RAE BROTHERS MAGAZINE SUMMER 2021
Table of contents 1— Letter from the editor 3— Percy’s Guide to Summer 4 — Maddie’s Guide to Summer 5 — Photo Wall 10 — Dive Into Summer Checklist 11 — Family Interviews 15 — Goat Mountain Essay 16 — Percy’s Guide to Scratching Poem 18 — Percy and Ernie: The Final Battle
From top left, clockwise: Waylon belaying Evan in Leavenworth; Waylon using stilts with an assist from Dad; Abel on the USS Blueback looking out of the periscope; Abel riding Woody at Jesika and Alan’s house; the Conlan and Rae kiddos sporting matching Patagonia hoodies; Waylon blowing out his birthday candles on his 8th birthday; and Waylon playing his new drum set!
From top left, going clockwise: Waylon practicing glacier travel techniques at Goat Mountain; Abel learning to glissade at Goat Mountain; Waylon cleaning the route in Leavenworth; Abel riding an electric scooter in Portland; Waylon lulling Percy to sleep with his peanut butter base drum; Percy getting some loving from Waylon; and Abel enjoying a pandan waffle in Portland.
From top left, going clockwise: Abel climbing in Leavenworth; Waylon brushing his teeth and being sassy somewhere on the road; Waylon and Alison climbing Theater of Shadows in City of Rocks; prickly pear flower in City of Rocks; sunset from camp in City of Rocks; and Waylon showing off Banana, one of our hens.
From top left, going clockwise: Abel cleaning at Breadloaves in City of Rocks; heading to a great bouldering site in Leavenworth; Alison and Mom enjoying sunset from our City of Rocks campsite; Alison and Waylon climbing Theater of Shadows in City of Rocks; Abel carefully dissecting a prickly pear; Abel and Mom at the top of the fourth and final pitch of Theater of Shadows in City of Rocks and Abel shooting a pellet gun at Grandma Debbi’s house.
From top left, going clockwise: Mom and Abel on Fruit Pie in City of Rocks; Abel on a free hanging rappel in City of Rocks; Waylon bouldering in Leavenworth; Waylon using a pellet gun at Grandma Debbi’s; Waylon riding Penny (a mule!) at Jesika and Alan’s house; sunset from camp at COR and Waylon on the free hanging rappel off of Theater of Shadows.
DIVE INTO SUMMER CHECKLIST
Play in the sprinkler
July 1st-September 1st Complete our checklist of fun summertime activities and you’ll be entered to win a custom, one of a kind, screen printed tote bag with the Rae Brothers Magazine logo! To be entered to win send a photo of your completed checklist to abelfrederickrae@gmail.com no later than Sept. 1st. *for those of you who want custom apparel, send us your clothing items and we’ll screen print them for you, free of charge!
Watch sunrise or sunset
Go for a walk
Eat any meal outside
Read outside
Free square *fill in with your favorite
eat a popsicle!
summertime activity!
