Lizzy and the Riddler pt. 3

Jack (background, left) and Lizzy (foreground left) meet Jack's uncle at the Mississippi River to solve the riddles Lizzy keeps receiving.

Well it just so happened that Jack the jackrabbit had an Uncle in Mississippi so both he and I hopped onto a plane and headed over there.

“He lives a few miles from the Mississippi river” he added, as our plane took off.

“Wow what a coincidence” I said, sarcastically.

Since Mr. Smiley wasn't in his office, I left a note on his door saying that Jack and I were going on a hopefully quick journey in order to retrieve something. I knew as soon as we arrived in Mississippi that this was not going to be a good day.

“Hello Jackie!” greeted an elderly rabbit wearing a straw hat and a Hawaiian shirt.

“Hey Tyrone” Jack said, grabbing his luggage.

I stare at him in awe.

“Tyrone?” I asked, “that's not very...rabbitish.”

“Rabbitish?” Jack laughed, “that's not a word.”

“Well it is now” I mutter, “So can we just go to the river now?”

Jack took the front seat so I had to sit in the back with a bunch of...was these teeth bones?

“What time is it?” I asked, hoping to get to the lake and be done with this little quest.

“It's five” Mr. Tyrone informed me, jerk the wheel to the right on his jeep.

“Good that means that we can go visit the lake...now” I stressed.

Jack just laughed, “It's 5p.m. Almost supper time.”

My cheeks turned red, I knew that. I just needed to get the lake. How come Jack was being so annoying? I guess the world will never know. We arrived at his Uncle's house and I got settled into the guest room. Jack had to sleep out on the couch in the living room, HA serves him right. That's when I feel guilty because he is just trying to help me after all. Then again I did tell him I didn't need his help. For dinner we had um...I think it was carrot soup...I hope.

The next day, Jack and I went to the river.

“Well um where exactly do you think we would find the clue?” Jack asked, looking around on the bank.

“I don't know..It will just pop out...” I answer and suddenly a piece of paper flies into my face.

Jack starts to laugh as I grab the paper.

“Okay that was no cool” I said, looking at the paper “This is...so cool!”

Jack looks at me really confused. I quickly show him the paper.

“It's another riddle” he exclaims out loud, “That guy is genius!”

I look at him real suspicious.

“How do you know it's a guy?” I asked.

“Um I don't know...I just assumed...” he quickly gets distracted, “okay the riddle says, 'Weight in my stomach, trees on my back, nails in my ribs, it's feet I lack. What am I?”

“Oh nails in my ribs...that sounds horrible” I commented, looking out into the river “Oh wait I get it...I think.”

“What do you think?” Jack asked, “I know the answer.”

“It's a ship...or a boat either one...um weight in my stomach is the cargo. The trees on my back is the boards on the deck. Nails in my ribs is...um the nails to hold the boards together and the it floats or sails so it doesn't have feet.” I respond, quickly.

Jack leads me to a nearby harbor and finished talking to some man.

“We need to rent a boat” Jack nodded, “Do you have any money?”

My eyes widen and then my checks start to feel warm again.

“You didn't bring any money?” He asked, shocked “what kind of animal are you?”

“A lizard” I smile in response, “uh I brought my credit card but...no cash.”

Jack fished out his wallet and handed the man thirty-five dollars.

“Doesn't your uncle own a boat?” I asked.

“Yes and no” Jack admitted, “It's getting some repairs.”

“I'll pay you back when we get home...to New York” I add, meekly.

Jack unties the boat from the harbor and then we take off. It was only a few minutes when we started to repeat our conversation from before.

“Well um where exactly do you think we would find the clue?” Jack asked, paws on the steering wheel.”

“I don't know” Lizzy exclaimed, “It will show up.”
“Buoy ahoy!” Jack yelled suddenly.

“What?” I asked, confused.

Jack points to something in the river. I lean over but as I do the boat hits a wave and I nearly take a dip in the water but luckily my foot got caught in a net.

“Um...I think the riddle may be over there” I confirm as Jack sails the boat over.

I lean over and grab the buoy and untie a piece of lamented index card off it.

“It says, getting closer. One more riddle then your gift is yours” I read as Jack came over, “What's always coming, but never arrives? And Sometimes I'm high and sometimes low, and I creep between your toes. My orders come from the sky, I make men fall and rise.”

Lizzy sat on the deck and started to think. These riddles were getting a little annoying, She just wanted to go home and give Mr. Smiley his present.

“Well I've heard the first one” she stated “It's tomorrow. So that must mean we have to look for the next riddle tomorrow. But where...er when?”

Jack kept the boat steady as they headed back to the dock. The man who let them borrow the boat came running to them.

