Monday, March 31, 1975

10:30 p.m.
this morning I got up early. at about 9:00. robert is an early riser, so he was already up and had had his breakfast.
at about 9:30 robert came over and we started hunting plants for my terrarium. I already had a wild violet, and we went out in the woods to find more. we almost picked up a baby raspberry vine but we decided it would choke everything else in the terrarium out. we couldn't find anything good in that section in the way of plants, so we went over by Robert's house in the woods and found a square of moss, and a small wildflower plant that hadn't bloomed yet. at roberts house we got a small praying mantis egg case. we put all these treasures in my bucket and started back to my house. when we got there we transplanted our plants, and also placed a piece of rotten wood we found in the terrarium. now out terrarium looked pretty good, especially after we had transplanted a the holly bush we found growing in our side garden that was only a few inches tall, but It didn't have any action, so we dug all around in the wet, steaming leaves of our never raked corner of our backyard. we found quite a few and dumped them in the terrarium. we watered it and put it on our patio roof via my window. earlier in the morning my mom had told me to sometime that day clean the patio, so robert and I moved all the junk onto the lawn, hosed down the patio, and we were delayed finishing because we got curious about the source of our little mud hole in our backyard.
we took a metal rod and pounded it in with a hammer. we got it to go pretty far down and then took it out of the hole. we rested a minute and then when we were starting to pound again, found our hole blocked with rocks. we reached our hands in and dug out a pile of rocks and mud that was very big. we kept digging and robert hit on a theory about what it was. he thought it might have been a torch stand for the people who lived here before us. this turned out to be wrong when we found a pipe underground that led off to somewhere. we concluded that it was a drain for something.
after that we replaced the patio stuff and went to check on our terrarium. the soil was a little dry and I thought it was because there was no shade. we got some mulchy leaves and carefully placed them around the plants. we went back to the woods and got a whole bunch of insects the a bucketful of dirt and carefully sorted out insects for half an hour.
I think this has been one of the most active days I have had in a long time.
this evening I had a delicious dinner. my mom cooked spaghetti. I have been trying to get ziploc bags.
I would like to always be active. It would take off my fat and it is very fun.

Sunday, March 30, 1975

right now I am in robert's new car. it is a Continental mark IV, gold painted. it has a whole bunch of gadgets, cruise control, vanity mirror, auto-matic ashtrays, power seats, windows, antenna, a stereo tape deck, armrests, and many others. you should see some of the envious looks we get.
5:00
this morning I woke up at about 10:30. I waited awhile and when my family got up we went to see our easter baskets. besides the usual candy, I got a sheaf of quadrille ruled paper. we hid a whole bunch of jellybeans and my mom and dad looked for them. I was beginning to get bored when robert called. in a few minutes he was over here and we went for a ride (above) when we got back we shot a spiders a while until we got tired of it and went in. we were walking past the woods and decided to start a terrarium in my old ten-gallon fish tank. we immediately went to my house and got it. we brought it outside and were washing it when robert's mother called and said he had to come home. I was going to abandon doing the terrarium until timmy wallace (March 3) came over. then I finished washing the terrarium and all of us went to the woods for dirt. I got some very good dirt and now have a wild violet planted in my terrarium.

10:45
sorry, while I was writing I got sidetracked. my mom called me to dinner. we had a good dinner and I decided to take a bath. I used the fish pond siphon for a breathing tube and played scuba diver. I think this is pretty silly, but fun. this evening my parents have been trying to plan a trip for this summer. they are very disoraganized.
I am looking forward to tomorrow when me and robert will spend the whole day together. I am going to get up early so we can go catch frogs and salamanders in the creek. robert says there is a whole bunch of them now. I may put a few in my new terrarium.
this evening we have been watching "the ten commandments" part 2.
I would like to be able to have a camera I could take everywhere. I would have a lot of spectacular pictures if I did it. unfortunately, I don't have the money to buy or develop the film.
I am going to hint[?] some when I finish writing
I have noticed that I am not drawing very much over the holiday.
I am worried about how much detail I write in this journal. I usually write two pages, and sometimes one. If I tried I could write five pages a day. I wonder if I should increase my writing on normal days to three pages. well?

Saturday, March 29, 1975

this morning I got up at fifteen minutes of eight. my dad is really stupid because he wanted to get going by eight o'clock. that leaves me fifteen minutes to get dressed, eat breakfast, and get the car loaded. I am now on the road to waterbury and I wish I could go in the back of the car and get a little sleep.
Last night I was scared and couldn't get to sleep. I am worried about the weather on this trip because the forecast predicted showers and thundershowers, and the clouds above us look ominous. we are about to stop for gas and to go to the bathroom. I can't wait to get home.
1:30 a.m.
really this is technically tomorrow, but I consider a day from until I wake up in the morning to when I go to bed at night.
this afternoon it was a routine trip. we stopped and had lunch at a hot shoppe resteraunt.
a little after that my dad had a mild anxiety attack and me and jenny helped him get over it by playing games with him.
I don't write much on trips anymore because it is now fairly routine.
this evening when we got home I showed my mom all my souvenirs and we colored easter eggs for tomorrow. I have started a beautiful one.
jenny is often a brat. she was particularly bad this evening. she caused a lot of trouble. this evening our family watched the first half of the movie "the ten commandments" it is very good.

Friday, March 28, 1975

11:00
this morning I got up about 7:00 and decided it was too early so I went back to bed. I just get up again and I found out aunt Meg was here.
yesterday, we thought she might come. now she has.
9:20
this afternoon a little after twelve me, nana, aunt meg, jenny and my dad went to a place overlooking the whole town called the Scotch Mist Restaurant.
we had a good lunch. It looks like you are on top of the trees. we left there and were on our way to gould's sugar house because we wanted some extra maple sugar. we stopped by the side of the road on the way so I could get some rocks. I found a nice vein of smoky quartz and spent fifteen to twenty minutes with my hammer and chisel chipping it out. we went on to gould's and there I picked up a box of small maple sugar candies.
when we got home I played with jebby a while until we went to his house for dinner.
I had two egg salad sandwiches and a salad and milk. I went into the tv. room and we watched the night stalker. after the night stalker was over we had to go home. now we are packing for out trip tomorrow. I have been admiring my pocket knife I found in the tool chest downstairs that belonged to my great grandfather. it is a sailors knife.

