50 States & Many Quarters

A new division of balancethecat has been made!
Learn about the 50 states through collecting quarters!
Go visit the blog now!

Suggestions?

What do you guys want us to write about? Send your recommendations to abohanan63@gmail.com or comment down below! 

I'm thinking of separating this blog into separate blogs so we can be more organized and focus on one topic. One blog might be called 50 States and Many Quarters. It will be about quarter collecting and I will write about the state! It might be interesting! 

Another section of the blog might be a Literature section but I need a creative and relevant title suggestion, any ideas? 

A third section might be a blog about French, because I want to learn a little. :)

If you have a specific blog topic please comment below!

P.S. Balance Is Essence News will stay and this blog will be used to post articles unrelated to the other sections!

P.P.S. HAPPY EARTH DAY :) 

Please comment your ideas below!

Chapter 2.

Chapter 2

By: Meowda

Edited by: thecat

A boy with long red hair was practicing his sword on a clearing in front of his house, in the human village of Canis. His name is Lux. “Lux? It’s time to hunt!” shouted the hunter, Robert Margin.

 “Dad, I just turned fifteen yesterday. Can I go hunting by myself today?” Lux asked while tying his scabbard and his a-hand-and-a-half sword on the left side of his waist.

“Mr. Margin, you’d better not let the little boy go by himself. Can I go with him?” Selena Carisona, a girl with long blond hair and dark green eyes said.

“Hey, Selena! Don’t call me little when you are only six months older than me!” Lux protested.

Then Ana Carisona shouted, “Selena! It’s time to weave! Come over here!”

 “Yeah, Selena. Go weaving! This is what girls need to do.” Laughed Lux.

“Oh shut up, Lux!”

Selena cried, “Mom! I hate making clothes and doing boring chores. Can I please go hunting? I’m pretty good at archery. I promise I won’t get hurt.”

“Okay, but just this once!”

“Thanks mom!” Selena smiled happily.

 Then Mr. Margin said, “Selena, don’t forget the dagger skill I taught you yesterday, and you also need to help me take care of this hasty boy.”

 “Hasty boy, Lux. By the way, I need to get my bow, arrows, and daggers from my house.”

When the two teens were armed and ready to go, Mr. Robert admonished them once more and said, “Remember not to cross the red line!”

“Yes, dad!” Replied Lux. Lux and Selena ran happily into the forest.

The human village of Canis is surrounded by a huge, dangerous forest filled with vicious magical creatures. It was said that a long time ago, Sai the spirit of all casted a spell that kept all magical creatures out of a circular red line, which surrounded Canis to protect the villagers. Inside the red line, there’s only normal animals like deer and rabbits. The legend also said that Sai built a temple in the forest, but no one knew what its position because it was outside of the red line. Canis is a small village with a population of 30 people. Villagers mostly hunted for living. And here goes Lux and Selena!

“Hush, Lux. I spotted a deer over there. I’ll shoot it with my excellent skills. If it still had the energy to escape, you go and kill it with your sword.” said Selena in a low voice.

“Don’t try to brag about your skill, Selena. You’re skills are okay, and I can shoot too.” “Shut up, Lux. My hunting plan starts now.”

Suddenly, the ground trembled, and the deer ran away with fear.

“What’s going on?” Lux asked with surprise.

The ground’s shaking became stronger, and four tall trees behind them were slashed away by a giant paw, revealing a huge human-looking beast.

 “Kill! Destroy! Blood! I can’t stop thinking about these words after the king did the stupid experiment on me!” The beast said, with a mouth full of fangs.

Selena shot an arrow straight at his head, but the arrow bounced off harmlessly.

Selena shouted to Lux with dread, “I think we’d better run.”

“You’re totally right.” Lux cried back as they ran deep into the forest.

They turned left and right to get rid of the chasing monster. However, the fat monster was very fast, and they spotted the red line right in front of them.

Selena stopped and cried desperately, “What do we do now? The big monster is catching up!”

 “What can we do? Run straight forward!”

“But…” Not waiting for her to finish her sentence, Lux grabbed her hand and dragged her forward.

“Lux, we’re forbidden to cross the red line!”

“But we don’t have a choice!”

“Then think of a way to go back without the monster chasing us!”

