So, I went totally haywire yesterday and started writing a story.

That doesn’t sound so bad, until you realize that I’m in the middle of writing three stories right now, and I wasn’t going to start any more until I had finished those.

But I got inspiration for a new story, and the whole thing came right then.  RIGHT THEN.  I got the beginning, the middle, the end–in one sitting.  So I thought since it came all at once, I’d write it down all at once.

I was having serious writer’s block on The Sacrifice anyway.  I think it’s because I just switched which character I’m following, so I’m following a man, and I have a harder time with men.  That’s probably just because I’m a girl.  I think it will go faster again if I just get back to it… which I still plan to, don’t worry.  I wasn’t going to start posting it until this summer anyway, because I realized I should wait until I was done posting science stories; because posting them in the middle of The Sacrifice could get really confusing.

And speaking of science stories, that’s what this is actually all about (as you probably guessed from the title).  So, after all that, let’s get on with the story:

Uncle Zade was in the kitchen eating breakfast when I came down. Mom and Dad were still in their bedroom.

“You look nice,” Zade told me, as I got myself a bowl of cereal and milk.

I took a deep breath. Didn’t he know I would just as soon have worn jeans but my parents wanted me to dress up for church? “Thanks.”

“You sound despondent.”

“Do I?” I tried to look naive.

My uncle laughed. “A bit. How’d you sleep?”

Too well. I wasn’t done thinking. “Fine. How about you?”

Continue reading Module 8 Story #3 →

I didn’t do school last week, because I was sick; and I was at a conference on Thursday and Friday (pictures coming later, I hope) so I wasn’t able to do it then either… so getting geared up today was a bit of a challenge.  It did feel surprisingly normal to just be studying, though.

Okay: part two of my story!  Not quite every day so far, but getting close. 🙂  The computer won’t keep my font this time for some reason. *sigh*  Oh well!  It works.

Later that night after dinner, I pounced on Uncle Zade and asked him to show me. I helped him rummage up three-by-five cards and a pen, then obediently went into the living-room while he worked. When he called me back in, he had laid the cards out in five rows of four. He had drawn symbols on all the cards: the first row went circle, triangle, heart, star; the second went smiley-face, circle, triangle, heart; the third smiley-face, circle, heart, star; the fourth smiley-face, circle, triangle, star; the fifth smiley-face, triangle, heart, star. Off to the side was a circle, a triangle, a star, a heart, and a smiley-face. I looked at the set-up skeptically.

“Okay,” Uncle Zade began. I want you to put those five that are not in rows into theses rows in such a way that all the rows look the same.” I looked them over, and found that each row was missing one symbol. I managed to sort them all out into five rows of smiley-face, circle, triangle, heart, star.

“Well done!” he said, looking over my shoulder. “So this is how we use index fossils. No rock formation has all the fossils, but if we have all the rock formations to help us, we can piece this together.

“Cool.”

“But those examples of fossils I was using earlier today—do you remember that?”

“The plants and dinosaurs?”

“Yes, those. That order is actually from a geological column, that I believe is accurate.”

“What’s a geological column?”

Continue reading Module 8 Story #2 →

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.

Continue reading Module 8 Story #1 →

THE LAST ONE!!!

I’m so excited!  Excited about next Tuesday too…

Sorry it’s so short.  I finished Part 9 of The Sacrifice today, and some of those chapters are pretty long–like un-optional-continue–reading-buttons kind of long! 🙂  And the story itself is going to be long too.  I don’t ‘do’ short.  But… you guys don’t seem to mind long stories, so I guess we’re okay! 🙂  Anyway–

The rest of our trip flew by. The fossil was excavated successfully, and before I knew it, it was time to head home. The plane-flight was still grueling, but I considered the trip worth it!

We arrived at the airport late in the afternoon, and went to grandma and grandpa’s house first thing, to pick up the little girls.

“How was it?” grandma asked me.

“It was good,” I answered, and before I could say anything else, Hannah intervened, “It’s not fair that you went to Siberia without me! I didn’t know it was so exciting until I heard Mrs. Williams talking to grandma at church about how amazing it was you were going so young!”

“You would have been bored, sweetie!” I said kissing her hair. “There’s nothing over there but ice and snow and frozen mud and frozen mammoths.”

“What’s a mammoth?” asked Hannah.
“It an elephant,” said Millie wisely.

“No,” I corrected, “Actually, it’s not.”

“Then what is it?” asked Millie.

“It’s a long story,” I said. “I’ll tell you later.”

The End

So, this is the really long one!  It’s also really scientific… I hope my version of the facts makes sense! 🙂

Also, it looks like I’ll be doing Book Reviews through April.  Five more, and then we’ll see what things look like.

Okay: here goes.  Have fun, and (if it makes any sense) learn something new! 🙂  I added in the first few lines of the conversation that were in Part #4, just to make sure it made sense!  Oh! and I came up with a name for this one: “Cassie’s Question.” 🙂

It took me a full five minutes to work up my courage to ask a question. “Uncle Jonathan?”

“Yes, Cassidy?”

“In that picture you showed me last night… of the mammoth… how do we know what they look like?”

“Because of fossils like this.”

“You said fossils like this are rare—what sort of fossils do you usually find? Have we found dinosaur fossils like this?”

“Nope. Just mammoths,” Uncle Jonathan was quite decided on that point.

“But I’ve seen pictures of dinosaurs. Did people just make those up?”

“Most of them. All we have of most dinosaurs is the bones.”

“That’s disconcerting.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

“Why?” I asked suspiciously.