Thursday, March 27, 1975

11:15 p.m.
this morning I slept very late. about 12:00. I had a pretty good breakfast, about three hours later, me and my sister went to gould's sugar house:

insert:
gould's sugar house was pretty fun. my sister talked my dad into getting some sugar on snow. I bought some maple sugar blocks and we left. we have stopped at pat and skinny barnard's farm. their biggest product is milk, they have a whole barnful of cows. me and
saw a calf and took some pictures.

11:15 p.m. (again)
at pat and skinny's we also saw a baby calf that had been born at 6:00 this morning.
at gould's I made a big fuss about price, of the maple sugar. on the way home we stopped at king's dept. store where jenny and my dad bought her some pajamas. meanwhile, I was at the nearby grocery store getting some ice cream for dessert for dinner.
when we got home I found jeb waiting for me.
he showed me a rock and asked me what it was. we played a few games of poker until dinner when he had to leave. I ate dinner and me and dad decided to go to a movie. we left but didn't go and instead had a frappe at the hospital snack bar. we came home after driving around town, and found jeb there again. jenny was playing restauraunt and we had a good time until jeb left.
this evening we saw a show called the legendary curse of the hope diamond and I am going to bed.

Wednesday, March 26, 1975

10:30 am.
this morning we are going to sturbridge village after the plumber finished fixing the toilet. we really should have gone yesterday when the temperature was 65 out. today it will be below 40 and very windy.
I will take notes while we are there.
I am a little because why did nana have to pick the best day this week to go to a tea party. well, most of the buildings are probably heated anyway.
right now the plumber is here and we will be leaving shortly.

Sturbridge village:
Church-box pews with doors that open and close. simple benches, small pipe organ, pulpit.
white painted walls and ceiling with spindly brass chandeleirs hanging from the roof.
all white on the outside. columns are standing in front. people used heavy wollen blankets and charcoal burning footwarmers, as they spent four hours in church.
Lawyer's office-
the small office of John McClellan, he built the small square building himself. there is a small fireplace on one wall. there is a quill pen and candle on a small table he and his client would have sit at during negotiations, and also a full desk in a corner, there are two closets, and a small bookcase.

I have noticed how wide the floorboards are, almost a foot across.
The Tavern-
there is lots of old furniture. as you walk in the door there is a staircase directly ahead, going up and down.
there is a long black bench against the entrance hall wall to your left, and a small table and mirror on your right. the same floor as in the lawyer's office.
the adjoining room on the right has a fireplace, a front desk like a hotel, four or five chairs, a low table, a china cabinet in the corner, and an immaculately carved chest of drawers.
adjoining that, again on the right, is another room with another carved chest, a swirly armed sofa, a very intricately designed rug on the floor.
I have noticed hoe there houses and buildings have many windows, probably to save on lighting. usually the windows have many panes about 6" x 7". I was intrigued by a game set up called skittles where you spin a top with a string and see how many pins you can knock over. here is a diagram:
(diagram)
on the left of the entrance hall there is a small dining room. I notice how small the tables and chars are compared to modern ones.

as you proceed past the steps down the entryway you come to another, larger dining room with long tables and thick, smoky beams on the ceiling, and some more small chairs.
down the stairs there is still another dining room in this room, hand painted plaques advertising things, instead of paintings decorate the walls.
then there is a cafeteria, modern, where you can eat lunch.
upstairs there are many smaller rooms. most of them are bare except display cases of childrens toys and furniture. there are paintings of children on the walls, and in one room, an embroidery display. a larger room has walls lined with paintings of children, and three rocking horses on a pedestal. in the hallway there is an interesting design on the wallpaper.
I have noticed all the many outside walls are made of piled stones with no mortar.

Tinsmith's shop-
this is the first action I have seen. the tinsmith is making a candles snuffer, and while he is hammering he is telling the history of his art. there are small pieces of tin and solder cluttering his workbench.

Blacksmith-
today the blacksmith is making nails. he is using a soft kind of steel because wrought iron isn't sold anymore. this is a sooty place.

Potter-
the potter has a musty air about his shop. there are dishes bowls and jars stacked on the shelf in the back of the shop.
today he is making small bowls. I find it amazing how he can do every bowl almost identically.
while we were on the road we saw a lamb that had escaped from the farm.

Schoolhouse-
I am sitting in the schoolhouse. I notice there are no nails in the desks there are wooden pegs. the "teacher" is telling how school was in those days.
the floor is slanted so melting snow will run off to the small stone in the center of the room where it evaporated.

Grist Mill-
the grist mill's machinery is all wooden. not very good but I learned that flour in the air will explode if ignited.

Printshop- the printshop has a ho-hum demonstration. printing in those days seems to be a tedious process. the glasshouse is boring.
Pewtershop-
the demonstration today was pewter buttons. the shop has the same cluttered look of the other metal shops.
we have just passed the boring clock carpentry, lighting, and gun exhibits and are heading for the gift shop.

12:00
at the gift shop I bought one of the tin snuffers we saw made, one of the nails, and the last pewter button. the lady at the counter where they sold pewter said the pewtershop didn't produce much because the demonstration was fun, but the smoothing off of a finished button was boring job and the boys usually threw the buttons back into the melting pot at the end of a day. I also bought a small pewter plate which I thought was nice.
when we left we went to the public house. a restaurant which is very ritzy to eat dinner.
I ordered some crab because I never had crab and wanted to try it, nana ordered some scrod, a kind of fish and my dad and jenny ordered beef. the menu had many exotic dishes, such as frogs legs, snails, lobsters in season, and of few other gruesome meals I don't know who would eat or even want to eat.
when we finished our dinner we went to the bathroom and on my way there I found a neat little nook in a stairway, which I later found out was, or used to be a hide out for the military during some old war. naturally, jenny had to spend ten minutes in the gift shop.
the trip home seemed a lot shorter than the trip up and I think it was probably because on the way up we were anxious to get here and on the way back there was more to talk about.
I hope you appreciate how much work it was copying seven or eight pages of notes I took into this book.

