Wednesday, April 30, 1975
3:00
this morning I was awakened by the vacuum cleaner running. I decided to start off early and I got dressed as soon as I got out of bed. I had soft boiled eggs for breakfast,
I have been watching tv. almost ever since.
I have made two pictures today one of a geyser and one of a stream with trees neither is as good as my mountains.

11:15
when my mom got home from school I went with her to the commissary. on the way to the commissary we talked about what happened to mrs. Neil. on her way somewhere she was sideswiped by a hit and run driver who was speeding and made a u turn when he wasn't supposed to. in the coincidence someone who worked at a school was going in the opposite direction was almost hit by the same driver and went to help mrs. Neil Lucily mrs. Neil had gotten the license number and not gotten hurt. the other man would testify for her in court as he had seen the whole thing and another coincidence was that mrs. Anderson's son who owns a ham radio and he (by the way, mrs. Anderson is a teacher at the same school) called the police. when the police find the man who did it he's in for it. he hasn't got a chance. on the other hand, he may have had a good reason for what he did.
well, anyway mom and I got milk, eggs, ice cream, and coke at the commissary and brought it home.
robert came over and we played a few games of ping pong and robert had to go home
this evening I drew a picture of a man running a tractor, just to keep in practice with magic markers. I am now confident that I can do as well with markers as chalk. I have included it in the book.
I have given up on my catalog of all my journals It is just too much to catch up on. I will just enter highlights.

Tuesday, April 29, 1975

12:15 am.
this morning I got up as late as I suspected I would. I stayed at home most of the day until me and my dad went to roy rogers to eat lunch.
It cost way too much but the food is great.
I came home and my dad went to get jenny from school. I watched to and when they got home jenny called debbie. all four of us went to the mall. I got some hairspray for my two chalk pictures. I drew a great dove and then today I made a squirrel. while we were there we also got four needles for blowing up balls. when we got back I sprayed my two pictures and jenny blew up her ball. jenny and Debbie went outside to play some ball and I wanted to play and my dad said I couldn't.

I asked my dad if he had any jobs for me and he said he would give me $3.00 for cleaning off the patio. I did it and robert came over. we played a few games of ping pong and I lost both and I threw my paddle and accidentally broke the back window. me and robert cleaned up the glass and we started playing a new game where you would catapult a block into the air and the other person would try to catch it. this evening I drew a chalk picture, I think one of the best ones I've ever made of mountains in a sunset. I took the idea from a picture in a book.

1:00 am.
I have just gotten out of bed. I am lonely and I wish that I would stop thinking about time and space. I feel lonely probably because I can't help it, but every spare moment my brain gets, stark reality hits it. I am only one tiny, small, short lived, organism in the neverending universe. I can see the day when our sun explodes and all life on earth will end. I will be dead then. I fear very much dying and I hope that there is such a thing as reincarnation or really a heaven. but if I am reincarnated over and over again, I will see the world end. that would be worst of all.

Monday, April 28, 1975

Geo.
today this is our only class. after this class we will go to a memorial service for Dr. Hoy. we may go see the body and some people asked some questions; one person asked if he would small, another asked if no cover was on the casket wouldn't someone stick his head in.

1:30 am.
I am up so late because I was watching a good movie called "Hello down there." today after science class was over I went and got my stuff on for field day. I went outside and I went to the shot put circle. I waited around and threw a couple of practice shots and just when the event was going to start I heard my running event announced on the loudspeaker. the running event takes priority so I went and ran the 40 td. dash. I came in sixth place and when I finished the shot put was all over. I drank a few cokes and with my dad went to get jenny. after that we went to the dentist's. I lucily didn't get a flouride treatment and I found out that I didn't have any cavities. when I got home I played with robert awhile.
I was mad at my parents for driving off to bowling and so I smashed a fish bowl, a croquet mallet, and a plastic box. I drew a beautiful dove tonight.

Sunday, April 27, 1975

10:30
today I got up fairly late. robert called me and asked me if I would like to go to accotink lake to catch minnows. I collected a net and a bucket and went over to roberts house. we played a while until we were ready to go and we drove up to accotink. me and robert first came up on some minnows in a deep pool in one of the small creeks that emptys into the lake. we caught one and robert got it. we waded among the small pools in the woods as far as we dare go. we turned back and on the way back we caught a frog. robert got him too.
after that we went over behind the dam to fish. we followed a wide almost river and I caught a crayfish and thats about all. It must have been a rotten day for fishing we hardly caught anything.
we had lunch and played mini golf and went fishing again. robert slipped on some mud and got all wet and dirty.
today I found out that Dr. Hoy, our school's headmaster finally died from terminal cancer. because of it we aren't going to have any school tuesday and thursday.
I wonder if everyone will go to the funeral? I think that this will probably make mondays part of field day very sad.
I am glad we are getting the two days off but I feel like I should be sadder.

Saturday, April 26, 1975

2:00
Today I got up had sort of a breakfast and played with jenny and debbie until I got tired of it and went and got robert. robert came over and we played a lot of ping pong and in between every couple of games we would do something else. For a while robert has been playing ping pong funny. he keeps talking about money he'll get for losing so many games. At first I thought he was trying to win by taking my mind off the game. But he has kept on playing like that and I wonder about it. Right now I am six or seven games ahead of him and I am wondering about it. he says he told debbie about it and she wouldn't say anything.

robert had to leave to eat dinner and my family had a good dinner of eggs and sausage. robert called and told me we couldn't go to his mothers' bingo to collect aluminum cans because he just remembered you can't just be running around without playing bingo.
Robert came over and we played some more ping pong and when it got dark we played a few games outside like Dark shadows and ghost in the graveyard. robert finally went home and I watched some tv. I am now up at 2:00 am because my mom let me stay up to watch a war movie about a raid on japan.

this evening, since I am going to the dentist in a few days I brushed my teeth so they would be pretty clean when I go.
I wish my dad hadn't made the dentist appointment on monday right after school because I would really like some time to get ready for the trip before I go.

