Ahh, so busy!  I've been off kilter these last few months.  Today more than others.  I'm so hyper and oddly happy.

Well, mostly happy.  Every silver lining has a cloud!

Speech and Debate, great class I'm taking through VHSG.  An equally great online group for homeschooled kids.  There are a lot of classes that make life easier for homeschooling parents. ;P  My mom doesn't know Japanese, but my sister loves the language.  She can learn it through VHSG thanks to Sazuki Sensei.

I'm falling a bit off of my track.

I've got two wonderful teachers and a great class for Speech and Debate.  My only problem is writing speeches.  Why couldn't I be skilled in writing?  Haha, I'm getting better!  I did find out that I have a gift of completing impromptu speeches.  No preparation and little time to think is when I'm at my best.  Just jumping off of the figurative diving board and making sure I'm in perfect position for a beautiful dive, is my way of learning and having fun.

I've got a nice speech outline due on Apologetics in Faith this Thursday.  It's pretty good.  I'm afraid it won't be the greatest, but I am trying my hardest.  I will master speech writing and delivering by the end of this semester!

More things happening in my life.  GYC meeting was two weeks ago.  It was fun!  I got to speak my thoughts on texting and driving (scary!), something Teens in the Driver Seat are working on.  Check that out here: http://www.t-driver.com/

We're going vacationing to Padre Island soon!  Yes, we studied a bit in the summer so we could have this week off.  We always go vacationing while everyone else is in school.  Homeschooling has some major perks.  Ahh, I can't wait!  It will be the first beach I've seen in Texas.  That's pretty bad, I've lived here all my life (most of it anyway) and I've never been to any of it's beaches!

Speaking of beaches, Tybee Island in Georgia was beautiful.  (This happened a while back, but I haven't updated my blog.)  The reason I went to Georgia was even more beautiful.  I spent one week building, fixing, and landscaping a house!  With 270 of us we fixed 49 houses in the low income area of Savannah Georgia.  It was amazing!

I got to lay concrete for the first time in my life, it was very hard work, but very fun in all.  I got a lot closer with my church youth group.  They're all awesome.

Today I made a pretty origami star out of dollar bills.  Great birthday gift.  I'll post a picture of it and other origami projects of mine in a few days.

The Traveling Student,

Izzy Ricochet

FOOD!!!!!

Haha!  The only thing on my mind today.  This morning my sister and I made a bunch of cheese quesadillas.  For lunch we're going to be making funnel cakes.  Hehehe, we didn't forget the actual lunch.  We're going healthy since the desert is filled with fat and sugar.  Greens mixture of spinach, romaine, cilantro, red kale, and tango.  YUM!

The dressing is olive oil and lemon juice.  It's not going to be the best, but we're out of anything to make real salad dressing. :P  After that we're having brown rice with chicken and then finally the funel cake!!!

Here's the recipe.  Very easy.  I've also used this batter to make pancakes.

• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Garnish:

• Powdered sugar with a sift to sprinkle it on

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
2. Mix until smooth.
3. Pour about a cup of batter through a funnel into a couple inches of very hot oil.
4. Cook each side for about 45 seconds.  Until slightly golden brown.
5. Put on a plate and sift powdered sugar on top.

YUMMY!!!

Now to go start cooking. ;)  Hope you love funnel cakes as much as I do!

Bon appetit!

Izzy Ricochet

Ever stared death in the face?

I have.

I actually have stared at multiple "deaths" multiple times a day.  They're tiny, red, and they've got an evil stinger.

Yes, I'm talking about fire ants.  Red imported Fire Ants, Solenopsis invicta to be exact.

These little guys (uh girls) originated from Argentina.  They made their way to Texas and other southern states via the port of Mobile, Alabama.  If only they had stayed in Argentina, I would have been a much safer, much happier person. =P

Most ant queens lay between 800 and 1,500 eggs in a DAY!  A day!  That is a huge amount of ants.  And get this, fire ants usually have more than one queen.  Wow!  Just when you thought this couldn't get any worse, the ant eggs hatch within two weeks of being laid and each ant lives for about a month.  So very scary.

I had to beg and plead my mom not to make me wear thick socks and hiking boots everytime I went to play Ninja in the yard with my little sister.

My mom wouldn't be this protective if I weren't deathly allergic to their stings.  Yes, my life can get harder. =P  If enough of their acidic venom gets injected into my body I'm going to have a terrible allergic reaction called anaphylaxis.  Google it. =P  The main thing is, I can die from a few stings. O_O

This time of year is always the worst.  There are fire ants EVERYWHERE in Texas and most southern states.  That makes my life easier.  I can hardly walk to the garage without seeing a giant fire ant hill.  They build large ant hills in shaded spots and sunny spots.  That makes any spot in your yard a prime place to build a deadly ant hill.  Living either in the middle of your grass, or right up next to your home.  That sure makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

These ant stings are much worse than most, they nip you twice.  Once to grab on with their mandibles, the second time to inject their stinger into your flesh.