“I have no idea! By the way, let’s turn right here.” They argued as they continuously ran deep into the forest.

Suddenly, they heard a howl and saw a gigantic wolf with long fangs on a branch of a big tree staring at them. The fangs shined with electricity around it.

“That’s a magical wolf! I told you not to cross the red line, Lux. Now, what do we do?” Selena cried even more desperately.

However, Lux said with a smile, “I’ve got an idea! Stop running, and when I count to one, we jump to the side.”

“Really, Lux! You…”

“Three…”

The wolf howled with hunger. The human-beast was getting closer slashing away trees which blocked his way.

 “Two…”

The electrical wolf was ready to jump down, and the monster behind was ready to stroke.

“One!”

 Lux and Selena both jumped to the side of the path, and the monster clashed with the wolf. The electrical fangs stabbed deep into the monster’s shoulder, and the giant paw stroke deep into the wolf’s stomach. However, the two beasts didn’t die. The wolf rapidly jumped off from the monster, and the monster stumbled backward. Instantly, two arrows hissed through the air and hit both of the beasts on their wounds. Only Selena the great archer could shoot two accurate arrows together. She shot more arrows at them. Then Lux pulled out his long sword and stabbed the wolf on the back. Bluish blood flew out of the beast. After killing the wolf, Lux also jumped and stabbed the human-beast deep into his wound.

“Finally! Let’s go back.” said Lux who was gasping quickly.

“But how? I don’t know which direction the village is. I think we are lost.”

“One dilemma after another. Now you decide which way.”

“Okay. I think…the best choice is to turn left.” Selena said with hesitation.

They jogged for a while after turning left, and then they found themselves surrounded by four giant electrical wolves. Lux said with a wry smile, “Great idea, Selena!” Suddenly, a wolf jumped and slashed Selena down. Just as Lux was trying to protect Selena, another wolf jumped towards him and put him down as well. When he was trying to endure the pain, he saw the two other wolves gathering around Selena opening their electrical mouths, ready to have lunch. Rage grew inside him. Even though Lux always quarreled with her, he could not bear to see Selena his only friend, being eaten. “I want power.” he thought with anger and aspiration. Suddenly, a deep voice echoed in his mind, “I can give you power.” Then he blacked out for a few seconds.

When Lux was conscious again, he found himself standing with his sword in his hand. Around him, four dead wolves lied in puddles of blue blood. His sword had blood all over it as if it was dipped into blue ink. Selena was staring at him with surprise and fear. “Did I do this?” Lux asked with wonder. “You began to glow. You threw off the wolf on you. Then you pulled out your sword and slayed all the wolves with lightning speed and incredible strength. At that time, your eyes looked as cold as ice. Then you poked my arm, and both of our wounds were healed.” Selena explained. “That was unbelievable. Lux, how did you…” A blazing fireball suddenly landed between them, and threw them high into the sky. When they dropped hardly on the ground and stood up, an elf with brown hair, in empire armor was sneering at them with a blazing fireball floating in his hand.        

Chapter One.

Chapter One.

According to the well-known legend, the land Mashironia was once ruled by spirits and shadows. Humans, beasts, dwarfs, elves, and many other creatures struggled to live in depression and darkness. In the year 0 which is known as the great beginning, a spirit of fortune and prophecy defeated Malum the shadow of chaos and division after a long battle. The spirit then created light, happiness, and fortune for all the creatures in the land. The spirit’s name is Sai, and he was known as the spirit of all. In addition, the great spirit built many grand temples, and the temples were for Sai’s prophecies which were always true and inevitable. But after all the temples were finished, all the spirits and shadows in the land just simply disappeared. No one knew where they went.

Many years later, humans got the throne. In December 31st 2999, the oldest prophecy of the great spirit was newly discovered in the remains of the great temple Maiestas in December 31st 2999. One part of the prophecy said that one human who will be born on January of the year 3000 would be the ruler of all. Other parts of the prophecy were ruined and illegible. Subjects of the empire who knew the prophecy were all hoping that the evil emperor Domanuct would be overthrown. However, the emperor heard about the prophecy, and ordered all his men to make sure that no child remained. The massacre lasted for a year, until the emperor was finally satisfied that all the infants of the prophecy were dead, but what he didn’t know was that five lucky ones survived.

