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Sam Left New York (Approximate Date)
Sam rode a train north to the Catskills. He also hitched rides into the Catskill Mountains. Sam also hitched a ride with a truck driver. The truck driver told him "I'll be back in the morning, if you want a ride home." Sam left his home because it was too crowded there. -
Sam's First Night (Approximate Date)
Sam was very cold, hungry, and scared. He caught some fish but couldn't start a fire. He also made a bed. -
Sam Meets Bill (Approximate Date)
The sun was so warm compared to the night that Sam had had. He climbed up a hill and sees a house. Sam ran and knocked on the door of the house. A man answered. Sam asked him if he would cook his fish for him. The man did. His name was Bill. Sam fell asleep in Bill's rocking chair. When he woke up, Bill taught him how to make a fire. -
Sam Goes To Delhi (Approximate Date)
Sam had three rides that took him to Delhi in the morning. By six that night, he still hadn't found anyone who had heard of the Gribley Farm. He slept on the schoolhouse porch and ate chocolate bars for supper. -
Sam Meets Miss Turner (Approximate Date)
Sam goes to the library and finds an old book about the Gribley Farm. Miss Turner was the librarian that helped Sam find the old books and maps. -
Been Working Since (Approximate Date)
He has been working since. He has worked really hard. -
Sam's House Is Done
Sam can stand in it, lie down in it, and there was room left over. On warm evenings, he would lie on his stomach and look out the door. -
Sam Started Making His Bed (Aproximate Date)
The book says "One morning I was at the edge of the meadow. I had cut down a small ash tree and was chopping it into lengths of about 18 inches each. This was the beginning of my bed that I was planning to work on after supper every night. -
Sam Meets The Strawberry Lady (Approximate Date)
When Sam hears the voice he is very startled. The book says, "Oh! Gosh! I said, Don't scare me like that. Say one word at a time until I get used to a human's voice. I must have looked frightened because she chuckled, smoothed down the front of her dress and whispered, Are you lost?" Sam also walks her home after they are done picking strawberries. We later learn that her name is Mrs.Thomas Fielder and she is 97. She ocassionally sees imaginary things. -
Sam Goes To The Library (Aproximate Date)
Sam gets some books on hawks and falcons. He also gets a haircut by Miss Turner. That night he didn't go back to his tree. He ate May apples. He also caught a trout. Sam also made a lean-to near some cliffs. -
Sam Gets Frightful (Approximate Date)
Sam had to climp up the cliff to get up to the duck hawks. Sam picked up the biggest of the nestling. The females are bigger than the males and are the falcons. When Sam was climbing back down the cliff, Frightful had dug her talons into his skin to brace herself. After Sam got down from the cliff he fell asleep beside Frightful. -
The Fire Warden Comes
Sam was at the edge of the meadow, when he sensed something wasn't right. Sam "was perfectly free and capable of settling down anywhere." He chose to go down to the gorge. On the way there, Sam had caught a rabbit in one of his figure-four traps. -
Sam Tries To Make Salt (Approximate Date)
Sam makes the salt at night. He knows that some of the forest would taste a lot better with some seasoning. -
Sam Meets The Baron Weasel (Approximate Date)
The Baron flew out of the small hole and jumped onto Sam. The weasel stands his ground and speaks without any words. Sam thinks he is a brave animal. It is also the starting of a harrassing friendship. -
Sam's Salt Idea Works (Approximate Date)
It's morning and he writes about how the can is dry and is thick with a black substance. -
Sam Does A Few Things
He finished his bed and decides to make a figure-four trap. -
Frighful's Learning
Frightful hops to Sam's fist. She can't fly yet but they're working on it. Frightful's wings have a one inch wingspan. Sam also digs a pit to catch the deer in. -
Sam Finishes His Pants (Approximate Date)
The book says, "Sometime in July I finished my pants. They fit well, and were the best-looking pants I had ever seen. I was terribly proud of them. -
Sam Meets Jessie Coon James (Approximate Date)
Frightful saw him first. The raccoon came headfirst into Sam and Frightful's private bath. When Sam would be digging for mussels at the stream "Jessie could find mussels where three men could not." -
Summer (Approximate Date)
The book says, " the summer is wonderful. There was food in abundance and I gathered it most of the morning, and stored it away in the afternoon. I could now see that my niches were not going to be big enough for the amount of food I would need for the winter, so I began burning out another tree." -
Sam Meets Bando
Sam heard a police siren from down the road. When he saw a man sleeping he thought he was an outlaw. Bando was actually a college English teacher who got lost in the Catskills and was not an outlaw. -