“It's a good thing you returned when you did,” he said gasping for breath.

“Why?” Jack asked.

“Because the tide is coming in and I'm afraid this dock is just a little to low” he responded, “you would've gotten lost!”

“Ah ha!” Jack exclaimed, snapping his finger, “It's the tide.:

Both the man and Lizzy looked at him confused,

“The answer to the second riddle is tide” Jack said, confidently “I assume that we need to come back here tomorrow when the tide is low.”

Jack and I headed back to his Uncle's house.

“Aw rats” I announced, upset.

“What?” he asked, caught off guard.

“Low tide...” Lizzy answered, “either the next riddle is under water or...Mr. Smiley's present is.”

“And?” Jack asked, as he opened the door to the house.

“Mr. Smiley's present isn't waterproof....and I didn't bring my bathing suit.” Lizzy added.

Jack just smiled and they hurried inside.

“What? What's so funny?” Lizzy asked, “why are you grinning.”

Jack struggled to keep a straight face as he looked back at Lizzy.

“Oh nothing,” he replied casually. 

Written by: Lizzy the Lizard

Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater

Edited by: Christian Ryan, Joy Hammond & Mr. Smiley

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Next Issue: What a Big Crest You Have, Mr. Hadrosaur!

The Cretaceous Dinosaur Runway

Dr. Samuel Adamson and team recently discovered a "Cretaceous Dinosaur Runway" where dinosaurs ran to escape the waters of the Genesis Flood.

An amazing paleontological discovery has recently taken place on the outskirts of Moshcops, Utah, not too far from Animal Adventures Inc. (AAI.) The discovery? How about a full-scale dinosaur trackway over what is now desert? When I heard about the discovery, my trusty, junior photographer, Daniel P. Smithwater and I, went to the site to get an exclusive interview with the head of the team responsible for “digging up” the discovery: Dr. Samuel Adamson, the head paleontologist at Animal Adventures Institute at AAI. Dr. Adamson is quoted for saying, “There are a number of ways we can know about those extinct creatures otherwise known as dinosaurs. The most famous way is through fossils – stone copies of long dead bones. It's . . . [quite] easy to forget that these were once living animals.” He went on to explain that fossils are helpful in determining the size, age, weight and etc. of the creature in question, but most times, they don't tell you anything about their behavior. That's why trace fossils are so important. Trace fossils are fossils that aren't actual dinosaur bones, such as fossilized skin and skin imprints, eggs and nests, and of course, dinosaur footprints. The recent footprint discovery represents nearly 100 feet of dinosaur action – a snapshot of what was happening during the time when they were alive. “The fossil trackway was recently uncovered thanks to the unseasonal rain we've been having,” says Dr. Adamson. “It was discovered just last Friday by an 18-year old named Timothy Simmons, who was taking his dog, Sparky, on a walk at the time. So he gave us a call and we came over to investigate. At the moment, the rest of the dig team and I are just uncovering the dirt, rock and sand that wasn't uncovered by rain from around the footprints.” When asked what exactly was happening with the trackways, Dr. Adamson replied, “Well, as you all know, dinosaur footprints were formed during the Genesis Flood (described in Genesis chapter 5-8) around 4,350 years ago by dinosaurs that were trying to escape the horrific and catastrophic floodwaters.” Then, we asked the paleontologist how on earth the Flood could have preserved fossil footprints. “I actually get asked that question a lot,” he says. “What a lot of people don't know about the Flood is that the water didn't rise simultaneously all over the planet. No way! The water – most of which coming from the 'fountains of the great deep' as the Bible explains, but also from the torrential downpour – rose higher in certain places thanks to factors such as the tide. Sometimes, the water would temporarily fall and leave behind sandbars. Dinosaurs and other animals, trying to escape the running water, would have fled to higher ground within their environments and would end up being left on the sandbars as the water continued to rise, leaving their footprints in the soft sediment.” Dr. Adamson continued to explain that, “The type of sediment on the sandbars would have been different than the sediment in the muddy floodwater, so when the sandbars were covered with water again, they'd preserve the footprints perfectly.” Wow! Why don't they normally portray Noah's Flood like that in many Sunday Schools? Anyway, back on topic! After telling Daniel and I about how fossil dinosaur footprints were formed during the Flood, Dr. Samuel and his wife, Indiana Adamson, took us on a little tour of the trackway site. The sight was amazing! Dinosaur tracks – probably from many tens of individuals, if not many more – quite literally littered the ground. There were many different types of dinosaurs that made these tracks, but they appeared to all be heading in the same direction – they were trying to escape the Flood. “We have quite a few different species of dinosaurs here,” says Indiana. She told me that a nearby geological rock formation bearing dinosaur fossils was nearby and knowing the dinosaurs that lived there would help the paleontologists guess what species of dinosaurs the footprints belonged to. “Let's see,” says Indiana, “. . . if you look at this large footprint here . . . I think this is from a member of the ceratopsid, or horned dinosaur, family. Now there were quite a few different species of ceratopsians in this part of Utah. Some prime examples would be Diabloceratops, Torosaurus and a newly discovered species, Nasutoceratops. Nasutoceratops was a weird dude! Instead of your typical Triceratops-like horns, this dinosaur had no nose horn and the two horns above its eyes looked a bit like the ones you'd find on a bull!” Then Indiana showed us some more footprints – these footprints were almost bird-like in appearance, but they were quite blunt. Indiana said, “These prints are probably from a hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur. In the Kaiparowits formation nearby, we can find the remains of hadrosaurs such as Gryposaurus. This was a herd of hadrosaurs running with the herd of ceratopsians in the same direction. Though they were trying to escape the waters of the Genesis Flood, they might have been running from something else as well.” This was when the married scientists showed us the trackways of what appeared to be four theropods – predatory dinosaurs. It appeared as if the predators were pursuing the herd – based on the distance between the tracks, the dinosaurs were mostly likely running. “This is probably a member of the tyrannosaur family,” Dr. Adamson explained. “A large tyrannosaur such as Teratophoneus would fit the bill nicely. Teratophoneus is actually a recently discovered tyrannosaur and since there's more than one set of tyrannosaur footprints here, they were probably working as a pack to single out a member of the herd of hadrosaurs and ceratopsians.” As if this weren't enough predators, the two scientists also pointed out the tracks of a bunch of smaller theropods. Based on the fact that they were two-toed footprints, they were not tyrannosaur tracks, but the tracks of a smaller dinosaur such as Troodon. This was a busy scene! “It's still a bit early to tell if there's more fossil footprints or even fossil bones nearby,” says Dr. Adamson, “but what we can be sure of, is that the more we uncover, the greater our understanding of dinosaurs will be. I can't wait to find more!”