In the entrance-forbidden dark forest near the human village of Canis, three savage beasts were chasing a hunter who’s right shoulder was bleeding. There was no moon that night. The hunter was running tiredly with his bow in his hand and his quarrel on his back with only three arrows left. His long a-hand-and-a-half sword was swaying in its scabbard. He was running too fast to stop on the cliff at the end of the forest. He dropped down. As he was thinking that he was going to die, his body touched the water with a splash. When he was trying to swim to the surface of the water, he noticed something glowing at the bottom of the water. He curiously swam down, and the hunter found out the glowing figure was a wailing baby. He promptly grabbed the baby, but he too, began to glow. The warm light then became a golden bubble, and the hunter and the baby were carried out of the water and they were floating in the air back to the hunter’s house. The hunter’s wound on his shoulder also miraculously healed!

The hunter’s wife was walking back and forth worriedly in front of the hunter's house, she was too stunned to talk when she saw her husband descending from the sky in a bubble, holding a baby in his arms. When the bubble touched the grassy ground, it popped and splashed golden liquid all over the front lawn. “Oh, Robert! Is... is that magic?” Robert Margin explained all the things he experienced as he was hunting to his wife Kathleen. “Oh my goodness! That's unbelievable! Then what do you want to do with the magical baby?” Kathleen asked. “We are going to adopt him.” “Okay. Sometimes I do think about having another child.” Kathleen thought about both of her sons’ deaths because of the evil empire army. “But he needs a name!” The hunter said with a smile, “He already has one! His name is Lux, which means light.”

The next morning, the hunter started to tell others about his experience the previous day, but no one believed him. Then one of their neighbors Ana Carisona said. “Even though I don’t believe you, you adopted a child right? Let me see!” “Sure!” The hunter said. So Ana walked with the hunter into his house while carrying her baby, Selena. As Robert, Kathleen, and Ana were watching the babies playing together, Coran the blacksmith rushed into the house. He said in a very deep and quiet voice “The emperor’s men are coming! The emperor ordered his men to kill all the infants! Hide them immediately!” Robert hurriedly hid the babies under a pile of clothes in the kitchen cupboard. A moment later, two armed men kicked open the front door. “I believe there are babies in this home. Do a search!” A fierce looking soldier opened the cupboard and threw the pile of clothes onto the ground. Ana and Kathleen covered their mouths in fear, but there was nothing there! After a few more minutes of searching, the two soldiers finally left. Momentarily, the kitchen cupboard shined so brightly that everyone inside the house had to close their eyes. When they had opened their eyes again, Lux and Selena were both sitting safely inside the cupboard!


First story series! Meow.

Editor.

Author

Happy poem in your pocket day! You can check out previous posts. There are poems I made a while back.

The Cat and the Overdue Book
The Cat and the Bee
The First Day of School, a Poem
I Love Rain

Have fun reading the poems!

How do you guys think about these signatures?

Point of View: The Gold Rush

The Gold Rush

Written by: Meowda, Edited by: thecat     

     Hello, I’m Lowell; I will tell you all about my adventure going to California to seek for gold. The story all started when my mom received breaking news when we were farming casually on a foggy spring morning. "What? What did you just say? Mom, are you sure there's someone named James Marshall who found gold in a river in California?" "Yes, I am sure. It was written in today's newspaper! I don't think I am that old and blind to misread tin into gold! Come here, my boy, and read the headline printed in an extremely large font!"

     

     I ran into my mom's room and found my sister Kate and my brother Carter staring at the newspaper which said "James Marshall discovered GOLD IN CALIFORNIA!" Suddenly, a golden idea jumped into my mind. "We can start packing up AND head towards California the Golden State to find gold, so we can be wealthy millionaires and move away from this poor agricultural town. Although the journey will be long, it’s worth a try!" My mom, sister, and brother all agreed unanimously. Even my whiny baby sister, Maria, giggled happily in my mom's arms.

       

Some of our neighbors agreed to go with us excitedly, so we had a group of twelve undertaking this adventure. The group included my family, Uncle Thomas, Brendon who was 20, Loran the widow, Bill, May, and their children, James and Lucy. As we were packing for the long journey, Uncle Thomas said he would prepare the wagons, cattle, and oxen. We decided to depart the next morning. Since it would take around six months to arrive in California, we started in spring, after all the snow melted, so that we would not encounter the deadly coldness or avalanches of the mountains. When everything was prepared, I was told to go to bed, but excitement prohibited me to sleep, until I was exhausted of my golden waking dreams.