Bando And Sam Do Some Things Together
They create a clay container. Sam is almost done with his raft that he's working on. -
Bando Does Some Stuff
It's a very hot day and Sam can't believe that Bando is firing clay jars. Sam lets Bando meet the Baron Weasel. -
Bando Teaches Sam
Bando taught Sam to make willow whistles. They play the beautiful instruments until the moon comes up. -
Bando Leaves
Bando leaves and Sam is very lonely. He forgets about Frightful until she gives her call of love. -
September (Approximate Date)
The book says, "September blazed a trail into the mountains. First she burned the grasses. The grasses seeded and were harvested by the mice and the winds. Then she sent the squirrels and chipmunks running boldly through the forest, collecting and hiding nuts. Then she frosted the aspen leaves and left them sunshine yellow, Then she gathered the birds together in flocks, and the mountaintop was full of songs and twitterings and flashing wings. The birds were ready to move to the south." -
Sam Gets A Deer (Approximate Date)
Out of the deer that Sam got he made big square pockets for foood gathering. -
The Baron Weasel Looks Moldy
He's changing his mantle for winter. It's a very itchy process. He scratches a lot. -
Sam Rafts Out To The Creek
Sam rafted out into the creek to fish. He laid on his back because the fish weren't biting. Sam's line jerked and he sat up to pull, but he was too late. He had drifted into the bank where Bando had dug clay for the jam pots. Sam decided to build a fireplace of clay. -
Sam Starts Making His Chimney (Approximate Date)
Sam dragged the clay up to his tree. He stuffed the legs of his pants full of clay. The baron lept from Sam's pants to the cover of fern. -
Sam Gathers Nuts
Sam has been watching to see if the walnuts and hickory nuts are ripe. The squrrels were harvesting nuts, so Sam has to gather them. When Sam would get nuts he tethered Frightful and she would protect the nuts. -
Halloween
Sam has a Halloween party. He made piles of cracked nuts, smoked rabbit and crayfish. The food was an invitation for the animals to come to the party. -
Hunting Season Starts
Sam hears the very first gun shot and it frightens him and Frightful. -
Sam Goes Into Town (Approximate Date)
Sam was dressed in his deerskin suit when he went to town. He met a boy his age and called him Mr.Jacket. Sam told Mr.Jacket to come meet him at the Gribley Farm. -
Hunters Are Excellent Friends
"Cut off a steak and eat. Soak puffballs and cook with wild onions and carrots," is what Sam wrote down. He probably had a good dinner. -
The Snow Begins
It's the start of the huge snowstorm. -
Snowstorm
It's the very first snowstorm for Sam. He was pretty scared. -
Bando Comes
Last time that Bando came, he told Sam that he would come back for Christmas. Sam ran into him just as Bando was walking up the valley. Sam was so glad to see him that he gave Bando a hug. -
Dad Comes
Sam was so excited when he found his dad lying in a snowdrift. His dad was smiling and was filled with joy. Dad and Frightful didn't get along very well. -
Bando Leaves (Approximate Date)
The book says "Bando had to leave two or three days after Christmas. He had some papers to grade, and he started off reluctantly one morning, looking ver unhappy about the way of life he had chosen. -
Sam's Dad Leaves
Sam's dad promised Sam's mom that he would be back on New Years. Sam was very lonely after his dad left. -
Sam Took Frightful Outside
He wrote in his journal, "Today I took Frightful out to catch a rabbit. Frightful was frightened by a horned owl. -
Sam Is Malnurished (Approxiamte Date)
Sam's nose bled. When Frightful caught a rabbit Sam saw its liver and he craved liver. Sam wasn't getting enough vitamin C, and liver is rich in vitamin C. -
The End Of January
Around the end of January, Sam wasn't getting the vitamins he needed. He later figured out he was lacking Vitamin C. -
Sam Wants To Create A New Race
When Sam sees the deer, he wants to create a new race. -
Sam Finds Out Things About The Owls
Sam thinks the owls have eggs. There are a lot of owls flying around the mountain. -
Sam Finds Things
Sam found two eggs and they were warm in the cold snow. -
Sam Meets Matt
Matt is a reporter for the New York paper. He talks to Sam about the wild boy. -
Sam meets Aaron
Aaron was hiking along the top of the gorge and was humming tunes. Sam taught him the "cold water song." Aaron wrote songs and was from New York. He came to the Catskills for the Passover festivities. -
Matt Comes Back
Sam met Matt on Route 27. Sam taught Matt a lot of things over the time that Matt was there. -
Sam's Family Comes (Approxiamte Date)
Sam went down the mountain to meet his dad and saw his whole family. Sam's parents brought his brothers and sisters to live out there and Sam taught his family everything he knew about living in the forest.