Tuesday, March 25, 1975

1:30
this morning I got up around 9:00. I am working on a placemat in crochet for mother's day, and I worked on it some this morning. nana called the museum and we found out that the planetarium wouldn't be open until april because they were bringing it up to date.
at first I thought we were going to the museum today, but as it turned out, I'm not going anywhere because I've got a bug. this morning I had my dose of awful liquid medecine and I started feeling nauseus a little while ago.
today we went to a place called Yetter's that is a combination gift and florist shop. inside it has a slight small of incense and lots of pretty jewelry, bookends, mugs, plaques, bowls, and novelties, and in one part of the store, which is a large greenhouse, there are hundreds of plants and flowers. I almost bought a small cactus for fifty cents. there I saw a neat gadget that was a combination measuring tape, circle measure, level, and stud finder. it was twelve dollars.
now I am back home and I am going to crochet some more.

3:25
well, as it turned out my crocheting was interupted. nana had to go to the bank to have her will revised. I was amazed at the power doors in the building. we also went to pick up my new prescription at sullivan's drugstore. we parked in back of the store because it was cheaper. we parked right next to the new greenfield police station, which used to be a mess but now has a gaudy fountain in front. I am feeling much better, stomachwise, the effects of my medicine are wearing off. I got six new pills at the drugstore. we dropped nana off at a tea for old people, we are now home and are going to leave to pick pussywillows at highland park and get some more yarn for me because I don't have enough to make a set of placemats for my mom. we are leaving now.

9:30
this afternoon my dad and jenny and I went in search of pussywillows at highland pond. we came back with some pussywillows, muddy shoes and a few briar cuts.
I got some more yarn and I finished my placemat. while my family, without nana, was getting yarn, or rather as we were leaving my dad and sister started yelling at each other because jenny was being a brat about some game.
I was pretty scared, especially when my dad started going at a teriffic speed on a narrow road.
we had a good supper a little earlier of fish sticks, mashed potatoes, salad with Italian or russian dressing, milk, and jenny's cheesecake for dessert.

Monday, March 24, 1975
4:00
this morning I got up very late because I really thought my bed felt so very comfortable.
every now and then I would wake up and drop back off to sleep.
when I finally got up I was dressed when I came downstairs. I had breakfast and we waited for 12:00 when jeb would come home for lunch. we are going to eat our delicious supper of pot roast in about forty five minutes.

after Jeb left all of us went to kings department store and I got two books and two very nice skeins of yarn, we then went a little down the road to the craft shop where jenny got her yarn and I got two cute pieces of furry cloth. when I got home I rolled up my yarn into balls and started making a crocheted thing out of one of them.
I am doing very well on it and I only had trouble once or twice. on those occasions nana was a big help.
one of the books I got at kings was entitled arigo: surgeon of the rusty knife, which I got because I read a summary of it in reader's digest that was very good.

10:30
this evening we went to jimmy polo's house, where he keeps his small shop, selling rocks and minerals also equipment. mr. polo was one of my dad's classmates when he was young. most of the time we were there my dad talked to him while I looked for some good rocks. I found three things I wanted a piece of calcite and pyrite, two twin garnets, and a lapidary magnifying glass. I got the magnifying glass. I am very pleased with my purchase because it is 2x and my microscope is only 7x.
this evening me and jenny have decided to make my mother a set of place mats and pot holders knitting and crocheting I am crocheting my two pair and jenny is knitting hers. I have already finished a pot holder and I have started my place mat. I am getting pretty good at crocheting things.
this evening jenny showed us her monkey she bought on the way up. he puffs on a small cigarette, at first we thought it was the way the cigarette was made that made him puff. the cigarette kept puffing even after you took it out of his mouth.
the reason I am writing in such big blocks is because I have so much to do in one day and don't have time to write every couple hours or so.

Sunday, March 23, 1975
this morning I got up at 8:30 and had a good breakfast. we went to church for the palm sunday service. my dad said the sermon was atheistic, but I just thought it was long-winded. after the service we picked up some palm fronds on the way out.
the church is an old, stone building, and inside it's pews are covered with green velvet. it has a high roof with a chandelier and pipe organ. it is a pretty simple.
today I found out that nana is one of the three people on the flower comittee and spends close to $500 on flowers a year.

7:00
this afternoon me and my sister went for a walk.

10:30
this afternoon me and my sister were waiting for nana to have a rest so we could go to gould's sugar house and see some of the flood and we decided to go for a walk. we went around the block and to go for a walk. we went around the block and down the gulley past a burr bush and both of us got burrs all over us. we went home and started off for gould's. it is a very scenic route and when we got there we found it jam packed,. with cars parked on the shoulder of the highway.
we decided to come another day and we drove up to a place in colrain mass. just about ten minutes away called truesdell's and had some second-rate sugar on snow. In case you don't know what sugar on snow is, it's a taffylike thing of maple syrup, which is made by pouring hot maple syrup, which has been boiled until it begins to form maple sugar, onto snow or crushed ice.
we finished and drove for half an hour looking at rivers and streams to see how much that had flooded. I took a few pictures of the something river, I don't know what the name is.
when we got home I didn't have anything to do until 7:30 when I went over to the Bitzer's house to watch "the six million dollar man".
I have noticed that the bitzer's dog has gotten a lot more friendly since I saw her when she was a puppy at christmas, she also seems to remember me from then.