Friday, April 25, 1975

this morning I brought my cookies to school.
Science
here are my events:
40 yard dash 2:50
Shot Put 2:20
I also want to watch george hesse jump at 2:30
I am very confused about the locker arrangements for field day.
this morning I was almost late for school. today at field day I am supposed to go tell mr. pullard that I'm not in the high jump before it starts.
Imagine, I spent an hour or so wasted last night doing my book report.
today in math mr. Lichfuss was in a good mood and we talked and played some games.
Today in science I got my grades for the deficiency period. I got an overall average of 94.
in english I did awful on my homework
there goes my good english grade.
10:45
today after english we went to field day.
I went over to my locker and put on my stuff, except I wore my pants to carry my money in. at about 2:10 I went over to the shotput circle and waited. the weather was warm and wet and every once in a while it sprinkled and then abruptly stopped. I practiced a few shots and then the competition began. As it started it began to lightly sprinkle I threw it first and made a foul on my first shot. I did fairly well on my second shot and then It started steadily to increase, As it turned out I never got my third throw. We were called in for a ten-minute break to see if it would let up, the break turned into a cancellation, or at least a continuation until monday. on monday we are going to pick up where we left off.
I bought two jewelery boxes at the white elephant sale and when I got them home I set it up in my room and put my stuff in it.
when I got home I also found a new desk lamp for me on my desk.
I agreed with my dad that I would go to the new barbershop with him and when I got my hair all cut I was very pleased I went next door and got an ice cream cone and we went home. I am about to go to bed.

Thursday, April 24, 1975

Study Hall
this morning I just plain didn't want to get up.
I was late for school and only had five minutes of geography. in math I was overjoyed when I found out I got a perfect score on my math test.
at athletics I never threw the shotput because mr. murphy never found it.
today I found out on the field day schedule that I am in an event I shouldn't be in.
I don’t know what to do.

11:00
today when I got home from school my dad was very happy about my math grade.
when I got home robbie was already here and we played some ping pong. I actually beat him a couple of times and I am now one game ahead of him.
I watched tv. tonight and this afternoon my dad took me out to ponderosa steak house and I had a very good supper.
I have decided to use my big five section notebook to keep a catalog of everything in these journals. It will be a long, boring job but it will be invaluable as my collection of journals grows larger.
I had better put a key in it so I know what each particular day's point of interest was, one for nature activities, playing with friends, new experiences, storys and literature, descriptions, or any other thing I can think of.

Wednesday, April 23, 1975

math
today in math we had a test. I think I did very well on it. maybe a 100% that would sure help my sagging math grade out.

science
today at athletics I practiced my field event for field day. I am shotputting. I threw the shot seven or eight times, and then went out onto the field to play capture the flag.
my other event on field day is the 40 yard dash. I am one of the slowest people in the thing. I wonder if I could have someone faster than me (almost anyone) chase me, because it seems that

Reading
today in english I ran up against something I didn't understand.
7:00
just a minute ago my mom and dad had a big fight. once they almost hit each other. I was really scared.
My mom just hired someone to mow our lawn. I am mad about that because I like to do it myself.

11:30
today in study hall I started making a thing for mr. Lichfuss about intersection and sets.
I am trying to finish it.

Tuesday, April 22, 1975

study hall
today in school not much happened. or else I am so excited about my delicious dinner I am going to have steak, french fries, and a luscious green salad with italian dressing, all outdoors on our patio. maybe I’ll invite robert over to eat.
Billy bavin was very pleased with what I did to his pen. I am pressed by my book report that is due and by my english interview.
Today in study hall we are free to go to a baseball game so most of the people who are in the room are Hallinan, me, and Beebe; Hallinan is interviewing me, and I am interviewing Beebe.

12:00
today when my relatives came we had a delicious dinner. I loved it. after that we all went to the ice cream social, where there was an ice cream eating contest. there were streamers draped across from one beam to another. I had an ice cream cone and sundae.
Since there were many people I had known talking and laughing together, I felt very left tout of everything.
this evening I talked to the family a while and now I have to go to bed. I am planning to go downstairs and scare jenny if she's not asleep.

Monday, April 21, 1975

math
today in geo. I got a lot done on europe. I labeled a bunch of countrys.
I am anticipating, not too happily, about my upcoming visit to the dentist on the 28th only one more week until I go there.
yesterday I was looking forward to school, but when I had to get out of bed this morning I didn't think the same.

science
today at lunch I wanted to get a coke. I found Bobby Curtis at the machine trying to get some lost money back. he finally gave up and I put a quarter into it. It came out of the change slot. I took the quarter and tried again. when it came out the change slot Curtis grabbed it and said it was his. I couldn't get it back from him so I told Mrs. Beatte, my fifth grade teacher and she wouldn't do anything about it.

9:30
this evening when I got home I had billy bavin's pen.
we had switched at the end of school so I could take his pen home and put his name on it. tomorrow we are going to switch back again. this evening my mom and dad went bowling and laura wallace came over to babysit.
I have been watching tv. and making a puzzle at the same time. it is a hidden words puzzel and I made it so every letter is part of a word or words.
I am looking forward to dinner tomorrow, because my aunt uncle and cousin are coming to eat over on their way to Carolina.

