Shark Week, and Strawberries!!
Wednesday, July 1, 2020Daily Excitement Celebrates Its Own Shark Week #
Dear reader, if you are reading this, you are about to enter a world of wonder as you find out more about one of the world’s most endangered ( and definitely most feared) species: the shark. Prepare yourself! - Gwendolyn
A little reminder about sharks #
Ok. The ( common) description of a shark. Sharks are dangerous undersea fish known for its man- crushing bite.🚫Wrong! Let’s try another one. Sharks are an amazing undersea creature that would be protected, but they are dangerous.🚫One little flaw. Sharks are not dangerous if you just leave them alone. Sharks are an amazing and majestic fish that are in a lot of danger, so we should and sometimes do protect them. ✅CORRECT! THANK you. So before you dive into the wonderful world of sharks, remember this message. XOXOXO, Gwendolyn
The life of a shark #
Sharks start out as eggs usually, although some have live birth. However, this does not mean sharks are mammals. When they are born, most sharks have no parental care. They do not need it. They already know how to swim and hunt, so they don't care. Once they hatch, they swim off into the distance. Now that that's covered, let's talk about some different types of sharks. #1: The Whale shark. My sister's favorite shark is the largest fish on the planet, but funnily enough, these GIGANTIC sharks only eat plankton! #2: The Angel shark. Using probably the most bizarre way of catching fish, the Angel shark captures it' s prey by ' sleeping'. It' s body is camouflaged to look like the sea floor, and when fish swim past, thinking " FINALLY a place with no sharks!" , snap! It's over before they know it.
Dear Badger #
Dear Badger,
I am a huge fan of The Daily Excitement, I always look forward to reading the next issue, and your column is one of my favorite things about it! In fact, your column inspired me to try it myself, which is why I am writing to you today. Recently a friend has asked me to write for her online magazine ("Rockers For Life") and I agreed, so long as I could do an advice column. What advice can you offer to me as a fledgling advice-giver? How do you know the right things to say? Do you answer all of the people who write in looking for advice? What should I title my column? Aaaagh! So many questions! Thank you!
-- Advice Noob
Dear Advice Noob,
Welcome to the hilarious world of advice columns! First of all, it takes a long time to think of an answer and I still have one letter that I got when I first started the paper and I still haven't finished my reply because it stumped me. I like to count how many letters I have and usually I like to do half of that if there are more than two. But if there are one or two, I do both of them in a week. It's important to find out the difference between silly and serious letters, and what I like to do is read through the letter many times. If it sounds silly, it's usually silly and if it sounds serious it's usually serious. I often give both silly and serious replies to all kinds of letters but I am careful that I won't hurt anyone's feelings. As for a title, think of somethings sounds funny or cool that has the same first letter as your name does. You can also do your nickname plus an adjective. For example, my column first started out as Dear Brainy Badger but we later changed it to simply Dear Badger because we don't like focusing on words like "brainy" because it can mean "know-it-all" or could make the advice seekers not feel brainy for asking for help and we don't want that.
Good luck,
Badger
Dear Badger,
I’m a loyal reader of The Daily Excitement and I need your help. I’ve been taking your advice and burying things in my yard. So many things, in fact, that my yard is running out of space. There are still so many things that need to be buried but hardly any space left to bury them anymore. What can I do?
Signed,
Spaced Out in Everett
Dear Spaced Out in Everett,
You could try going to the park and burying the rest of the things there. Or you could ask another person if you can bury things in their yard. Or you could move to a house with a bigger yard! Or you could tear down your house and build a tiny house for you and use the rest of the yard for burying things.
Happy burying!
Badger
Eugenie Clark, Shark Lady #
I read Shark Lady: True Adventures of Eugenie Clark by Ann McGovern because it sounded like a really cool read and The Daily Excitement is unleashing its very first shark-focused issue so it seemed perfect!
When Eugenie was 9 years old, one Saturday her best friend had to go shopping with her mom and Eugenie had to go downtown with her own mom. Her mom saw that Eugenie was sad and said she could visit the aquarium and she would pick Eugenie up at lunch time. Eugenie was fascinated by all the fish. There was a big tank in the back with a shark in it. She liked to watch its graceful swimming and decided to swim with sharks one day. The rest of the book tells of how she made this dream come true.
Gwendolyn says, "I love that she understands that sharks don't want to hurt people. I don't think it was very easy to be a woman who wanted to be a diver back then so I admire her. She was really brave. I know I wouldn't have been able to go down so deep. I'm kind of scared of sharks even though I know they're not going hurt me and I admire her because she's not. One amazing thing is that once they were doing a dive and they were studying the Moses Sole and this is a part of the book that is not my favorite. The Moses Sole had this milky liquid that they think is poisonous and they were trying to see what happens if a shark eats the Moses Sole. I didn't like that they were testing it on sharks and that could result in sharks being killed and I didn't like that. They were studying it and a shark came up and they had hooked different types of fish, some dead and some alive, on a string and the Moses Sole was one of them and a shark came up. Eugenie was watching from above and it swam right toward the fish line but one of her divers was next to the fish line. But the shark paid no attention to the person, which proves that sharks usually do not want to hurt you and I liked that part. Good news! They never ate the Moses Sole after all! I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about sharks"
Shark Fun Facts #
Freeze-Dried Strawberry Meringues: #
Do they actually taste like strawberries? #
I love strawberries, and I like meringues. So this Strawberry Meringue Kisses recipe at Grace Table seemed amazing when we first looked at it. But we were slightly dubious that freeze dried strawberries would actually give the meringue a strong strawberry flavor. However, we tried the recipe, and it was fairly easy. We piped it onto two baking sheets and put it into the oven. They came out slightly under baked, but we learned that they could be dried out more in the oven if necessary. After we dried them out for a bit, we tried them. Surprise! They actually tasted a lot like strawberries. To sum this article up, this recipe is great if you want to use up egg whites, and don't want to just make plain meringues.
--The head reporter
from our co-reporters #
Jokes to laugh by! #
Biologists have recently produced immortal frogs by removing their vocal cords. They can't croak.
The best way to communicate with a fish is to drop them a line.
On the surface of things, whales are always blowing it.
The marine biology seminars weren't for entertainment but were created for educational porpoises.
A horse is a very stable animal.
If you hear it from the horse's mouth you're listening to a neigh sayer.
--from Grandpa Fred and Grandma Geri
The Daily Birder aka The Daily Ex-Sight-Ment #
"Tweet!" "Tweet!"
How odd! That bird sounds louder than it should.
"Tweet!" "Tweet!" Scrabble, scrabble. "Tweet!"
Must be inside.
Scrabble, scrabble, flap, flap.
There it is, against the window, trying to escape into the world it can see but not reach. Pesky glass!
Unfortunately for the rescue team, the glass is 10 feet up.
Get the ladder and a container.
"Tweet," flap, scrabble, flap, the container encloses the bird against the glass. Carefully slide the cover between the bird and the glass.
The rescue is a SUCCESS!
The bird we found trapped in our house was a young Bewick's Wren. It had come in through an open window and couldn't find its way back outside. We think it had been trapped for an hour or two. Because it was tired, it was easy to catch and release into some dense shrubs where it could hide and rest safely. It was heartening to hear our little Bewick's Wren tweeting the next day.
Wrens are active little birds that explore small openings searching for spiders and other insects. They often nest in odd corners of garden sheds and carports where they take advantage of unused equipment to hide their nests. They are talented singers using a variety of melodies and calls. Bewick's Wrens are visible here any day of the year, busy patrolling our yards and decks.