Their venom is a mixture of acid.  I'm not going to go into all the details or you would probably run away from this place from sheer horror at how nerdy I can be. =P  I will tell you that it burns like fire.  Hence the name "Fire Ant".

Some properties of their venom is actually antibiotic, which is quiet odd.  Scientists are just starting to experiment with it to see if it has any healing properties.  -sigh- I'll have to stay far away from them. XD

Even if you aren't allergic to the stings, being bitten isn't pleasant.  Bits can leads to swelling, dizziness, vomiting, infection, and in my case death. O_O

These little bugs are pretty vicious as individuals, try thinking of a couple dozen of their hills laying about.  Just ready for an unsuspecting shoe to step on them.  That's hundreds of thousands of fiery ants ready to eat you alive.  That is Texas in this crazy change of season.

My announcement.  I have a fire ant jar!!!  After that load of information on how dangerous fire ants are, I tell you that I'm keeping them in a nice big jar right outside my house. ^_^  Hehehe.

Don't worry about me, I've got Epi-pens, which are injections that prevent anaphylaxis.  They don't prevent it forever though, that's why I have to get to a hospital as soon as possible.  Then they have to monitor me for even more time.  You can see why I'm so careful.

After that (hopefully) informative and interesting blog post I hope you have a wonderful time staying away from fire ants!  If you don't live in any of the states that have fire ants then I hope you just had a fun time listening to me ramble. =D

Until next time!

The Wondering Student,

Izzy Ricochet

This is taken from Motivationalist, Tamara Lowe.  I heard it on Facebook and absolutely love it.  Here's the link if you want to hear her speak it: http://wewalkwithjesus.org/?p=840  Tamara has a nice way of bouncing phrases just perfectly.


To be a survivor in this amazing race
with a need for speed you need God's grace.


And if you're desperate like housewives
watching days of our lives,
you can't cope without hope
and that's not on a soap.


If you're lookin' to Oprah or Dr. Phil
you can shop nonstop or pop a pill.
But the void won't fill and the pain won't kill
till you love the one that hung on the hill.


Kicking back in your lazy boy easy chair
watching who want's to be a millionaire.


Na, you're not gonna find it there.


No American idol or counsel tribal
has a final answer that'll satisfy ya.


CSI ain't got a clue,
SVU don't know what to do.
Not the ER or OC,
nothin on a CD, TV, DVD or MP3
can save you and me.


CNN's got no good news,
here's a headline, you must choose.


It's not a simple life Paris Hilton,
it's treadin on thin ice, living in sin.


You can be an apprentice for Donald Trump
or eat Fear Factor fast food from a dump.
You can be a heavy hitter or Wheel of Fortune winner,
a Fox News news spin spinner
or a flat out sinner.


But you better check this life that your livin
and make sure your sins are forgiven.


I bet ya 50 cent Elvis done came and went.
And eventually, every Black Eyed Pea, Gwen Staffani, P-Diddy and Brittany;
every wanta be on MTV with they icy bling;
every Dixie chick that sings.


They all gonna see the King of Kings.


I don't care if you're J-Lo, Leno, or Bano.
One thing you gotta know,
some day you gonna die bro,
then where you gonna go?


Hey I'm not talkin some punk junk that's irrelevant
like you're grandma's church from way back when,
it's not some preacher feature on TBN
that ya need to be liken or listenin.


The real super star is Jesus Christ.
He's the way
He's truth
and the life.


One day He's gonna split the sky,
He's the brightest light
and the highest high.


So what I came to say
and what I'm tellin ya,
is don't buy that stupid stuff
they be sellin ya.


It's all designed to fill you head
and waist your space,
until you're dead.


Here's the bottom line of my rhyme;
Give your life to God while there's still time.

Dissection of a Rose

What I'll be doing:

Today I am going to take one of the roses from my rose garden and dissect it.  Obviously. :P  Roses are very pretty.  This dissection is purely for learning purposes.  So I'm sorry if it isn't very funny.

I will be taking pictures though.  I'll add those in. :)

Things being used:

My dissection kit

A rose

Paper

Glue

Pen

Digital Camera

*Exploring Creation with Botany


*Really old book, but it's nice for experiments such as these.

Procedure:

First I got together all my supplies. After doing so, I reviewed the guide on flowers and began to dissect. I took many pictures along the way. After all my picture taking **genius, I uploaded them to the computer and edited them with a paint program.

**I am no genius when taking pictures, I wish I were though. ;)

First Step: Look Over The Rose:

I studied the whole beauty of the rose at first. It's beautiful orange and yellow petals are very pretty.

The rose has about four inches of stem left. The peduncle or stalk of my rose is green. It has many tiny little immature thorns growing.
Right above the peduncle is a bump that is the receptacle.  The receptacle is part of the peduncle that holds the floral organs. The receptacle of my rose is a bit immature, but you can see it well in the picture.
Other than a few bruised petals, nothing is out of the ordinary.  Time to start cutting.

