Chapters 11 and 12

Chapter 11...Frightful Learns Her ABC's:

By now Frightful is starting to loose her down feathers and is learning how to fly. Frightful learns how to hunt. Sam ties a sack of meat to a rope and tosses it in the air for Frightful to catch. If Frightful catches it , he takes it away and tosses her a small peice of meat. Sam was afraid that if he let her eat the meat she catches, that she would turn wild and not hunt for him (That's what should happen). This whole time The Baron weasel was watching. Sam chased andplayed with him, while Frightful was busy eating her meat. Sam would take Frightful out to the meadow to spread her wings every day. She flew greater and greater heights. One day, Frightful had her very first live catch. It was a small sparrow. He took it away and gave her the lure.

Chapter 12...I Find A Real Live Man:

Sam meets Bando. Bando isn't the man's real name though, more like a nickname. Sam heard sirens and spotted him sleeping against a log. His immeadiate thought was an outsider. That's why he calls him Bando. Bando called Sam, Thoreau (not sure why). Sam and Bando became great friends. It turns out that Bando wasn't an outlaw but a lost, confused, College English teacher who got lost on a hike in the Catskills.
Bando helped carve some utensils and tools for Sam. He also made some type of whistle and showed Sam how to play. Bando spent the night. The next day he helped Sam finish his raft. He collected some natural clay from the bottom of lake and made some jars. He made some jam from some wild berries and kept it in his jars. Bando and Frightful tolerated each other. They didn't sound too fond of each other. He prefered to keep his distance from The Baron weasel. Either than that he made himself feel at home.

MY COMMENTS ON THESE CHAPTERS...

I think it is interesting how Sam taught Frightful to fly and hunt. I guess Frightful's wild instinct helped her hunt, but he still makes it sound too easy. I like Bando (if he was a real person). He seems friendly. I'm surprised he doesn't get along with the animals well, but that just may be because the animals can scense that he is fearful. I find it funny how Sam decided to name the weasel The Baron. It's kind of a weird name.
Questions I am thinking/wondering: Is it as easy as Sam makes it seem to train a falcon? What year does this story take place because wouldn't Bando have a cell phone on his hike? Why did Sam name the weasel The Baron istead of just Baron? That's all I'm thinking. Not much on these chapters.

Chapters 9 and 10

Chapter 9...I Learn To Season My Food:

Sam tries some techniques he's heard of to make salt. He boils some hickory sticks because they are supposed to leave a salty residue. He leaves it over night and wakes up to a bowl of black salt. The first thing he tries it on is his breakfast, frog legs (yuck!). It's a keeper. Sam starts to make salt compartments in the tree.
Sam also finished his bed a few days later. According to him it is quite comfy.

Chapter 10...How A Door Came To Me:

Sam learned to dry his spare food. He needs to be as resourceful as possible. Sam decided to dig a trap for a deer. He needed a door for his home to block out the evening breeze. One day he saw a shadow running towards the meadow and stumble and fall. He thought it was a deer, and without thinking, he ran out to meadow. No one was in sight and there lay in front of him was a dead deer. It wasn't his trap that killed it for he wasn't wuite finished with it, but a hunter. He quickly dragged the carcass out of sight before the hunter came for his prize.
Sam spent a long time getting the skin separated from the meat. It took many long days to tan it. Frightful ate as much deer meat as she could before she was stuffed. Sam was supplied with a bunch of venison steak (the deer meat). At night, Sam was awoken to a pip pop noise. It turned out they were earth worms coming out of the soil and the air bubbles from under the soil were poppig.

MY COMMENTS ON THESE CHAPTERS...

I am still not sure how Sam is so open to all these new things. Has he ever thought that this stuff could poison him or something? I could never kill a deer or watch one be killed. I am completely against hunting unless it's for survival (but I'm not a vegetarian). I probably wouldn't know how to prepare the meat and tan the hide, plus I'm to whimpish to do something like that to an animal. First off I wouldn't run away, but if I came across a deer killed by a hunter I would give it to some other animal who depends on it more for survival than I do because I could live without deer meet and hide--to an animal who would truely appreciate it. I hate bugs period. That is why I wouldn't last more than a few days in the wild. The worms would be the last you would see of me sleeping there.
Questions I am thinking/wondering: How can you be happy about a hunter killing an innocent animal minding its own business? Now that I think of it, does Sam have alot of bug bites? Does that black salt even taste the same as regular store bougth salt? Is it better?

