Recent Events

Sorry I have not posted lately!I have got a lot of stuff to write about like the recent weather which has been rather cold with a lot of frost and ice(but no snow!)
Also a couple of nights ago the cubs went to a Snow White pantomime-it was good.The best bit was when they found the Seven Dwarfs for the first time-it was quite funny! Also recently I have been renting out a game called Super Smash Bros Brawl which is good fun. The story is good but the tournament mode is really fun and on intense it is laughably hard! Christmas is coming up and we have got our decorations up-the tree looks really pretty!

The October holidays

For the last 2 weeks it has been the October holidays and I have got a lot to post here!
The first great thing that happened was that we got a Wii Fit and to this day I have not missed a single day of training! The next notable thing that happend was that my gran came up - and it was my mums birthday ! On mums birthday we got Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull! The best bit was when the Crystal Skull was restored and that strange dimesional gate opened up. The day after mums birthday was her special birthday treat at which all the food was japanese! I also did lots of rock climbing whilst gran was here (she`s dead into it). Yesterday gran left and today it is back to work. Also during the october holidays i rented out a game for the Wii called Lego Indiana Jones The Original Adventures which is the first three films turned into lego adventures. Before that but still in the holidays i finished a game called Super Paper Mario in which you can be Mario(obviously),Peach (even before you finish it),Bowser (who can breath fire)and Luigi (but you have to fight him a couple of times before you can be him).In it you have to fight enemies with your charecters special abilities and collect Pure Hearts to get to new places and eventually to defeat the evil Count Bleck ! The holidays have been great!!!!!!

Loch Skerrow and my dam

Yesterday we went for a walk to Loch Skerrow!It was really good . It took us one and a half hours to get there and when we got there we saw an old boathouse and a half sunk boat.We had a look inside and apparently some guy had gone in and he had left stuff like biscuits,cat food and even a sofa!On the way back we stopped off at the otter pool.

At Loch Skerrow



Before we left



At The Otter Pool



Also over the last week in a nearby field with a stream in it i have been dambuilding. My dam has grown to roughly three metres long and has had a crayfish behind it! Here are some pictures of Loch Skerrow, The Otter Pool and my dam.


A Panoramic of my dam



My dam

My new tin

Remember the post i made when i began my collection of cards saying that my collection would grow? It certainly has. From just 15 to over 400 in about one month is pretty good going. And one of the things that really boosted it was my Volcanic Doomfire tin which arrived on Friday. Below is a picture.



I am keeping unused cards in it (cards that aren't in decks) and hopefully i will get new tins soon
I also got lots of rare cards in it's array of five booster packs and the secret rare Volcanic Doomfire.

Spore

Yesterday Spore arrived!It is a really good game and we have got to tribal stage,(the third stage for you folks who haven't heard about Spore), apart from me because my civilization hasn't been going as long my mums and my dads. My mums spieces are evil and blood thirsty dragons , mine are really friendly vegetarian tigers and dads is half-way in between and it is a flying monkey that is patterned like a bee . And can you imagine a friendly vegetarian tiger? There is a picture below

Now let me explain a bit about Spore

The five stages:


CELL is where you start
CREATURE is where you evolve your creature to perfection
TRIBE is where you evolve your basic society and use early technology
CIVILIZATION is where you start using technology's like vehicles
SPACE is where you get to conquer the universe!

From a microbe in a water droplet to intergalactic empire explained in just five sentences


Changing your creature:

To change your creature call a mate (wife to all you non scientific folks.)
After meeting they will lay an egg . You automatically go inside the egg.
There you can add on and take off bits.

Flower o' Scotland

Yesterday i did a version of Flower o' Scotland on my electric guitar! I posted the video on You Tube and you can look at it here.





I think that it is quite good and i hope to hear your comments.

Elephant hawkmoth caterpillar

Yesterday some of my parents friends found an Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar and thought i might like to take care of it! I decided to call him Behemoth and today ,just for fun, i did some online research about Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillars.
Here are the results

Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar information

Eats: Willowherb ,bedstraw and occasionally fuchsias
Habits: Eating at night, basking during the day
Methods of defense: swollen head, wriggly tail
Favorite Food: Rosebay willowherb


Here is a picture of Behemoth

Back to work

So the summer holidays are over and it is back to home education for me. And i went fishing as part of todays home education!I have had a good day.