10:15
this evening is a big night for tv. I wish they had the tv on saturday or friday night, then I could stay up late without having to get up next morning.
this evening I have been watching tv. I am hopefully going to watch the best of groucho.

Sunday, April 20, 1975

12:45 p.m.
this morning I got up much later than I did yesterday.
I have been wishing that I had been writing this journal when Davey feroe was still here.
So before I completely forget him, here is his rundown.
Davey Feroe, who is now 12, lives in Erie Colorado. He is stocky, blond and fairly tall.
He has a nice personality and is exceptionally smart. Davey has two sisters, one crissy, who is now three or four and who is also very smart. when she was small they called her "kicky" because that was the way she pronounced her name. He also has an older sister, cathy, who thinks she is far superior to him and bosses him around. Daveys parents are pretty strict and usually on cathys side, which isn't too good for davey. Davey has a grandmother who is pretty young and on my first visit to the Feroe house I mistook her for his mother. Davey's family has a characteristic nose that comes from his father's side and you can definitely tell the resemblance. I like Davey and Crissy, but cathy isn't too hot. Davey and I used to be best friends until he moved away approximately two years ago. we used to be almost inseparable and we as well have lived at each other's houses. I will probably never forget davey as long as I live. I periodically send him letters and someday I hope we get together again. I liked davey's house, it had a nice backyard to play tag in. Just to show how much he was over here, we keep, every so often, finding things of his and sending them to him.

2:00
for the past two hours I have been playing with jenny a while ago a man came about our paint; we are going to paint the inside of our house. I picked the color "Bamboo green" I like it but I really would have liked a darker green but they said it would make my room too dark.
right now I am at roberts house. he called me over because he had a whole bunch of aluminum cans. when I got there we spent fifteen minutes smashing them. now I am in the kitchen where we just finished a coke.

Later
by the way, robert sprained his foot. he went to the doctor's this morning. he is now walking around on crutches.
I am in the kitchen, the merril's friends are around the table. they are staying with the merril's a while. the mother looks like she's got a moustache.

6:00
It is pretty boring here at home. I am mad at my dad because he didn't play pingpong right and he hit me with a ping pong paddle.

10:30
today we went out to mc Donald's to eat because today is their fiftieth birthday and they are selling hamburgers for 15 cents. my dad did something pretty stupid. he bought two glasses for 50 cents which he didn't want. this evening I have been watching tv. tomorrow I go to school again and I am sort of glad because It will take my mind off my troubles.

Saturday, April 19, 1975

11:00 p.m.
this morning I got up earlier than I should have. not much happened all morning until I got dressed and asked my dad to take me to get seeds.
my sister made a big fuss about how we never took her anywhere and finally we agreed to take her, but my mom got her to stay home on the condition that we would take her as soon as we got back. At fischer's hardware, where we went to but seeds I got pumpkins, peas, sunflowers, and six green pepper seedlings. on the way home we got some onions from jimmy's country stop which sells all kinds of plants and garden supplies. when I got home I planted some of the peas, squash, and pumpkins inside some of my compartmented boxes I used to put my rocks in.
Before my dad and jenny left he helped me spread fertilizer on my garden. we had a hard time opening the bag and we finally tore it. I spread the fertilizer on very carefully and when we were done they left. while they were gone I spaded most of the fertilizer under and afterward I was very tired.
I read for a while and then we had supper.
After supper I decided to plant some stuff now. my mom and I went out into my garden and planted the green peppers and onions. I then planted the pea, squash, and pumpkin seeds in my garden. afterwards I was very proud of my garden. here is the plan for my garden: (In full color)

[drawing of garden]

I am going to work at it and have a good garden.
one thing I am worried about is someone coming in the night and stealing my vegetables or wrecking them.

Friday, April 18, 1975
math
sorry I don't have a complete account of yesterday that was because I was just too tired to write anymore. yesterday I lost my no-nonsense pen so now I am writing with a ballpoint.
I may get to like this. I hate track in athletics

science
today in science we got a study period and I have done my science homework for the weekend. When we get to english we are going to have a test on the verb "to be". I hope I get a 100%

Study hall
I am frustrated. I can't seem to do anything right. John Beebe is very uncooperative in doing my interview. I think it a stupid assignment because you can't really write anything on a person until you know him. I can't wait until I get home. then I can play field hockey with robert. speaking of rundowns on people, I am going to have to do one on robert someday.
I really sort of like this pen. I may use it all the time.

11:00
when I got home I found out that it was my mom and dad's seventeenth aneversary.
jus then a florist's truck drove up and delivered a vase of flowers that was absolutely beautiful. we gave it to mom tonight along with two stoneware dishes from jenny and I. we gave dad a turtle magnet and a onyx pencil-holder. I paid five dollars and jenny paid five dollars. we had a hard time getting to the mall, because my dad is really overprotective.
this evening I watched a show with julie andrews called "My Favorite things" It featured the muppets and was mostly very funny. One of the funniest things on it was when there was a muppet rock group called "Doctor teeth."
this evening my dad got me a pen of my own. I am writing with it now.
I am going to go to bed soon. goodnight.