Saturday, March 22, 1975

today I got up at about 7:00 and got dressed.
I am wearing my jeans and my sweater, but I will have to change when I get there because we will be going right to a concert. right now we are not very far on our trip, only half an hour. the weather isn’t the best for traveling, an overcast sky and damp surroundings. not much interesting is going on. my dad is drinking a coke, I am writing, and my sister is in back, laying down. I don't have much to do because my dad knows the roads here.
**********
we have just stopped at the maryland house. we have been making very good time this trip. me and jenny and my dad have been playing twenty questions. navigating for my dad isn't very hard. he's made this trip hundreds of times and could probably get us there without a map if he had to. we are coming close to new jersey and the long haul of the trip. we are coming into the country and some pretty scenery. the rolling hills we are in now will dissapear as we get to new jersey, new jersey is a very flat state.
we have just passed a farmhouse, the typical old, weatherbeaten kind. it seems very homey to me. it has a few ramshakle shed scattered on the brown grass around it. I bet the people who live there are very isolated, or at best it looks that way.
right now I am in a resteraunt on the new jersey turnpike. we stopped here to eat our lunch. it is a nice place, but it isn't approved by the american automobile association.
we have been served our milk and I took my pill with no trouble. I am glad we have a chance to stretch our legs. I ordered a BLT on white toast, the same as my dad. my sister is trying to buy something at the gift shop, but my dad won't let her.

7:30
when I got to nana's house mitsy was very glad to see us. nana was very excited too. when we were about twenty minutes from nana's house I started trying to finish crocheting my whole ball of yarn before we arrived, I made my goal with just a few minutes to spare. I will have to get a new ball of yarn while I'm here. tonight we are going to see a concert. it is mostly mozart or whatever he's called.
nana liked my easter egg very much and also liked jenny's easter basket, she put my egg in her basket.
jenny looks hideous in her dress and new shoes
I will report about the concert later
***********
right now I am at the concert. they haven't started playing yet and people are still coming in. I have just realized what a great chance this is to stare at people. one problem, most people are still reading their programs.
I think towns grow older, the same as people.
my town has lots of kids, where this town once had many young people, it now is mostly inhabited by older people.
I have been drawing on my program and have drawn a couple of good pictures.
I am getting bored.
***********
After the concert was over, which was very glad for, me and my dad and jenny and nana went and got a dozen doughnuts. I am about to go to bed. we have a big day planned tomorrow.

Friday, March 21, 1975
7:00 am.
today I asked to be waked up at 6:30 so I would have time to write my book report. I have just finished and I am going back to bed for a little more sleep.

Geo.
today we are still listening to reports. I am listening to one about pyramids. today I gave mr. bedell his egg. he liked it.

Math
today math is like recess. everyone is hiding each other's bookbags. It looks like everyone is going mad. I don't think anyone is standing still. I have hid a few bookbags. peter katson's books are on the bottom shelf hidden by my desk.

Science
I don't have an egg for mr. thompson, our science teacher. he always gets right down to business, so I don't have much time to write.

11:30
today at the end of study hall we went out in the hall, where the water fountain was squirting three feet. tomorrow we leave.

Thursday, March 20, 1975
Geo.
today I got up at 7:30 and decided to sleep a little longer. I then had trouble getting up and made it to school with just four minutes to spare. today in geo. we are watching a movie on food and the population explosion. It is showing how many people are starving and what we can do to improve the situation.

Study hall
today in study hall all the seats were mixed up. me and a few of the other people were racing and we decided to call it a tie and find any seat.

Wednesday, March 19, 1975
Geo.
this morning I probably would have slept awhile, unless my sister did what she did- she told me to get up because she didn't want to be late for her field trip

Athletics
today I am excused from athletics. mr. stone must be in a bad mood because he made me and all the other people who are excused sit on the bench.

Science
I have just finished my test. It was pretty easy and I am sure I got a 100% on it. this will bring my science grade up a lot. I can now rattle off every bone in the body in five minutes flat.

9:00
today when I got home from school my dad told me we are definitely going to massachusetts. jenny was staying at school for a basketball game. me and my dad went to peoples and got a chocolate milk shake and picked up jenny and I went home.

Tuesday, March 18, 1975
Math
this morning I didn't want to getup and go to school. my dad said it was the dose of medicine I am taking. I have been sleepy all morning. I didn't want to go to school today. I am mad at my dad for making me go and I have a book report due that I haven't even started yet. this morning I pretended to take my pill, but I really didn't.

Science
today at athletics no one who was in basketball played, we watched all-star wrestling.
It was boring
we are still on bones. It is kind of fun knowing the bones. you say to your neighbor, "I'm going to smash your inferior maxillary" which in slang means the jawbone. science is one of our more interesting and fun classes.

7:30
today when I got home from school I got my dad to take me and jenny to the model masters hobby shop, where I found the model I wanted and decided not to get it. I got interested in accumulating my own chemistry set. I recognized it as a passing whim and left the shop with nothing.
today my mom brought home some books. they were school books and brand new. she told me that fairfax county was just going to throw them away, but were giving teachers a chance to take as much as that want for twenty minutes on a first come, first served basis.
this evening my mom is going out to play bridge. I begged her to stay home but she went anyway. now it is almost eight and I am already tired from the medecine.
today my dad made it a positive fact we are going to massachusetts! I am very excited about it.

10:30
my mom should be coming home soon, and I can't figure out why I'm not tired.
I am pretty lonely, my dad is asleep and my sister is doing her homework.
this evening I have finally found something to use my big five subject notebook for; a science notebook. I'm keeping all my experiments in it and I can't really figure out how I am going to have three notebooks for different things. I don't really want to put a lid on what I can write in here. this will still be my general notebook for all my personal thoughts and I hope it will always be. this journal is always kind of cosy to sit and write in, like a good friend. I suppose I'll be needing a friend, since Davey moved out and robert is going to move out, and the chances of someone who is nice moving into his house are slim.
I have partly justified my science notebook by telling myself it's my hobby, which it is, and that a whole lot of other people use up a lot more space for their hobbys. my real hobbies are drawing and writing.

This evening I have been reading some of a textbook my mom brought from school, it really makes a difference in how enjoyable it is, when the difference is between when you read it by choice, or whether you have to read it. It seems very dry and boring when it is assigned, but it comes alive when you read it for enjoyment.

