If I Could Be Any Animal For a Day

If I could change into any animal I wanted to, I would be a mountain lion. I would want to be a mountain lion because they are silent, they are powerful and they should be feared by every animal in North America.

Mountain lions are silent. They can bound forty feet running and fifteen feet up a tree without getting hurt. If I had this power, I would win our school games because I could run fast, jump high and most of all be silent. Also, if I had this power, I would be able to scare the living daylights out of people. Plus if you have ever looked at a mountain lion you should know that they look awesome.

Mountain lions are very powerful also. They have a bite force of around 350 pounds per square inch. That is more than enough to crush skulls of deer, wolves, cattle, and even horses. Even just having this power for just a day, it would still feel like great power.

Mountain lions in my opinion are also the ultimate predator in North America and should be feared by all others including other mountain lions.  Mountain lions also have great eyesight. They can see 287 degrees around and they can see six times better in the dark than we can. There is no animal that I can think of in North America that a mountain lion isn’t either more powerful than or at least is evenly matched.
These are some of the reasons I think that the mountain lion would be the ultimate animal to be for a day.

High Sierras Camping

For many reasons the best place to go camping in my opinion is the High Sierras.

The best reason to go is the fishing. Fishing in the High Sierras to many people is like a religion more than a sport. Something about the trees, the large granite boulders, and the sound of a trout stream carving its way through the bushy mountains makes it feel different than anywhere else.

The most common trout in the Sierras is the rainbow trout, named for the rainbow colored scales on sides of the fish. You will also find brown trout which are a slightly less common but very beautiful fish. They fight very hard for such small fish. They are not stocked like the rainbows so it is very hard to get them with artificial bait. I usually catch them on a night crawler or a hand-tied fly. Next but not least is the brook trout which is very uncommon and it is in the most remote streams and beautiful places. I have only caught one so far and it was no longer than seven inches. They have some of the best camouflage, a light belly so anything under it mistakes it for the sky and its back is darker so it is hard to see from the top.

I like to use the lightest gear there is for fishing–an ultra light pole, size ten hooks, bb sized weights. But if I am fly fishing, it is a whole different experience. The hooks are so light that you could breath and they would go flying. The smallest ones can imitate the smallest bugs like mosquitoes.

There are also many hiking opportunities in the Sierras. Pretty much wherever you go, wherever you look,there is a beautiful setting to hike. Plus whenever you go, no matter what time of the year, it looks awesome. In the summer, the yellow sagebrush hills or the thick pine mountains are a sight to see. Or if you go in the winter, the trees are covered in snow and the lakes are surrounded by ice, and maybe you could see the spiky mountains of Yosemite National Park. In Yosemite, you can see many amazing places like Half Dome. And you can see large American Buffalo herds and tons and tons of other awesome things. There also many animals wherever you are–mule deer, chipmunks, squirrels, mountain goats, and many other ones.

The Sierras are also a very historical part in the westward movement across the United States of America. The Transcontinental railroad connecting the east end and the west end of America which was a huge step in transportation. Plus it was a part in the beginning of the lumber industry. If you go to a place like Bodie, you will see all the logging. Bodie is now a ghost town and it was so heavily logged that there is not a tree in sight. But now it is a tourist attraction.

In my opinion the Sierras is the best place to go and my favorite place to go camping mainly for the trout fishing and the scenery. Everything there is awesome and I strongly encourage you to go.

Wildfire

The hot fire ran across the ridge. I knew that if it made its way to the pines it would be an out of control crown fire.

The other wildland firefighters and I raced to get a secure fireline dug into the steep sage hills of the eastern Sierras. With the thick sage smoke filling my lungs and burning my eyes, I feared I was gonna whack my shin with my newly sharpened Pulaski. Coughing and choking for air I pushed through it. The fire came fast approaching to the fire line about thirty yards. Luckily there wasn’t any wind yet.

Our line connected to the cat track and we all thought we were in the clear until the wind picked up and the fire jumped the line. With tools in hand everyone rushed to put out the rouge fire, fire flappers, shovels, Pulaski, rakes and macleods in hand we attacked the fire for fifteen of the longest minutes ever. When the fire was out, my crew and I went back to camp for the night.