Written by: Mr. Smiley

Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater

Edited by: Christian Ryan, Joy Hammond

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Lizzy and the Riddler pt. 2

Lizzy the Lizard and Jack the Jackrabbit are still solving mysterious riddles.

Previously on Lizzy and the Riddler:

Lizzy opens the box with the thing she ordered when she discovered a piece of paper inside.

“To save your package, Lizard, You must solve my riddles.”

With some help from Jack the jackrabbit . . .

“That was a pretty good riddle, Lizzy but not good enough!” He smiles, “A rubber band! HAHA!”

. . . Lizzy ended up with a two riddle mystery.

“Hey getting help from others is cheating! Never mind, here's the next riddle: What has four eyes but cannot see? And what can run but never walk, has a mouth but never talks. Has a head but never weeps. Has a bed but does never sleep?”

And now Part two of our show.

I sit at my desk thinking about what kind of answer would this be. I think what really scared me was when the note mentioned that I got help from someone. This must mean the Riddler is in the building! I to decided to cheat and check out the answers to the riddles on my laptop but I found another note.

“So you're deciding cheat? That's pretty low. I know that you're a smart Lizard.”

I scream a little startled. I shake my head and close my laptop.

“What has four eyes but cannot see,” I said to myself.

“Oh that one is easy,” said a voice behind me, “It's Mississippi because it has four 'I's and cannot see.”

I turn around to see Jack standing behind me.

“My brother told me that one,” he added.

“Jack!” I hissed. “I'm supposed to do these riddles alone.”
Jack peered over my shoulder and spotted the other riddle.

“Oh really?” he smiled. “It's a river. The second answer is a riddle.”

“Jack!” I say in dismay. “Why don't you go bug someone else?”

“Nah, I'll stay here” he said, “looks like you need help.

I stood up from my seat.

“I. DO. NOT. NEED. YOUR. HELP!” I said slowly.

Jack blinked and then smiled again.

“Too late,” he added, “I already know where you have to go next.”

I look at him a little annoyed. Jack started to hop away.

“Wait!” I call out, “ . . . where?”

Jack turned with a smile, “The Mississippi river.”

TO BE CONTINUED...

Written by: Lizzy the Lizard

Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater

Edited by: Christian Ryan, Joy Hammond, Mr. Smiley

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Next Issue: The Cretaceous Dinosaur Runway

A Chat with the "Walking with Dinosaurs - 3D" Stars

This week's article focuses on two of the behind-the-scenes stars of Walking with Dinosaurs: 3D.

Disclaimer: We at Smileys News claim no ownership to Walking with Dinosaurs: 3D.