Second Step: Remove The Sepals

Right above the receptacle are five sepals. The sepals together are called the calyx of the flower. Of my rose's five sepals, two are partially missing. The sepals are the protection for the bud. In my fully bloomed rose the sepals are no longer needed. On some bloomed flowers they die and fall off, that is not the case with roses.

Third step: Removing the Petals

I choose a rose because they are very numerous this time of year and I have a good quantity of them growing in my garden. Sadly the rose is not the best of all flowers to use when dissecting. One of the main reasons will show when we continue to the next few steps.
The petals of the rose are very pretty, but there are many of them growing on this flower. When all the petals are together they are called the Corolla, but when they are separate they are each called petals. :)  Petals make up a Corolla, and a Corolla is made up of petals.
The colourful pattern of the petals alone with it's alluring scent are ways that the flower uses to lead bees and other pollinators to the middle. There the pollinator will find the nectar it wants and gets dusted with pollen. It's a symbiotic relationship. The pollinator gets the nectar it needs while the flower's pollen (which holds the sperm) gets taken to other flowers to reproduce.

All of these petals are very beautiful.

Forth step: The Stamen

The stamen are one of the most interesting parts of the flower. It is the 'male' part. The stamen has two parts, the stalk is the filament, and the little part at the top that makes pollen is the anther. Most flowers have only a few stamen, but the rose has a good number of them. That is another reason why roses are hard to dissect. The rose's stamen are very small, so pictures will be impossible.  I will find a few on the internet and upload them instead.

The pollen that carpets the anther contains the sperm. One half of what flowers need to reproduce. And now off to the other half.

Fifth step: The Carpel:

The Carpel is the entire female part. It consists of the stigmas, styles, ovary, and ovules.  The sticky top of the Carpel is called the stigma. It's sticky so that it catches any pollen that comes from the pollinator. When the pollinator brushes up against the stigma, the sticky residue catches the pollen.

The stigma is the top of the Carpel. It sits above a long tube called the style. The style is the passageway that allows the pollen to get into the ovary where all the ovules (eggs) are safely tucked away.

Sixth step: The Ovary and Ovules

Down down down we go, to the bottom of the Carpel. This is the bump I was talking about. That bump is the ovary. Every flower's ovary contains tiny egg like structures called ovules. The ovules of my rose are very hard to see, but at the end of my report I'll link a few photos of other flowers.

After cutting the ovary in half I found little bits of fuzz. Inside of the mass of fuzz are tiny little ovules. A few dozen.

Here is a picture I found on the internet.  It shows the parts of a rose, that I couldn't get on camera, very nicely.

Image: (c) http://www.backyardnature.net/fl_roses.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that concludes my report for my rose dissection. Hopefully I'll find an easier flower to do a report on for my Biology teacher. If you decide to do this then it will help you remember the parts of the flower so much better. It's fun too!
If you want an instructional flower dissection for your own use then email me at: IzzyRicochet@gmail.com

Tune in next time when I track down that evil cat that keeps eating my grass.

Adios for now!

The Wondering Student,

Izzy Ricochet

Since this blog is a place where I can post my fun thoughts, my main one is about GYC.  GYC stands for Garland Youth Council.

It's a council for all the youth of my city.  Pretty cool if you ask me.  My mom wants me to apply for a seat.  Only two seats are available.  Scary.  Most of the other guys and girls are nice.  But still scary.

I did get to sit in on a meeting last Tuesday.  That was very interesting.  I got there early which is something I am very happy about, because I got to introduce myself in short bits and not walk right in on a full meeting.

They were saying that the meeting wasn't an official meeting because Mrs. White forgot to post the Agenda to the website.  It still was a meeting though.

There was one other girl who was new and sitting in on the meeting.  I like her name, Logan. :)  She and her mom sat in on the meeting.  Maybe she and I will be the only ones to apply and we'll both get to be members together!  (Or maybe we'll both be better than any others that apply.)

We got a lecture on what to do when you see a blind person.  Jennifer Svelan from Division for Blind Services was very knowledgeable and quite fun.  I really loved it.  I also got her business card, which by the way is in braille! :D  I think I should learn braille as a fourth language.  I'm learning a bunch of languages anyway.

They also need volunteers for their activities.  For instance there is a competition coming up for different types of sports and a track race.  Ooh!  Something I would love to do!  I should volunteer.  They said they need young active people. :D  I'm young and active I can do.

Until next time!

The Wondering Student,

Izzy

Today is a very beautiful day to start a blog.  Sadly I will not be as active as many of my fellow blogging friends.  I am just too busy.

I have no rhyme or reason for this blog.  It's just somewhere where I can post my thoughts, poems, stories, experiments, lap reports, and all the things a crazy Biology loving student wants.

I would love for the main focus of my blog to be homeschooling.  That is something I find very dear to my heart.  My mother uses all her time to teach my little sister and I.  That is some dedication.

Right now I do not have anything interesting to post.  Unless you want to know what I had for lunch. ;)

I have nothing to say.

Yet....