Exams

Ninth grade has gone by very fast and I can't believe that there is only 8 days left in the school year. This year has had many ups and downs, but overall, it was a great year.  Exams start on Tuesday of next week.  English is my first exam and I hope to do very well on it and I will study as hard as possible.  Second, I have Spanish. This will not be an easy exam because we need to know so much vocabulary.  The good thing is, I've already learned them so I'll just need to review.  Next, is World Cultures.  I thinkk this is going to be the hardest exam because it is so much material.  I hope I can force myself to study as hard as possible so that I can make a great grade.  Fourth, I have Geometry.  This will be the easiest exam for me because I am fairly good at Geometry.  Last, on Thursday, I have Biology. This is going to be very tough because it is a lot of material and I don't know it as well as I do in other classes.  Finally, on Thursday, I will be finished with the ninth grade.

NWTF

NWTF stands for National Wild Turkey Federation.  This federation offers many great things. One thing that I like about the Turkey Federation is that I can sign up to win a hunt in Kansas with all expenses paid. There are lots of huge turkeys in Kansas so I would really like to go.  The thing I like the most about the Wild Turkey Federation is that they have a Conservation Seed Program.  This allows you to buy seed for a much cheaper price than anywhere else.  A 50 pound bag of Roundup ready corn is 250 dollars but the Coservation Seed Program sells the same corn for 15 dollars a bag.  This is a huge difference and it saves us a lot of money.  This corn can not be harvested because it is only allowed to be planted for wildlife. The seed program also offers soybeans, milo, and wheat for 6 dollars a bag.  Last, they offer two and a half gallons of Roundup for $45. The National Wild Turkey Federation is a great thing to be a member of because you can save yourself a lot of money.

Dove Field

Each year, my dad and I plant a dove field.  My dad has been doing this for about 15 years now and I have helped him for about 10 years.  This dove field is located at my farm in Reevesville, South Carolina.  Planting a dove field and succeeding is a tough task.  Most dove fields have corn and sunflowers planted in them and this is also what we plant.  Sunflowers cause the biggest challenge, unlike corn.  Corn is easy to plant because you can buy it Roundup ready.  Roundup is a nonselective herbicide.  This means that we can plant the corn, spray Roundup, kill all the weeds, and not the corn.  On the other hand, sunflowers are not Roundup ready.  Having no weeds allows the crops to grow much better and produce more seed.  Not only are sunflowers not Roundup ready, but the deer love to eat them.  Because of this, my dad and I had to build an 8 foot fence around our 15 acre dove field.  This project took my dad and I about 3 years.  It was hard work but it keeps the deer out of the field.  In the spring, we plant almost the whole field in sunflowers and the rest in corn.  To plant the sunflowers, we have to get the field smooth and ready to plant.  Next, we have to spray a pre-emergent herbicide named Spartan.  This herbicide keeps broadleaf weeds from growing for up to 30 days and allows the sunflowers to get a head start on the weeds. Just after we spray this, we must have rain to activate it.  Once it rains, we plant the sunflowers.  Once the Spartan begins to wear off, weeds begin to grow.  The next step is to spray Cadre on the weeds while they are small.  The most common weed that we fight is pigweed and it is very tough. Recently, the pigweed has almost become immune to the Cadre so we have had to come up with another idea.  My dad found a hooded sprayer.  This four row sprayer has 30 inch hoods on it. These hoods have sides all around them and this keeps the chemical off the plants but kills the weeds inside the rows.  Because of the hoods, we can spray Roundup.  We just got this sprayer and we will use it this spring and I hope it works.  The sunflowers eventually grow too tall for the tractor to fit over them without knocking them over.  Once this happens, we hope that the sunflowers have a jump start on the weeds so that they can continue to grow.  Finally, in August, when the sunflowers have produced seed, we spray Gramoxone, killing everything.  By the time everything dies out, dove season is just about to begin.  This dove season, we killed over 400 doves in our field.  Planting a dove field is hard work but it makes my dad and I feel very good to kill our limit in a great field that we planted.

Spring Break

This past week was spring break and I had a great time. Turkey season stated on March 15th in the lowcountry of South Carolina. My farm is located here so I got to turkey hunt earlier than some others. I went hunting for the first time of the season on Saturday, March 17th. I heard many gobblers but they all got "henned up." this means that that the gobblers had hens with them and they would not respond to your calls. This makes it almost impossible to kill them. Next, I went hunting on Teusday. The same thing happened. We were surrounded by lots of gobblers but they all got henned up before they would come in. I hunted Thursday morning and afternoons through Saturday. The same things kept happening. Hopefully I'll have better luck throughout the season.

Rambo First Blood

Rambo First Blood is a great movie with lots of action. The action is great in this movie. One thing that I do not like about is that it is not very realistic that one man can beat so many people. This movie is still a thriller. The graphics are great and it is amazing to see all the tricks that Rambo can do. This movie is highly recommended to anyone that loves a great war or action movie.

Third Quarter

Last year, in eighth grade, third quarter did not go well for me.  My grades slipped very badly and my parents got mad, causing me to get mad.  In fourth quarter, I was tested and I now have medication to motivate me.  This has made a huge difference in my grades.  I refuse to have a third quarter like last year.  So far this quarter, I've done well except for english class.  I made a 95% on my last World Cultures test, I've done fairly well in Biology and Spanish, and I'm doing great in Geometry.  My weakness in English is poetry.  It does't make sense to me and I don't understand why we even do it. I really want to improve my English grade this quarter.  My goal is to earn all A's and B's this quarter. I would have reached that goal last semester but I got an 84% in English.  I am going to try my best this quarter so I can reach this goal.

Benelli M2

January 16, 2012 was a very great day because I got a new shotgun.  It is a Benelli M2. This is a very nice shotgun that will last me many years.  I had a Remington 11-87 for about four years and I shot it many times. It began to wear out and was doing weird things. My parents and I decided to trade my Remington for a nicer Benelli that would last me a very long time.  This is very exciting because I can shoot in sporting clays tournaments and not worry about my gun messing up. Also, this gun does not have to be cleaned nearly as often. I can't wait to shoot ducks with my new Benelli this weekend.