As many of you are aware of, the movie Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie just hit theaters on December 20, 2013 . . . Ok, so it didn't just hit theaters, but we here at Animal Adventures Inc. (AAI. for short) were affected by the film's release until now in a positive way: two of our residents, Gorgo the Gorgosaurus and Andrew the Triceratops recently finished their Hollywood debut. Andrew helped the filmmakers with advising them when it came time to film the dinosaurs in the wild and Gorgo actually was one of the stars of the film . . . sort of. After they got back to AAI., my trusty, junior photographer, Daniel P. Smithwater, and I decided to get an exclusive interview with these two awesome dinosaurs. “Walking with Dinosaurs is about this young Pachyrhinosaurus, named Pachi, who struggles to survive in a dangerous world,” Gorgo explains. “He faces many difficulties as he matures and eventually becomes leader of the herd. One of the difficulties he faces is deadly encounters with a dangerous species of dinosaur called Gorgosaurus – my species.” He went on to explain that Gorgosaurus is a smaller version of the larger and more famous Tyrannosaurus. It once made its home in the the northern part of the United States, Canada and what would later become Alaska. Gorgosaurus might have been smaller than T. rex, but it was way faster, reaching speeds of 30 mph in short bursts. “The main threat in the film,” Gorgo says, “is a ferocious Gorgosaurus named Gorgon. He's a killer dude, let me tell you! Even I'd give him a wide birth!” When asked what the WWD team did to make the film, Gorgo is quoted for saying, “Well, Andrew and I joined the WWD film crew as we went back in time to film the life of Pachi. Originally, the film was going to be a mere documentary, but a last minute decision was to do voice-overs with famous actors/actresses . . . [after] we finished the filming process, we went back to the studio and did the voice-overs for dinosaurs the film focuses on. The dinosaurs in the film are awesome! Many of the ones that appear – including my species and Pachyrhinosaurus – have never appeared in a major film before, just a few documentaries in recent years.” Then I asked him what role he played in the film. “One might say I 'stared' in the film,” Gorgo says, “so to speak. As with all documentaries, we filmed the animals doing the things they do to survive everyday with no acting, but there were shots the filmmakers wanted that would have been too dangerous to get using wild animals. Some of these scenes were close-ups of Gorgon. Let me tell you, Gorgon is a bad dude! And that's coming from a guy who weighs around three tons and has a mouth full of sharp teeth of his own! I think if I were in a face-off with Gorgon, I'd loose for sure . . . So what the filmmakers did for closeups of Gorgon was use me for a stand-in instead. Since I'm a little different color from Gorgon, they used special effects to alter my color to look like Gorgon's in post-production. Amazing process isn't it?” The last question I asked him was what creature in the movie was his favorite, besides the Gorgosaurus. He said, “Um . . . I think I like the Troodon and the Quetzalcoatlus. They were amazing to watch in action when we were filming. Now, for my least favorite creature in the film? Probably that pesky bird Alex the Alexornis! Every time I'd wake up from sleep with my mouth open, I'd find that crazy bird in my mouth looking for food scraps between my teeth! How annoying! All the other creatures though were great to watch.” Next, Daniel and I went to another film assistant: Andrew the Triceratops, to learn his role in the movie. “Unlike Gorgo,” Andrew says, “I didn't do any acting myself. Instead, I was more of a . . . I guess you could call me a dinosaur behavior specialist. I mean, who better to tell the filmmakers about dinosaurs than a dinosaur! The movie stars one of my lesser known relatives, the Pachyrhinosaurus. Instead of the horns the general public is familiar with on ceratopsians, or horned dinosaurs, Pachyrhinosaurus has a bony mass on its snout called a boss; it was perfect for ramming some sense into the hide of any carnivore, including Gorgosaurus.” Andrew went on to say that a key part in the film-making process was to insure that the cameras captured interesting moments. Andrew pointed out that since he's an expert at the behavior of ceratopsians such as himself, he could tell the cameramen where to point their cameras in order to get a good shot. Andrew's quoted for saying, “For instance, there once was a time we were filming the Pachyrhinosaurus herd and two large males – Bruiser and a rival male – were up on a hill nearby, just out of camera shot. Based on the noises and gestures they were making to each other, I knew they were getting ready to fight for dominance in the herd. 'The cameramen are going to miss this potentially great shot if I don't warn them,' I had thought. So I alerted the cameramen to start filming the two bulls and sure enough, we got a great fight scene for the movie!” When asked about his favorite creature in the film besides Pachyrhinosaurus, he was quoted for saying, “I really enjoyed the Edmontosaurus and ankylosaur, but I loved all the animals, including Alex, who I think Gorgo found very annoying. He's such a funny and fun-loving guy, you know. I also think it's great that animals that haven't been seen in cinema before get to make their Hollywood debut!” For those of you who didn't get to see Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie in theaters, it should be coming out on DVD this spring . . . and you can be sure I'll get myself a copy!

