angelm's Blog

Vt. hunter busted for bolting antlers on dead doe

BURLINGTON, Vt. � A man who bolted antlers to the head of a dead doe and posed for a photograph with the deer was fined $400 and jailed for game violations.

Marcel Fournier, 19, shot the deer the evening of Nov. 22 and used lag bolts and epoxy to attach a 10-point rack, officials said. He then checked in the kill as lawful game at Barnie's Market.

It's illegal to kill an antlerless deer, and it's also illegal to hunt at night.

The Concord resident admitted to the killing and led a game warden to the deer's remains after an anonymous caller alerted authorities. Fournier said he had "quite a time" drilling and fastening the antlers, authorities said.

Game warden David Gregory said the antlers didn't look or feel right.

"When you grabbed them, you'd feel movement," he said.

Col. David LeCours, chief warden of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the size of the antlers relative to the size of the deer seemed off.

"Something wasn't natural about them, in addition to the fact that they weren't natural," he said.

Fournier was sentenced to 10 days in jail Feb. 18 for taking a deer in a closed season. He won't qualify for a state hunting, fishing or trapping license for at least three years

Colonel Sanders still smiling after 24-year dip

TOKYO (Reuters) � After nearly a quarter century at the bottom of a Japanese river, Colonel Sanders has come up smiling.

Ecstatic fans of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team tossed the statue of the Kentucky Fried Chicken mascot into the Dotonbori River in Osaka, western Japan, in 1985 when the perpetual underdogs won their first Central League pennant in 21 years.

Tiger fans, who saw a resemblance between the Colonel and the team's bearded American slugger, Randy Bass, jumped into what was then one of the country's most polluted rivers when the losing streak ended -- and took the life-size statue with them.

The team went on to win the national championship, the Japan Series, that year but has never done so again, prompting some to suggest that the Colonel's disappearance put a curse on them.

A diver checking for unexploded bombs from World War Two in the river as part of a clean-up found the Colonel's top half on Tuesday, minus his hands and glasses but still sporting his trademark string tie and grin.

"When I heard the statue had been found, I felt that history had ended," Yoshio Yoshida, 75, Hanshin manager at the time, was quoted by the Asahi newspaper as saying. "Recalling 1985, I'd like them to achieve the dream of being Japan No. 1 again."

The Colonel's smile might have widened if it could on Wednesday, when his bottom half was recovered and reunited with the top. "It's only a statue, but I felt as if I was rescuing someone," a worker told reporters after the lower half was found.

I haven't smoked in 6 days.It is harder than I thought to quit.I had the cold sweats for the first few days.Wish me luck!!

Woman buys used couch and finds cat living inside

SPOKANE, Wash. � The mysterious mewing in Vickie Mendenhall's home started about the time she bought a used couch for $27. After days of searching for the source of the noise, she found a very hungry calico cat living in her sofa.

Her boyfriend, Chris Lund, was watching TV on Tuesday night and felt something move inside the couch. He pulled it away from the wall, lifted it up and there was the cat, which apparently crawled through a small hole on the underside.

Mendenhall contacted Value Village, where she bought the couch, but the store had no information on who donated it. So she took the cat to SpokAnimal CARE, the animal shelter where she works, so it could recover, and contacted media outlets in hopes of finding the owner.

Sure enough, Bob Killion of Spokane showed up to claim the cat on Thursday after an acquaintance alerted him to a TV story about it. Killion had donated a couch on Feb. 19, and his 9-year-old cat, Callie, disappeared at about the same time.

Police say 'bored' woman made false 911 calls

SLIDELL, La. � Police said a woman made two false calls to 911 from an out-of-service cell phone � and told investigators she did it because she was bored. They booked a 20-year-old woman on Monday with false report of a fire and false report of a crime. They also booked her on two outstanding warrants for violating probation.

Police Chief Freddy Drennan said the two calls gave different addresses in the same area. Police answered a burglary call and police and firefighters answered the fire call.

Officers questioned a woman in a nearby yard. Police said she denied making the calls at first, then admitted making them out of boredom.

Police said dispatchers who called back got an out-of-service message. Out-of-service cell phones can make emergency calls as a safety feature, but cannot take calls.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped white chocolate
1/3 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS
Blend sugar and butter together until smooth and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla; blend well.
Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder; combine these ingredients with the creamed mixture. Add chopped white chocolate and nuts.
Spoon dough out onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F  for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottom.

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, his religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over a thousand years.

On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink, and feast�on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

Chocolate French Toast
Ingredients:
3 large eggs
3/4 cup 1% milk
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Beat eggs, milk, sugar, HERSHEY'S Cocoa, vanilla, salt and cinnamon, if desired, in large bowl until smooth.

2. Heat griddle or skillet over medium-low heat. Grease griddle with margarine, if necessary.

3. Dip bread in egg mixture. Place on griddle. Cook about 2 to 4 minutes on each side. Serve immediately with 1 teaspoon soft margarine per slice

Leprechaun Cookies 'n' Mint Cake

1 (7 ounce) Hershey's Cookies 'n' Mint Chocolate bar, broken into pieces
Few drops green food color
1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix (with pudding in the mix)
Cookies 'n' Mint Glaze
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour  pan.