Monday, March 17, 1975

Geo.
today mr. Bedell is handing out some weird homework. we are supposed to watch a half hour to an hour of tv. and commercials critically and try to find gimmicks and flaws.

Science
today in science we had a practice exercise in memorizing the bones.
today I was excused from athletics and didn't do much.

3:30
right now I am in the doctor's office. I wish my dad had made our appointment at 4:00 or later, because I don't like going straight from school somewhere. my dad is very impatient but he never gives himself time to do anything or have any spare time.
this evening me and my sister are going to the bowling alley, I can't wait.

6:30
I found out when I got home, robert was already there and he, my mother, and laura wallace had given the bird his medicine and changed his papers. Laura came over and said she could baby sit, so there goes our trip to the bowling alley.
I had three helpings of cereal for dinner, and two bowls of soup for lunch.
today my sister finally got our three boards hinged together home. It has been a long time. at the doctors I found out I had an ear infection and have to finish my whole bottle of pills.

10:00
today not much has happened since I last wrote. my mind is a blank and I am frustrated. I wish I had something to do. I have the idea I would like to have a picture journal as a supplement. but I can't figure out exactly how to arrange it. I think I had better be content with this journal or I will burn to a frazzle trying to set up a picture journal or something else. I feel pretty down. I am going to read to ease my anxiety as I always do. that is one good thing, I can always hide in a book from reality and depression.

Sunday, March 16, 1975

this morning there has been a lot of trouble in our house. my mom got very mad at me because I couldn't take my pill. Jenny has a report due tomorrow and she isn't helping the situation any. she has been whining around the house. I am going to get dressed and leave the house as soon as I can. One problem, I have an ear infection and can't go outside. my dad thinks he knows what I think. he always speaks for me and he doesn't know what I think. I think child psychologists are pretty stupid if they told my dad how to handle me. I have only been to one of them, so I could get my I.Q. measured for entrance into st. stephen's. most small kids of 3 and 4 years old are a lot smarter than people give them credit for. there are a lot of stupider adults.
lately I have been more easily depressed by the thought I will eventually die. I really wish I could live forever, or else be remembered by people for something

4:00
for the past almost an hour, my dad has had me sitting on our couch. Me and jenny were playing around and my dad got mad and told us to sit on the couch. he sat there and made sure we had nothing to do. then I put some pressure on and said, well, I'll just watch you sit there and not get up while we do. and of course that made him get up and leave. for the next ten minutes me and jenny played 20 questions while he was gone. when he came back both me and jenny started twiddling our thumbs, I thought I would burst into laughter at his infuriated expression. his whole idea was to keep us there until we begged to get up, but I just kept smiling and it drove him crazy. I finally won. he just couldn't stand it any longer. while I was sitting down, my dad called me to take my pill. I took ten minutes to "get it down" when I had really done it on the first swallow.

6:30
today my dad has been very unfair. just now he took away my squirt bottle, and I hadn't done anything.
I got mad and told him he was unfair, and he threatened me, I just told you I wish I could live forever, but sometimes I think about how sorry he'd be if I died. I am not talking to him.

11:00
this evening I took my medicine pretty well, on the third swallow.
after about ten minutes of not talking to my dad, he cracked and tried to make up by asking me to go to the mall with him. I agreed and got dressed. by the time we were ready to go we only had a half an hour so we stayed home.
this evening I made some of my coin cleaner and cleaned up a few pennies. I am going to send my coin cleaning formula into some magazine, it is only sani-flush and water.

Saturday, March 15, 1975
8:30
I just got up and found this book open. my pen was inside like I had just been writing, I must have left it last night.

12:00
at about 9:00 when my mom got up, she came out into the living room and we had a talk. during this talk I found out she was worried about me. then my dad came out and spoiled it, he always does sometimes I really think he's stupid.
today I watched tv. and had a dilicious breakfast of toast, bacon, two eggs, and a glass of milk.
7:45
today my dad and I decided to go out and find my egg in the mall, return some library books, and get a model to build. first we went to the library where I waited in the car. then we went to the springfield hobby shop. I think it is going out of buisness. the manager is a very nice guy, but he isn't much of a buisnessman. we forgot all about the mall, well, while we were at the hobby shop we didn't accomplish anything. we went to the bradlick hobby shop and promptly bought two lovely airplane models. one of a tigercat, and one of a Boeing C-17, for my dad. when we got home I started on the tigercat, and while I was working, robert called. I asked him over, which is always how it works, he calls I ask him over, (we both know there's nothing to do at his house), when he came over I was just finishing up my plane. we played. we tried an interesting experiment in our pond, we wanted to know if salt would kill algae.
right now my dad is working on the C-17.
my dad got me some pills for what I've got, and I am having a hard time swallowing them.

11:30
I have noticed how the evening hours go by faster than during the day. it only seems like an hour or so since I last wrote.

this evening I was very interested with all the moving parts on the C-17. it has revolving turrets, the flaps, rudder, and elevators all move, it has retractable landing gear, and a bombay hinged door, which won't work because my dad glued it wrong.
I think I will have some vicks on my chest tonight, it really makes you feel better.
this evening I finally, after ten minutes of trying, got a pill down my throat. after all that, I felt kind of proud to get it down.
today I picked out my whole outfit for monday, which is st. Patrick's day, I have green pants, a green shirt, green tie, my green plaid jacket, and the only thing that won't be green is my shoes and belt.

not much else has happened today. I watched tv. most of the time. carol burnett was funny, and even more peculiar, she was on at the right time, and so were all the other shows. that hardly ever happens, something is usually preempted.

Friday, March 14, 1975
Science
today at lunch I accidentally dropped my no nonsense pen. it bent one of the prongs, and it didn't work. lucily I got into science and I was able to fix it.
today I brought my sketch pad to school. I am drawing a thing I call "junk heap". It started out as a doodle, last night.

5:30
today in reading we had mrs. Erkhart again. nobody really likes her. I am glad I found out I don't have to have my page in the paper until monday.
when I got home I had part of a bowl of coffee ice cream, and I asked my dad if I could go and get a new no-nonsense pen. we found a place that had them and went and got four pens. a blue one for Jon Horton, a snazzy orange one for jenny, and a white, and a brown for me. I am writing this with the white pen.

