5-foot-long snake found in Texas jail

FORT WORTH, Texas – An unwelcome visitor at a North Texas jail has been freed by a reptile-friendly deputy.
Cpl. Mike McNicholas of the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office helped remove the 5-foot-long rat snake from some overhead pipe space.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that an inmate at the county’s Greenbay jail facility had spotted the snake above his cell.
McNicholas blamed the nonvenomous snake for the inside job, saying the creature probably got into the jail through exhaust fans or air conditioning ducts. More

Pup Could be World`s Smallest Dog

Poland - Meet Meysi, a tiny Terrier from Poland who weighed just 1.58 ounces at her birth three months ago. Meysi`s owner, Anna Pohl of Jarocin, Poland, told her local newspaper she didn`t think her dog would make it and that it took all of Pohl`s strength to keep Meysi going. "The worst was the first six weeks," Pohl, who fed Mesyi with a syringe. "I got zero sleep. I was feeding her day and night, every half hour. Sometimes I ran out of strength, had to call out of work." Meysi grew to her current weight of 3.25 ounces but is not expected to grow much more, veterinarians tell Pohl. More

Goats released on high school football field

North Carolina - A small herd of goats caused plenty of problems for a North Carolina high school hoping to play a home football game on senior night. The Shelby Star reports that nearly a dozen goats were released in the Burns High School stadium in Cleveland County. School officials say the goats caused enough of a mess to force the game against Rutherfordton-Spindale Central to be moved. The prank raised concern because of a recent outbreak of E. coli cases associated with the Cleveland County Fair west of Charlotte this month. More

Dog tracks down ailing master in the hospital

New York – Zander, a husky, was so upset when his owner was  hospitalized that the pooch tracked him down and paid him a visit.
John Dolan was hospitalized with a skin condition. His wife says their dog Zander took it hard. She says the dog sulked and  even cried.
Then Zander, seemingly decided he had to be by his owner’s  bedside. Zander broke out of the Bay Shore home and made his way to the Good  Samaritan Hospital Medical Center more than 2 miles away.
The four-legged friend likely went under the Robert Moses Parkway and across a busy four-lane road to get there.
A hospital employee found  the dog on the street outside of building where Dolan was being treated. More

kids’ gator pool parties are unsafe

MADEIRA BEACH, Florida – Invitations to the birthday pool party for 8-year-old Marshall Jones announced two special guests.
Friends and parents jumped into the water to photograph and swim with the pair, Cupcake and Burger, two gators from the Alligator Attraction in John’s Pass.
“Not a single kid freaked out,” said Chris Jones, Marshall’s dad. “Not one.”
But investigators at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission think “gator parties” are unsafe for kids and parents.
They have told Alligator Attraction, the Madeira Beach facility that houses 50 gators, a tortoise and koi fish, that alligators no longer will be allowed to swim freely in residential swimming pools. More

Popsicles

 In 1905 an eleven-year-old Frank Epperson was mixing powdered soda and water to make soda pop.

Frank accidentally left the mixing bucket outside. During the night the mixture froze solid, with the wooden stirring stick standing straight up. 

But the frozen pop tasted great! Frank started selling Epperson icicles for five cents, later changing the name to popsicles.