Using food processor, chop candy bar pieces very finely; set aside in small bowl.

Prepare cake mix batter as directed on package, using water, vegetable oil and whole eggs. In small bowl, reserve 1 1/2 cups batter; stir into reserved chopped candy bar.

Into remaining vanilla batter, stir in food color, if desired. Pour into prepared pan. Drop chocolate batter by spoonfuls into center of batter, about 1-inch in from each side of tube.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan, inverting onto wire rack. Cool completely. Top with Cookies 'n' Mint Glaze

Cookies 'n' Mint Glaze:

n small microwave-safe bowl, unwrap and break 1  Hershey's Cookies 'n' Mint Chocolate Bar into pieces; add 1 teaspoon shortening (not butter, margarine or oil). Microwave at HIGH 45 seconds. If necessary, microwave at HIGH an additional 15 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, just until chocolate is melted when stirred.

1/2  cup           Butter
   1      cup           Brown sugar
   3                    Egg -- beaten
   2 1/4  cups          Flour -- self rising
     1/2  teaspoon      Apple pie spice
   1      pinch         Salt
     2/3  cup           Raisins -- soaked in Guinness
                         
     1/2  cup           Candied peel -- soaked
   1 1/3  cups          Golden raisins -- soaked
     1/4  cup           Candied cherries
   8      fluid ounces  Guinness or other dark beer

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream the butter and sugar until the sugar is dissolved; beat in the eggs.
Add the flour, salt, apple pie spice and the soaked dried fruit.
Mix in the Guinness, grease a deep 8 inch cake pan and pour
the mixture in.  Bake for about 2 hours until firm in the center.

INGREDIENTS
3 cups white sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon butter

DIRECTIONS
Butter one 9x9 inch pan.
Combine the sugar, evaporated milk and cocoa in saucepan. Stir over high heat until mixture comes to a rolling boil. Lower heat to medium and continue cooking to a soft ball stage.
Remove from heat, add peanut butter and margarine. Beat by hand until creamy; pour into prepared pan. Allow to cool and cut into squares.

Wal-Mart customer in Mass. finds teeth in wallet

FALMOUTH, Mass. � A customer shopping at a Wal-Mart for a wallet claims he found something that definitely didn't fit the bill: human teeth.

Police say the man found 10 human teeth Saturday when he unzipped a compartment in the wallet. One tooth had a filling.

The customer turned the wallet and the teeth over to employees at the Falmouth store but left without giving his name.

Police investigating the incident told The Cape Cod Times that the teeth belong to an adult, but since there was no blood or gum tissue on the teeth, they would be unable to perform DNA tests.

A Walmart spokeswoman said the company believes it was an "isolated incident," but will investigate

... OMAHA, Neb. � A man who tried to cool out his hyper cat by stuffing her into a boxlike homemade bong faces cruelty charges � and catcalls from animal lovers. Lancaster County sheriff's deputies responding to a domestic disturbance call Sunday alleged they saw 20-year-old Acea Schomaker smoking marijuana through a piece of garden hose attached to a duct-taped, plastic glass box in which the cat had been stuffed.

"This cat was just dazed," Sgt. Andy Stebbing said. "She was on the front seat of the cop car, wrapped in a blanket, and never moved all the way to the humane society."

Schomaker told deputies 6-month-old Shadow was hyper and he was trying to calm her down. The contraption she had been stuffed inside was 12 inches by 6 inches. Shadow was timid but in good condition Monday at the Capital Humane Society, executive director Bob Downey said.

"What the human mind doesn't invent, huh?" Downey said.

Schomaker, who was released from jail after paying a $400 fine on the arrest warrant, faces drug and misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. He did not immediately respond to phone messages left Monday seeking comment.

Nebraska woman, 86, gets $1,000 phone sex bill
, Neb. � The family of an 86-year-old woman who was billed for over $1,000 in phone sex calls suspects identify theft. Arlene Hald recently received a credit card bill addressed to her husband, Sylvester, who died nearly 20 years ago. Hald said they never had a credit card, yet an account in his name was charged.

Hald's daughter, Peggy Rytych, believes her father was the victim of ID theft. She called the billing company, Preferred Platinum Plan, which agreed to remove the charges.

Rytych says they thought that was the end of it � until another bill arrived for over $70. The California-based company agreed to remove the latest charges and never bill Hald again.

Software glitch leads to cheap gas in Dutch town

AMSTERDAM � Friday night was the right time to get tanked in the Dutch town of Genderen. An unmanned gas station began offering customers gas for 1 cent per liter (around $0.05 per gallon) � a discount of more than 99 percent � thanks to a software glitch in the machine, local paper Brabants Dagblad reported Monday.

As word of the deal spread, business boomed literally overnight at the station, 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Amsterdam.

"At first we thought that the price board was broken, but when it got really busy, we alerted" the station's operator, the paper quoted owner Marijke Thur as saying.

Operator Vollenhoven Olie BV, which leases the station from Thur, fixed the mistake Saturday morning. The company said its financial losses were "limited."