Go swimming
Make dinner outside
Walk by the water
Family interview questions Interview subject—Grandma Debbi Interviewer—Abel Rae 1. Did you have pets when you were a kid? If so, what pets did you have? Yes, I had horses and dogs. The horses’ names were Tony and Burp. My brother Maurice said when a the Mama horse burped Burp was born! That is how we named him. I also had a dog named Kipper and one named Sparky. Kipper was a brown, wiry dog. He wasn’t the cutest dog around but he was really friendly! My dogs went everywhere with me. 2. Did you ever miss a lot of school? If so, why? Nope! I did wreck a snowmobile and hurt my foot and couldn’t go to PE for awhile. My Mom, who was a nurse, thought it was just sprained and made me wear a snowmobile boot to school for awhile. It was terrible! I flunked PE that year. 3. Did you like school? I liked seeing my friends at school but would have rather been riding my horse. 4. What was your favorite subject in school, why was it your favorite? Science was my favorite subject in school. I liked looking at and fixing things. We got to dissect animals, like frogs, and put them back together. I was really interested in how things worked! 5. What activities did you enjoy as a kid and why? I liked swimming, boating, sledding, riding horses and snowmobiling. Pretty much all outside stuff. We lived near a river and my friend’s dad gave us a rowboat! We spent a lot of time on the water in that rowboat! 6. Tell me about your brothers and sisters. I am the youngest of 5 kids! I have an older sister; her name is Marcelle. She is six years older than me. We didn’t get along when were young. We shared a bedroom and one time she put a string across the room and told me not to cross it! (Interviewers note- I wonder who got the door!!!). Marcelle and I are good friends now. She is an artist and a retired schoolteacher. My brother Bob passed away last year, he liked horses. I have his mule; his name is Hollywood. He is a large, red mule. My brother Maurice lives in Palm Springs, California. He is retired. He used to work for the CIA and he speaks nine languages. He was the head of the Language Institute for the state of California! Finally, my brother Dennis loved hotrods cars and was a logger (like Bob). Dennis also passed, but when he was alive, he was so happy and laughed all the time. He was great. 7. What is your favorite holiday and why? My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving because it’s all about family, gathering, cooking and spending time together.
8. What is your favorite food? I really like Mexican food. I like burritos, chalupas, fajitas and course the salsa! 9. What is your favorite prank that you have ever pulled? One year for Thanksgiving my Mom, your Great Grandma Cleo, came over for Thanksgiving. Before dinner started your Aunt Jesika told Grandma she was really hungry! In fact, she was so hungry that she was going to eat one of the plants. She grabbed spoon and started eating the soil out of one of the potted poinsettias on the table! Grandma Cleo was beside herself and hollered at Jesika to stop eating the dirt! Unbeknownst to Grandma Cleo we had filled the pot with chocolate pudding and crushed Oreos and topped it off with a fake poinsettia to trick her. It worked! 10. What is your favorite prank that has been pulled on you? It wasn’t exactly a prank, but it was kind of annoying. I’d spent the whole day cleaning the house. When I wasn’t paying attention, the girls moved a whole bunch of furniture outside so they could make commercials! I had to clean the house again.
Family interview questions Interview subject- Ian Rae Interviewer- Abel Rae 1. Did you have pets when you were a kid? If so, what pets did you have? I had a dog named Lisa. She was a full-sized collie. She was pretty old when I was a kid and was completely blind and deaf. Somehow, she still caught rabbits! When I was in middle school, we had a miniature schnauzer named Bridget. In high school we had two miniature schnauzers named Poco and Oso. Poco was a boy and he was my favorite. He died when he was a few years old, he got into the compost. Oso was kind of reserved and not sure about people. We also had gerbils. They weren’t as much fun to play with as dogs, but they were very entertaining to watch and build things for! 2. Did you ever miss a lot of school? If so, why? Nope, I don’t remember ever missing much school. 3. Did you like school? I liked elementary school. I didn’t really like middle school or high school. The classes were boring and about stuff I wasn’t interested in. Plus, there was other stuff I was more excited about doing. 4. What was your favorite subject in school, why was it your favorite? In middle school I had shop class with Mr. Ball. He was funny, he let us use tools and he trusted us to do the things he taught us to do. The class was a combination of wood and metal working. I also really liked my English teacher in high school, her name was Ms. Little. She encouraged us to read ‘banned’ books, for example the Handmaids Tale. She wanted to know what we thought about the books we read. Mr. Dicus was my ceramics teacher in high school, I really liked that class as well. 5. What activities did you enjoy as a kid and why? I read a lot. I liked to build stuff with Legos and I worked in my Dad’s shop. One of my favorite things to do was to take stuff apart and try to put it back together. In high school I liked to play role playing games. I also built a lot of World War II model airplanes. 6. Tell me about your brothers and sisters. I have one sister, Maria, she is about four years younger than me. When we were little, we played together, probably in large part because there weren’t a lot of other kids around to play with! We had a lot of forts around the property that we played in; it was a lot of fun! In high school we grew interested in different things and didn’t spend as much time together, but spent a lot of time together when we were both out of high school.
