Breaking news! This is The Daily Excitement's first DOUBLE DIGIT ISSUE!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 I am SO excited, and I think the best thing I can do is give some special shout- outs. So here they are. Special thanks to:

• Carol, who does the Daily Birder
• Hadley, who does poetry and sometimes games
• Tom, who sometimes does fun facts

Our team members who made this possible are:

• Evan, junior webmaster
• Laurel, creative consultant
• our lead reporter Elspeth

Gwendolyn, our Editor In Chief, witnessed an unexpected and sudden change in the weather, going from not- very- nice sunny weather( in my opinion) to rainy, cloudy weather that was perfect for hot choclate. Than,it went back to sunny weather( Sunday) and then rainy weather( Monday) ! And then misty on tuesday, and sunny on Wednesday!!! Sheesh, weather, make up your mind!

Here are Rosie and Gwendolyn during the rainy moment all geared up for their walk

" I DID IT! I GOT ALL THE PEICES OF THE TREASURE MAP!" ( see Sneaky Sasquatch review) I yelled as I showed my sister my new ranger outfit. I was VERY excited because with the ranger disguise, no one will bother you! I was very happy for a few days because I thought I had basically finished the game. But only for a few days. Because in a few days I found out that the same evil dude that tried to get rid of the park works at a business called R- corp, and has some secret plans to steal the park again in his office! I thought, " him again? I thought he was done! " So, now I'm working at R-corp. We'll see how that works out. MAJOR UPDATE: I was a mail clerk ( getting people mail) , then I was a helper( getting other people stuff) , then I was in tech support( helping people with their computers( usually their computer isn't plugged in) ) , then I was an executive ( going to meetings, signing paperwork, golfing with evil dude, sitting around doing nothing) . " I DID IT! I GOT THE SECRET PLANS FROM HIS OFFICE!" I yelled to my sister.

Dear Badger #

Dear Badger,

I really want to be more creative while I’m staying home. Do you have any ideas for good art projects I could do?

—Aspiring Artist

Dear Aspiring Artist,

Maybe you could paint a picture or you could see if you have any paper and try to make paper snowflakes. Oh, also it's never EVER not the season for paper snowflakes! Or you could get some sidewalk chalk and draw some things on sidewalks so the whole neighborhood is pretty and could enjoy your work. There's also crumpled paper art. You crumple up a piece of paper and then paint the crumples. It's a double bonus because you could also use the painted crumples on another piece of paper to make pretty patterns. And if you don't like what you make, you can just bury it in the yard!

Love,
Badger

Dear Badger,

I really miss visiting my Grandma. What nice thing could I do for her to make her feel better until I can see her again?

—Concerned Granddaughter

Dear Concerned Granddaughter,

Maybe you should look at Aspiring Artist's answer for ideas to make her something. Or you could have a FaceTime, Skype or Zoom call with her. You could bake something and mail it to your grandma. I suggest our digestives because they travel well!

Love,
Badger

What it is about: The Adventures of Nanny Piggins by RA Spratt, illustrated by Dan Santat is about a pig named Sarah who once lived at the circus, and her adventures with the three Green children. The Green children' s dad, Mr. Green, doesn't pay much attention to the children but doesn't agree with what Nanny Piggins does. He really only cares about money. The first few lines are, "Mr Green desperately needed to find a new nanny for his children. In the four weeks since their last nanny left, he found himself actually having to talk to them, provide them with meals and pay attention to them himself. All this just had to stop." Those first lines tell you that Mr Green definitely doesn't pay attention to his children when he doesn't have to and it tells you that it is going to be a very hilarious book.

What I like about it: Nanny Piggins is very funny and the children's meals after she arrives consist of three-course meals of chocolate, chocolate, more chocolate and occasionally cake. It's very funny and it's never nerve-wracking. When Nanny Piggins is in the most dire trouble, she just is able to slip out of it like magic because she tempts the person that is going to cause trouble to a slice of her cake--and she's the best cake maker in the world. There are six Nanny Piggins and I like that because there's always a new Nanny Piggins book to start on when you finish one!