      

The next morning came rapidly like lighting. As soon as we had a nourishing breakfast, we left home full of vigor and started to walk with the wagon. As we were walking, the animals murmured as the wagons pounded on the rocky trail.

We finally reached the mountain after a week; Mom told me that she is so cold, she feels like she is going to turn into a big block of ice, and May's two-year-old daughter Lucy’s crying was much quieter than before.

Just as the animals toiled the wagons up onto the mountaintop, May let out a shrill and hysterical cry, and Bill had tears running down from his eyes as he told us that Lucy died from hypothermia. After two days of dejected silence, Mom passed away in her sleep from an unknown virus. After we left the coldest part of the Mountain trail one week later, my siblings and I had already cried away all of our tears. "Why is life so unfair? Why did Mom have to be the one who died from the deadly disease? We need to find gold in California, so that Mom did not die in vain." I shouted in my heart with great determination.

      

     One night, we were all sleeping in the wagons except Uncle Thomas who was on watch. Suddenly a loud noise of a gun broke the night's silence and pulled me out of my sad dream. In a state of confusion, I heard my uncle let out a fierce cry, "Bandits!" I woke my brother, grabbed a gun, and jumped out of the wagon.

     There, I saw five figures with rifles surrounding us. I noticed that others in our groups were awake too, and I started aiming at one of the figures. With a glimpse from my left eye, I saw Uncle Thomas firing at one of the bandits, and with a small scream a bandit fell onto the ground. I fired as well, wounding another bandit. However, with a "bang" Bill's stomach burst out with blood. Desperately, May cried, "Bill!" Because of the cry, I failed to notice that my one-year-old sister Maria accidentally fell from the wagon. As fast as an arrow, my sister sprinted toward Maria and protected the baby with her own body while the rifle of the bandits fired; with my sister's death, Carter shouted out with wrath as he shot down a bandit, Thomas and Brendon did the same.  The good news, we defeated the bandits, but unfortunately, we lost Bill and Kate.

       

     An uneventful month passed in depression. With the food and water we took from the bandits, our wagons still had a fair amount of supplies. However, we were once again fulfilled with sadness after another horrid night.

     Brendon was on watch that night, and the loudest scream I had ever heard echoed in the canyon we camped in. When I promptly hopped out of the wagon, I saw several gray beasts that were standing on Brendon's corpse and tearing his flesh with their fangs. That was the most horrible thing I had ever seen. "Wolves!" I cried. Thomas fired a bullet towards one of the sinister beasts, and the wolves withdrew from the dead body with their glowing yellow eyes staring at us. May shrieked that she would not tolerate anyone else dying as she pulled out a rifle recklessly. May pulled the trigger without noticing, and she died unluckily in a shooting accident. This made James shout with rage, and the terrible sound of hate was even louder than Brendon's scream. At the same time when May died, Thomas aimed at another wolf, but the wolf jumped on his right leg at lightning speed and clawed deep into his right leg. Then, two more wolves clashed on Thomas as he was shouting in pain, and the weight of the beasts pushed him down into the ground while the other wolves jumped on Thomas. The rifle in his hand dropped as the beasts stabbed their fangs in Thomas's body. Suddenly, the back of the camp grew brighter when James rushed back from the front of the camp with several torches in his hand. He let out a penetrating cry and threw all the torches at the wolves. The wolves finally escaped with their furs burning. All the events happened instantly, so I had failed to react. When I finally found out what had happened, there were already three dead bodies lying on the ground.

       

     During the next few months, everyone in our five-person group sank into deadly silence except for my sister Maria. Everyone was regretting on going on this journey, but we could not give up because we had already left home for three months. I was also regretting that I had not been able to help with the wolves attacking. I should have done something. Something else tightened my heart as well, our food and water supply grew less and less, and we were traveling into a desert. We also needed to bear the devastating heat during daytime and the extreme coldness at night. Most of our animals died, so we ate their meat.