10:30
this evening me and my sisiter were playing with a bean bag in the basement. I was throwing it so it just missed her. I accidentally hit her and she, like the brat she is, wouldn't give it back. I pounded her and finally my dad called me upstairs. my sister came up a little later crying about how I was mean, and threw a bean bag at her and hurt her badly. of vourse, she won, she always wins. my dad is allways on her side.
right now I am watching "Baretta" on tv. it's a typical police show.

Thursday, March 13, 1975
Before School
today I got up at 7:15, much earlier than usual. I guess its because I hope my journal is in the lost and found.

Geo.
today when I got to school I checked the lost and found, my journal wasn't there. I got to the classroom, and to my great releif, my journal was in a desk beside me.

Math
today in math class we had a test. for an extra credit question he asked us how many tiles are on the floor. I counted 26 on one side and 27 1/2 on the other. my answer came out 715. I hope I'm right.

Reading
today we have mrs. Erkhart for reading. she is pretty old and is very strict. she always tells about when she was young. she substitutes for mrs. Price a lot when Price is sick.

7:00
I wish my mother wouldn't go run around almost every evening. a few weeks ago she was out every evening. this evening I have to write my page in the literary magazine. so far I have absolute zilch to write on it.

11:00 I am drawing a great doodle.

Wednesday, March 12, 1975

Geo.
today, again, I didn't have time to give the bird his medicine. today I am getting my report back. I am sure I got a very good grade, or a fair grade, or a poor one, because he was about to say something to me but he got sidetracked.
I have been handed my report and I am very proud. I got a 95 on it. mr. Bedell gave me that grade only after he was sure I knew what all the words mean. he said he knew most of the words but he had to go to a dictionary for some of it.

Science
today I lost this journal. right now I am copying from my small notebook. I think someone stole it.
I think it was steve rail. if I catch him with it I'll kill him.

Reading
I hope I find my notebook before today is over. It isn't really the notebook, its all the notes in it that are valuable, if I don't get it back I will have lost irreplaceable notes.

Study Hall
today at the beginning of english and reading, everyone switched seats and coats, and in some cases, glasses, to play a joke on mr. stone and Mrs. Price. while we were waiting, mr. Bedell came in and we convinced him to help us. he sat in the back row and when mr. stone came in we had a good laugh.

11:00
today at about reading class I began to feel helpless as to finding my journal. this evening I still don't have it. I am beginning to feel a little better because I have logically convinced myself it is just lost: I figure that if I had it in geo, no one could have taken it. and it is impossible to take it changing classes, and only someone in my class could have taken it while we were in math class. most of the people in my class wouldn't do a thing like that, but I am counting on a shaky factor in my favor, human nature. so at least for the moment I have calmed down about it.

Tuesday, March 11, 1975

Geo.
now I am absolutely sure about woody's scheme. he is, today, in school. this morning.
right now I am in our school cafeteria. we are going to see a filmstrip on something or other. we are doing this instead of study hall. today in english I have about half-finished one of my pages, I wrote a three frame comic strip, and I have three more due for the entertainment section. this movie is a big mystery to every-body, but we just found out what it was about.
*****
right now I am sitting in the barber shop.
I have already had my hair cut and am waiting for my dad. today when I got home from school I read my sister's mad magazine she got because she was sick.
this barbershop is a classic example of a small business trying to assert itself. all it used to be was a plain room, now they have put in two petitions, a fancy clock, new modern-style chairs, piped in music, and fancy curtains in the window. this business is run by a single family two generations, with a third toddling around the shop.

12:00
formulated thought
1. this evening I watched "the Killer Bees" it was good.
in the movie we saw today, which was about endangered species, it had one thing different from most wildlife conservation movies in the fact that they actually showed the merciless killing, in stark reality, the way it really is, and showing you how gruesome it is.

formulated thoughts
I have noticed how small towns, just like the small barbershop, are closely knit, and always are trying to show up big cities, by going modern. usually they never realize until it's too late, how good they had it as a small, obscure town noone had ever heard of.

Monday, March 10, 1975

Geo. class
Woody's Clever Plot
today we have a substitute because Mr. Bedell was sick, or so the substitute said. today was the day we are supposed to hand in our reports.
Do you see his scheme?
He has left because now he won't have to argue with people with unfinished reports. their argument rests on the fact they can con woody, but a substitute shows up and they don't have a leg to stand on.

Science class
today at lunch I made a list of my four main customers for potato chips. Brian Freedman, age 10, Weight 79, Max Ramsey, age 12, weight 80, Nelson bontner, age 12, weight ? and George William Bavin, age 12, weight 93, I have noticed that some of the people who seem pretty dumb are too young, as is brian freedman who is ten, and the other kids are eleven or twelve.

11:30
this evening Laura Wallace came over to baby sit jenny. not much has happened lately, and I am not writing much.
today in english class mr. stone did something that made me mad. he assigned everyone two pages in the literary magazine, and each of us have to collect stories, poems and other things and have your pages copied. I think he has just wrecked our whole magazine by doing this.
now everything is very disorganized. I am going to write a letter to the editor in the newspaper.

Sunday, March 9, 1975

right now I am at robert's house, listening in on a meeting of some group or another from their church. I am in plain sight, and you should see some of the looks on the people's faces. there are two men who know I'm looking but they don't care. All the rest are women, three don't know I'm here, and of the other two, one is very fat, and probably thinks I am writing all about her. they all look like they have "Housewives bulge." except roberts mother. two of them have gray hair and are old fuddy-duddies. on the way out through the garage and I said it aloud, a window was open, and I think they heard me.
-------
I am spying on donny bright and his big brother, they are playing basketball. donny hardly ever comes out.
8:00 I am still writing my report. today I really got a good look at how robert takes advantage of me and bosses me around. I love the way my dad's electric typewriter works, it prints so neatly. It really looks professional.
My sister is trying to write a book report and is doing awfully. she always makes things hard for herself.
11:00
I have finished my report. lately our household has been in a state of turmoil from my dad moving into the house with his office. I have to find my story for the newspaper or else I will get an "F" on the magazine. I am going to make a collection of all my writing.

