Chief Joseph

Becoming Chief
When Joseph became chief, it was because his father, Tu-eka-kas had died. Tu-eka-kas died in 1817. That’s when Joseph’s tribe made him chief. They also made Joseph’s brother, Ollokot chief. There were three other chiefs with them. When Joseph’s father told him to never sell his land Joseph said he wouldn’t. But, the Bluecoats later forced him to. Since he was now chief he had to get his tribe to move in 30 days or the Bluecoats would make them move. As they were moving to Idaho, they were attacked and Joseph was forced to fight in his first battle. Joseph won the battle against the Bluecoats. Chief Joseph was a true hero. He led fewer than three hundred warriors against two thousand soldiers. He had also taken his people almost two thousand miles and lost only one battle, thirty miles from freedom.

Moving To Idaho
Joseph was forced to move to Idaho, by General Howard. He told Joseph they had thirty days to move to the reservation in Idaho or he would force them to. The reason Howard was making them move was because all but four tribes had already given up their land and moved to reservations. Joseph refused to go because when his father was alive Joseph told him he would never sell their land. Before the Nez Percé could move, they had to gather up all of their cattle and horses so they could take them to the reservation. On the journey to Idaho, they had to cross a river Joseph was worried about. No one was lost to the river, but cattle drowned and some of their horses ran away. Since the Bluecoats had attacked them a few times, they had a spy in back to watch for them. Joseph’s tribe had won two battles against the Bluecoats. One battle was not against the same Bluecoats though. They had sent a message to the Bluecoats of Montana and while the Nez Percé were sleeping the Bluecoats attacked. The only battle Joseph ever lost was to General Howard who was the man that made Joseph move to Idaho.

Childhood
As a child, Joseph looked up to his father and wished that someday he would be a great chief just like him. Joseph’s father, Tu-eka-kas, led the smallest but richest band of Nez Percé Indians. Joseph helped his father raise cattle. He also helped raise horses. They owned Spotted Appaloosa Ponies. Spotted Appaloosa’s are the finest and fasted anywhere. They hunted for deer and elk. He also went with his father to hunt grizzly bear and mountain goat. He fished in the river by their campsite for salmon. His tribe would eat them fresh and save them for later. But the first feast of salmon was always the best. Joseph ended up being a great chief just like his father did, and had children of his own.

Wars
Joseph fought four wars, and three of them were on his way to Idaho. The reason for his first war was because he didn’t want to leave his land so on his way to Idaho the Bluecoats attacked them. After they crossed a river when Joseph went to look for the horses that ran away, three braves, that had seen their dad get killed by a settler, attacked the Bluecoats. They killed 18 Bluecoats, then returned to camp and convinced the others to sound the war drums, and get ready for battle. When Joseph got back he knew they had to stay and fight because the Bluecoats were coming soon. They won that battle and the next, but the third battle they had to surrender. When Joseph was looking at the people who had died, he saw his wife and kids; he also saw his brother and family. Joseph rode to the Bluecoats camp and gave General Howard his rifle. Then he turned his head toward the sky and said, “Hear me, my Chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.” Joseph won three of his four battles and the one he lost was on his way to Idaho.

Hunting
As a child and adult, Joseph would hunt and fish. He would fish in the river by his campsite for salmon. He would use a spear to fish for them. They would dry them and eat them fresh. They would hunt for deer using bows. And use the skin to make leather for moccasins and leggings. They would do the same thing with the elk they shot. The reason they used deer and elk skin is because it is so soft. They hunted mountain goats, and grizzly bears with spears. Joseph’s dad Tu-eka-kas taught Joseph how to fish and hunt. And after he was dead Joseph continued to do it.

Personal Narrative

Once while my dad, my sister, and I were salmon fishing, my sister, Molly, had a seal take her salmon from her pole. My dad was so mad because my sister was using the good pole with about $15 worth of gear on it that my dad didn’t want to lose. I have never seen a seal come that close to our boat in my life and I doubt my dad has either; this was a moment I won’t soon forget…

My sister was about to catch her very first salmon. She was still reeling it in when probably three feet from the boat a huge Harbor Seal came right up and grabbed the fish in its mouth.

