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Next weekend, October 12th, 13, And 14th, will mark the ninth anniversary of our little community.

Austin, local coati and Managing Editor for SpinDizzy says, "I'm happy to say we've survived as a community for another year, and next weekend we'll take the time to celebrate our experiences and take a look towards our futures. Events and fun will go on all weekend, so if you can be here 4 hours a day for the whole weekend, great, and if you can just stop by for a little while to say. "Hi," that's good too!

Anyone who'd like to run special events or set up activities please contact me and we'll find a way to have it happen. Anyone who'd like to participate, nag the people you never see out in public anymore until they scream at you in all-caps.

So, if you have ideas of things to do to celebrate surviving another year, or just to show appreciation for the friends, the place we inhabit, and the good folks who work hard to make it possible, contact Austin, or any of the Wizards or Helpstaff, or just toss out some ideas.

This will be out last celebration before we celebrate a decade of SpinDizzy. Lets make it a special one!

Leowulf, local lion-wolf hybrid told of a defeat suffered by Morticon in the Rose Garden.

Leowulf says, "Morticon arrived, we started to banter, then he steped over to Darius and just stands staring at him. I was thinking,Whats he in for now?" just as Portia arrived. Portia distracted Morticon so he turned away from Darius and I said to Darius, "Phew, saved by the belle."

Leowulf said, "Anyway, that prompted Mort to try to arrest me for bad puns. He then called in this sweet looking but petite litle tiger by the name of Aina, who is an SED (Society of Evil Doers,) cop or some sort of combat personel, to try an arrest me. She looks up at me, I look down at her, she couldn't been more than maybe 5 foot, and she says to Mort, "I don't think so, sir"

Leowulf continued, "Well, Mort pushes the issue, she trieed, Darius jumped in, a struggle ensued, and ended with Aina cuffed to herself, and Darius thrown off. Aina got loose somehow, while Mort turned his attention to Darius, and now wanted to arrsst him for incompetence, I guess."

Leowulf says, "So, I'm loose, and I guessed this was Mort's fall back plan, he called in a swarm of thousands of Red Pandas. They swarmed the place, overrunning everything. Borris, local polar bear, starts eating and swatting the swarm but they're even starting to overwhelm him, so he pulled out this gnarly heavy-duty insulated flask, and drank it."

Leowulf goes on, "There was a rumble and he let out this BELCH, and they all blew away into the sky and the trees" Even Portia was missing for a time, until she staggered up out of some weeds."

Leowulf says, "Darius had managed to get away in the confusion, and Morticon backed off to take Portia away for treatment, she was pretty banged up."

Borris Gruffed, "Now Borris will have to set up Still again, to make triple distilled frozen concentrated Rocket Fuel"

Leowulf noted, "Yeah, turns out that was what it was he drank. we're still suffering Borris aftershocks."

(Ed. note: There is apparently a place in China where you can actually cuddle a red panda. More information is available at, http://downtheroad.org/Asia/Photo/9Sichuan_China_Image/2Panda_Chengdu_Sichuan.htm.)

With the celebration of National Pickle Attack Month, even the Ancient Oak, or "snack tree" as some call it, has gotten into the spirit of the event.

Ba'ar, local bear, found a pickle shaped like a Deluxe Adjustable Lemur Tail! Darius, local mink, dug out some pickles that are so easy to stick in the ear of a Mink a caveman can do it during National Pickle Attack Month. Darius thrashes about with it, as it grows teeth and clamps onto her ear! She wrestles with the pickle, as it grows larger, and two pickly arms extend from it, grappling with the mink!

Leowulf, local lion-wolf hybrid, said, "I swear its going after bears, thats all I see getting pickled. Well, until now anyway. Darius got a live one this time."

PatchO'Black, local Jellicle cat, reached into the Ancient Oak and grabbed a gherkin pickle to stick in the ear of a Jellicle Cat. Patch O'Black sent the pickle to Suri as a Pickle Attack Month gift.

Darius continued her fight by punching at the pickle, and biting it. It roars, spraying the air with acrid pickle juices! Darius nipped the pickle, then got a grip, and snapped it in half with a refreshing *crack!*

Mouser, local furpent, tentatively reached into the Ancient Oak and scared up some ear muffs to protect the ears of a Furpent (mustela serpentis). "That's useful, considering the circumstances...," he said.

Ba'ar got a pickle grinder. "Here pickle pickle pickle. Gonna make relish out of you."

Argon, local centaur, said, "Ouch! Poor pickle." while Darius coughed, and tried to wash off with some clean water.

As of press time, other reports of pickle attacks from the Oak had occured and most were blamed on Suri, local lemur. It was noted that the Ancient Oak seems to act independently in its choice of snacks and Suri's influence on the Oak's choices were unknown.

Kefan, local centaur started the attack on humor by saying, "I am just getting home, and about to avail myself of a lovely Emmenthal with a tawny port as a snack."

Argon, another local centaur, grinned and remarked, "Didn't know you were dating Emmenthal."

Kefan whapped Argon with a rolled up @Action News, "Arguably, that could be the cheesiest joke you've told in a long time..."

Argon noted, "Ooo, that one wasn't much better. I thought you had a sharper wit."

Kefan replied, "Are you saying that might become a wedge between us? I can't Brie-lieve it could come to that! Surely you see the Swiss-dom of maintaining calmer heads... besides, you know what my puns are like when I get going. I'd grill ya."