The cleanup crew rushed to the field. The engine rumbled and grumbled over the uneven cat tracks and we arrived to the camp. With tinders filling up engines for the coming day, men winding and checking the thousands of feet of line and all the other tasks needed to be done, there was no such thing as peace and quiet in camp.

The rest of crew  and I, lined up in the mess ready for a special dinner. Someone flew in some hot meals. My friend and crew boss Johnny Miller and I filled our plates and walked to our crew’s spot in the camp. We sat down and Johnny said, “You ready to tackle the north face of the mountain in the morning.”

I responded, “With everything I got!” Everyone laughed because they knew that the job we had tomorrow would in fact take everything we had and then some. Four in the morning we woke up to eat, change into new yellow and greens, and strap on our line bags and war bags. Then into the engine we went. Roaring down the tracks someone overfilled the tanks and the extra water sloshed out and soaked everyone’s extra gear on the side of the engine.

The engine came to a slamming halt and we all launched ourselves out of the engine. the water crew readied the pumps. The foot workers and I strapped on our gear and were on our way around the ridge to the fire. Our crew boss told us we would be fighting a crown fire so there was double the danger of a ground fire. The wind was in our favor so we wouldn’t be fighting the smoke. With the fire in sight, we prepped ourselves physically and mentally. Then our crew boss assigned squad bosses and split us up for different jobs.

My squad and I started slash burning the sage brush around the fire creating controlled burns so that the main fire had no fuel to progress its way across the mountain. Large sky cranes fly over making dump after dump trying their hardest to arrest the large crown fires with flame lengths which reached over a hundred feet high. The fire in the distance has its beauty and its bite. Its giant orange flames licked the blue sky but there is no time for sightseeing.

While I’m looking at the fire, the engine crew radios in that the humidity is rapidly decreasing and the fire is making its way towards us twice as fast as we expected. We have to bust our butts to get this line defense ready so we call in a water drop to retard the fire speed so we have more time. Our request is denied due to the fire producing Pyrocumulus clouds that can create their own weather. The cloud cover was about 95 percent and there was a fear of thunderstorms later this evening.

Out of nowhere in the sky, I started to see figures in the clouds. I saw it was people, “Cloud Jumpers,” coming to help us with the fire line. As they landed, they immediately went to work already knowing what had to be done. An hour later the crews and I were almost done and just in the nick of time too. The fire was Fast approaching.

The line worked, with no fuel to burn the fire stopped in its tracks. There was no time to celebrate. My radio started lighting up. Our crew boss said that Mike, one of our teammates, was in the fire with his fire shelter over him and a helitack was on the way but we needed to make a clear landing spot because there was no basket.

Across the mountain we started to dig up brush for the heli to land. One hour later the heli came after picking up Mike. We were on our way back to camp, we have no intel on Mike’s condition.

Chapter one

:sacrifice of a firefighter:

Western Fictional Peice

One day I was out hunting and I was crawling across an open field on my stomach to get to a rabbit without spooking it. I was carrying a Winchester model 94 in 30-30 express on my back and a Model 1873 Single-Action Colt .357 on my side. Slowly I made my way across the field, crawling and I set my arm down and whoosh. The ground beneath me gave way and I fell

All I saw was black around me and the light blue sunny sky above. Terrified I looked around me and tried to grab anything I could but I could feel nothing but the cold stagnant air. As I realized there was nothing I could do, I looked up as the light became smaller and I realized for the first time in my life there was truly nothing I could do. With the look of defeat on my face, I looked  down and saw a small light. It started to get bigger and bigger. It looked like the sky. As I curled I fell through the hole.

As I did the hole disappeared as if were never there and I kept falling. Below me was a small, muddy brown farm pond, Splat!! Everywhere, and I mean everywhere, mud was in my ears, in my clothing, in my mouth.

As I crawled my way out, I wondered where I was at. It was hot and there were lots of cattle. I turned around and there was a cow staring right at me. I said, “Hello, where is your driver.”