“Because it shows we have something in common. It bothers me too.”

“Oh! of course,” I faltered, for lack of anything else to say.

“So, why do we just have the bones? What happened?”

Continue reading Module 7 Story #5 →

Part 4!  Only two more!  🙁  Part 5 is really long, but the last one is really short.  I started writing my second science story yesterday to go along with Module 8!  I’m not sure how long that one is going to be… probably long because, well, because it’s written by me! 🙂

I found just Mom and Aunt Dakota in the “kitchen” the next morning when I got up.

“Feeling adventurous?” Mom asked.

“Like Indiana Jones,” I said sarcastically, sliding into a chair.

They had already eaten, but they sat down with me and drank some tea.

“We usually just have breakfast-bars or instant oatmeal for the sake of time,” my aunt explained. “But last time we were in town right before you guys came out and thought we’d get some bacon and pancakes for special, since we were having company.”

“Thank you!” I said, trying to think of the last time I’d had Bisquick pancakes—and failing.

“The guys are already out in the tent,” Mom said, after a few minutes. “Why don’t you go join them when you’re done?”

I cringed mentally. “Okay. Are you coming too?”

“We’re going to do the dishes and then come out.”

“I can stay and help you guys, if you want.” I offered.

“You are so not getting away with that!” Mom said laughing. “You’re going to go excavate a fossil!”

“I’m not allowed to touch it!” I pointed out.

“Then watch.”

Which is how I found myself outside in the frigid air, walking towards a tent full of men and preserved remains of once-living organisms. I paused to look at the scenery. Dreary as it was, it was beautiful—or would be in a picture. Picture? I should get my camera! I wasn’t allowed to take photos of the fossil, but I could capture this landscape to show my little sisters. They would be impressed.

For a long time ‘Siberia’ had been only a reference to our Siberian husky, Todd. Then it became pictures of snow and fossils that Uncle Jonathan sent us or put on Facebook. And it would be pictures only to Millie and Hannah still. But for me, it was a place now. A place I couldn’t decided if I liked.

I slipped into the tent after putting my camera away and found the two doctors working on the fossil with Dad watching. “Good morning, honey!” Dad said, as I came in. “Morning, Daddy!” I responded, making a wide circle around the fossil to stand next to him.

It took me a full five minutes to work up my courage to ask a question. “Uncle Jonathan?”

“Yes, Cassidy?”

I’m posting again because it Tuesday, but go ahead and comment on my last post if you haven’t yet!  And thanks to all of you who did already!  What would I do without you? 🙂

Sorry this part’s a little short.  The one after the next one is really long, so that’ll make up.  I can’t make things uniform: the chapters in my books are different lengths, the books in my series are different lengths, etc.  I don’t fit in categories.  At all.

We ate canned soup for dinner (it was very different from home-made chicken noodle!) and then went to bed, as the three of us were worn out from traveling. The door on the other side of the living area went into a third room, that was divided up into four rooms with temporary walls (the kind that feel as if they are carpeted, like the floor). There was a pathway down the middle, with two rooms on each side. Mom and Dad had the first room on the right; while I had my own room, the other on the right; Aunt and Uncle slept on the far left; while Dr. Peterson took the remaining room. We slept in sleeping-bags, laid on cots. Mom came in to say good-night to me before I turned off my electric-lantern.

“Mom,” I asked, “is this a once-in-a-lifetime trip?”

“Do you want it to be?”

“Mom! I never said that!”

“It was implied.”

“Mom, I don’t know anything about fossils–and I don’t even care!”

“Cassie, those guys are just having fun—you know that, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “Glad somebody is!”

“You are too.” Mom said confidently. “Or you would be if you’d let yourself! It’s an adventure, honey. Few people get to go to Siberia before they’re even in high-school. Just enjoy it!” She kissed my forehead. “I want you cheerful and adventurous in the morning! Now get some sleep.” She clicked off the light and went out. I sat up straight in the dark, exasperated.

——————————————————————————-

I’m hoping to finish this before/by next Tuesday so I can move on.  I must have lost all my self-control between this story and Into the Dragon’s Lair! 🙂

Mom, Michael, Lucy and I went to the zoo this morning with some friends!  It was really fun!  Last time we only went to the aquarium, but we went to see the cats, gorillas, butterflies, giraffes, and the Desert Dome today too which was fun! 🙂

Yeah, it’s not Tuesday.  I know.  I just couldn’t help myself.  I did warn you… actually, you guys are probably happy! 🙂

Oh! and yes, Savannah, I totally got the name ‘Dakota’ from you.  I had heard it before I read your story, but you brought it to life for me.  I hope you don’t mind! 🙂

Okay, here goes!  Have fun!

We struggled out of our snow-clothes and trooped in, finding ourselves in a smaller room with another door at the far end. It was filled most of the way up with a card-table, a small couch, a bookshelf, and four chairs; but a make-shift kitchen was set up in one corner. My Aunt Dakota was standing in front of the camping-stove stirring a small pot. She set down her spoon and came over to us—I wondered if she had been stirring the pot for fun, or if she deemed giving us hugs the instant we came in worth burning dinner. I certainly hoped it was the first!

I did not remember seeing Aunt Dakota before either, but she acted as if we were the best of friends.

“Wow! You’ve gotten so big!” she exclaimed. I sighed inwardly. “How old are you, Cassidy?”

“I’m thirteen.”

“Thirteen? My goodness! I can’t believe it! You were like seven or somethin’ last I saw you!”

More like six, I thought, smiling awkwardly.

Continue reading Module 7 Story #2 →