Written by: Mr. Smiley

Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater

Edited by: Christian Ryan, Joy Hammond

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We here at Smiley's News don't claim any ownership to or wish to make a profit from anything related to Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie in anyway.

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Next Issue: Lizzy and the Riddler pt. 2

Chores Are For Boars

Boars are guaranteed to revolutionize the cleaning industry and make even the most boring chores, like mopping and vacuuming, really fun!

Chores . . . they're necessary but so very boring! I mean, there are loads of other cool things that can be done both outdoors and indoors, but they often must be done after chores are completed. But those days might soon be over – the same scientist who brought us the “hair grazer” and the “Airway car” brings you the Boar! Dr. James Crowferd of Vassar College has successfully created this new invention, and what it is is essentially a “mop” that mops the floor by itself. For more details, my trusty, junior photographer, Daniel P. Smithwater and I went to Vassar College to get an exclusive interview from Dr. Crowferd. He is quoted for saying, “I know the pain many – especially kids and janitors – have to go to to get their houses, workplaces, schools and other places clean. Mopping is, in my opinion, one of the most exhausting chores. I mean, come on, you're dragging the mop forward and backward, foreward and backward, forward and backward, forward and backward, forward and backward . . . (and a lot more “forward and backwards”). . . and backward . . . [it's] an endless process and it gets tiring.” But that's when Dr. Crowferd thought of an amazing and revolutionary idea: why not create a mop that mops by itself! “I was going to create a vacuum cleaner – which in my opinion is just the dry version of a mop – but that's already been invented,” he says. “So I came up with the new device called the Boar. I thought of that name for my invention because of the way wild boars are known to feed.” He went on to explain that wild boars stick their snouts into and throughout the leaf litter on the forest floor of their woodland homes to find tasty foods such as roots, flowers, grubs and etc. “It's sort of like that when you're vacuuming,” he says. “What the Boar does is you place it on the floor you want to clean, and after turning it on, you have two choices: the first is to let it do the job. The other choice is to remote control it so that it can get to places the device might not think of getting.” Dr. Crowferd's Boar is controlled by a state-of-the-art thinking-computer inside of it that is able to determine which parts of the floor are dirty and which parts are clean. The scientist also informed me that it works sort of like a vacuum as well – sucking up the filth – since it isn't able to ring itself out like a mop can do. “Another cool feature,” says Dr. Crowferd, “is the Boar's amazing ability to clean carpets and rugs too. So it is, in a sense, a mocuum . . . get it? Mop plus vacuum equals mocuum? Ha, ha . . . yeah. Anyways, I expect that once we've produced enough Boars to sell, they'll literally fly off the shelves. Now that people won't be mopping, they can actually spend time doing other things . . . like being with family and going to church.” Then I asked Dr. Crowferd what exactly the Boar is made to clean up. His response was, “Well . . . it can clean up just about anything, really. Anything from dirt, mud, dust bunnies, lint and many other small objects. Of course, the Boar will never be able to clean up a dirty bedroom filled with things like clothes, toys, books and large objects, so people will still have to do that themselves. Hey! I know what I'm going to start working on tomorrow!” Then, Daniel recommended that I ask Dr. Crowferd if the Boar is environmentally-friendly. “Oh yes, actually,” he says. “The Boar runs on little to no power. We made it so that it can efficiently get the job done. In fact, it runs on the same power as does a large CD player or radio. In the future, I plan to design another edition to the Boar that instead of running on electricity, runs on vegetable oil. I was going to make one that runs off of cat litter but . . . that would have grossed people out too much.” The Boar will be in stores this coming fall, and when this time comes, we can relax and not have to worry about mopping ever again . . . though a large-numbered price tag could potentially cause your ease to vanish. “Yeah, the price of the Boar might be anywhere from a few thousand dollars to a couple hundred thousand dollars at first,” Dr. Crowferd says, “but perhaps once it's been on the market for a while, the price can come down, because everyone hard-working person in the world has the right to sit back, relax, and watch the Boar do all the work!”

Written by: Mr. Smiley

Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater

Edited by: Christian Ryan, Joy Hammond

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Next Issue: A Chat with the "Walking with Dinosaurs - 3D" Stars

Lizzy and the Riddler pt. 1

In this photo, Jack the Jackrabbit helps Lizzy solve a few riddles. Read more about it below!