The cow looked at me, I didn’t actually think I was gonna get a response but I did, it sneezed in my face. I knew the cow wasn’t gonna help me so I decided to walk towards a mountain. Well, not much of a mountain. It was more of a hill but it was the highest point for a ways. I heard a weird noise and I took my rifle off my back and put it to my shoulder ready for anything and splat, mud started pouring out of the barrel. Then I looked at my revolver and it was in no better condition.

With both of my firearms thoroughly soaked to the bone with mud, I yelled, “Who’s there?” No response. I scanned the horizon looking for the noise.There was a rancher off in the distance.The rancher yelled, “What the hell you doing out here?” Not quite believing what I just heard. I rubbed some mud out of my eyes and looked at him for a minute He was on a horse and he was wearing an old, rusty, patched-up one-piece coverall and a worn out hat. He came closer. As he came up and got off his horse, he said, “Boy, you’re straighter than a toothpick. Why are you so muddy and what are you out here for?”

I muttered quietly, “I’m not sure why I’m out here.”

The rancher pondered the situation and he said, “Well I’m not sure why you’re out here, but I’ll give you a ride to town and we’ll talk on the way.”

We both got on the horse and he asked, “What are the guns for?”

Still shocked from the unworldly experience that occurred earlier, I mumbled, “I was hunting.”

The rancher said curiously, “Ok, well, what you caked in mud for?”

I answered, “I fell into a farm pond a ways back.”

The rancher asked sharply, “ Well, why you out here?”

I said, “I don’t know.”

The rancher snapped, “Now, how the hell don’t you know that?”

I just stayed quiet. A little while later we arrived to town and I got off the horse. The rancher said, “Well, here’s town, I bet you’ll be on your way now.”

Looking around, I couldn’t believe my eyes. there were carriages, horses and old stores. I asked the rancher, “What year is it.”

He answered hysterically, “1832, of course, what kind of a silly question is that?”

My lungs felt like they just got all the air squeezed out of them. I said, “Ummm… I never got your name.”

He answered, “My name’s Festus. What about you?”

I replied, “My name’s Wyatt, and could you direct me to the local gunsmith.”

He agreed and we made our way to the gunsmith. I still didn’t believe it, 1832. And what the hell was that hole I fell in! We arrived at the gunsmith’s shop and entered. I looked around. It was like a dream– holsters, revolvers, rifles, shotguns and so much ammo. I set my guns on the counter and the smith looked at them with such confusion on his face. He picked up the revolver  and looked it over thoroughly.

He said, “Well, I am not familiar with this model by Colt. Do you know what model year this is?”

I was about to answer but then I thought that it would be better not to since it was a model 1986 revolver and that is 154 years in the future. So I said, “Umm, I don’t know.”

The smith said, “Well, I am not familiar with the Winchester or the caliber. I have never heard of Winchester 30-30.”

I just answered, “I just got ‘em off a guy over by the coast.”

The Smith asked with confusion in his voice, “THE COAST? Son, where are you from?”

Not quite sure what to say, I just stood there thinking. They always say that if you time travel you shouldn’t do anything that might mess with the future.

Quickly I said, “Ummm… can I just get a flat head screwdriver, some water and some oil and Ill be on my way.”

I paid for the items and I was on my way. Hungry enough to eat anything, I walked to the town restaurant which wasn’t much of a restaurant… it was a general store. I bought some grits, a pot, matches and some jerky. Everyone I passed looked at me funny. Eventually,I stopped a man and asked him where the nearest livery was and he said 20 miles that way and pointed straight out to the middle of nowhere.

I thanked the man and was on my way to nowhere with a total of one hundred dollars left in my pocket. I hoped that I could get a horse for the little money I had. Step by step I walked with the sound of my boots clomping against the dry dirt. Almost out of water I stopped for the day and decided to keep moving when the sun goes down. I cleaned my guns in the shade of a large boulder and dozed off. hen I woke up, it was dark out. I started walking. Hours later I came to the town. It was about 12:00 in the night so I slept just outside of town till it was morning. I woke up to the sound of cicadas and creaky wagon wheels on the dry September dirt. I got up and went into town, I thought I would buy a new revolver for my old one’s springs that ran the trigger and hammer broke, plus there isn’t any 357. magnum cartridges around. I went and bought a new Colt single action army 45. After that I went to the livery and got a horse. I was down to about 20 dollars now, I knew I would have to get a job.

