Daniel Boone

A few days ago I was learning about Daniel Boone in my school; so my awesome mom found a really fascinating lap-book here. The lap-book was very neat and I learned lots of information about Daniel Boone such as the following:

• Daniel Boone did not wear a coonskin cap like the legend says instead he wore a felt hat. 
• He was the sixth child out of eleven. 
•  He helped an old Indian who was left to die by finding food for him.
• His indian name was Sheltowee, which means "big turtle."
• Daniel Boone was adopted into a tribe as a son of Chief Blackfish. 
• Daniel Boone and his wife had ten children. 
• He died at the age of eighty-five, seven years after his wife died.
• His parents were Quakers until their children married non- Quakers and were treated unkindly by the other Quakers.

A helpful site I used to learn about Daniel Boone is here.

A video of the movie Daniel Boone is here .          

Walter Farley

Mr. Walter Farley 

I haven't done many posts about books so I've decided to do a book post today. But it was really hard to pick a book so I'm going to do a series of posts on favorite authors instead. My favorite authors are Walter Farley, Jean Craighead George, Will James, Ralph Moody, and Robert Lawson. Since I like them all for different reason I am going to put a biography and my favorite books written by each author.

First is Walter Farley, He was born on June 26, 1915 in Syracuse, New York to Walter and Isabelle Farley. The Farley family lived in Manhattan, New York along with there newest son,William who was 2 years younger than Walter. His father worked as a assistant manager in a fancy hotel called the Roosevelt Hotel which is described as one of the classiest hotels in New York. Walter's love for horses started ever since he was a little kid. He once said that "My greatest love was, and still is, horses. I wanted a pony as much as any boy or girl could possibly want anything—but I never owned one. I tried selling subscriptions to win a pony, which was offered as a prize to the kid who sold the most subscriptions. Then my uncle with a flock of show horses and jumpers moved from the West Coast to Syracuse, and I was deliriously happy. I was at the stables every chance I could get.” *     

Walter started writing The Black Stallion when he was in High School and Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. When the book was completed and published in 1941, he was an undergraduate at Columbia University. When he had finished school he went to work as a advertising copywriter in New York. Later he joined the United States Army and served in a tank with the Fourth Armored Division. During the war he met Rosemary Lutz whom he married. When he was discharged he and Rosemary decided to trasvel abroad. After that, the young Farley family purchased a horse farm in Earlville Pennsylvania. Once they had bought the farm they had four children Steve, Tim, Pamela, and Alice.Walter started writing other children books and the sequels to the Black Stallion. The Farley family also had a place in Florida where they would stay during part of the year. Walter Farley died of cancer in October 1989, after a television show came out called the Adventures of the Black Stallion.  He wrote 21 sequels to the The Black Stallion plus several other books. His son Steve helped the series.

I would give The Black Stallion ten stars out of ten because I really enjoyed it and had a great time reading it.

* Quote taken from here .

To learn more here are a  few sites I used.

http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Farley__Walter.html 

http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/authordetail.php?aut_id=192

http://www.theweeweb.co.uk/public/author_profile.php?id=710

Rabbits and Ducks

The ducklings are hiding between the duck and the wood pile.

  Baby bunnies and ducks at last! Our mother bunny had third litter and her first living litter of surviving babies. The mother rabbit is named Sherry after my Mom. We got Sherry the rabbit at the Livestock show last year she was somebody's show rabbit that didn't make the sale. The father rabbit named Buck after one of our best friends was given to us at the Livestock Show last year also. Sherry had five kits which are baby rabbits. Two of the kits passed away but three of them lived which is our record. We used pillow batting for the nesting box and some got wrapped around one of the babies’ foot and it cut the circulation off so it lost the use of its paw. It is very healthy and not in any pain but we are still going to take it to the vet so it won't get infected. The baby bunnies’ favorite food is greens from our garden.

 We have not been as blessed with the ducks as the rabbits. Two of our ducks had laid twenty eggs in a nest and were trying to hatch them but a snake got a few and some were rotten so only five eggs hatched. Three of the ducklings disappeared and we don't know what happened. The next night we put the two ducklings in the building. They survived a couple of days and learned how to swim but then 

they went missing. I think a turtle might have ate them but I'm not sure.

 

Pictures above are taken by Laura Ashley ,my sister; Pictures below are taken by Dad. 

 

Baby ducks are wet when they hatch.