Field Journal

Date: April 15, 2017
Day of the Week: Saturday
Location: My backyard, sitting on the deck of my pool. The pool is in the center of the yard.
Time: 15:00 hours to 15:30 hours
Observers: Myself, and my two dogs: Tucker and Pepper
Habitat: I was sitting the stairs of my pool deck facing my house. My house has a reddish brown porch with stairs leading down to the patio. To the left of the patio is a pond. It has a small waterfall and several fish. There is a butterfly bush on the corner of the pond. There is a lounge chair on the patio along with three chairs and a tall table. There is a small garden behind my patio. The garden runs along the back of my house all the way to the fence.
Weather: It was nice out. I was a little cool and the wind was pretty strong. The wind made it a little colder. I had to wear sweatpants.
Remarks: This is my favorite kind of weather. I was feeling pretty comfortable.
Comments: I was not feeling very motivated to do anything. I just wanted to enjoy the weather on this long weekend afternoon.
Personal Account: About 5 minutes in to sitting there a bird came down to the pond and started drinking. I was a little worried because my dogs have a history of killing animals, but they were to distracted to notice because they were looking for rabbit that lives under the shed. That poor thing doesn't have much time left unless it moves to a new home. My dog, Pepper, was just sitting behind a horseshoe pit waiting for the poor thing to come close enough to catch. The pit made the perfect cover because it was overgrown with weeds and was starting to become more weed and wood. My other dog, Tucker, was passed on in the grass. About 15 minutes passed and Tucker started to be odd again. He is always paranoid about bugs flying near him. Every time he hears on he jumps up and chases it around the yard. He looks like he is hallucinating. His favorite thing to chase is bumble bees. He playing with bees. I think he likes the idea that something so small can cause him immense pain. He is an oddball. I couldn't observe much real nature because I was afraid my dog was gonna kill a small animal. Also the hilarity of Tucker jumping into air and snapping his jaws was quite distracting.


Date: April 17, 2017
Day of the Week: Monday
Location: Jacobsburg State Park
Time: 12:00 hours to 13:15 hours
Observers: Myself, and my friends: Spencer, Michael, Brett, Meghan, Maggie
Habitat: Jacobsburg State Park has many streams and creeks running through it. There are several trails that zigzag all over the park. There are high cliffs and quite little rocky beaches. We were walking through on of the shorter trails.
Weather: I was warmer than last time. I did not need to wear sweatpants. We were covered by trees and a mountains so there was no wind there. I have no idea if it was windy.
Remarks: It was kind of boring. I wasn't really feeling anything besides bored.
Comments: The only thing I was motivated to do was to get back to the car. I do not know why they wanted to go hiking. It was odd compared to our usual outings.
Personal Account: When we start walking, the first thing we do is go over a bridge then the dirt path curves off to the right and goes along the largest part of the creek. As we walk Michael and Meghan keep going off and climbing all over things. They are twins so ask them if this is their idea of family fun. They say that every summer they go on hiking trips and apparently climb all over the place. Meghan said the main path isn't fun. I agreed but for a different reason. We eventually came to a steep cliff that had steps to go down to the creek. We went down there and started skipping rocks. It was so quite the only thing I could hear was us talking and the water. Other than that it was peaceful. It would have been interesting to be there by myself. I probably would have fallen asleep. Climbing back up the stairs was hard because they were spaced far apart and the incline was quite steep. Overall I enjoyed my time there though.

My Home

     My home is not where my house is. It is not where I sleep or eat. Its wherever I make it. My home has to do with where my family is and where and where I feel comfortable. Me and my family go on vacation regularly. We are not spending time away from home. We are just moving it somewhere nicer. In my home, regardless of where it may be, is always filled with laughter and fun. I think has to do with how you are around your family. In my house, we joke, laugh, and just cool down after a long day. Its a place of decompression. Where you can think about your day and what you have to do tomorrow. I always think about what I have to do in the shower. That is where I can truly relax. Between the sound and the feeling of warm water, I can almost fall asleep in there. In fact, sometimes I do fall asleep on accident. In my mind, your home is a place where you can decompress. A place where all of your thoughts and worry can melt away. I feel sorry for people who don't have relaxing environments at home. I think everyone should have home that they can feel safe in.

From Catholic to Public

Easton Area High School

Holy Family School K-8

     I started school in a private catholic school called Holy Family. At the end of first grade they started to teach me how write in cursive, and by second grade it was weird to write in print. I started to read in kindergarten and, by first grade I had it down pretty well. I still remember the pale yellow walls that were in my first grade classroom. My teacher's bright red frizzy hair always stood out from the background. She picked me out of the group and really cared for me. She was saw that I was above the other students so she always made sure I was challenged. After the fourth grade, I switched to Easton Area Middle School. That was a huge change. I went from going to church every Friday during school to the ISS room being right down the halls. Every once in a while their would be an explosive outburst from a kid who didn't get his way, while I sat in Reading putting sentences in the right order. In all of my classes from then to high school their would be one or two big essay's a year. In high school our assignments became more focused on analyzing and drawing meaning from words that do not outright state their purpose. This year we read The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell. That was a tough book to understand, but it lead to a lot of real world discussions with my classmates. We discussed marriage, religion, women in the military, and many other controversial topics. It was really great to see my peers opinions compared to my own. I think as I progressed on in my literary education it became more and more relevant to the real world. Those connections can sometimes be hard to make, but this year in particular opened my eyes to a whole different world. This world is scrawled across pages in every book you pick up. Each one giving a little bit more insight on how the world really works.

Natasha's Life

Natasha is studying to become a social worker. She loves working with kids and finds the idea of helping a child in need very rewarding. Currently she is working at Ora Sure Technologies. Ora Sure produces and manufactures STD testing equipment. Natasha's Husband is a deacon and loves music, He sings and plays, bass guitar, keyboard, and the organ. She also has twin sisters. They were both in the military at one point. Her son plays Easton football. I know from personal experience that the program their is great, and she told me that her son loves it on Easton football. Natasha reminded me of thee punishments they would give the players who got bad grades. She said that her son has spectacular grades now because he wants to play so bad. It is like a big family at Easton she explained. She said that they really didn't know many people because they had just moved their, but now other parents are inviting her to dinner because they know each through football. The Easton football program has made a huge impact on their lives. Natasha also loves to travel. She has been to the Bahamas. She said that the weather is amazing there. She says she wants to go back at some point. Natasha and her family are also planning a trip to Jamaica in June. Natasha is a happy person and is willing to work hard to get things done. She is ready to be challenged in getting a degree, but accepts it with open arms.