Thursday, April 17, 1975

8:00 am.
this morning my mom ruined my day by coming in and screaming at me to get me up. I hate her. after she had screamed enough and I still hadn't gotten up and she went and got a yardstick.
Of course I got up then, not to would have been stupid. At least I got my revenge a little because then she came in really nice and said that she was sorry she yelled but . . . every time she reached to hug me I dodged it and finally I just flat told her to get out.

math
today in geo. I had my autralia quiz and I only got one thing wrong. I am going to have to sleep on it and redo it tomorrow. I have just been to chapel.
I sort of like working in angles and circles, the way we are doing.
Here is a new thing I drew It's called the fountain pen beetle:
[drawing]
he just drew that circle and the arcs. when I am too lazy to write he writes for me while I dictate. I have a pretty good imagination.

Science
today at recess more people were lighting firecrackers mr. Bedell came out and told Max Ramsey, Adam Titus, and someone else to go to the office. there are a few others I am going to tell Bedell about, like Bosteder, Hathaway, and by the way, I just remembered the other person who went to the office, tertius yarborough. Paul Borthwick told Bedell and I think what he did was right even if I was a little to scared to. Borthwick has gotten many threats, especially from people who didn't really want anyone to know they did it too.

12:30
today when I got home from school robert came over and we played fud [sic] hockey.
right now I am mad because I lost my pen and I can't find it anywhere.

Wednesday, April 16, 1975
Science
Today at recess a few people were lighting firecrackers. Our monitor, Bobby Curtis is as bad as they are, wouldn't do anything about it.

English
today in english we are reading our english storys. Beebe and I read our story first and we got a low honors grade. everybody thought it was boring, probably because beebe and I wrote it. the next story wasn't nearly as good but Freedman and Small wrote it and used the names of people in our class.

Stdy. Hall

Fiction story

Mr. English:
Of the many people I have known and feared, the person I have thought about most is Mr. English, the super detective. For years he studied english grammar and law. What I am about to write is a collection of his many cases.
And now we bring you one of his first cases when he was torn to shreds, swimming across the English Channel, because he was being driven by the terrible freeze men who though the stole their Idol, the Flirp, who opened the secret door to a hidden pool of water from which they drank to stay young. English knew he hadn't seen the Flirp anywhere, but the freeze men didn't know that. I think English got away from that sticky situation because he was still alive to pull off his next caper:
English drove into his driveway one dark night, he was about to open his front door when he saw something in the bushes. He went for a closer investigation, when something ran out of the bushes and gave out a horrible growl and charged him. english was thrown back and tore his jacket that he wore on a trap he had set for burglars trying to steal something. As he began to get up he froze with terror at what he saw; it set his heart racing, a weird monster that had taken a tree right out of the ground. Then and there he decided to begin his investigation. English rode in his black sedan to the police station and reported the incident.
He spoke to the neighbors and asked them if they had begun to hear something by the side of their house at about 10:00 the previous night. "I fear that a horrible creature has set upon this neighborhood", English Said, " And he's after me".
"I see", said a neighbor, who really thought that english had probably gotten drunk, fallen out of his car, seen a cat in the bushes, and gone crazy. A few others he had spoken to thought he had had a little too much to drink to. English didn't take any notice of these comments, for he had already chosen to study this case and type it up for his next article. He would also add an account of it, in a speech as he was to speak at a lecture in a few weeks.
And now this next case we chose for you because it took all of english's brainpower, and had worn him to a frazzle from being torn almost to shreds, blown up, frozen, and studied by his psychiatrist. After much wear and tear from swimming, to avoid being chopped into fishfood by a man riding in a motorboat, through the freezing water and threw himself on the dock. as he lay panting on it, his ears ringing, he thought that if he swam ten more feet he will have swum a worlds record.
He thought of how it had all started . . . . . . . .
It all started when his friend invited him to a party he was giving. The party was given on his private houseboat. English chose to go. When he had come to the boat he became immediately suspicious because of its license plates, the boat was stolen. He cautiously went in to fall into a trap. As he was going in he tripped over a wire and fell to the floor. Two men came up quickly and tied him up. When that was done he was brought into a tiny cabin. The boat was driving through the water on it's way coming to the gulf stream.
The boat must have been doing 100m.p.h., blowing spray all over the place. When the boat got there it stopped short, a whistle blew, a bell rang, and he heard footsteps. As he lay there wondering what would happen next, someone turned the doorknob, English thought to himself, "I've run into some serious trouble." They were about to throw him overboard, when the boss attached a typed note to his hand then untied and threw him overboard. "Swim or choose to die" the boss said, "Either way we have ridden the world of you." That's how he ended up on the dock. The next thing he did was rip off the note, which the boss had probably typed himself, and kept it for evidence.
When he finally got home he wrote a copy of the note and decided to lie down for a knap. One of the names on the note rang a bell. It was the mayor's He followed up the case and had the mayor taken out of office for a long vacation, very long. At the end of this case he thought "They thought they had me written off their guest list" By the way, about the monster case, the neighbors down the block had just visited hollywood and had brought back a genuine monster suit for a souvenir.
Unfortunately, English will never find out, he's still running.

The End

12:00pm.
today when I got home from school I had a chocolate milkshake and found out my dad had ordered the rototiller again because the first time it hadn't done the job right. I was going to wait for it, but since it was such a nice day I called robert and we went over to the mall and collected beer cans.
we got quite a few weird looks doing it too. on the way home we went through the woods and found three or four all aluminum window things and brought them home. after we got home to my house we weighed our aluminum and it weighed in a twenty pounds. I swear it must be heavier than that. and I also found out that it was fifteen cents a pound, not fifty.
this evening I have been watching tv. I watch "Baretta" about an hour ago.
this evening I drew a good picture of a house in winter with my speedball set. I also spent a whole lot of time copying that story about mr. English into this book.
Today in study hall I found out billy Bavin has a twenty-five year old compas he uses.