I finally received my order for a special delivery. It was officially sealed and as heavy as ever. When I opened it there was a tiny piece of paper. I looked into the empty box perplexed. I spent $75 on a surprise for Mr. Smiley and now it was gone. Where is my package? I opened up the note and this is what it read:

 “To save your package, Lizard, You must solve my riddles. What is clean when it's black but dirty when it's white?”

I sit down at my desk, confused. I couldn't tell Mr. Smiley about this because then it would ruin the surprise, of course.

“Think Lizzy, think” I mutter looking around the office.

I watched as Ted put up a few notes on a clean chalkboard, then hurriedly erased the mistakes as best he could. Oh man, I groan. I just washed that board this morning! I quietly sit up in my seat.

“A Chalkboard!!!!” I exclaim excitedly, “It's clean when it's black and dirty when it's white because when you erase the chalk off it gets all musty!”

I hurry over to the chalkboard and peeled off another note. This is what it says:

“Very good Lizzy, here's the next one. What band does not preform, sing, or act?”

I smile happy to know that my package must be somewhere in the facility because of all these pointless riddles here in the office.

“Hm, what band does not preform...sing...or act?” I mumble as Jack the jackrabbit hops into the room.

“Hi Lizzy, what were you just saying?” he asked.

“Oh hi, Jack....this is a random question but are you good at riddles?” I asked, curious.

“Um yeah, a little,” he admitted. “What's the riddle?”

“What band does not preform, sing, or act?” I repeat.

Jack scratched the back of his head and then his eyes land on something on the table in front of me. He starts to laugh.

“That was a pretty good riddle, Lizzy, but not good enough!” he smiles. “A rubber band! HAHA!”

I look down and see a rubber band holding a rolled up index card right in front of me. I watched as Jack hurried away before I unrolled the note.

“Hey!” I remember, “getting help from others is cheating! Never mind, here's the next riddles: 'What has four eyes but cannot see? And what can run but never walk, has a mouth but never talks. Has a head but never weeps. Has a bed but does never sleeps?'”

I sit down and start to think. This is going to be a long day.

To be continued...

Written by: Lizzy the Lizard

Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater

Edited by: Christian Ryan and Joy Hammond

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Next Issue: Chores Are For Boars

Missing Christmas Angel Found After 50-Year Absence!

This legendary Christmas angel has been missing for 50 years! Keep reading to learn how it was rediscovered.

Angels have played a crucial part of Christmas pretty much since Christmas began. As you'll recall, God sent an angel named Gabriel to Mary tell tell her that she was going to bear a Child, despite being a virgin. Again, angels declared the Lord's birth to shepherds who were watching their sheep in the fields. So it makes since that angels play a huge part in Christmas decorations. That's why the Christmas Angel of Danville, Utah was created. President of the Town Board of Riverville, New York, Otis Ostrich, who's also the co-curator at the Riverville Museum of Natural History explains, “The Christmas Angel of Danville – or Angel of Danville for short – is a little brass angel created by a blacksmith who lived in Danville, Utah named Philip Peters in 1835 as a Christmas gift to his 14-year old daughter, Jane Peters.” He went on to explain that Jane kept the angel for the rest of her life (she died at the age of 113) and after her death, the precious angel was given to her grandson named William Peters. William, moved his family to Riverville, he sold the angel to the Riverville Museum of Natural History and it's been here ever since . . . until the tragic day of the museum's robbery of '64! An infamous museum thief from Italy named Gilbert the Greedy (his real name was Gilbert F. Mulligan, but that doesn't sound as cool) broke into the museum on December 26, 1964 and stole the brass angel, among other priceless artifacts. The museum authorities however were able to catch the thief, confiscated the artifacts, including the Christmas angel, and placed Gilbert in prison. You'd think that the problem was solved, but as a matter of fact, it was only just beginning! The next morning, the angel was reported missing, and no one had any idea what happened to it. The thief was still behind bars and no break-ins were reported from the night before. What could have happened to it? Well, no one knew . . . until an astounding 50 years later when the angel made an amazing reappearance! Lizzy brought up this story to my attention just last Tuesday and recommended that my trusty, junior photographer, Daniel P. Smithwater go and get an exclusive at the museum with Otis Ostrich about how it was rediscovered. When asked about the artifacts rediscovery, Otis laughed. Otis is quoted for saying, “Crazy as it may be, we found the Christmas angel! I mean, after 50 years, everyone thought it would be lost forever. But it all happened when one of our janitors, James Pittman (who was a museum guard at the time), was in his room cleaning out his bedroom. He opened up his sock drawer and to his surprise, found the Christmas Angel of Danville sitting underneath his socks he hadn't worn since the 1960's! No wonder we couldn't find it!” After learning this, Daniel and I went to go see James himself and see what his reaction was on finding the angel. “Well, like everyone else . . . [I] never expected to find the angel,” he says. “After all, it's been missing for a whole 50 years. But just yesterday, I decided it was time to go through my bedroom drawers to see what I didn't want. Then as I lifted a pair of socks out of my drawer (I never liked them anyway), I saw the angel just sitting there! Gee, if I had known it was there, I would have had that thing returned years ago! However, I am awfully glad to have played a part in finding it.” The Angel of Danville is now returned to its proper place in the museum's hall of Christmas Through the Ages and can be viewed by everyone who decides to enter the museum. Otis says, “After a roller-coaster-type adventure like this one, I'm just glad to know that the Christmas Angel of Danville is safely returned to its proper spot in the museum and will be able to be viewed by museum guests for generations to come . . . so long as it doesn't get lost in someone's sock drawer again!”