My birthday

On the 14th of august it was my birthday ! I had a really good day and i got lots of really good like a wa-wa pedal for my guitar and some laser challenge guns. And instead of an ordinary big birthday meal i had a curry night and stayed up until it was two hours into the next day and i was really tired. I thought it was the best day of the year so far!

My ants

Yesterday me and my friend helped some ants (who were under threat from spiders) to make a new colony! The ants originally lived near the school bus park (Which is now infested with spiders.) Of course we did not move all the ants , we just moved a good few to the stairs at Dalry secondary school. I feel it was a good thing for me to do.

Yesterday i started my collection of Yu-Gi Oh cards! I only have fifteen at the minute
but my collection is sure to grow! Anyway here are the name of the cards that i got.

Dark Valkryia
Rescue cat(x2)
The Calculator
Canyon
Volcanic Queen
Ordeal of a Traveler
Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle
Ribbon Of Rebirth
Imprisoned Queen Archfiend
Cyber Phoenix
Cannon Soldier Mk-2
Indomitable Fighter Lei Lei
Protector Of The Sanctuary
Cup of Ace

I think that they are good fun!!

Drumlanrig castle

Two days ago i went to Drumlanrig castle! The first thing we did when we arrived was was the castle tour. It only covered 12 out of over 100 rooms but mind you most of it belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch. Next we went down to the adventure playground and spent most of the day there , going down the flying foxes at least 20 times. We also took lots of pictures (none of the inside unfortunately because you weren't allowed to) and some video footage of us on the flying foxes. On the way back up to the bus we saw the Drumlanrig sycamore which is the tallest sycamore in Scotland. Now for the pictures.

This is me in front of Drumlanrig castles lawn



Here is a picture of Drumlanrig castle from the back



Here is a picture of me on the flying fox


Here is a view from the flying fox

The Glasgow Science Museum

Two days ago I went to the Glasgow science museum! There was loads of interesting exhibits including holographic fish and a wind-up generator. But my favorite thing had to be the simulator ride which had a video screen in the front . When the car in the video screen ,for example, went down a cliff it felt like you were going down a cliff . I had a great time and here are some pictures and a video.

Here is a picture of the science museum


Here is a picture of me looking silly.


Anybody seen my body?


Here is a picture of the Glasgow tower.


Here is a picture of me with a Lego sculpture of Vezok


Here is a picture of me with a Lego sculpture of Tahu.


Remember Pippin from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy? Well this is Billy Boyd ,the person who did the acting for Pippin , singing on the big screen


This is a video of me on the bicycle thing which shows you how your leg bones are coordinated whilst you are cycling

Fishing

Yesterday i went fishing with Big Al! I caught three fish ,two of which were tiddly perch which were unhooked and released. But the third was a massive ,two and a half pound, rainbow trout! It took about five minutes to tire it out and get it the landing net.
Here are pictures and a video of me and the fish!

Here is a picture of where we fished


Here is a picture of me and the fish


Here is a picture of all the fish that we kept (the two wee ones are Big Al's.)


Here is a video of me catching the fish

Gun Dog!

Yesterday we we went to Castle Douglas. There was a little toy shop called Jenny Wrens and that is where i got this toy called Gun Dog. The aim of the game is to get the most points by knocking over the alley cats by using the ball in gun dog's nose . If you want to know how it is fired i will tell you. You simply cover the hole in his tummy and squeeze. Due to air pressure the ball will fly trough the air! And here is a picture of Gun Dog and the alley cat targets.



I have had a lot of fun with this toy!!

Euro 2008

Last night it was the final of Euro 2008!! It was Germany Versus Spain and Spain won 1-0!!! I think Spain deserved to win because Germany were playing rubbish football and Spain hadn't won a European championship for forty-four years! My favorite team of the tournament was Holland because they showed that being world champion didn't make you automatically good by beating Italy. We made a chart for Euro 2008 and here is a picture of it.

Euro 2008

Currently Euro 2008 is on! The first semi final is on tomorrow and it is Germany vs Turkey. I think Germany will win that semi final. So far my favorite match of the tournament was Holland vs Italy and Holland won it 3-0. My favorite team to win the tournament is Germany because they are a good side. I am enjoying the good football and i can't to see who wins!!