Tuesday, April 15, 1975

math
today I got up early because my sister had to get to school for a play she was in. I am pretty far behind in geography. today I finished my Australia map and tomorrow I will take my quiz [abrupt change in handwriting] Oh, the heck with it, I don't really write like that. It's a lot easier and quicker to write this way.

science
I didn't do my homework in science homework because I didn't have time last night. today I got my test back with a good grade of 98 on it. on the test I corrected, mr. Thompson objected to the drawing I put on the front.
I am looking forward to English class when I am going to read part of our story for english with the verbs me and john Beebe and I made. I will copy it into here later.

11:30
today when I got home from school I stopped at kresgee's and I found out they are having a going out of business sale I got a small thing and we went home. later I got some sandpaper and finished my walking stick.
robert called and we went in search of newts. and we found a beetle, a large land snail, and two of the biggest mealworms you ever saw.
this evening my mom had a bridge party and I spent all evening watching tv. I am about to go to bed. I am about to go to bed.
sorry, just testing

Monday, April 14, 1975

12:00p.m.
this morning I got up, went to school, came home, on the way home we stopped to get a lawn rake for my garden. when I got home robert came over with some aluminum and we played a few games of golf until the men from A-PLUS rental came over with a roto-tiller. when they came they showed us how to work it and I dug up my garden. It didn't do a very good job because it didn't have a big enough blade. we are going to try to get it again but with a sturdier blade.
this evening laura wallace came over and took jenny for a walk to kiddie kollege where we met two characters laura knew who were pretty shady on my list. they bothered jenny so we went home. while I was there I picked up a walking stick and brought it home, where I peeled the bark off, and sprayed it with wood restoring fluid which really made it look good. I am going to sand and polish it and give it a coat of shellac.
when laura and jenny, and I got home from kiddie kollege she told me not to tell our parents we had gone there and that she was really sorry the boys treated her that way. I think she had better be sorry, it could lose her a high-paying job babysitting us if we told.

I will write my english story in my new journal because I don't have enough room to write it here.

Sunday, April 13, 1975

10:30 p.m.
this morning I got up feeling pretty good. I ate breakfast and called robert up. he couldn't come over but he would call me when he could. during the time that I was waiting for him I went out back an d saw my mom working in her garden and I got the urge again to make a garden for myself. I got permission to make a garden out of a square piece of of ground in the corner of our yard. with my moms help I cleared the place of vines and leaves. robert came over and we melted every scrap of lead we could find and poured it into some pretty good shapes. we are going to keep one we call "the ladle":

this is a metal sculpture me and robert made called "the ladle"
[drawing]

robert left and I tried to spade my garden but I found out all the roots of the grass are in the way so I will have to wait and get an automatic cultivator from the rental store.
after that my dad took me out to mc donalds for dinner and around to get some aluminum cans. I found a great place for them and I am going to go there tomorrow. right behind the mall they must be stacked three high.
me and my dad also went to the golf course and hit some balls.

this evening I was very upset because my dad was yelling at everybody. he finally cooled off and apologised. then he was real nice to me and I am finally over it.

Saturday, April 12, 1975

this morning I woke up at about 10:00 a.m. and was served breakfast in bed by jenny and debbie. from that time until about 12:30 am. I was frustrated and thought it would be a rotten day. It turned out that it wasn't so bad. robert called me up and came over to play croquet. I amazingly started winning, and when we were tied we got bored and stopped playing in favor of melting some lead. we got a fire started and found out you could melt the lead in half the time by using small pieces of wax to keep a hot fire gong in the pot. we made two batches of lead. the first one was fairly good and we had one piece, the best one which looked like a viking ship or a canoe. I gave that one to robert. then robert had to go home. he said he would call me after he ate dinner, and when he called we were going to look for newts in the woods. he called and I came down to his house with four or five ziploc bags. we went out in the woods and looked under every rotten log we could find and got three centipedes but no newts. we went to a very big rotten log that had sat where it was as long as either of us can remember and found sticks and started digging. the wood was very soft so we didn't have any trouble. robert found a piece of fluff and wondered how it got into the log. in a few minutes we found the answer, I ran into a mouse nest. I said "there's a mouse!" and robert took off one way and me the other way along the log in the chase, I said "where are you going" he answered "I'm after the mouse!", I said, "but the mouse is down here, he went that way," and I pointed. we finally figured out there were two mice, and since the one robert saw was carrying a baby we knew there are at least three, and probably quite a few more.
After that we went to my house and spent from then to 11:00 pm stapling and correcting 480-odd pamplets for robert's church. the error was that it said "OUT LADY OF FATIMA" when it should have said "OUR LADY OF FATIMA" we wondered if it was subconsciously on purpose. T=R

me and robert decided to write a book about our adventures and what we have done in the past and present. it will include a cookbook section, fire section, things to do when there's nothing to do, and destruction. It may also include a list of good ecscuses to divert the blame from yourself if your house burns down, or anything like that. I am going to list things we should write about tonight I hope.
when I came home from roberts it was dark and I rode my bike home. if my dad were awake, he is such a worryer, he probably would come over with the station wagon and pick me and my bike up and drove me home.
*tomorrow copy verb story into this journal.