Written by: Mr. Smiley

Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater

Edited by: Christian Ryan, Joy Hammond

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Meet Harry the Hedgehog!

This week, Lizzy the Lizard interviews famous animal-star Harry the Hedgehog!

Note: This is an article consisting of Lizzy the Lizard's interview with the well-known star, Harry the Hedgehog. Please enjoy!

Welcome to Lizzy's meet and greet, where you get to learn about the star! I'm here with Harry the hedgehog, who is...sleeping?!? I nudge Harry who gives a big yawn.

“What do you want?” he asked, sleepily before curling up into a little ball.

“Why are you sleeping? It's like three in the afternoon,” I informed him.

He sat up and stretched, blinking in the bright light.

“I'm nocturnal,” he said, “don't you know what that is? Can't we do the interview at like eleven at night?”

I laugh, I just can't help it. This is too funny.

“Harry, I have school tomorrow. I can't stay up that late.” I smile. “Besides, I'm not a nocturnal species! Okay first question, what do hedgehogs eat?”

Harry scratches his head in deep thought.

“Well we can eat a variety of things like slugs or . . . cat food,” he answers.

“Cat food!?! Hehe.” I start to laugh some more.

He looks at me with a blank look on his face.

“What's wrong?” he asked.

“Oh just that . . . never mind,” I say, suppressing another giggle. “Next question, aren't porcupines and hedgehogs the same?”

“When pigs fly” he replied, dismissively.

“What?” I say, confused.

He scratches head again and blushes.

“Never mind,” Harry says laughing “That's crazy. Porcupines tend to grow bigger than us, plus their quills are longer and can be flung at the enemy. They can't shoot them, contrary to popular belief, but by thrashing their tails around, they can knock off loose quills that go flying randomly through the air and turn a would-be predator into a living pincushion!”

“Oh okay,” I say to him. “What do hedgehogs do for defense?”

“This,” Harry said, curling up into a spiky ball.

I look at him and am half-tempted give him a little shove and see him roll around.

“All right then here's the last question,” I state. “Did you...take my cookies?”

“What?!?” exclaimed Harry, totally surprised by the strange question.

I sighed, “My cookies! I left them right here before the show and now their gone.”

“I was asleep!” He grumbled.

I look closer at him and step forward.

“Well I guess you sleep eat because . . . there's cookie crumbs on your face!”

Harry the hedgehog looks at me, sleepily.

“No comment,” he states, “Oh look at the time! I got a dentist appointment . . . bye!” Harry quickly gets to his feet and flees from view.
“Hey come back here you cookie thief!” I yell before running off the set after Harry the hedgehog.

Written by: Mr. Smiley

Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater

Edited by: Christian Ryan, Joy Hammond

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Recycling Christmas Trees . . . With Elephants?!?

The elephants at the St. George Zoo adore dining on people's old Christmas trees! Keep reading to learn more about this.

