The other day was rather sad, we had just come home from watching the practice for the speedboat race when Mum told me that my pet rat, Coal, had passed away. I was very sad and went into tears, but I tried my hardest to let him go, and I will never forget him. Dad did something that warmed my heart a little bit, he buried Coal in the garden outside the playroom, and Mum said that as something special we could buy a plant and put it on top of Coal's grave, so that calms me down enough to put me out of tears. Even though my rat is dead, I will always carry him in my heart for as long as I live.

farm visit

Today I went out on a trip to a farm, and boy was it fun. There were lots of cows and calves, we even got to pat them! I learned that when newborn calves are brought in, they need to use a sort of plastic container with fake teats on them to get the newborns to learn how to feed, and for the older calves there was a big mechanical version of the plastic feeder used on newborns that was attached to a big tractor. We also went into this milking shed where the cows went onto a circular conveyor belt and were hooked up to small tubes that connected to the teats on the udders that squeezed out the milk, the cows then get off the belt and go into a feeding area, the milk is then processed and filtered into the milk that we drink now. After the tour of the farm me and a friend of mine that lived there stayed a little bit and he showed me some other bits that we weren't shown before, like he showed me this big tank of stuff that was a bit like maple syrup and this little tube that showed how much stuff is in it, a bit like the gauge on the side of a kettle. Near the end of the visit me and the farm boy were over by the calve sheds when a guy came in with a new calve and a dead one on the hood of his vehicle, the poor little thing. I think this visit was quite cool, and if I get another chance, I think I'm going to try some of that processed milk.

As an extra bonus, here's some photos I took:

Woodworking suprise

The other day my mum and I went to out to the Ideal Home Show, which was really cool. The main reason we went there was because I needed to hand in a colouring competition from property brokers. My favourite stall was a place called HRV, a heat installation place, because I loved their helium balloons as the make me talk in a really funny voice that makes me sound like Alvin and the chipmunks. But the cool thing happened near the end of our visit, I was watching a man making a spinning top for me when a lady came and asked my mum and I about my interests in woodworking. Then she let me have a go on a cool woodworking machine called a scroll saw, which is a bit like a sewing machine, only instead of a sewing needle it had a small saw that cuts wood. I tried to cut out a rabbit shape out of a piece of wood and the results were good, except instead of a rabbit I got a rabbit with a beard! AND.... soon I'm going to be able to practice it more often because I'll be able to practise it at the lady's house. If I get into it, Mum might even give me one for Christmas! I think scroll sawing is something that I want to get into, and so long as I keep my fingers away from the blade, I'll be fine.

My 10th Birthday

Yesterday was an absolute blast, and you know why? IT WAS MY 10TH BIRTHDAY! However, instead of having the actual party on my birthday, we moved it back one day. It was really fun. We went to a cool indoor go-kart racing place called Daytona, then we went to the lido and I finally encouraged myself to spend $15 to allow me and my party guests, J and K, to go down the hydroslides. When the slides opened and I was about to go down, I was so scared that I thought I was going to wet my togs, but I beat my fear and went down. I even went down the fastest one! After that we went to Video Ezy to rent some movies, then we went home and it was then I realised that J and K were having a sleepover with me in the lounge, we even got to stay up until 10:30 watching the movies we rented. The next morning was a bit more interesting, while we were still waking up, K went to get dressed, and when he came back my supposed-to-be-in-bed baby brother came in after him and I had a slight hint of worry since K had let him out! So I took him back to his bedroom (which was a bit of a hassle since he didn't want to go back into bed), then Mum came out, so I explained to her what happened. Luckily, she showed no signs that I was in trouble (phew!). For the rest of the morning we sat there watching movies and playing an awesome playstation snowboarding game called SSX Tricky. I was a bit disappointed when J & K left because I enjoyed having them over, but at least I had it while it lasted, and their present was great. It was a game called Rummy-o. Speaking of presents, I got a cool present from my Oma... a crystal mining kit that I am really looking forward to using, and then there was a not-so-cool present from my uncle... a book about poo >__<. On my actual birthday, my Mum gave me her own point-and-shoot camera, complete with all the stuff it came with, and my Dad gave me some cool new Ben 10 bedding. I think that yesterday was the best birthday ever, only 364 days til my next one!