I walked over to a man standing in front of the livery and asked him if he knew of any jobs and he said yes but it wasn’t an easy one. It was working on the pony express. I asked, “What’s your name?”

The man responded, “Tommy, Tommy Mattison but you can call me Tom.”

 

I said, “Ok, Tom what’s the first job?”

Tommy answered, “Well we have some tools that we need delivered to some of the Irish railroad workers. We might be able to get this last section done this week if we can keep the Irish sober.”

I said, “Ok I’ll get to it right away.”

Tom directed me over to the tools and I tied them to the saddle of my horse and I was on my way. Over the long meadows and dry dirt there was just one thing in my way–a huge mountain. Though there were switchbacks I wasn’t that confident with my new horse carrying 50 pounds of tools but I had to get money somehow so I trudged on.  Up the switchbacks I went and I could hear the sounds of pounding metal so I knew I was getting close.

Turning around a large boulder there was three men standing there and with masks over their faces. I knew I was in trouble. With fright throughout my whole body, I quickly turned my horse around and WHAM!!….

End of Chapter One

My Personal Statement

I am not like other kids. I live in a very rural community away from town but I still went to school in town for some years. My different kinds of education have influenced me to be flexible, persistent, open to new activities and creative.

I went to a public school in Redway for five years. It wasn’t too bad but I didn’t care much for the large classrooms of thirty or more kids. However, this did teach me to work well with others and so did playing baseball for six years. These years were fun and it is good to socialize a little with kids your age.

During some of these years I took a California hunter and firearms safety course and this was an education that I continued on my own. The first year I took the course I was the youngest one there. I took the test and passed after weeks of studying and my instructor, Larry Bruckenstein,  told me in all the years he had instructed and his years in California Department of Fish and Wildlife he had never seen anyone pass as young as I was. I was nine at the time. I took the test the next year just for fun and then the year after that online. This taught me that if I put my mind to it and study on the subject I can succeed at any task.

After five years I thought I would try out private school since the public school I was going to was over forty minutes away. On the other hand, the private school was only two minutes away and is on my grandpa’s land. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. At the time there was only about seventeen kids in the whole school. A student can get incredible one on one time with the instructors and the education is way above average at this school.  Being with only ten or twelve kids in your classroom makes you have to work well with others in a group and yourself as an individual. The class was and still is a multi grade class ranging from third grade all the way up to eighth. It can be difficult sometimes dealing with younger students who are struggling with things and being distracting but you need to help them out sometimes no matter how frustrating it can be.

For as long as I can remember I have always liked to make things with my hands. If it were building a wooden generator shed or making a cardboard rifle with a cereal box, scissors, and duct tape I was into it. Now that I am older I am doing things a little bit bigger like making a chicken coop. But my latest project is my friend and I are finishing up a log cabin that we built over the summer. When I was in fifth grade, the same friend and I built a Ballista for a science fair project. Building is fun but my main passion is the outdoors. If it is outside most likely I’m gonna be into it. I have a pond that is full of fish so in the summer I will be there for the majority of the day fishing until it is too dark to see. In the winter I will be hunting on my property. If I’m not doing one of those things I will be hiking around my forty acres of land or working on my new log cabin project.

With my public education my private education and my educations that I have followed through with on my own I believe I would be a good student for Academy of the Redwoods.

My New Years Goals

I can’t believe it’s already 2016. My New Year’s resolutions for this year are to learn more about my native heritage, not sleep in so much, and do more fishing.

This year I want to learn more about my Native American heritage.  My father’s dad is Native American and I’m pretty sure my great great grandfather is also. We are Cherokee Choctaw-one of the five civilized tribes. Some of my relatives live in Oklahoma on the reservations and I hope to find out who they are. I hope one day to go and see them.

This year I will try not to sleep in so much and do more around the house. In the summer I have been sleeping in till around ten o’clock and next year I have to go to high school and the school is over an hour away. That means I have to wake up around five thirty. The only time I wake up at that time is when I go fishing. When I wake up I usually will eat some food then go hiking for a couple hours, or fishing.

