The Gunpowder Brigade

Last Friday, a group of intrepid explorers took their lives into their hands and delved into the savage and untamed woods of Gunpowder Falls. Though they did not know it, they would meet beasts of unknown nature, plants of unknown origin, and butterflies of unknown motives. This...is their story...
While much of the previous paragraph was embellished for publishing purposes, the gist of it is all too true. On Friday the 16th, Kristin and I went with two of our sanest cousins, Erin and Zack, to take a "hike" through the trails of Gunpowder Falls.


After parking we applied liberal amounts of bug spray and, being ourselves, chose the less strenuous path through the woods.



The first "beast of unknown nature" spotted. We're fairly certain it's a blue heron. The photography's not the best due to sunlight, but looking at the reflection in the water makes it a little clearer.


This trail was not here before we arrived. We had to machete our way through the grass, then make sure a path was clearly visible. Also, we had time to build a nice little fence before leaving.Not exactly sure what Zack was pointing at, but it was probably a grizzly, judging by the bored, "not this guy again" expression on his face.



A few steps later we came upon some big rocks in the middle of the stream. After going all Lewis-and-Clark, we climbed the rocks to get a better view down the stream. Noting how nice a picture it would make, I had to climb back to get my camera, risking my life and the dryness of my tennis shoe.


Kristin found this guy loungin' next to a log that Zack was climbing on. His appearance sparked nervous ground-searching for the rest of the journey, as well as the quote of the day: "Zack, do you see the snake?!" "Yes, I extremely see him!!"

Some other wildlife we witnessed that day were: a baby deer and its mama, multiple tiny toads, several regular-sized toads, the devil in butterfly form, and the flash of a chipmunk fleeing into the underbrush. However, the discovery of reptilian life in the woods (go figure) prompted us to turn around soon after we reached the 6/10 mile marker. Covered in sweat and dried mud, we climbed back into the car, blasted the air conditioner, and praised Jesus for our lack of snake bites all the way to the local pool.

We hope to go back another day this summer, hopefully to explore a new route and hopefully with two more cousins. Until then, we'll enjoy the wildlife of Maryland from indoors.

Procastination Nation

A sensation that's sweeping the nation.

Why would you want to do summer homework when you can be watching trashy TV? There's no real answer to this.

My goal for today is to complete one and a half chapters of AP Bio work. My goal for the week is to complete the three and a half I have left to do, plus a vocab activity, plus finish Wuthering Heights. Woot.

Let the work begin.

Movie Review- The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Disclaimer: I am not a fan of The Twilight Saga. I have read (and even own) the first three books and I intend to read the fourth when it is published in paperback. I read them because I value the ongoing Harry Potter vs. Twilight debate and I only take people seriously when they've read both series with an open mind. I do have some positive things to say about Twilight (although not many) but know this: I will THROW DOWN for Harry Potter. In my mind, these two series should not even be mentioned in the same category and therefore should not be compared, but fans on both sides insist on debate.

The first hour of Eclipse is about brooding. Bella is brooding because she's still human and the love of her life wants to marry her (how dare he). Jacob is brooding because the love of his life is devoted to a bloodsucker and evidently he still has to wear a shirt to school because that is pretty much the only place we see him fully clothed. Charlie is brooding because he still hates his daughter's boyfriend. And Edward is brooding because he is Edward Cullen and he will brood if he wants to. I think this part went on far too long. It was like that YouTube sensation "Potter Puppet Pals" when Harry is banging his head against the wall muttering, "Angst, angst, angst."

After the gang graduates, the brooding finally takes a backseat to actual events. I'll spare you the details but the vampires decide to form an alliance with Jacob's pack of werewolves to fight the über-dangerous enemy. This is when the movie becomes not so bad. I might watch the battle scene again if it was free on TV and all the other channels were out. There is some cool fighting and neat vampire-shattering. I didn't dislike that part at all, though I can't say I loved it either.

All in all, this movie was not totally bad. The scenery is fabulous, with big sweeping shots of snow covered pines all over the place. Dakota Fanning and her Volturi minions were fairly awesome and somewhat frightening. Edward and Jacob had some entertaining one-liners and I admit I chuckled a few times. I'm not really in a place to judge acting so I can't offer any opinion on that. I'm sorry Team Edward, but I just do not see what the big fuss over Robert Pattinson is all about. He's mostly just surly and...glittery. Jacob is beautiful of course but, as a character, he just gets in the way.

I'm glad I saw it but I probably wouldn't pay to see it again. If you don't like the books you should probably avoid it. Almost all of it will most likely just tick you off. If you do like the books, then you probably don't even care what I have to say so go ahead and see it!

Under Threat of Injury

That's how I'm posting this. Kristin told me to update the blog. I told her I didn't know what to say. She said "Write about what happened today! Write about New Orleans! Write about going to Gunpowder tomorrow!"

Well. Now I'm being told to go bed. Under threat of injury.

People in this house need to decide what they want.

Addendum: No one actually threatened to injure me. It just makes for a more interesting post.