and I couldn’t help myself.

I navigated my way slowly through the kitchen to the orange water-cooler. There were way too many people at this party. It was at my house and I hadn’t even talked to all the guests—truth be told, I didn’t even know all their names. I finally reached the cooler and got a drink. I gulped the whole cupful and used my fingers to fish out ice-cubes; crunching them slowly and relishing the icy chill.

Someone bumped into me at that moment, and I nearly fell over. Good thing I had already drunk my water! “Oh! I’m so sorry! Are you okay, Sweetie?” the woman apologized. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I answered and wondered what her name was and how I was related to her as I watched her walk away. Big families could be inconvenient. My Dad was the youngest of three, but my Mom had nine siblings, and I couldn’t keep track of all that. Not when I only saw them twice or thrice a year! Well, at least they were still willing to come over. I didn’t understand why it was such a big deal we started going to church. I mean, nobody else did, but it still didn’t have to be this big a deal. At least my cousins understood that I only went because my parents wanted me to. I hadn’t told the kids at school yet—and hopefully I would never have to.

Really, they all only came over because Uncle Zade was staying with us so it was only natural that the party, reunion, or whatever-it-was should be at our place. Zade wasn’t actually my uncle, he was my Mom’s cousin. But I had called him that for as long as I could remember. My Mom had no brothers her age and she had always been way too rambunctious for her sisters, so her and Zade had played together when they were little. He and my Mom were still really close and even if he didn’t share their new ideas, he still wanted to stay at our house like always.  I was thankful for that.  Of all our many relatives, I would have missed his friendship the most.

Uncle Zade was sitting at a nearby table all by himself, the person sitting next to him having gone to greet someone who was just walking in the door. He noticed me trying to flattened myself against the wall to stay out of somebody’s way, and beckoned to me. Uncle Zade and I were close too. I couldn’t figure out when it had started, but somehow we became friends during one of his visits, and we e-mailed with each other now when he left. He technically lived in Texas, but he spent most of his time traveling the world as a geologist. Mom had always enjoyed watching our friendship bloom, probably thinking about the adventures she had had with Zade; and had always approved of our keeping in touch while he was gone—until now. Now she was uneasy about it because she knew he was telling me about evolution. Last year my parents had loved how much he was teaching me, and now I caught them talking about it in concerned voices because he was encouraging me to veer off away from Creationism. I didn’t understand this sudden change in them.

I plopped down next to Uncle Zade, and he smiled at me. “Hey, Caroline. I thought you were outside. Get tired of playing with the boys?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t get tired of them, they got tired of me—well, my games. They’re playing Civil War right now.”

He laughed. “Your Mom and I never played that, but we played things just as crazy. You’re not such a tomboy.”

“Were you interested in science back then too?” I asked, wondering if he and Mom had ever played scientist.

“Yep!” he answered. “We played dinosaur once.”

“Really?” I asked skeptically.

“Yes, we did. Your Mom was really good at it. She could roar loud enough to scare me!”

I giggled. How come such a strong personality hadn’t rubbed off on me? “That’s funny. But speaking of science, I couldn’t quite grasp what you were saying about index fossils in your last e-mail.”

“Oh, yes. They’re complicated. Let me try and explain: the definition is Fossils that are assumed to represent a certain period in earth’s past.”

“Uncle Zade,” I interjected. “Why do you always use definitions? They don’t mean anything to me!”

“Probably because I had to memorize them, so they always come to mind!” he said. “I’ll try to explain it better: Well, the fossils we find are in layers, with different fossils in each layer. Those layers each represent a different era in earth’s past. So, let’s say, for example… you find one rock formation that has fish-fossils, dinosaur-fossils, and then mammal-fossils. We find another that has fish-fossils, plant-fossils, and then mammal-fossils. We then piece together that plants are first, then dinosaurs, then fish, then mammals; from the different formations. Does that make sense?”

“Not really…”

“I’ll tell you what: I could explain this better with a pencil and some paper. When all these people leave, you remind me, and we’ll try again. ‘Kay?”

“Okay!” I agreed eagerly.

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I might post this everyday now!  We’ll see.

★ Happy Saturday! ★