Friday, April 11, 1975

geo.
today in geo we are laying aside the maps and quizzes and we are playing some games. first we have been playing some hangman. now we are playing a game called fast talk.
Jon horton and billy bavin gave me a thing for johnny Horizon '76 which is our bicentennial. I am supposed to be in their club and also george Hesse's. I am in a tight spot because I have to be in one or the other, no in between, and if I pull out of one club I will hurt their feelings.

12:30
I finally quit george's club as school ended.
today in geo jon also gave me a folder containing brochures, stickers, and information about the Johnny Horizon program.
today I was glad to be going home. my dad, as it turned out had two surprises for me, one was davey's zip code, which I badly needed, and the other was a big bag, and my dad told me that once every two weeks the aluminum truck comes around, and pays 50 cents for a pound of aluminum. I have been collecting beer cans out in the woods and also got a few pieces of a lawn chair. so far I must have three or four pounds of it.
this evening debbie is spending the night
today we decided to have a cook out. we got a steak and broiled it on our grill.
I invited robert over but he had already had supper so when he got here we played golf and played in the fishpond.
tomorrow I plan to go somewhere where they throw away lots of beer cans and pick up as many as I can. I will use trash bags if I manage to fill the gigantic bag my dad gave me. I think its funny hoe the johnny Horizon thing and the aluminum go together
I was going to tell jon horton and Bavin about it so we could do it together, but I decided I could do it myself.
I think the way to get our club in action is to get some grownups who will listen to us like our parents to organize it because nobody listens to kids and we couldn't get anything done. I'll talk it over with jon on monday.
I am about to go to bed. my mom is making me even though I am pretty tired (Yawn!)

Thursday, April 10, 1975

math
today in math we are having a test. we just had chapel. I have just finished my test. I hope I got a good grade. I think I did. my math grade needs it. just now we are leaving for athletics and lunch.
science
today it is rumored we are having a review test. we are checking our drawing of the heart.
People had better watch out because today I feel mean, because of geography. in geography I found out that I hadn't passed my test on asia and I tried it again and didn't have time to do it, and also in athletics some people were trying to make fun of me. everytime someone said something I felt like punching them. so far today my new pen has been working fine, I have found a place in a pocket where this pen will stay, in my thick corduroy coat inside pocket.

7:30
I suspect that my other pen, the old one, is leaking, so I have switched back.
today when I got home from school nobody was here. I read for a while until Jenny invited debbie over and we played tag. they both cheated so I quit. I have already had my dinner and I think it was pretty good. a little after dinner my sister was being a brat, as usual and I gave her a shove. my dad got mad at her and she started hitting him. then he blew up. for the next half hour he yelled at anything that moved. my dad and mom had a fight and I left. when it finally blew over I came back to the kitchen and, using a screwdriver, melted my initials on this pen, WMD, except I wrote it [monogram] because it is easier to do straight lines. my mom has left for bingo and jenny, my dad and I are all alone in the house.
this evening I have been experimenting some more with my speedball set.

Wednesday, April 9, 1975

math
today in geo I worked on my quiz all period and when I came up to have it graded the bell rang and mr. bedell spent ten minutes explaining why he couldn't grade the ones left, while he could have done most of them before we had to leave. I am pretty mad at him.
9:00
today not much happened after what I had said during math. today at athletics we switched from baseball to soccer. soccer is pretty good, at least the practicing part is, the preliminary exercises aren't much fun. One thing that really chewed me up was when I got a compliment on my soccer dribbling from mr. murphy, our soccer coach.
today jenny went to her first private art lesson at her school, and my dad and I went out to peoples drug store and had a chocolat milkshake and went and picked up jenny.
when I got home from school robert was waiting for me here and we played a game of golf with our croquet set. By the way, if you notice how I am writing with a new color of ink, well, I am wrighting with a whole new pen. my dad gave me one of his old fashioned pens and I got a bottle of deluxe black ink, robert finally had to leave for dinner and I put away the croquet set.
I have just finished eating dinner. I am mostly waiting for Baretta to come on tv at ten o'clock. As you may notice sometimes this pen fades out sometimes its because it still has to adjust to use after years of inuse, in a sense it has to be broken in to use. I am now going to watch some tv.
11:00
this evening I have been watching tv. most of the time.
first I watched some of "Cannon" with my mom! I have just finished watching "Baretta."
Lately I have been watching how fast the violet in my terrarium has been growing. when we put it in I thought it might die of shock from being transplanted, but it seems to be the most flourishing plant there.
this evening I have been experimenting with my speedball set now that I have a bottle of ink.
I really like my nice clean room after fanny comes. unfortunately It won't stay this way very long, the way I throw things around carelessly. I just can't help it.
I have decided that this journal could be considered my hobby. I don't have any hobbies, so I figure this is it, as my rock collection started falling off at about the time I started writing. Oh well, this is a lot more fun and it leaves me a lot of freedom and leisure time in which to take up something else. My hobby doesn't dominate my time and I can do it anywhere, anytime.

Tuesday, April 8, 1975

math
today in geo. I made another noose and woody and hung it. maybe finally he will get his jacket string back. I am getting to actually like athletics pretty well. we are going into athletics. I guess the reason I am getting to like it is because it gives me some relaxation from my schoolwork and classrooms for a while.
we are talking about averages and things. mr. Lichfuss has just explained to us how a bell curve grading system works. I hope I never get any teacher who grades on a bell curve.