Argon, pummeled by bad puns, gasped for breath, "Those are nacho usual level of quality. "

Kefan snickered at Argon. "Oh, now this is just getting grating." the other centaur replied, "I'd say they Bleu, but... "

Kefan (thankfully,) ended the cheesy exchange saying, "Oh, sweet merciful Cheese-us..." cheerily combining puns and blasphemy. "Although according to some, there's really no difference."

And on that note, better humor prevailed.

Hi, Vixie here, fresh from my visit to Hawaii. I'm sure you're all wanting to hear about the trip, so I thought I'd tell how it went. First off, the flight there was very long, over 8 hours to get there. I first flew to Honolulu, and stayed 2 nights there. The hotel was nice, and the two highlights of the trip were visiting Pearl Harbor and going on a driving tour of Oahu. I like history, so it was a very interesting place to visit. After the visit, a friend took me on a driving tour of the island, and it was fun seeing the nice scenery there.

After the two nights, I flew a short flight over to Hilo, on the Big Island. The hotel there was nice, but got a little freaked out the first day when I saw Ronald McDonald walking through the parking lot. Guess he needed a vacation as well. The high point of Hilo was visiting Volcanoes national park. Even though the lava flows are the best they've been in 10+ years, it's only visible from the air, so I didn't get to actually see any flows. Still, it was weird seeing land that was totally barren due to the lava flows, and steam rising from the ground. It seemed like I was on another planet. The other things I did that weekend were visiting the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory, and visiting a small but nice zoo.

After three nights in Hilo, I headed north on my way to Kona, on the west side of the island. The scenery on the east side was amazing, a lot of lush green valleys and waterfalls. The scenery changes there frequently, so also went though some pine forest, ranchland, and lava deserts on the way to Kona. Found the hotel in Kona, which was actually a condo. I upgraded to a larger room, and it was very nice. I could open the patio door and hear the ocean. Of course, the big attraction in Kona is the coffee. Hawaii is the only U. S. state that grows coffee, so I headed out and visited a couple of coffee farms. That was fun, I never knew growing nature's most perfect drink was so much work. They offered free samples, and Kona coffee is known as one of the best coffees available. I bought several pounds from a few different farms. The coffee was fun, but had to head to a luau. This was at a large resort in Kona, but had to be moved indoors due to rain. Was still fun, and they served Kona coffee and lots of food. What more could a vixen want?

On the last full day, I went snorkeling, and saw an amazing variety of fish. Also saw dolphins, a large pod showed up in the bay we were in. This was the second time I spotted dolphins, the first was on Sunday, when I spotted some in the bay while eating dinner. After a fun day of snorkeling, went out to eat to celebrate my birthday. Wednesday was my last full day there, and spent it being a bit relaxed, tying up loose ends like buying chocolate covered macadamia nuts to give as gifts when I got home.

The flight home was long, had stops in LA and Chicago, but finally made it home, and unpacked and then took a long nap. Overall it was a fun trip, and I'm happy I helped make Hawaii a cuter place. Vixie

Greetings all, Ba'ar here with your Spindizzy @Action News survey for this week. If you were to be featured in The Doze Garden, what would Argon draw you doing?

• Ceredwyn says, "Serving tea for everyone."
• DTF chuckles "Boring most people with trivial but useful information, Ba'ar."
• Borris Gruffs, "Eating!"
• Aina' thinks a moment, "Fighting an enemy of the SED!"
• Gatsby says, "probably licking myself, all over."
• Gilead chirps, "I'd probably be drawn riding MsDee."
• Mouser hmms. "Well, in my case, Ba'ar, it'd either be me eating or sleeping. Or maybe sleep-eating; I haven't tried that yet.
• Darius says, "Argon would probably draw me protecting the garden from pre-programmed randomized spam."
• Leowulf says, "Heh, probably hanging here, chatting, as usual."
• Argon says, "I'd probably be standing with Suri on my back giving Mavra, Anjil, Kefan and Ba'ar hipbumps!
• Ba'ar growls, "I'd probably be pictured gorging myself on honey."

A Classic Doze Garden (Even though I got drawing paper. I figured since I'd probably be drawing a ninth anniversary cartoon next week, I'd show one this week from the anniversary of 2003.)

Got something that You'd like to contribute to @Action News, but aren't sure if You should, or how to do it? Just get in touch with Argon, Skyler, or Findra, and they'll be happy to help! Here are some basic guidelines, though.

Contributing a story or artwork for @Action News is easy! Just send it to newspaper@spindizzy.org, or qmail/pagemail Argon, Findra, or Skyler, with Your article!

• @Action News is published weekly sometime on Sunday.
• Articles received after midnight Pacific time on Saturday may be held and published in the next edition of @Action News.
• Most any type of story or article of interest to SpinDizzy's newspaper readers will be accepted. Generally, we'd prefer things that aren't out and out lies or flames about other folks, and have a basis in the reality of SpinDizzy.
• Things that occur in public areas are fair game.
• The things reported don't have to have actually happened, (any more than anything that happens here does,) but make sure You don't overstep the social boundaries and rules of interaction that we have.

These are pretty broad guidelines, but we expect good sense to apply.

Thanks!

Argon
Editor - @Action News