7. What is your favorite holiday and why? Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s all about food! You don’t get distracted by presents or anything else. I like the simplicity of it. 8. What is your favorite food? That’s a hard one! I like to experiment with food. In general, I really like Southeast Asian food, more specifically Vietnamese and Thai. 9. What is your favorite prank that you have ever pulled? When I was about 10 years old, we were remodeling our house and found a mummified mouse inside of one of the walls. We put it in a baby food jar and gave it to Aunt Kate for Christmas. Kate squealed when she opened it. (Interviewers note- I wonder if she still has it???) 10. What is your favorite prank that has been pulled on you? In high school my friend Simon had a package of beef jerky, the ones that look like sticks. He offered me one. It was crunchy and weird and then I realized he’d put dog treats in the package to trick people!
Goat Mountain by Abel Rae I was originally going to write about paddling the Skagit River but the weather wasn’t looking great for an overnight trip. So, we came up with two options. A day trip to paddle the Skagit or a day trip to Goat Mountain. After some discussion we decided on Goat Mountain. This is my story about that day. I am sitting in our car and Waylon is beside. My parents are in the front seat. We pull up to the Goat Mountain Trailhead and unload. We immediately get our gear out of the car, strapping our ice axes onto our packs and putting on our gaiters. The trail starts with switchbacks. After a few switchbacks the road below disappears. After hiking for about an hour, we came to a good spot for a snack. There noticed a small, dark cave. As soon as we finished our snacks my dad suggested we explore the cave! We got out our headlamps and ventured in. To enter we had to walk over some hardpacked snow, it was a little tricky. When we got in the cave it was damp, cold and claustrophobic. The ground was rock with a thin layer of damp earth. I noticed a small tunnel leading away from us. I looked down the tunnel and saw a narrow crack in the rock, and after that some more tunnel. I still don’t know where that tunnel goes, and I probably never will, because we didn’t have the right equipment to venture in further. When we finally reached snow level, I was surprised how hard it was to travel over the snow. I had to kick footholds into the firm snow. Eventually we reached a nice spot for lunch with a great view. After having lunch, we roped up. This means that the four of us are all tied into the rope, at safe intervals. We travel as a rope team because if one of us falls into a crevasse the others can stop them from falling very fall. I should mention that on this trip we were not in danger of falling into any crevasses, rather we learned how to travel safely as a team! We continued traveling on the snow, practicing catching each other when we fell (which we did intentionally!) Next, we climbed to the top of a hill and practiced catching each other when we fell on a steep slope. This was challenging and fun, and even funny. While there we also set up a t-trench, which is basically a ‘T’ cut into the snow with an ice ax and a picket set into the snow, attached to a draw and the rope. The fun wasn’t over yet! We got to practice glissading, which is sliding down a hill, in the snow, on your butt with an ice axe in your hands! So much fun. We practiced this repeatedly, practicing stopping and slowing down. We learned a lot of new skills and had so much fun at Goat Mountain, I can’t wait to head back to the mountains again.
PROLOGUE Six years ago—A bolt of lightning split the stormy sky of Cliggeria, illuminating a fiery red dog. Her cloak billowed behind her in the midnight winds. You could tell from her face that she was not here to admire the scenery. Not that you would want to. This part of Cliggeria was not exactly picturesque, with its tall, rugged peaks, intimidating forests, and flat barren grasslands. No, she was waiting for something to happen, and something did happen. A bolt of lightning split the silence, yet again, illuminating a cat in all black. Black boots, black pants, black jacket, black everything. Even his fur was black. “Angus, you have information for me I trust,” said the dog. “Yes Maddie,” said Angus, reaching into the pocket of his cloak. He withdrew a tattered piece of paper and without fanfare said, “Here it is.” Maddie took it, unrolling it carefully. On it was written: Danger is here, help is coming, fire and lightning will rise.