My new guitar

On Friday i got a new guitar! It is a Gibson Les Paul copy which means it is a very special electric guitar!! I also got an amplifier to plug it into! I really like it and my favorite song to play on it is Down On The Corner by Credence Clearwater Revival ! In a couple of days some guitar polish will arrive so that i can keep my guitar nice and clean!! I think this is the best present i have ever got!!!!!!

Here is a picture of me with my guitar.


Here is a picture of the guitar on its own.

My dads birthday

Yesterday it was my dads birthday and he is now 34! In the morning we woke him up with Belgian waffles , tea and presents. My dads presents were : chocolates , a bell for ordering tea , a small packet of bath gel , a power drill , lots of t-shirts, a pocket book about football , a new pillow and pillowcase. My dad liked all of his presents equally. Instead of one big meal we had an all-day buffet which was made of ciabatta(which is nice dipped in salsa) , sausage rolls (which have a tasty quorn filling) , chicken style dippers, dip, crisps , sandwiches , biscuits ,pineapple, profiteroles.
We also watched a film called The Forbidden Kingdom. It is about a magic staff that needs to be returned to its rightful owner. After that was the football and the matches were Greece vs Spain and Russia vs Sweden. We watched Greece vs Spain and the full time result was Greece 1 Spain 2. I had a good day as did dad.

Kung Fu Panda

Yesterday we watched Kung Fu Panda ! The main character Po ,who is a panda, dreams of being a kung fu master. But when he is picked as the dragon warrior he thinks he is not
the panda for the job especially when Tai Lung ,evil snow leopard, escapes from a high-security prison... .I thought this was a good film and it was also very funny !!
My favorite character was Mantis as he shows that size doesn't matter.
My favorite bit was the fight between Tai Lung and Po!!!!

Spore Creature Creator

A couple of days ago we got the spore creature creator! As it is only a demo you only get a handful of all the parts that are available in the full game. That doesn't mean you can't make good creatures , as i made a creature that had ears on its back and fly-type eyes in its mouth(Yuck!). There are pictures of all of them below.

The Monkbee


The Dragon Fly


The Jawdosaurus


The Pterosaur Extreme


The Spikesnout


The Twilight Clubtail

On Friday i went to cub camp (which was two nights)!!! There was lots of activitys including a massive climbing wall (which i didn't try and is pictured at the end of the post) and a cave walk (the cave is limestone embedded into a granite cliff). There is a picture of the campsite at the end of the post. About fifteen minutes after we got there we went wood gathering at a place that was hard to get to as the way there involved walking up a really steep hill. The next day was cold and extremely windy.In the morning of that day there was blindfold mazes and spear making. In the afternoon there was the cave walk which i thoroughly enjoyed. Yesterday was just as cold but
i was going to go home at lunchtime!! All in all i had a great time and the pictures are below!

A couple of days ago we went for a walk along the mossdale railway line. On the way there we saw three adders , all alive.Unfortunately we couldn't get a picture of the biggest one . We also saw some butterwort ,which is a carnivorous plant , and a moth that eats ragwort, which we couldn't get a picture of.When we got to our destination ,Loch Skerrow, we found a ruined refill station for steam trains . There will be pictures of all of these beneath.









I had a great day !!!!!!!!

On Wednesday it was the cubs promise night!! For doing the cubs promise you get a membership badge ,a Scotland country badge ,a Stewartry area badge , a glenkens patrol badge and a Galloway area badge. The words of the promise ,if you are wondering,are written below.

I promise to do my best
To do my duty to God and the Queen
To help other people
And keep the cub scout law

The cub scout law is :

A cub scout always does his best
Thinks of others before himself
And does a good turn every day

That night was also the night you had to bring in your camp form.
I had a good time!!!

The Falkirk Wheel

Yesterday we went to the Falkirk Wheel which is the worlds one and only rotating boat lift which was constructed as part of the Millenium Link Project of which the objective was to revive Scotland's canals. Overall it cost £84 million ,although the wheel only cost 17.5 million. Surprisingly it only uses 1.5 kilowatts for one rotation. That's the same as two showers or eight kettles. The time it takes for on rotation is four-and-a-half minutes
Here is a panorama picture from the bottom



It works using little gears that rotate around a big, immobile gear. To keep the weight of the gondolas in equilibrium it uses the Archimedes principle. Say that there is fifty tons of water in each gondola and a barge weighing twenty-five tons drives in. It displaces its own weight in water and then hydraulic gates are put up to stop more water getting in. The hooks are a counter-weight to keep it going. The maximum weight it can take is equal to that of a hundred fully grown male African elephants. It took us two hours to get there and the best bit was going on the Falkirk Wheel . There was a nearby playpark which had big slides which were great fun.