Science
today at recess one of the many bullies was in a fight and was being smashed to pieces by someone. I think the bully really needed it. he had two black eyes and was on the verge of tears.
today in science we have been drawing a picture of how the heart works:

[elaborate drawing of heart]

English
today in english we are supposed to write about school. today we got our scope magazines.
11:30
today almost immediately after I got home from school robert called and said he had three small terrariums from a cereal box. we gave one to jenny, set one aside, and transplanted the third into our terrarium.
robert came over and we played a few games of croquet on our lawn and then played some golf, using our mallets and balls and the hole we dug on Mar. 31 (see march 31) we hit the balls into the hole and we found out we could fit every single ball that comes with the set into it. they are still in it now.
robert had to leave because he had to eat dinner and we made an agreement that he would come back after he had finished. when he came back we went to a rotten movie.
we have been having a lot of trouble in our house tonight. my dad is as usual trying to blame everything on my mom, all started by me, all I have to do is express just one little fact or opinion and almost instantly one will be trying to use it against the other. as usual I sit on the couch and read, trying to hide in a book from all the yelling and screaming.
It finally subsided, and I talked with my mom awhile about some writing and how it was shown in a handwriting analysis book I have.

Monday, April 7, 1975

math
today I got up pretty late, and I was late, but I had a good excuse. today in geo. I took my quiz and now I am on a new unit.

Science
I was mad but it is wearing off. I am mad because in baseball I never played a bit. I sat on the bench all the time except when I went to help one of the janitors that takes care of the fields. we helped him unload some boards off his tractor. at lunch I had two bowls of my favorite soup, chicken vegetable.
me and jon horton have been cooking up a scheme against mr. Bedell. we are going to hang up a paper woody on a little noose we made out of string.

11:00 p.m.
when I got home from school I was reading until robert came over. he had a small salamanderlike thing he had found in the woods. we looked it up and in two encyclopedias we found a disgraceful lack of information on newts, salamanders and amphibians in general. anyway, we put it in our terrarium.
when laura came over this evening I spent most of my time making some new pages for our woodys of the world book at school. Laura spent some time trying to learn a new game of solitaire.
I am glad I didn't have any homework tonight, because there was so much to do.
I feel very creative tonight and I am going to have to go to bed pretty soon, and I shouldn't have started this second page.
I feel like writing right now because maybe I am calm and ready to wright, and maybe because I find that writing takes the anxiety of my thoughts.
lately I have been thinking about dying a lot and I think that people getting killed on tv. are getting to me. what really bothers me is that I can't accept the fact that someday I am ultimately going to die. It really scares me.
this evening I have almost gotten my mother to tell me what my I.Q. is. she has gotten to the point on which she just needs a little push to tell me.
just for practice, here is a description of a coin:
this coin is about half an inch in diameter, on the front, boldly emblazoned in copper is the mark, one centavo with strong, but delicate branching leaves, with a beveled, sparkling, rim to encircle it's glory. on the back there is a coat of arms, an eagle perched proudly on top of a shield with four spears each with shining banners in shimmering copper for all time. have you pictured it? it is a one centavo piece from ecuador, from 1928
I got it from jon horton in fifth grade, he passed them out to everybody in the class. in the same way I also got a buffalo nickel and a mercury dime, both of which are not in use today. they aren't worth too much but it was still nice of jon horton.

Sunday, April 6, 1975

12:30 am.
I am sorry I haven't written all day, but I haven't been too busy. this morning I got up much earlier than I did yesterday, but I might as well have stayed in bed because al dad I did almost nothing.
at about five o'clock my dad and I went to play golf. It was very cold and windy at the course. we played nine holes and I got a score of 70, which is pretty good considering it was the first game of golf I have ever played. my dad got a 48, and neither of us got par on any hole. I think I may get to like golf a lot. It is one of the first sports I have played and enjoyed, beside ping-pong, which doesn't give you any exercise.
this evening my mom, jenny and I had an in-depth discussion about our schools. I have always done well in school. I am trying to worm my scores from my three I.Q. tests I have taken. she keeps stubbornly giving excuses why I shouldn't know and I think the main reason she thinks I will brag about it. if I ever get it, I will tell you. I am dying to know.
this evening we watched a special about sharks, which pre-empted "the six-million dollar man", yesterday a hockey game pre-empted mary tyler moore, bob newhart, and carol burnett. this is the weekend for pre-emptions.

Saturday, April 5, 1975

8:00
I am sorry, but I didn't have any time to finish wrighting because I was too tired.

9:00
after school yesterday I went to Billy Bavin's party. It was one of the most awful ones I've ever been to. I got home and I went to bed before I finished writing.
Today I got up very late, about 11:30. It started out as a boring day then robert called and I got dressed and we played.

10:30
me and robert were going to go do my math homework, but we decided not to.
I haven’t done much all day.
this evening debbie came over and is going to spend the night. we were playing resteraunt, I was the chef. It wasn't much fun and I quit.
yesterday, at Billy Bavin's party we had a scavenger hunt and when we got back we had almost an hour before supper, which we could have played a game in but it was just dead time. mrs. Bavin seemed to be a very nervous person. the Bavin house seems practically new because it smalls like a new house, the smell of wood, freshly cut.
when I got home, just in time for the night stalker, I was very tired. It is amazing I didn't go to bed earlier than I did

Friday, April 4, 1975

Math
today in geo. not much happened. I am mad because we have to outline all the little states in the unit we did or the unit I am working on. on the practice sheet you have to do it but on the test you just put in numbers.
that makes me mad because it takes the longest part of your time for no reason. I have got my present for Bavin in my locker.

