Lovvveeelyyy weather here!!!!!!!!

Hey, this is Maya here! It's getting warm again! And that means............fort building time!
And if you think that I'm going to talk about forts...
You are completely right!



And if you wonder which fort I am going to talk about....


guess..........

It's a mystery......

Ooops, I just gave it away.............


yes, you guessed it!

We had another adventure with the Mystery Fort. Yeah, that's my title for it now.

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day yesterday, and I and Dave and Jack and Kirsten were exploring. We decided to go to the Mystery Fort.

I got behind the others (did I mention I'm short and have a hard time keeping up with tall people?) Anyway, I was behind them.

And then I saw someone watching us. This person was dressed in camouflage and was just watching us. From behind a couple of trees.

Now, if you have read many books, you know that if you see someone watching you and you don't know who they are, it's a wise idea to NOT let them know you've seen them.

And so I just ran ahead to try and catch up with the others. I hoped MP (Mystery Person) hadn't realized I had seen him. ( or her)

At the Mystery Fort, there were some changes. I didn't want to risk telling the others about MP, but I wondered if they didn't have something to do with the fort. I looked around, and saw a strange rock in the sand around the outside of the fort. I'm going to go back later and take a look by myself if possible. This is really weird.

 

Best Valentine's Wishes from Maya

I know, it's been forever since I did a post. Sorry about that.
I'm taking time off from my busy life to wish you all....

I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Maya

A close encounter with the chicken thief kind...

Well I have something to report today!

Jack and Matt were checking our chickens last night, and lo and behold a raccoon was in with the chickens. Now to all of you who are thinking: "How awesome!" raccoons are NOT awesome, especially if you have chickens. They eat them.

Now our chicken house is a plastic greenhouse, so it gets a bit cold in winter. Because of this, Dad built another, smaller house in it. Well, when Jack and Matt looked in the chicken house, they could tell something was going on. The coon was jumping all around, and Matt ran up and poked it with a stick. That just riled up the coon more, and it about jumped on Matt's head! It ran up the wall and punched through the inner wall of the plastic and ran out the door.

It hasn't come back.

just some ramblings from Maya

It's freezing cold here. Colder, actually. And here I am, nice and cozy with the computer in front of me.

But that's just a side note.

We have been investigating more about that really mysterious fort.

There have been no changes.

I'm assuming that's because it's too cold for anyone to be playing outside for very long.

Which means that probably the fort will not be worked on until it gets closer to spring.

Oh! I forgot to tell you before, but I am now a driver-in-training.

It's awesome.

more from Maya Mitchell

Aannnd it has been forever since I posted. Sorry 'bout that.

I just had this really funny thing happen, and I wanted to tell you about it. So a lot of people here went to Casper, but those of us who stayed home,(Dave, Kirsten, Jack, Michelle and me) were staying with this wonderful lady we call Miss Nellie. She's in her seventies, but she's nowhere near old.

It was getting late, and we were all getting a bit hyper, and we started playing card games. We were playing Skip-Bo>>, and it was getting a bit slow. Kirsten got out some regular playing cards<<,  and was fiddling with them while she waited for her turn to play. All of a sudden Dave said, "hey, let's play progressive rummy at the same time!" So we were playing two games at the same time. It was sooo confusing, but fun too. You ought to try it sometime! =D

the flag is there

As I told you last time, a mysterious fort has shown up in our trees. (That's about what the river bottom is--trees). Well, in the afternoons, Dave, Kirsten, Michelle, Jack, and I have been investigating it.

Last time we were there, a new thing had been added. A flag. The top half was green and the bottom half was blue, and it had a yellow star right in the middle. It was on a makeshift flag pole that was made out of a fallen tree.

We can't figure it out! I mean, there's no other ranch very close to this one spot on the river bank. So unless one of us is sneaking out and doing it, we have a mysterious visitor. If any of us are doing it, I would suspect Leon and Matt, and maybe Jeanne, but I doubt it.

We'll just have to watch and see.

I know, I don't usually post twice in a row..but..

I had this really awesome story to tell you guys.

Dave, Michelle, Kirsten, and I were exploring in the river bottom next to our house, where there is tons of trees. We had been finding all sorts of neat places, trees, and holes, and that sort of thing, when all of a sudden Michelle pointed ahead!
     "Hey, what's that?" she asked. I followed her pointing finger and then I saw it. Dave saw it just as I did and he let out a whoop!
     "A FORT!!!!" he yelled! "AWESOME!!!" and he took off running for it.
      Kirsten and I exchanged puzzled looks. We explore the river bottoms a lot. And I had never seen it before. And it looked really new. Evidently Kirsten hadn't seen it before either. I followed, almost as eager as Michelle and Dave, who were now halfway to the fort.
      It was underneath a great big tree, and there was a swing made out of baling twine hanging from one of the branches of the tree. Sticks had been arranged in a palisade around the base of the tree and several feet out. Flat rocks were laid in a path from the palisade opening to the tree trunk, where a makeshift roof had been built. The whole thing was a bit strange, although really really neat!
     A shadow fell across us as we were investigating the fort. I shivered, and wrapped my arms around me. Even with my coat on, it was getting really cold. And the sun was going down. So supper would probably be on the stove soon.
   So we went home, but we are definitely going to be on the lookout for anything strange happening!

I have had a birthday!!!

yes that is true....

it was on Thanksgiving....

I am now....

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah.

