OK guys how are you doing? This Covid-19 stuff messed up this year, bigtime. I have to be homeschooled most of my 7th grade year, possibly all of it. But, I get to spend more time with my family. I do not know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

My family and I have been going out to my camp to swim and go boating. We also see my cousins, aunts, uncles, and my Papa. We also go to my Grandma and Grandpa’s once in a while. We planted fish in a pond there and due to the extreme weather, some of them may have died, but when we do go there we sometimes fish and this one time my mom took my paddle because she and my sisters were in a canoe and I was in my kayak. Anyways, she took my paddle and I had to use my fishing rod to get back to shore to get a different paddle. So, when I got a different paddle I chased them down and she put my paddle on the edge of my kayak and pushed! This caused me to flip over. Let me tell you something. Never try to swim with sweatpants, a T-shirt, shoes, and a cotton sweatshirt. The sweatshirt sucked up some water which made it hard to swim. I eventually got back to the edge of the pond. I stood up and glared at my mother who was still in the canoe guiding my kayak to shore. My grandma gave me a T-shirt, sweatpants, and a dry pair of socks and shoes. But now I smelled like pond water, nasty smell by the way, and then later that night I took a shower.

We have also been going to my Papa’s camp lately. We mainly swim and we also have a raft. We usually push people off. The last one standing is “King of the Raft.” Sometimes when it rains or when we have a “lazy day” we watch TV or play games and stuff.

Pet checkup time: I don’t know if you know but my other guinea pig Lady died. She stopped moving her back legs and she died in my mother’s arms. We looked for other guinea pigs to pair with Skippy and we finally found one. We drove for like 2-3 hours to pick her up. I’m not going to tell you the name of the shelter, but in the cage, they only had a water bottle and food. The food was mixed stuff that is not really recommended because most guinea pigs will only eat the stuff they like out of it. The biggest thing I noticed was that they had no hide out for the guinea pig so it looked stressed and scared because the cage didn’t have any spot for shat or a roof over her head. The guinea pig we picked, her name was S’mores and we kept it S’mores because she has a coat of S’mores coloring. I know right? Very creative of me.

My cat Mia is still sassy and whenever you yell or something near her she might scratch or bite you. Lilly, our other cat, is getting less tolerant with children as she ages. My mother disagrees with this though, but whenever you try to pet her (sometimes) she might try to tip your hand as a warning sign. Same with picking her up.

Hanna is our oldest dog and probably my favorite (can I have a favorite dog?). She loves to play fetch and stuff but she is tired lately and sleeping. My other dog, Buddy, is totally a brother to Hanna. He loves to bug her and takes her chew toys or her bed. Whenever you pet Hanna he comes up and pushes her aside and bugs you until you pet him.

And then there are the chickens. I don’t care for them very much. But I think they are doing ok.

I think I am going to end this article with a HUGE shout out for all of those essential workers out there! Thank you for helping our community and thank you to people who are helping the community! Stay strong everyone!

Editor’s note: Hunter Vedder is going to be in 7th grade this year. Hunter loves to read, write and fish.