Science
today when I got back from recess I found Brian Freedman looking in this journal. I gave him a punch in the face and that made him mad. I don't really care because I can beat him up easy.
at athletics we went outside into the howling winds, and cold. most of the baseball people went, but lots stayed behind in the gym. I would have stayed out all athletic period, except mr. Bedell got too cold and took us all inside.
For math our homework was to make a bar graph of something. I am going to make a chart showing how many insects of each kind there are in one cubic foot of earth. now that's original.

Study hall
today when study hall is over I am going to go to billy Bavin's house to his party. I am very excited about it. billy still doesn't beleive I am giving him a box of plastic bags (heh, heh,) I think he will like what I got him.

Thursday, April 3, 1975

Science
today I did one of my quizzes in geography. I now have to do a test on unit 2.

English
today at athletics I played a little baseball.
after lunch at recess some people were calling me names, I ignored them. today in science we finished our essay on the heart. today in english we are having a test.

Reading
today near the end of english bobby cutis was throwing a comb at me. once it hit me in the ear and I just couldn't let that go so I went over to his desk and threatened him. he started crying, like he was real scared please don't hit me please don't", trying to make fun of me. I quickly said, look at this queer" that really got him.

12:30
this evening I got a cover for my terrarium and brought it inside. I have been writing the booklet, woodys of the world to give to mr. bedell. I cut a plastic report cover in half and used it for our small booklet.
It has been very windy today and a few things have been blown around. my dad and jenny were late picking me up from school because of a tree in the road.
tomorrow I go to billy bavin's party. I can't wait.

Wednesday, April 2, 1975

Geo.
today in geo. we are starting our new system of learning. I am on unit one. I will finish it in a second because it is easy. unit two will be even easier, even though it has more to learn, because all you have to do is name and color the continents, which I already know by heart.

Math?
today in math(?) we aren't doing math because our teacher appears to be gone, or very late. nobody knows what is going on. we must have been sitting here in math class at least ten minutes with no teacher. mr. bedell just looked in the window, and then he left. he may be going to get another teacher.

Reading
I found out mrs price was supposed to be with us during our math class and was supposed to give us an assignment, which we would have had all math class to do. she apologized.
at lunch I traded away my sandwich for white milk and a cup of soup.

10:30
today when I got home from school my dad took me to the mall after I had had a little rest because I was dead tired after I got home.
I sat and read for awhile until we left, when I got my jeans on we went to the bank, for my dad because he wanted to deposit some money. the bank had an interesting double fountain out front that I was fascinated with. next to it they had a small rock garden with some cactus in it. they also have some modern style chairs which are one piece of stiff foam rubber covered with cloth.
In the middle of the mall there was a display of swimming pools, one with a sauna that made a whirlpool with a blow-up dolphin bobbing around in it.

11:00
when we got back from the mall, where we got a no-nonsense pen for Billy Bavin. I thought and thought and thought about what to get him and finally came up with a brilliant idea, we went to farrell's and got him a gift certificate for ice cream there.
I got home and decided to go into the woods and find myself a walking stick. I wandered over to robert's and he told me about a big fire that had been at the creek. I decided I wanted to see it for myself, so robert and I rode our bikes down there and surveyed the area. me and robert are going to catch salamanders some time because they are out in the abundance crayfish were last year.
this evening I was mad at my dad because he had punished me before I could get to say a word in my defense. I think he was very unfair. I moped around a while until he told me to come with him. he was going to take me to see the prison, "where I was going to go if I kept beating up my sister", I wish my dad wasn't a lawyer. lecture, lecture, lecture all the time. I am about to go to bed. I just finished watching baretta on tv.

Tuesday, April 1, 1975

Geo.
today, as I just noticed is April fool's day. Had better watch out. I have to get mr. Bedell's whistle today.

Math
at the end of geo., after several unsuccessful tries, I found out mr. Bedell wasn't carrying his whistle, I got his comb.
in math we are doing graphs. we were doing tables before vacation.

Science
today at athletics we were told to go down to the front locker room and find yourself a locker, one that has tape on it. we had to double up, two in a locker. Jon Horton was my partner. we claimed it and went out onto the field for a free period. I had a good lunch of rice. I am really getting to like rice a lot.

Reading
today in english we talked about verbs and all their tenses. It was pretty confusing until I got the hang of it. today in reading we are talking about book reports.

11:00
this afternoon when I got home I called steven tyler because he had called me earlier. he could come over so I got some not so good clothes on and he came over and we played. I showed him my terrarium and we didn't do much until he left. before he left he asked me to autograph his jeans. I took a purple marker and put my name and drew woody on them. while steven was here Billy Bavin called and invited me to his birthday party on friday.
today my mom had a bridge party and invited most of the teachers,. I didn't see much of it but I found out from my mom that one of the ladies hadn't seen our wall before but had heard about it and was astounded when she saw it. I am glad my mother brags for me.
later, I went out in the woods just before supper and found my mom an interesting piece of dead wood. I also found a trash drum and almost brought it home.
I had a good supper and debby came over a little later. jenny and debbie played and I showed our well me and robert dug. this evening I got a call from jon horton saying that he was planning to take mr. bedell out to lunch at a roy rogers resteraunt near his house. me and Billy Bavin are going to go too and surprise him. that is on saturday.
not much has happened since then.
when I am carrying around my stuff in my pockets I feel prepared for anything. I like walking in the woods and me and robert know them better than anybody else. when I stand in the woods I feel free. I feel like master of all I survey, like I belong in the woods. I feel like I have known every plant and bug personally. I know more about the woods than anybody.