IT IS SO AWESOME!!!!


I am going in to get my learner's permit to drive tomorrow. I think I will be able to get it , so I have been studying up!

My cousins arrived here yesterday. There's four of them.

Dave: He is fourteen and is really fun. He is totally sincere and he is a great storyteller. Watch out for adventures with him around!!

Michelle: She is thirteen, just Kirsten's age, and they are best friends. Michelle is verrrry tomboyish, and she loves horses. Greatly.

Jeanne: Little, 11, sweet thing. But she is tougher than she looks!

Leon: Verrry loud for a nine-year-old. But he is fun, even though a little bit on the bragging side.

We are going to have some adventures!!!

Since she STOLE my idea.....

Yeah, Piano Bookworm stole my idea. About snipes, I mean. So I am going to beat her and tell you about them before she lets on any more!

Like she said, snipes are mysterious creatures. As far as I know, they dwell only in the wilds of Wyoming, but (stinker) she said that also. ANYWAY, now I'm going to tell you something about them that she hasn't told you yet.

Hunting snipes is very exciting, fun, and slightly dangerous. Strangely enough, snipes are more likely to be found when an inexperienced person is hunting them. So experienced hunters always make sure to take a novice with them when they go hunting. To hunt a snipe, you first have to find its den. Then you set one person to keep an eye on the den and go back to collect the novice hunter. (Also strange, you can't find a snipe den when a novice is with you. I SAID they were mysterious.)

Kirsten, Jack, and I went snipe hunting yesterday, with one of our friends from town. I sent Kirsten and Jack out to find the snipe den. Nicole, (that's our friend), had never hunted a snipe before. So I stayed with her, telling her about snipes and how to hunt them.

Kirsten came back , grinning ear to ear. She had found a snipe den and had left Jack to guard it. So Nicole, Kirsten and I started out for the den. Nicole seemed a bit nervous...

"Um snipe hunting isn't too extremely dangerous, is it?" she kept asking, and I and Kirsten kept reassuring her.

"No, it's not. Snipes are really smart, and they leave if they can't tell someone new is coming." I replied.

"But you're new," Kirsten said, "So it won't run away until they realize we're hunting it, which hopefully won't be until it's in the sack." (Alright, I forgot to tell you that. You hunt snipes with sticks and old burlap sacks so you can put the snipe into the sack)

We got closer to the location of the snipe den and couldn't see Jack anywhere. I bit my lip. "I hope he didn't go chasing the snipe, if he saw it. We don't want him getting lost chasing it..or even having it turn on him."

Nicole's eyes grew wide. "Turn on him? Could a snipe do anything to him?"

Kirsten shrugged. "Well, snipes aren't usually dangerous, but you never can tell."

Just then Jack ran up, panting. "The snipe's in the den, I saw it!" he exclaimed. "I couldn't see it until Nicole got close, but I saw it in the den just a minute ago. Come on!" and he ran off back toward the snipe den.

All of a sudden, Matt appeared in front of us, yelling. Nicole almost jumped out of her skin, but then she saw that it was Matt.

He came in front of us. "Hey, hurry, the snipe's running away!" he cried. We started to run, but we were too late. The snipe was gone. =P

Hey, I just learned that pretty soon, we're going to have our cousins visiting us! I bet we have TONS of adventures then!

Maya Mitchell!!!!

Piano Bookworm asked me to do this, and I was like "sure! why not?" So now I am writing to you. Firstly, my name is Maya Mitchell. But I suppose you already know that. (At least PB said she had told you guys that I was coming. If she didn't.... it doesn't really matter. I'm going to tell you anyway.)

I am fourteen years old, and I have strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. I think that's because I'm Irish on my mom's side. She's an O'Christy. I'm not sure what Dad is, because I don't know what country or language "Mitchell" is from. Oops. Now I'm rambling. Piano warned me about this. She said: "Maya, if you do this, you probably will start rambling. That's the name of the blog!" Erggg, I hate it when she's right about stuff like that. well, back to me.

I have five siblings, and I'm the oldest. Then there's Kirsten, who's thirteen, Jack, who's eleven, Matt, who's nine, Leigh, who's seven, Lynn, who's five, and Tim, who's three. Yeah, I know. I'm the only one who is an even number of years old. Well, that's because I haven't had my birthday yet this year. It's coming soon, AND I AM SO EXCITED!!!!! I'll be fifteen, and then I'll be able to get a learner's permit to DRIVE!!!

I live on a ranch fifty miles outside of Casper, which is about our biggest town here in Wyoming. It's not big, compared to other cities.

It is really really cold here this time of year. Kirsten, my sister, helps Dad milk the cow early in the morning, and she gets up at five most of the time. I sleep in and get up at five-thirty. That is true. In summer, sleeping in is seven, but in the winter, sleeping in is five-thirty. =P Well, anyway, when I get up it has been quite a bit below freezing in the morning. Yesterday it got up to about fifty degrees in the middle of the day though. That was nice.

Well, I can't think of anything interesting right now, but next time I write, I'll have an adventure to tell you about! We're going snipe hunting sometime soon!

Coming Soon!!

I am very excited to announce that Maya Mitchell* will be telling us her story on this blog! She will have posts every once in a while here, telling about her life. She lives on a ranch and is 14 years old. I think I'll let her tell you the rest about herself....;-D

Her posts will start in a few days.

*Maya Mitchell is a fictional character.