Castlepoint Cub Scout Sleepover

At Castlepoint last weekend I went to a sleepover with the cub scouts. It was very cool, there were lots of kids (but I was the only one from the West End group), and what was even cooler was that we stayed in a bunk house near the beach. Ever since I heard about the sleepover I was bouncing with excitement, and when we got there I was delighted to hear that we were going down to the beach to go sliding down a giant sand dune, and I got a good view of the lighthouse.

However, while trying to take some photos some sand got stuck in the camera so it started to play up, in fact Dad is still trying to fix it, so I hope it gets fixed soon so I can keep taking more photos. While on the beach I learned that the ocean I was seeing was the Pacific Ocean, as a matter of fact I was quite excited for I had never seen it before.

When I saw the lighthouse I was really quite amazed by its looks, and immediately a voice in my head said “Wow, that thing is awesome!”

That night we had a delicious meal of fish and chips with boiled vegetables, and for dessert we had ice-cream, and I had three servings of hokey-pokey, then we all played some games, which is when I got to play some Lego Starwars on someone’s Nintendo DS. After that the leaders decided to take us for a night walk down to a place with lots of big boats around, and there we saw something funny. It was a pole covered in sandals and it had a plank on it that read “The Home Of Lost Soles.” When we went back I was quite disappointed because I had had so much fun, and the only thing comforting me was my lunch (which was a bread roll, a brunch bar, a coconut slice and two packets of chips). I hope that there is another cub sleepover in the future because it was awesome (despite having to come home early due to bad weather)!!!!!!
A video I took (warning: no sound) of the sand dune sliding:

Fear Factor

last Wednesday was awesome, at Cubs we had a fear factor competition were we did all these things that were, a little bit freaky. first we were blindfolded with our scarves and we had to feel different things and try to guess what they were, and the hardest part was the fact that we couldn't tell anyone or else we lost points. Next we had to suck the juice out of a lemon without taking it away from our mouths, not as easy as it sounds. then there was a part of the competition that didn't earn points, it was just like the first part, we felt different things that were inside a box and guess what they were, they felt really freaky but they all turned out to be things that can be found in a backyard. The next thing we had to do was put our feet in a bucket of ice-cold water and try to get as many marbles as we could before time ran out, and the amount of marbles I could get out was a big fat zero. And we finished of by trying to get three jelly worms out from beneath a pile of whipped cream and on to a parer towel, but I finished last. I can't wait till next week.

Poor Ratties

Things weren't pretty yesterday, two of our rats were put down yesterday and have undoubtedly been burned by now. One of them had lots of tumors that had gotten HUGE and were rather painful to look at, and the other one had a big lump and an open wound that were eating into her belly and looked like a yucky bit in an apple. When it was time for me to say goodbye to the rats I burst into tears and didn't want to leave them, but I was lucky to have my last cuddles with them. But I'm sure that I can let them go, and I'll never forget them.

The Death of Sparrows is a Duck

I took the boys down to the local lagoon to feed breaded products to the semi-aquatic avians that habitate there. In true duck style, when a duck was grabbing at bread, if another duck came too close, it got bitten. Shockingly, Gordy saw a duck do the same thing to a tiny young sparrow, which had it's wings broken as we watched, and was then grabbed and towed away by a particularly sadistic quacker.

What really made my blood run cold was that when I stood up and tried to shoo the ducks away so I could render assistance to the wee thing, the sadist duck grabbed it, and ran for the water, towing the broken wee birdie with it, and then proceeded to hold it under water until it drowned!

I have NEVER seen anything like it in my 35+ years on this ball of dirt!

RIP, anonymous sparrow.