Chapters 7 and 8

Chapter 7...The King's Provider:

Sam had his mine set on training a falcon to hunt for him. He waited by a stream patiently. He was there for hours. Finally, he was rewarded. He saw a falcon fly over to the edge of a cliff. That night Sam thought about how he was going to get the chicks up on the cliff. He decided he would climb the cliff the next day.
Sam climbed the cliff. He thought of turning around, but he was already so high up. he didn't dare look down. Finally Sam reached the top. There were three baby chicks covered in grey down feathers. The mother wasn't too pleased. She charged at him furiously, tearing his shoulder. Sam quickly grabbed one of the chicks and left. He decided to name her Frightful because it was frightening getting her.

Chapter 8...The First Man Who Was After Me:

Sam is shocked to find a man in a foresters uniform there. He thought he would immeadiatly turn him in if he found him, so Sam decided to sleep in the gorge down in the meadow. Someone must have seen Sam's fires and called the Forester. Sam decided not to light any fires until he left. He waited out the Forester. He makes bough bed for himself. So there he a Frightful stayed.

MY COMMENTS ON THESE CHAPTERS...

I know Sam wants a falcon for hunting, but honestly I don't find it fair for the animal. I mean Sam left his way of life on his own choice, but that never meant he could take another animal from its natural way of life. As much as I would like a wild animal, I just don't find it very fair for the animal. Wild animals like Frightful are meant to be free and wild, to do what they please, and learn the proper way for surviving. I think Sam was smart to wait out the Forester and not light any fires while he was there. I'm still shocked that he hasn't caught the forest on fire.
Questions I am thinking/wondering: How on earth is Sam going to teach Frightful to fly and to hunt beacause he can't really do any? Did Sam ever think how this would effect the falcon? Doesn't Sam ever get lonely? That's pretty much all I'm thinking right now. Not too much.

Chapters 5 and 6

Chapter 5...The Old, Old Tree:

Sam chose this old, old tree knowing that he didn't want to be seen and that this tree would be a good home hidden from people. He circled the tree, trying to figure out how it would be home. The branches were too high up and not right for a tree house. He thought of making a bark extention but then figured it would look too wierd. As he continued circling it, he saw it. Part of the tree's roots were sticking out, and the heart of the tree was alreay partly decayed.
Right then, Sam knew that that was going to be his home. He started chopping away the decayed wood. At first it was easy, until he got to where the tree was no longer decayed. He didn't plan that well those days. He would chop and chop until he was near starving but would then be too tired to go look for food. Finally, Sam got the tree to where he could stand in it and lay down without his feet sticking out (that must be one big, fat tree!).

Chapter 6...I Meet One Of My Own Kind:

Sam was getting used to be alone now. So used to, that when he heard another person's voice it scared him. He is shocked when he meets an old lady one day. He soon discovers that she comes up yearly before winter to pick strawberries from the strawberry bushes somewhere on the mountain. She asked Sam to help her. Sam was horrified as he watched her pick "his" strawberries. It was one of his main food sources and was supposed to be a big help during winter. Hardly any were left when she was done. Sam walked her home and was about to turn around when she asked him where he was going and that he should be heading home. She asked him where he lived, and in response said Delhi not wanting her to turn him in to the police if she found out he was a runnaway.
At Delhi, Sam decided to stop by at the library and visit that nice librarian he met early. He looked at some books on plants and falcons (he saw one while picking strawberries). He planned to tame one and train it to hunt for him. He took notes on a piece of paper and talked to the librarian. She was thrilled to hear that he found Gribley's Farm. Before he left she leaned over and whispered to him, "Sam, you need a haircut." Sam hadn't seen himself in a long time. Since he didn't have a pair of scissors to cut his own hair the librarian did for him. And according to him she did a fine job.

MY COMMENTS ON THESE CHAPTERS...

My opinion on these chapters is that he doesn't own anything on that mountain except what he either brought or made. I think he is forgetting that there are other people and things who also like some food from the land. I predict that Sam will become friends with a falcon but not beable to capture it or train it. I also predict that the strawberry lady might tell a few people and they tell a few people and eventually get around to Sam's father. I think it was smart of Sam to say he was going to Delhi and used his time wisely by going to the library to get some more information. Questions I am thinking/wondering: What tree in this world can be 6 feet in diameter?! (Sam mentioned that in chapter 5). Now that I think of it, what did or is Sam going to spend his $40 on? and Why did Sam think that those wild strawberries were his? I'm not sure if some of these questions will be answered in this book because they are more of a thought or looking type question I guess. I hope, though, that the book will answer my last question.