Saturday, March 8, 1975

10:30
this morning I was so worried about the bird I got up at 8:00, It was almost an hour and forty-five minutes when my mom finally got up.
Lately, I think I have been sort of neglecting this journal as you can see from yesterdays entrys.
Yesterday when I got home robert came over. We were supposed to go pick up the bird from the vet's at five o'clock. we went and the doctor gave us quite a talking to about the responsibility we had taken on. we have to give the bird his medicine (three drops from an eyedropper) three times a day. we left and went to the pet store because the doctor had said we could never let him go. we got a nice big chickenwire one with a wooden frame.
we got home lined it with newspapers and put food, gravel, water, and the bird in. the doctor also said that if he didn't learn to walk with his bandage in 36 hours we would have to cut it back.
This morning we gave him some medecine and we also gave him and eyedropper full of water.

5:00
today robert came over and I told him the good news about the bird. Today I found the bird standing in his food, there was birdseed in his water, which means he's been eating. once today me and robert let the bird run around the floor for exercise.

12:30
this evening I wrote about seven pages, which is five pages of double spaced typed page. my mom and I had no trouble giving the bird medecine this evening.
Today when the movers came and brought my dad's office furniture they also bought a plant. it is now in my room and I am sure some time tonight it is going to scare me to death because I don't remember what it is.
I am about to go to bed. I almost didn’t' finish this entry because I wanted to sleep but thats why I am getting lazy in writing.
sometime I am going to copy that report into here.

Friday, March 7, 1975

Geo.
this morning robert called me on the phone to check the bird. he was still very much alive. my dad managed to get a cup of water in the bird's box. I think he was probably very thirsty. today we had to take notes in geo, class. I can't wait for english.

Science
not much has happened today except at athletics a guy kicked me and I told him not to bother me and he kept trying to kick me so I grabbed him and threw him on the floor. my dad will be proud to hear this because he always says I don't stick up for my rights.

Thursday, March 6, 1975

Geo.
today we are finishing up our last three tests out of our booklet, social studies concepts, social studies skills, and science.
today we went to chapel, a welcome break the monotony of test taking. I am glad we only have one more. and it's my favorite subject-science. some of the questions on the test are unanswerable with the info. they give you.

After lunch
today at athletics I lost my new no-nonsense pen. the one I usually write with in this journal
I am going to have to use my old one instead.

Reading
Lately I think [name deleted] has had some trouble at home. he is worried and seems under the weather. he asked me what I wrote in my journal and I read him some harmless stuff. he believed me. he is anxious to get approval from other people. he has decided to start a journal of his own.

On the way to the vet's
today robert came over and we decided to go and destroy the robertson's bagworms. while we were there we saw timmy wallace chasing a bird with a broken wing. we maneuvered it into a shoebox and went to the vet's which were closed. The bird will have to spend the night. right now I am waiting for the animal rescue league.

10:45
the bird is in his shoebox now and the animal rescue league hasn't come yet. I am worried about what will happen tomorrow when everyone is gone.

Wednesday, March 5, 1975

Geo.
today I found out we are going to stay in this room for the standard acheivement tests.
I have just finished my first test out of the booklet.
I finished in plenty of time.

Later
today I am sure everyone was glad when we finally got out of the room after what seemed like hours of tests. I had a good lunch and we had a wild game of tag during recess. for the whole day we are staying in the same room so I don't really have any classes to write.
-------
well the worst part of the tests is over for me-math. I didn't finish my math computations by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just slow at multiplication, and division. just now during our break I found out the bathroom partition is gone.

5:30
today when I got home from school robert came over with Eric Leutanin and we played around. since my dad wasn't home we opened my window and went out onto the roof. we went and found a whole bunch of moths or butterfly cocoons. I have a whole box of them right now. I had better look up their name so I know what they are before they come out. I just found out they are called bagworms and are destructive. I had better get rid of them and kill the ones still on the bush.

11:00
this evening I have watched some tv. shows my mom went shopping and brought home a whole bunch of food. we were running low. I had better make a few more eggs before spring vacation.
today just before study hall, mr. lichtfuss took us outside onto the field, since we had been cooped up in a schoolroom since the beginning of the day. I spent most of my time out there on the lookout, so I wouldn't be tripped, pushed, or jumped on. Everyone had a whole lot of energy to burn off.
I am always amazed at the body, I think of it as a complex machine, fueled by a varsity of things, from a hot dog, to a gourmet meal. all controled by the brain. I have found it really helps when you want to run your absolute fastest, if you think of your body as a complex machine.

Tuesday, March 4, 1975

Science
lately I have noticed how many of our questions they give us in our small, blue science workbook aren't even discussed in the chapter you are supposed to read. I think you have to guess half of them by using your own judgement. even because of this I will probably get most of them right anyway because I have read some on physiology
I think I should be moved into the next higher color in sra in reading class. I am one of the best readers there and I can easily go to work in a higher color. I don't think mrs. price realizes it.

English
today we are working on our magazine. I am a cover designer along with Win Vining.

Reading
today in english I found out Win Vining takes over everything on the cover I hardly get to do anything.
anyway I did draw two illustrations; one for John Beebe, of an airsick, green blob and one for Billy Bavin of a man showing a bug in his soup to the waitor. that isn't much to do so I have now become an official proofreader. tonight I must find something to turn in the way of writing. or else I must write some stuff.