The search for a good digestive biscuit recipe #

I love digestive biscuits, but when I try to bake some, often the recipe does not turn out the way I would like. So a little while ago, I decided to find a recipe that I did like. The first one and second ones that I tried turned out more like shortbread than a digestive. When I tried the third one, however, I really liked the flavor. The texture, however, was a little off. With a few modifications, like making the oats in the recipe into flour, the texture was perfect. And, as a bonus for all my hard work finding this recipe, I have enough digestives to last at least a few weeks.

—The head reporter

Creative Consultant (and mom) Laurel is here with Gwendolyn again and we are going to have another interview.

L: What book did you read this morning?

G: Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

L: Tell me what the story is about

G: The story is about a girl named Alice and she grows up and her grandfather tells her she needs to do something to make the world more beautiful. And she doesn't really know what that is yet and then at the end of the book she does what she's told.

At first Gwendolyn didn't want to reveal what happens in case it seemed like a spoiler, but I encouraged her to tell so that the second part of the interview would make sense

G: She's always loved lupines and so she orders a ton of lupine seeds and scatters them around

L: Does she just do it in her own yard?

G: No, she goes all around the countryside and around the town with pockets full of seeds

L: Does anything happen that year?

G: No but the next year, BAM, lupines are everywhere

L: And then every year after, what happens?

G: Every year after there are more and more lupines

L: We are looking at the cover of the book

G: I like seeing the little kitty!

L: The colors are so inviting. They welcome you in. Would you recommend that people read Miss Rumphius?

G: Definitely!

L: We were talking earlier and I was saying that I thought that Grandma Carol (aka our Daily Birder) was a modern-day Miss Rumphius. Why might I say that? What has Grandma been doing?

G: Grandma has been working on the bulkhead side [a public long, narrow planting strip across the street from our houses] planting flowers and plants

L: Why is that like Miss Rumphius?

G: Because Miss Rumphius also plants things. Her grandfather tells her to make the world more beautiful and that's what Grandma's doing.

L: What has she had to do first?

G: First she had to clear out ALL the bindweed and make sure the ivy couldn't get it. That's different from Miss Rumphius. Miss Rumphius just gets to throw seeds but Grandma has been working really hard every day!

L: Who gets to enjoy Grandma's work?

G: Everyone!

L: She is giving a gift not only to her own family or on her own land, she's doing something that everybody can enjoy

Here is an example of the way the planting strip looked originally:

This is a section that she has dug out and planted with hearty specimens that are up to the task of fighting bindweed, ivy and blackberries

Finally, here is a section that she improved last year in all of its abundance

Fun Facts #

from our co-reporters #

Jokes to laugh by! #

The best way to communicate with a fish is to drop them a line.

He bought a donkey because he thought he might get a kick out of it.

In the winter my dog wears his coat, but in the summer he wears his coat and pants.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

Energizer Bunny arrested -- charged with battery.

A skunk fell in the river and stank to the bottom.

From Grandpa Fred and Grandma Geri

The Daily Birder aka The Daily Ex-Sight-Ment #

A very special Daily Birder this week, as we have our first letter to the editor asking for bird identification!

Dear Daily Excitement,

We are writing for your help identifying some very cute birds we saw in Whiskey Woods a few days ago. They were very dark brown, and about the size and shape of a golf ball. They seemed to be unskilled at flying, so we think they might be fledglings. They looked like big bumble bees while they were clumsily flying among the ferns! See the attached poor quality photo. Do you think your bird expert staff member can help in identifying them? Thanks, and keep up the great work.

Best Wishes,

Matt & Sophia (two of the Grumpy Crumpets)

Dear Matt & Sophia

My guess, with guess being the operative word here, is that the bird you saw is a Pacific Wren. They are deep brown and active. If you saw newly fledged birds, the tail may not have grown in yet. The other probable bird is a Song Sparrow. A Song Sparrow is a rich brown color with a white breast densely streaked with brown. I can't tell for sure from the photo, but if you didn't see some white on the bird in your picture, I'd be pretty confident calling it a Pacific Wren. Pacific Wren is ALWAYS cool to see and have a marvelous song.

Carol