CHAPTER ONE The Rise of the Dreadnought Armada Percy, Ernie, and Maddie stood in the command bridge of the Resolute, observing the fleet that had risen from Creatio. “What do you mean the Dreadnought Armada has risen again?” inquired Percy. “What I mean is that this is the second Dreadnought Armada. The first was retired shortly after you and Ernie were born. This Dreadnought Armada is better than the last,” explained Maddie. “But, who is it for?” questioned Ernie. “The two of you,” replied Maddie.
CHAPTER TWO The Army “The next thing I want to show you is the Resistance Army. Follow me,” said Maddie. A few minutes later Percy, Ernie, and Maddie were standing on a metal balcony eighty feet about the floor of a massive metal room. Percy, Ernie, and Maddie were looking at row after row of siege machines, tanks, armored vehicles and more! On the other side of the room were thousands of columns of troopers. The troopers
all wore and carried different types of armor and weaponry. With one exception. Every trooper wore a shoulder plate emblazed with a symbol. The symbol was two crossed rifles with a paw in the middle. “What is this?” asked Percy. “This Percy, is the Resistance Army,” replied Maddie.
CHAPTER THREE The Resistance Navy “Next, I will show you the Resistance Navy.” She gestured for them to follow her, leading them to a large room with wrap around windows. “That,” said Maddie, pointing at the ships that had risen out of Creatio, “is the Resistance Navy.” “What are those?” asked Percy, pointing at two massive destroyers. “Those ships are the Devastator and the Conqueror,” explained Maddie. “The Devastator is your flagship, Percy, and the Conqueror is yours, Ernie. The Devastator is more powerful but slower, while the Conqueror has less firepower but is faster. The Conqueror is better for pursuing enemies and the Devastator is better for planetary bombardment and large-scale space battle.” Ernie’s eyes were wide in awe, while Percy was rubbing his paws together in excitement, ready to board his new flagship.
CHAPTER FOUR The Bloodline of Battle “I have one more question,” said Percy. “Yes,” replied Angus. “Why did you choose Ernie and I? I’m sure that there are animals who are better fighters than us.” “To properly answer that question I need to tell you a little bit of history,” said Angus. Almost five hundred years ago humans invaded our galaxy. Before the humans invaded the galaxy the animals didn’t know what combat was. My great, great and then some Grand-animals created a rebellion.” Percy interrupted and said, “That doesn’t answer my question.” “Alright,” said Angus, “The truth is, I am your father.” “This is the best day ever!” exclaimed Percy, jumping into the air.
CHAPTER FIVE Assault on Doomdor The Devastator and the Conqueror were orbiting the planet Doomdor. “Commander Percy, Doomdor has been blockaded,” reported Admiral Blue. “Roger that,” said Percy. Percy ordered a full Resistance garrison with artillery and vehicle support to assault Doomdor. Column after column of Rebel stormtroopers marched forward. Rebel snipers destroyed Ultimate Order targets with extreme precision. The Storm Troopers heavy weapons ripped through the Ultimate Order troops. After defeating the Ultimate Order guards the Rebel stormtroopers lived up to their named and stormed the Ultimate Order’s base.
CHAPTER Six The Final Battle After the battle on Doomdor, the Resistance still had to defend Cliggeria from the Ultimate Order. A billion, billion Resistance stormtroopers and their allies marched into battle against the Ultimate Order. The sound of machine gun fire, the crack of shotguns, the bang of grenades and the boom of rockets filled the battlefields. It had been 24 hours since the battle had begun. Percy and Ernie were in paw to hand combat with Emperor Scalene, the emperor of the Ultimate Order. Percy and Ernie fired tranquilizer darts in unison and Emperor Scalene crumpled to the ground. Immediately, the Ultimate Order troopers began to flee. The Resistance had won both the battle and the war. For now!