10:00
this afternoon robert came over to my house and we decided to go and fly my kite. we had been flying it for almost half an hour when we saw the woods fire. it was sending up clouds of smoke from all the leaves it was burning. we instantly wondered if anyone had called the Fire Department. robert and I dropped what we were doing, (namely the kite) and ran over to investigate. we found no one there. just at that moment a lady was driving in her driveway. we yelled at her to call the Fire Department. In a few moments she came out of the house and hurridly unlocked her backyard shed and gave us some shovels.
we ran toward the fire and started beating the rising flames. by this time the fire had spread until it was burning up a thirty foot square of dried leaves, piled a foot thick.
we plunged into the billowing smoke which made us cough and choke and stamped out the flames and started digging a fireline to contain the fire. slowly the fire was beaten out, buried and hosed down, by this time half of the soccer team which was playing in the field we were fling our kite in was helping with whatever they had, sticks, rakes shovels, or just their feet. In about five minutes all that was left of the fire was smoking charcoal, just then the small jeep they send out to check small fires gallantly drove up. everyone all at once told them, "sorry you missed the fire". the firemen left as quickly as they came after hosing down the spot, well they had to do something to keep up their image.
Afterwards, everyone felt a sense of triumph, at the beginning when we first started, It looked hopeless to put out the fire. then all of a sudden the smoke cleared on smoldering ashes. WMD
****
This story is true. all of it, even the tiniest detail.
I put it in story form so I could recopy it and turn it in for english, for the literary magazine. I wonder if anyone will believe that it really happened.
some things I didn’t include in the story:
1. I think the firemen felt pretty embarrased.
2. I am very proud, and I think me and robbie put out quite a lot of the fire.
3. My mom thinks I'm a hero and made me spaghetti for supper
4. my kite was stolen while I was fighting the fire.
5. I't was really kind of fun and not as serious as it sounds in writing.
6. I got some very minor burns and I have had a hot face ever since.
7. me and robert had had other experience fighting fires. we accidentally spilled a small amount of gasoline on our lawn and it caught fire. ever since that I have been cured of playing with matches.
The greatest problem of fighting it was the smoke blinding you. I tried to make a few jokes but it turned out either this wasn't as new to some of them as it was to me, or else they just didn't happen to have a sense of humor and didn't really think it was a crisis or a big deal.

Monday, March 3, 1975
English
today I left my book just by accident in the math room and someone read it. as a matter of fact a few people read some of it. namely derek smith and jim cranwell, and gordon labow, as far as I know. I am surprised how many people would poke around in this book, even though they know it's mine and I don't like people to read it.

Reading
today in english we started planning our first literary magazine. I vouluntered to illustrate, and help make the cover design. me and Win Vining, who is pretty good at drawing, is doing both of them too.
Today at recess I had a fun time. we played tag.
I had a good lunch of soup and a peanut butter sandwich. I noticed now they give you a whole bowl of soup now on days when they give out cups of soup.

Study Hall
not much has happened today at school. I wish I had something to look forward to when I get home.

11:00
This evening Laura Wallace came over to baby sit and help jenny with her homework. I found out me and Laura have some things in common, we both like dry noodles for snacks, I found out she has a lot of musical talent and she took one of my chalk drawings to put on her wall. I could tell you a lot more about her, her family, and even though her little brother's a pest, she manages to live with him I don't know how.
Here goes:
Laura Wallace is very mature for her age, I have seen people who think they are, but she really is. Laura has blond hair, regular height. she goes to francis scott key intermediate school. she is very intelligent, maybe even more than robert. she has musical talent, plays the guitar, and sings in her school choir.
Laura has a brother named timmy. he is sometimes refered to as the terror of the neighborhood, because he is always doing something, or pretending something, usually with steven smallwood, debbie's little brother. he is typical of an active kid in the stage where pretending is big.
I don't know much about her parents, but her father rules the house and sometimes steven smallwood.
Laura can draw some, but not much. she also writes stories and plays, none of which I have read but I am sure they are quite good. she has told me that she has written quite a few songs, and that music puts her into a sort of a trance while she listens, I guess some people are music lovers.
Well that's about all I know about Laura Wallace. I have never really liked music and it has never had almost any affect on me, although some-times I get in the feeling of the song especially if it is a forceful tune or a march.
Not much else has happened this evening and I don't have anything to write anymore, so good night!

Sunday, March 2, 1975
4:30
today I woke up at about 9:00 since then I have drawn another easter egg, this one for mr. bedell. Me and my sister went to fly our kites at the schoolyard. it turned out to be too windy and cold. I did have something to look forward to; we are having a big sunday dinner.
Lately today my sister become a real brat. I keep telling her not to sing because it bothers me when I try to read. right now I am on the edge of breaking her neck, I'm so irritated.

10:30
today I have made two more eggs. one is for mr. Bedell, and the other for Mrs. Price, our reading teacher. I still have three more undecorated eggs yet to decorate.
I have seen some ads for a pocket dictating machine. I may get one if they don't cost too much.
not much has happened today. I just can't seem to get started on my geography report. I have been thinking that I could have picked a better subject.
Today I, and the rest of my family, have been on edge and very touchy. there has been a lot of arguing about all kinds of little things.

11:00
I have been watching tv. this evening and I am about to go to bed.
Have you noticed how I don't write very much on weekends? It's because there's nothing to write about.

Saturday, March 1, 1975
today robert came over, we tried to fly my kite but the wind kept dying on us.
we used the siphon tubes and blew some fish with them. while we were flying the kite we noticed some people playing baseball. It is neat how, if you are some distance away, you can see the ball being hit before you hear it.

6:30
me and robert went over to kiddie kollege and met a friend of robert's named eric leutanin, after that robert acted a little different to me, I know why, because sometimes you act a little different with different friends, and when when two of your friends come and play with you, you have to make a compromise.
I have started making some easter eggs, even though easter is a long way off. I am hand drawing on them with magic marker. so far I have made a beautiful one with a tree on one side.
I am pretty tired after playing all day and it feels good to sit down.

11:00
tonight I have decided that I am going to draw an easter egg for each of my teachers, except mr. lichfuss. I have already made one for mr. stone. it has a beautiful, jazzy, sun design on the back. I am going to make a few dozen by easter and sell the ones that aren't especially made to give someone. I make nice things.
I have learned, the two best gifts you can give someone is either something practical, or something you made for them yourself, or both.