My dad said, “Daniel quick grab the pole and reel as fast as you can!” So I did as I was told and my dad drove toward where the line was in the water. My sister was very mad because it took her fish, and she was screaming, “Go get it, go get it!” my dad said he was trying to stay above the seal so it would have to let go of the salmon to come up for air. On the line I could feel the seal coming up. When we saw it come up to breathe it still had the salmon in its mouth, but it was only up for about five seconds before it went down again.

After it surfaced about three more times, the seal released the fish and my dad grabbed the line and quickly pulled it into the boat. It wasn’t a very big fish but we kept it anyway. The seal had bitten a chunk out of the salmon’s throat and pulled the guts out. When Molly saw it she said, “Poor fishy.” My sister loves smoked salmon, so when we got home she asked my dad to smoke it for her. He did and Molly was very proud with her first salmon.

My sister has caught a lot more salmon now that she has spent the summer going salmon fishing with my dad and me. She has also had one of the biggest dogfish my dad has ever seen chase after her salmon. So I guess you could say she has caught a lot of different things while salmon fishing.

Rear Window Essay

The movie Rear Window was about a murder mystery that a man named, Jeff saw happening through his back window. This was interesting because Jeff had a broken leg and couldn’t get out of his apartment. I liked the way Alfred Hitchcock made this film exciting with the camera never leaving Jeff’s apartment. There are three ways I can describe how this film was intriguing.

I thought he made this film exciting because the man in the apartment had a broken leg and couldn’t leave his apartment. I thought this was interesting because the man was looking out of his window from being bored. He noticed one of his neighbors doing things that seemed suspicious to him. So he had to investigate, by calling his friends and having them help him.

It turned out that the man had actually murdered his wife, and Jeff was right about the whole thing. He had a friend that was a cop and he didn’t believe that it was a murder but at the end he was wrong. I thought this was interesting because a guy with a broken leg was looking out his window. He saw suspicious things like the man bringing knives and saws inside. He also saw him with a big crate that got taken off somewhere, and the man was getting packed to move. He eventually found out he had murdered his wife.

Another reason that I thought this was an interesting film was because at the end of the movie the man who had committed the murder found out that Jeff was watching him. The man later went over to Jeff’s apartment and tried to kill Jeff. The man had Jeff hanging out of the window and a bunch of people saw him and ran over in time to catch him before he fell to the ground. Later the man was arrested because he murdered his wife.

My favorite part of this movie was when Jeff’s girlfriend went into the man’s house to investigate. When the man came back he found the woman in his house and was very mad. That was my favorite part because I didn’t know if she was going to be killed or not, and it was exciting. I want to watch more Alfred Hitchcock films because I think he is a good director. I think his other films would be filled with action and suspense just like this one was. These are the reasons I thought this was an interesting film.

Claymation

Stop Frame Reflection Essay

I have just finished a stop frame animation project with my two partners, Tommy and Couran. It was about Juan Ponce De Leon. Who was an explorer who tried to find the fountain of youth and was unsuccessful. On his expedition he was shot by and Indian and died. This was a fun and difficult project, but it was worth doing. We also put it on You Tube for people all over the world to watch. This is the last part of my project; the project was very long and took a number of weeks.

The part of this project I thought was most fun was working with the clay and audio. I thought this was the most fun because we got to choose what we wanted our characters to look like and what we wanted them to say. We also added some music in the beginning and ending of our animation. That was also fun because the music kind of fitted the parts where we put it in. I liked watching the animation once it was done, because I thought we did an excellent job on the project and it makes me proud.

I thought the most difficult part of the project was trying to get all of the information about Juan into the animation. This was hard because our scenes weren’t very long and it was hard to talk about it in our audio part of the animation. But we did get most of the information we needed into the animation and it turned out better than I thought it would. Another thing that was difficult was getting all of our audio in the right place. The reason this was difficult was because we did our audio before our last scene. When we put the last scene in it moved the audio and we had to fix it.