Preparing for Christmas is so much fun . . . decorating the lights, cutting down, decorating and trimming the Christmas tree, eating all the food we often associate with Christmastime and giving to others. But in the days following Christmas, Christmas stuff – Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Christmas decorations – aren't nearly as fun. Why? Because they need to be taken down and disassembled . . . well, at least Christmas trees no longer need to be! The St. George Zoo (named after the owner and formally known as the New York Africa Zoo until they got non-African animals) has the perfect remedy to deal with all those leftover Christmas trees – feed them to the elephants! So my trusty, junior photographer, Daniel P. Smithwater and I went to the zoo to get an exclusive interview on the elephant's new post-Christmas treat. Keeper Manny Minlens is quoted for saying, “Every year, countless people simply throw their trees away. It's really quite sad, as these trees could very well be kept for a better use such as being left in a forest instead (dead trees make good homes for many woodland animals), recycle them or . . . they can bring them to the zoo so we can use them to feed our elephants!” Manny explains that their elephant exhibit contains seven adult Loxodonta africana, or African elephants (five females and two bulls) and two babies. Now, according to Manny, adult elephants can eat 330 pounds of food a day and though the zoo has plenty of money to buy food for their elephants, the zoo will always accept donations, or in this case, people's used Christmas trees! “In the wild,” Manny says, “elephants will often eaten leaves, twigs, fruit, bark and roots. Christmas trees contain most of these foods, so it really is the perfect food for them. Not to mention they get the added bonus of the sap that the tree produces. I'm telling you, the elephants love eating the trees!” While we were at the zoo, I thought it would be a great time to learn about some general elephant dining habits. Manny was happy to tell me that elephants normally have 26 teeth in their mouths: that's two incisors (aka the tusks), 12 deciduous premolars, and 12 molars. “While most mammals have two sets of teeth – the baby teeth, which wear down and fall out, and the permanent set of teeth – elephants have six that grow in and fall out during various stages of their lives,” Manny explains. “An elephant's molars are about the size of a brick and are perfectly designed for chewing up their favorite foods.” Then I asked what happens when the elephant loses its sixth set of teeth in the wild and Manny told us, “Well . . . [after] losing their last set of teeth, the elephants can't eat anymore and die of malnutrition. In fact, most, if not all, wild elephants don't die of old age. But each set of teeth do last a long time – elephants can live up to 70 years in the wild.” Then Manny went on to say that, “The teeth that we notice the most are their tusks because, obviously, they stick out of the mouth. The tusks of the African elephant are normally the longest, but some Asian elephant's tusks can grow just as long: reaching ten feet in length! But that's nothing compared to the tusks of the elephant's extinct cousins, the mammoths – in some species, the tusks could be over 16 feet in length! Growing seven inches a year, the tusks are made of ivory and are normally used to strip trees of their bark, dig waterholes and for defense. They're also helpful for extracting minerals such as salt from the earth. And somewhat like humans, who are right or left-handed, elephants are right or left-tusked! Elephants really are an amazing type of animal, which is why I love my job at the zoo!” So there you have it, the menu for the new treats for elephants at the St. George Zoo. So will you donate your Christmas tree for elephants?

Written by: Mr. Smiley

Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater

Edited by: Christian Ryan, Joy Hammond

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We here at Smiley’s News, I have been working night and day to get articles ready. I could really use some help! So we are looking for people interested in writing (especially kids and teens). If you are interested, PLEASE(!) send an email to animaladventures@aol.com and save me from working night and day! I’m exhausted!

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Lizzy's Cheesecake Recipe

This is a slice of cheesecake I, Mr. Smiley, saved from the Christmas party we had on Christmas Eve. Wow! this stuff's delicious! Read today's article to learn how to make your own!

Oh wow! New's year eve just went by! It's now 2014! Here at the AAI, we're just cleaning up the mess we made after the party. Oh Look, Chef Rack-coon has some leftovers for tonight's dinner. Each of the employers here brought a side dish for the event. Here's a reciepe of the dish I prepared for it. Cheesecake by Annette Bruno.

You will need:

• 1 ¼ cup of graham cracker crumbs.
• 3 T. sugar
• 3 (8-oz) pkgs. Cream cheese
• 4 T. flour
• 1 ½ c. sugar
• 4 eggs, seperated
• 1/3 c. butter
• 2 tsp. Vanilla
• ½ tsp. Salt
• 1 pt. Sour cream

First, combine the crumbs and sugar in a a bowl, then stir in the melted butter. Press firmly into the bottom of a springfoam pan. Next, (the filling) beat egg whites until stiff in another bowl. Add ¼ cup of sugar as well. Beat it well and set it aside.

Second, in a a large bowl, beat cream cheese, flour, 1 1.4 cups sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and salt together until smooth.

Third, add sour cream and beat until blended well. Fold egg whites and pour it into the graham-lined pan.

Fourth, bake for one hour at 350 degrees. Then turn the oven off and open the door. Leave it in the oven for 1 hour.

Last, cool it completely before removing the sides of the pan.

Well hope you like the cheesecake! See you guys soon, this is Lizzy the Lizard wishing you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Written by: Mr. Smiley

Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater

Edited by: Christian Ryan, Joy Hammond

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We here at Smiley’s News, I have been working night and day to get articles ready. I could really use some help! So we are looking for people interested in writing (especially kids and teens). If you are interested, PLEASE(!) send an email to animaladventures@aol.com and save me from working night and day! I’m exhausted!

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Next Issue:Recycling Trees . . . with Elephants!