   However, one day I found out that we only had one pitcher of water left. Loran the widow said that the last bottle was for the us, but two days later as we were walking slowly, ready to faint, Loran fell onto the hot desert ground. This is the eighth death of this journey.

     The ninth death came soon when James ate one of our baby cows infected with a viral disease. Now only Carter, Maria, and I were left. Just as thirst struck us again and again, an oasis came into sight. Thank goodness!

     We got plenty of food and water from the provident oasis, so the last three remaining people of our group survived the sandy desert. After another month's traveling, we saw a sign which said that we were not far from California. During the last month of our journey, we met generous Indian tribes as well as wicked Indian tribes. In addition, we encountered poisonous snakes. Luckily we survived all the misfortunes, and arrived in a small town. There were about 100 people in the city, and a nice man told us that there wasn’t any more gold left in the rivers, so we could try to blow up a mountain.

    

     With his advice, we bought some dynamite and planted the explosives at the bottom of a mountain. We stood on a higher level watching and waiting for it to explode. "Finally!" I thought. "Our efforts are going to be paid, and with the support of my brother and little sister, I can still live despite my mom and Kate's death."           

    However, Maria accidentally rolled down the hill. Just as my brother rolled down immediately trying to protect Maria, the dynamite exploded.

    It was the worst catastrophe ever. I jumped down the hill with tears filling my eyes and rushed into the big hole in the mountain, but Carter and Maria were nowhere to be found. I was too stunned, and I felt like there was nothing else left for me in the world. My knees dropped on the ground, and I crashed my fists on the wall of the hole as hard as I could. The pain on my knees and fists felt like nothing compared to the loss of my whole family.  All of a sudden, the dirt and gravel on the wall of the hole fell down, revealing a massive block of gold that ceased my tears.

       "Oh my goodness! I only get a block of gold when everything else is gone? What am I going to do with the gold now? Enjoy being wealthy by myself? That's not possible."

I need to know what to do with the gold valued at one billion dollars. Will you please tell me what to do that will make me happy, because I am still mourning for my dead family members?

Comment below what you think he should do!

Letters From a Slave Girl: Feelings and review

This is my review and feelings about the book Letters from a Slave Girl. The reason why I post this today because I am editing a story today and don't have to write something original. Sorry! 

By the way: the word "dumb" also can mean a person who can't speak mainly because of deafness. Weird huh? I didn't know this before. 

Also, there may also be two more stories posted my other members of this blog tomorrow too :). 

Tomorrow, I will start reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett and write my feelings of the book as I read. Yay!

Letters from a Slave Girl

By: Mary E. Lyons.

Publisher: Simon Pulse

What does lancet mean?

a small broad two edged surgical knife

Haha Harriet says that she has never seen anyone get better after the doctor finished his bleeding cure. I wonder why...

Why would someone put silver dollars on someone's eyes to keep them closed? It's not like you're going to see then again after they are buried.

Too bad Harriet's master Margaret Horniblow  died. She seemed like a nice lady, she  taught Harriet to read and  spell and how to stitch fine clothing. I hope Harriet gets to be free.

Wow! Harriet's family is very crafty. She can stitch clothing, and her dad is a fine carpenter.

Wow, her grandma is a good cook! I wonder what if Harriet's mom was crafty like the other three, but she's dead.

I can't believe Harriet only knew she was a slave until she was six. Shouldn't her parents have told her earlier?

What's a pound cake?

rich cake containing a pound of ingredients

"It stuck like pine tar to the rolling pin." Nice simile!

What's a pony glass of sugar?

140 milliliters of sugar

Someone asked Gran to borrow $300 ! I don't think she will get it back.

Harriet might get free but I don't think so. Even though her master was really nice, I think her master will give her to a relative.

I think Harriet is getting her hopes too high.

The day has come and I was right! Nobody became free. I think it's funny how Harriet's new master is Doctor Norcom and he was the one that gave Harriet's old master the bleeding cure.

The  Norcoms are mean to Harriet. They don't let her write so she has to secretly write letters.

I noticed that before she moved in with the Norcoms, she had the full date (10 July, 1825) but now, she only has the month and year! (September, 1825).  I wonder why she doesn't know the date.

Oh no! Harriet's father died recently.