The most important thing I learned while doing this project was to take your time and do a good job on every part of a project. I think if we had taken more time on our backgrounds, and done a better job on them it would have made our animation look a lot better. That is one thing I learned, and we I had done a better job on. The backgrounds we made were just slapped together so we would have more time for our animation, which made our animation look not as good as it could have.

Even though I am finished with my stop frame animation I still wish I could go back and do more on some parts of it. I did have fun on this project and I wish we could do another stop frame animation as a project because I liked it so much. But it was also very difficult and I would take more time on it if we did another one. I would choose to do it on something other than an explorer because it would be kind of boring if we did it again. Other than the backgrounds I thought we did really good on this project and if we do it again I will be sure to spend more time on them.

Coast Hike.

Last week our Adventure Ed. Class traveled to the Washington Coast for a five-day hike. There were many very fun and difficult things that happened on the trip. There were also some important things I learned while hiking on this trip. On thing that was hard to get used to was the food. We ate dehydrated food for five days straight, which was kind of weird. It was also hard to get used to sleeping on the ground in a two-person tent for five days. It felt very good to finally come home to a real bed.

The event that was the most fun for me was going swimming on the second day in the ocean and Cedar Creek. The reason I liked this the most was because I hadn’t had a shower in a while and it kind of cleaned me off, I think. It also got me awake after that long hike. It was also fun because it was so exiting jumping into the frigid cold-water wit the other guys. I was exhausted and sore from the hike and the swimming and warming up by the fire woke me up nicely. When I was washing my pot before we all swam I didn’t know when the other boys were going. It surprised me to look up and see everyone already in the water. I ran up to camp and stripped down to my underwear, then sprinted straight for the water. It was extremely cold but as I got knee high in the chilled, salt water Sam Lee tackled me and that got me used to the water quickly. It was a good thing Sam tackled me too because if he hadn’t of, I might not have gone in all the way.

The most difficult part of the trip was hiking in the rain. On the fourth morning I got up and it was still raining. I left my rain gear in my pack so it could get dried off before I had to put it on. We went down to the fire and the rain suddenly stopped. I left my gear in my pack because I didn’t think it would start again. We soon started hiking and we all hoped the rain wouldn’t start again. Not soon after the start of our march Mr. Sage spotted a Sea Lion sitting on the beach. It was cool to see one on land, and we saw that it had a bite mark on its flipper so we left it alone. About twenty minutes later it started raining again and I got soaked. The wind was behind us so we found a big rock to shield us from the rain while we got our raincoats and pants on. The reason I thought this was the hardest was because we all were freezing cold and soaking wet.

I learned that you always need to be prepared for the worst, and have enough warm dry clothes to last. The reason this would be important is because if you get wet and you don’t have extra clothes you will be stuck in cold wet clothes and be miserable the entire trip. You also need fire materials, to make a fire if it’s cold and windy. Another reason you would need fire is to cook food, boil water, or dry clothes. Those were the most important things I had on this trip. If I hadn’t had those things, this hike would have been one of the worst experiences of my life.

Even though there were a few things that were bad we all made it through and had a great time. I liked this trip more than the hike up Mount Pilchuck because it was longer and it taught us to be prepared for anything. This was a great adventure that I will never forget for the rest of my life. Sleeping in two person tents, eating dehydrated food, and hiking through the rain was all worth it to be able to go on a trip like this one. Hopefully when I get older I will go on that same hike and remember some of the things that happened to us on the hike in my 8th grade Adventure Education Class.

Climbing Mount Pilchuck

On the day we hiked up Mount Pilchuck we left school at 8:00 and took a very long bus ride to the mountain. We traveled across the ferryboat and got a snack while enjoying the sights on the water. Once we got close, the road started to get bumpy and we all went, “Ahh” because it sounded funny. We all were getting bored and started singing songs, I don’t really know who was the first to start singing. It was a good idea though. When the bus stopped everyone got all excited and then Mr. “B.” said, “We’ve only stopped to check in with the ranger.” Finally we arrived at our destination and began our adventure of climbing Mount Pilchuck.