It was an exciting day!!!!!!!

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

Yesterday we went to Dumfries to see the new Indiana Jones film at the cinema!!The film is set in the 1950's .The basic storyline was about a mysterious crystal skull which Indiana finds. But the Russians are after him and time is running out to restore the skull to its original place... . I really enjoyed this film and my favorite bit was when the atom bomb was tested on this village with clay people in it. Indiana Jones survives by hiding in a lead-lined fridge.
Here is a picture of us outside the cinema

Seven wonders of the world

Yesterday we watched a documentary called Seven wonders of the world. It was made in 1998 and was about the seven ancient wonders. My favorite bit was about The Pharos Of Alexandria because it contains the mystery of how they made such a powerful beam of light. By the way the only ancient wonder still standing is the pyramids of Egypt, and they aren't going anytime soon. Here's a list of all the ancient wonders.

The Pyramids
The Statue Of Zeus
The Tomb Of King Mausolus
The Pharos Of Alexandria
The Hanging Gardens Of Babylon
The Colossus Of Rhodes
The Temple Of Artemis

I thought this was great!!

Cubs fun day

Yesterday i went to the cubs fun day! There was beach football , sand sculpting and rockets (although someone miscalculated and the tide was in , so everything had to be done elsewhere). In the five a side football the Glenkens cubs football team made it to the final but were beaten by Glenluce 3-0. The best game was Glenkens vs Twynham which the Glenkens won 6-0!
After that was the sand sculpting. The glenkens made an octopus. I had an idea which made it a whole lot better : shells. There was pointy shells in between the ordinary shells to make it look cool. After that was the rockets which you use a pump to launch which was fun!!! I really enjoyed myself!!!!

Loch doon

Yesterday we went to loch doon! There is a sunken castle which you usually can't see.
I flew my kite on a big rock near the sunken castle and it was fun.
There was a boat rental but we didn't try it.It was fun and sunny.
Here is a picture what we think is the merrick.

Cubs jumble sale

Yesterday was the day for collecting stuff for the jumble sale! The cubs went around Dalry looking for bags of stuff left out for the jumble sale. When we got to the cubs center we had to help with unloading. The whole of New Galloway helped and each load didn't last long.

My new kite

Yesterday i flew my new kite! It is a stunt kite that i got a few days ago when gran came up again. It was really fun! My favorite stunt is The Infinitum Loop(aka: the figure of eight.) To perform one you pull right,wait a second, then pull left.

Day three.

On thursday we packed up everything and me and big al (the person who was camping with us) went to a place where we could fish. I caught my first fish (which i fed to our cats) which was a small brown trout ! I felt excited when i hooked it! Here is a picture of the fish that i caught.



I really enjoyed our camping holiday!!!!

Day two

On Wednesday we climbed the Merrick which is the highest hill in the south of Scotland!
Here is a picture of us on the foothills.



After a while of climbing we got to an old, abandoned cottage where we stopped for a drink and a munchie. Here is a picture of the abandoned cottage



After the cottage the uphill really took off and it took a while to the top of Benyellary (The hill before the Merrick) . Here is a picture of the sheer cliff of
Benyellary



When we finally reached the top of the Merrick (which is 843 meters above sea level)
my legs were aching like crazy and I felt very proud of myself as I managed to climb the Merrick without complaining how sore my legs were!
Here is a picture of us at the top!

Day one

On Tuesday we arrived at the camp site and found a good place to pitch our tents.
Here is a picture of where we pitched.



There was a cheeky robin who lived near where we pitched.
Here is a picture of him.



We went for a walk to Bruce's stone which is near where the battle of Glentrool happened. In it two hundred Scots fought two thousand English and won!
Here is a picture of Bruce's stone.




After that we went for a walk to Loch Trool.
Here is a picture of a waterfall we saw on the way there.