What's a jawbone?

an attempt to persuade or pressure by force of someone’s authority

Harriet had a baby, I think she is too young, even though she wants freedom.

Harriet runs away and leaves her children behind. I think it's kind of selfish but she I'd planning to get the children's father to buy their children.

Hooray, Harriet's children are sold to their father. Harriet switches to a new hiding place in Gran's house. Her children haven't seen her yet but I do wonder how she switched her hiding place without being seen.

Harriet wrote a letter to Dr. Norcom saying that she is in the free states. Hire clever! I don't think Norcom will ever look in Gran's house. He will probably keep on searching on the free states.

Oh no! Ever since Samuel, father of Harriet's children left, things have changed. He got married! He cheated on her. I wonder if the children will be free. Harriet's brother, John is Samuel's slave.

Louisa is brought back to New York by Samuel. I wonder if Harriet will ever see Louisa again.

I can't believe Harriet never visited her grandmother after she left Edenton. It's really sad how Gran never was able to join Harriet, her children, and John up in the north before she died.

I don’t understand why John and Joseph left to Australia forever. I mean at least bring Louisa and Harriet along. Harriet was very nice to her children and she has been alone for a very long time. At least she still has Louisa.

Oh no! Harriet died and she is buried next to her brother in Cambridge.

Setting

The story takes place in Edenton, North Carolina. It takes place between 1825-1897. In the beginning, Harriet lives in the Norcom plantation but she eat escapes and lives in her grandmother's home. Towards the end if her life, she lived in the north around Boston and New York.

Main characters

I think that the main characters are Harriet and Gran. I sympathize Harriet because she had to live in the hole of Gran's home for seven years. She couldn't get any exercise and she couldn't talk to her children. She also lost both of her parents at a very young age.

I think the antagonist is Dr. Norcom because he is Harriet's owner. If he caught Harriet, he'd probably hurt her and Gran.

Harriet is the protagonist because she was a hero to many people. When she moved to the North, she started an abolitionist movement. Even though her life wasn't very good in the beginning, she never took revenge, but instead she helped others who were in need like Gran.

One of the major decision that Harriet had to make was running away with a chance of never seeing her children again. I think that the her decision was very heroic because she risked her life just so her children could have freedom. If I were Harriet, I wouldn't have escaped because I would be too scared.

This novel relates to the civil war because it's mainly about a girl running away from slavery. You can probably tell that it has ties with the civil war if you only read the cover of the book.

I think this novel is a realistic  representation if the civil war because the civil war was mainly about slavery. Even though it doesn't talk about fighting, it shows what happens as a result of the civil war. The only thing I didn't really like about this novel was that towards the end of the book, it stopped showing letters and it just became a third person point of view like a history book.

If you want to contribute to the blog or have any suggestions, please comment down below, or email me at abohanan63@gmail.com :)

Bye!

-thecat

How to make a C&C cage for your guinea pig!

Because most cages for pets sold at the pet store are too small, I decided to make a cage for my guinea pig!

Materials you will need:

- wired grids (make sure the squares on the grid are no larger than 1.5 inches or your guinea pig may choke

I found a good deal here. The grids are 14"x14" and each square is roughly 1.5"
- coroplast (you can buy it at a sign shop, just go to google maps and type in "sign shops near [your city]

-zip ties [optional] (to make the cage stronger and less flimsy) [I bought a 15 pack at CVS for $3.00]

-tape (preferably packaging tape) to form the shape and support the coroplast
Here is the site I used to make the cage shown above.
http://guineapigcages.com/
The room on the left of the cage was just something I added by taking apart my guinea pig's old cage.
You can search for video tutorials on youtube.

I suggest the website because the videos are too long.

By the way, if you don't know what scoring is, it just means to cut halfway down. Make sure to not cut all the way!

It costed me around $45 to make a cage that's around eight square feet!
More pictures!

P.S. My guinea pig doesn't really have a name, so I call her "Cat Pig."

If you would like to help me out and contribute to Balance is Essence News, please comment below or email me at abohanan63@gmail.com

-thecat

Zoku Popsicles!

As the weather gets warmer, it's time to start making popsicles! Visit my Zoku Popsicles blog here to read all about the Zoku Popsicle maker. It only has two posts, but I will soon start making new popsicles again! :)