We first had to walk a short gravel road up to the trail that lead to the top of Mount Pilchuck. As we were walking it looked very forest-like and I thought to myself, “this doesn’t look like the pictures I have seen.” But as we continued our hike up the mountain it started to get rocky and look more like the pictures. There were beautiful views at the spots where we stopped to rest. While at our stops some people ate food and talked and some people took pictures of the scenery. I could tell when we started to get close to the top because it started to get very rocky, with huge boulders all around us. Then it started to get steep and I could see the tip of the fire lookout tower. I couldn’t wait until we got to the top. As we climbed the rocks that the ladder to the lookout was on, all I wanted to do was eat.

Finally, we had reached the fire lookout tower and everyone was anxious to devour his or her snacks. I was one of the first into the tower and start munching. I talked to Zach, Jimmy, and Patrick about the hike up, and when we were going to go explore the mountaintop. When everyone was done eating we went out in search for the letterbox. We had found the stump that it was in before, but when Mr. “B.” came over there we couldn’t find the letterbox. We came to the conclusion that someone had stolen the letterbox. Don’t ask me why.

Later, Chris and I were climbing the cliffs at the top of the mountain, and on this one cliff Chris saw something and said, ”Hey Daniel, what’s that big crate thing?” That was when I saw it. I told Chris to stay there incase I needed help to get back up. I climbed over to the box that was sitting under a rock. It was huge, probably four feet long, a foot in width, and a foot high with a big gold lock on it. I yelled, “Chris you gotta come see this!” When he made it down to where I was he was speechless. He told me we had to show more people. He climbed back up and got Sam, Zach, and a few other people. When they got down to me we all tried to lift it, but none of us could. I imagined it was about 300 pounds. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do anything to get the crate out of there, so we had to leave it. Finally, it was time to make the long hike back down the mountain.

I was relieved at how much shorter the hike seemed because it was all downhill. We only stopped one time on the way down and Chris and I saw a monstrous rock that looked to be about fifteen feet high. We decided we would try to climb it for something to do. It was actually a lot easier than we thought it would be, and we climbed it a second time with Patrick. After we climbed the rock it was time to continue the hike down the mountain. The view was just as amazing as it was on the way up; it just didn’t last as long. As we got closer to the bottom it began to be more of a forest again. That’s how I knew we were getting close to the bus. Once we got down to the bottom I was happy to be done with the long hike, but I wished I were still on the mountain. This hike was a challenge that I felt was worth it every step of the way.

On this trip I learned that you need a lot of equipment to hike up a mountain. Not to mention a lot of food, because I was starving at the end of the hike. Also, many people found the letterbox, even though we didn’t, and I learned it’s important to leave something and write a small entry about how it was found. I will always remember this if I go hiking again. I also learned that you should take pictures of the nature and wildlife so you will always remember that specific hike. I feel proud f myself for finishing the hike, even though it was challenging at times. I learned that I have the determination it takes to do something like that and succeed in something I set my mind to.

I’m so glad I have taken this class because on this hike I have learned so much about having adventures in the wilderness. I wish I could take this class again in high school, because I love it so much. I know that as an adult I will go hiking and be prepared for the obstacles that I will face. Now that I look back on that adventure, I am glad I can say that was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.

Cougars and Wolves

Today is the battle! At 3:45 this afternoon is the kickoff the blood pouring battle between the Coupeville Wolves and the Langley Cougars. If we win today we will be on our way to another undefeated season. Even if we do win we will be far from there. Last game was a close call, we were lucky we got it together in the second half or it would have been a long game. Today should be different; we’ve gotten more practices on blocking and on extra points. Our starting offense is consists of Sam Lee at quarterback, Mason Shoudy at tail back, Avery Buechner at fullback, and Daniel Sage at slot back. On the line we have Sam Denka, Shane Ball, Seth Eckert, Tommy Mozingo, Matt Danner, Ammon Christenson, and Casey Andrade. We have a big offense I just hope we can get the job done. Last year when we played Coupeville we killed them. I can’t remember the final score but we beat them by at least 30 points. This year shouldn’t be much different but they might have new players. I already know they have one new one. But we can’t say what it will be like until it happens.

new blog

Enjoy my brand new blog, its daniel time.