This year I will do more fishing. Last year during the summer I would go fishing up to three times a day and I would stay out at my pond till it got too dark too see and then some if I brought a flashlight. My pond is full of Large mouth Bass, Bluegill Sunfish, and Channel catfish. But fishing at home is nothing compared to when I go fishing in the Sierras. I will wake up at five in the morning before the rest of the camp is awake, go fishing for a couple of hours, come back, eat breakfast, say good morning to my family then go fishing till lunch. After lunch I go fishing and you won’t see me till dinner or later. After dinner I will go fishing for as long as I legally can which is thirty minutes after sundown. I know it sounds like it would be crazy for me to fish any more than I already do but I once told a friend, “Don’t doubt me or my fishing skills.”

Well, I don’t know if I can promise myself all of these things, especially waking up earlier but I tell you this, I will do more fishing.

 

Me and My Flying Fish

One time my dad and I found a flying fish. My dad and I were on Robinson’s Creek in the eastern Sierras. I was about seven or eight years old and I was in the stream fishing. My dad was on the bank holding the net. I had a few fish bite my line and they felt pretty big so, when the next fish bit my hook, I yanked the pole a little too hard. The fish came jetting out of the water about ten feet in the air and it landed right in the net that my dad was holding. We both had a big laugh.

All in all that was pretty funny but since then I have learned to set the hook just a little bit softer, I don’t want another flying fish.

The Present

On a cold, snowy Christmas morning, a kid wakes up in his bed. He stirs with his mind going a hundred miles an hour. He quietly jumps out of bed, puts on his pajamas and slippers and tiptoes to the door as the wood planks beneath his feet creak and crack. Not wanting to wake his parents, he slowed his pace trying to hold in his excitement.

When he made his way downstairs, he crept to the tree and noticed there was one present towering over all the other presents. He went over to it praying that the tag said his name. When he turned over the tag and read the name, his eyes felt like they where gonna jump out of his head. He carefully opened it a little bit to see if he could see what the box contained. all he saw was a cardboard box  but then he heard his parents. He quickly closed the present and waits for them to come downstairs.

His parents came down the stairs and saw him sitting on the couch. they asked him what he was doing and he responded, “Just waiting.” When his parents said he could open one present, he hurried to the big present but before he got there, they said he had to wait to open that one till everyone arrived. He tore into small presents, Lego’s, socks, books, and baseball equipment.

Finally, his relatives started showing up one after another. The boy asked his parents if he could open the big present and the answer was always wait till everyone is here. The kid patiently waited at the window staring off into the curtains of white snow drifting along in the frosty air.

Finally the time came when he could open the present. The kid ran over to it. He tore at the wrapping paper. Inside there was a box. He opened the box and there was a slightly smaller box packed in packing foam. Two boxes later like a Russian nesting doll, he was down to a box that was only the size of a bread box. Written in bright red all over the box it said “fragile.”

The kid’s hope was dwindling. He carefully opened the box, packed all nice and neat in a pool of packing foam was a old dusty oil lamp carved out of bone. He took his shirt and rubbed it to get a better look at the engravings and out of the nozzle of the lamp came out a light green smoke. More and more the smoke pillowed out. The smoke accumulated and started to take the shape of a human-like figure. Out of the smoke came an odd low bellowing voice. Once the figure became solid, it said, “You may have three wishes. Only three so choose wisely.”

The parents stood there in amazement as the ghostly figure appeared.

The kid said, “ My first wish is, I wish for a go-Kart.”

The Genie replied, “Your wish is my command.” Poof with the flick of a wrist, the Geni made a go-kart appear from thin air.

The boy yelled with excitement, “Wow! look at that. My second wish is for a million dollars.”

The Gini bellows, “If that is your wish,” and there on the couch appeared a million dollars. “You have one more wish. Make good use of it, and remember that you could have anything in the world.”

The kid contemplates what would be the best answer and after a couple of minutes he yells, “I WISH FOR A MILLION WISHES!”

The Genie snaps, “Three wishes and only three wishes,” and then swishes back into the lamp. The kid drops his head and mumbles under his breath, “Never trust genies.” The parents laugh, take the money and walk out of the room.