Chapters 3 and 4

Chapter 3...I Find Grigley's Farm:

Sam knew very little about his great-granfather's farm. All he knew was from the stories that his dad told him. He wondered how he would find it. He thought about the library. He went to the Delhi library to look around. The librarian offered for him to come inside until they opened. After he explained his situation, she was off looking for some old maps. Finally, she finds one with Gribley's farm on it. She draws him out a map and then Sam leaves just a few minutes after opening time.
Sam finds his great-grandfather's farm. But it is in ruins. He didn't understand how Gribley plowed the land. It wasn't flat, and trees and bushes were everwhere. All that was left of the foundation was some rocks in a huge square, where the house used to be. Sam was too hungry to explore just yet. Down by the river, he caught a big ol' catfish.


Chapter 4...I Find Many Useful Plants:

The next day when Sam woke up, he was hungry but the fish were'nt biting that day so he had to settle for some freshwater mussels. He mentions how he read in a book once, that you should watch what the animals eat because then that tells you what is and isn't edible. Raccoons were the best to watch because they had taste buds similar to ours. Sam decides he wants to explore his new home. He marks X's on his map where he finds food sources, like a hickory tree or an apple tree.
Sam didn't want to make an obvious house for he feared that someone will see him and want to take him home. So he searches for good place to make home that wasn't too visible. He looked down the meadow and saw a perfect, nice, big tree. He knew immeadiatly that that would be home. He wasn't sure how, but he would make it work.


MY COMMENTS ON THESE CHAPTERS...

So one of my first guesses was proven wrong. Now I know why he chose a tree and not a cabin. I still am not quite sure how on earth he managed to fit himself in a tree. It had to be one huge tree to live in. I don't think I could ever live in the wilderness. Not because I don't like nature, I love nature and it's beauty, but because I am a very picky eater and not big on trying new things. Plus I don't think I have enough smarts to live out on my own and live off the land.
Questions I am thinking/wondering: How can Sam be so open to eating all these plants? I mean animals have a different immune system and digestive system than us. They could probably eat things that would be like poison to us or vis versa. How Gribley's Farm end up on a map, aren't most farms not on maps? and lastly, Was it really as easy as Sam made it seem it was to find the farm? Like before, I hope some these questions can be answered in the future.

Chapters 1 and 2

Chapter 1...I Hole Up in a Snowstorm:

It is the first time Sam has been scared since 8 months when he ran away from home. It is wintertime and there has been a storm. He has been snowed in for two days. He lives inside a tree down in between its massive roots. He describes how the tree moans when its really cold out, all the way down to its roots. He has thought about going back to the city but reminded himself that there were to many people in one tiny appartment. So he stayed put. He mentioned how he has often dug in the snow, but that was from the top not the bottom.

Chapter 2...I Get Started on This Venture:

In chapter two you find out that Sam left New York in May.He has nothing but a penknife, a ball of cord, an ax, $40, and some flint and steel. He tells you about his first night on his own. The first time he fished, his first shelter, and his first night.
He made a fishing hook from two small branches and a string. The first fish, he lost. Finally he caught his first fish, it was a small trout. In the end he had 5 plump trout. His first shelter was made of branches, and clumps of needles. It lied against a big rock. His first night was one of his worse. It didn't take long for his shirt to be completely soaked. He couldn't start a fire that night, and he was hungry. He was right in the middle of a whippoorwill. He describes it as deafening. He was cold and miserable. He wanted to go back home, but that wouldn't prove anything. Sam wanted to show his dad that he was serious about moving out.
The next morning Sam goes exploring. He found a log cabin and went running down with his trout. The owner of the house, Bill, welcomed Sam in. He cooked his trout, let him sleep on the chair, and taught him how to make a fire. He offered Sam to stay, but sam resisted. He knew how to make a fire and thats all he needed (or so he thought).

MY COMMENT ON THESE CHAPTERS...

I think this will be a great book that I will enjoy. I predict that Sam won't find Gribley's Farm and so that's why he's living in a tree instead of a nice, warm, cozy cabin. Or another thought is that Sam needed a place to safely sleep and be warm while his house is in progress. Who knows?!?! I'll have to keep reading and find out.
Questions I am thinking/wondering: Why is Sam's father so okay with him living on his own in the woods? and What the mother think's of this?I hope the book will answer some of these questions.

Intro...

Sam Gribley is tired of living in a crowded New York City appartment, so he runs away to Catskill Mountain wilderness to forge a life of his own. With only a penknife, a ball of cord, an ax, $40, and some flint and steel, he must rely on his ingenuity and on the resources of the land to survive. And survive he does. This is Sam's fascinating account of his life in the wild and what he learns about the wilderness--and himself--in this process.