The moral of this Christmas story is don’t trust genies and if you do, stick to three wishes and be sure of what you ask for.

 

California Gun Laws and My Opinion

Wyatt leach

                                        Dec. 16  2015

              California is a really cool place but the gun laws can be absurd at times. You can’t own or possess a permit to have an “assault” weapon. Most weapon bans are targeted towards assault rifles which are not the problem.

If you do any research at all, then you would know that assault rifles are not really the problem. Sure they can hold lots of ammo but so can a Glock when you buy a 100 round clip. I bet you didn’t know more people are murdered in the United States by being strangled, beaten or pushed off a cliff then are kiled the so called, “mass murder weapon,” the assault rifle. Even if you ban assault rifles, people will still get them from the black market. There are close to no murders from assault rifles that are in the murderer’s name. Banning assault rifles would take care of less than one percent of the problem.

In the state of California you aren’t allowed to have any undetectable firearm, any unconventional pistol,any multi burst trigger activator, any bullet with an explosive agent,any  zip gun, any rifle with less than a 16 inch barrel,any a shotgun with less than an 18 inch barrel, any firearm that is not immediately recognized as such, any wallet gun, any suitcase gun or any cane gun. I do agree with most of these rules because you don’t really need all of these different kinds of weapons. However, I do feel that you should be able to have a shotgun with a barrel less then 18 inches if you want to, or have a rifle with a sixteen inch barrel or less if you wanted to. If you think about it, there are pistols that can be more powerful then  some rifles. There are also pistols that can fire shotgun rounds that are legal, so therefore they aren’t too different.

Alaska was the first state to adopt carry laws modeled after those of Vermont, where no license is needed to carry a handgun either openly or concealed. In the year 2010, the state of Alaska only had nineteen murders by firearms and California had one thousand two hundred and fifty seven. In California for every 100,000 people there were 3.4 murders and Alaska only 2.7. Plus California has close to three hundred more murders than Texas for the year of 2010, I think California has some changes that are needed.

In all, California has some of the most extreme and non flexible gun rules. Many people believe that if you ban certain firearms, it will solve the gun problems, but no matter how much you want to think it will help, it won’t.

Bibliography

http://statelaws.findlaw.com/california-law/california-gun-control-laws.html  

https://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/state-gun-laws/california/

My Favorite Animal

One day, I was at my house. I looked out my window across the gully and there was a large animal that I thought was a deer. But, when I looked closely, I saw a large tail on it. I took my dad’s spyglass and saw it was a mountain lion. No one believed me but within the month our neighbors dog was attacked. These animals are very powerful they live in some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, and people fear them.

Mountain lions are very powerful predators and everything in the forest should bow down to their amazingness. They are very strong. They can jump out of a tree from up to 60 feet. An adult mountain lion has a bite force of around 350 pounds per square inch (PSI,) strong enough to crush almost all of their prey. They eat eight to ten pounds of meat a day to survive and they will kill as many as two deer a week.

They can run at speeds of up to 50 MPH!!! Mountain lions can jump 20 feet straight up in the air and twenty to forty feet away onto unsuspecting prey. Therefore, if you meet a hungry mountain lion barehanded, you will most likely lose.

Mountain lions live in some of the most beautiful settings. My favorite place is the eastern Sierras. They are filled with mountain lions. The Sierras are the perfect place for them to live. The mountains are filled with streams to drink from and get fish. There are lots of deer and squirrels as well as trees to hide in. They live all throughout California and many other places.

People are afraid of even the thought of a mountain lion. One time I was on a class field trip on the Rogue River. It was nighttime. My friend Lenin and I were fishing. Some of my other classmates were throwing rocks in the river scaring away the fish. Luckily across the river in the woods there was a high pitched scream. I yelled out, “Mountain lion.” Boy, did they run fast. When they looked back, they saw that Lenin and I weren’t moving but they didn’t question it. That bought us a little bit of time but then some of the adults came down. It wasn’t a mountain lion. It was just a couple of owls. Everyone who was scared was not too happy to hear they where scared by just a couple of one pound owls.

Mountain Lions are very powerful. Even just their reputation scares lots of people so they should be respected.