Nebraska boy, 6, takes wheel after dad passes out

Police say a 6-year-old boy grabbed the wheel of their pickup after his dad passed out from low blood sugar and kept them from crashing until a North Platte police officer could bring the truck to a halt.
Tustin Mains was in the back seat with his 3-year-old brother when he noticed that his dad, Phillip Mains, slumped down on Sunday evening while they were driving home from a restaurant.
"I remember getting up to about the mall - that was about 6:45," Phillip Mains told The North Platte Telegraph. "The next thing I remember was waking up to the officer and paramedics, and it was 8:15."
Tustin hopped up from the back seat to his father's lap so he could steer and see out the windshield.
His dad's foot had slipped off the accelerator, but even at idle the Chevrolet Avalanche was going an estimated 10-15 mph.
Other drivers noticed the boy driving the truck. Some maneuvered their vehicles in front or behind the pickup and turned on their emergency blinkers.
Tustin remained at the wheel for several blocks, even turning around when he got into a neighborhood he didn't recognize.
He was then spotted by North Platte officer Roger Freeze.
Freeze maneuvered his car near enough that he could stop, get out and run up to the pickup. The driver's side window was down, so Freeze reached in, grabbed the gearshift and put it into park.
North Platte Police Chief Martin Gutschenritter praised his officer and young Tustin.
"I will be issuing him a departmental citation for his quick, professional action on this case. That is also a very special young man. He was able to take quick action when his dad was incapacitated, and we are very proud of him, too," Gutschenritter said.
Tustin's dad was grateful to Freeze as well.
"To chase down a moving vehicle and get it stopped the way he did took a lot of nerve, and if it weren't for him, things could have turned out much worse."
For a kindergartner, Tustin did a pretty good job of driving. The pickup sustained only a minor scrape when it brushed a piece of a bridge as Tustin turned to head back into town.
When he saw his dad "fall asleep," Tustin said, he got scared, then got another fright when officer Freeze appeared at the driver's window.
But when Freeze brought the pickup to an abrupt halt?
"I was just happy," Tustin said.
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Young girl lives with messed up internal organs

A girl has survived being born with five spleens, a hole in her heart, a diseased and back to front liver, two left lungs and her stomach on the wrong side.
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Bethany Jordan:
Strangely, when she exercises too much, her heart can be seen beating through her back.
Bethany Jordan, six, was born with many of her organs back to front but amazed doctors who had warned her parents, Lisa, 37, and Robert, 44, there was little chance she would survive birth.
Her problems mean that, while she looks a picture of health, she cannot stand up to some of the normal rigorous and strains of an average child.
Bethany, of Stourbridge, West Midlands, sufferers from Ivemark Syndrome, an extremely rare genetic disorder, characterized by a poorly-formed cardiovascular system and organs in the wrong place.
Strangely, when she exercises too much, her heart can be seen beating through her back.
There are so few sufferers that very little is known about the condition or what could be its cause.

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Bird Feeder

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Cat catching Temptations Treats

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Man Plays Dad to Day-old Ducklings

A quick-thinking banker has endeared himself to the people of Washington State by rescuing a family of ducks stranded on the second floor of a building.
The mother duck built her nest outside Joel Armstrong's window in the center of Spokane city, near the river and, for the next 35 days, Mr Armstrong watched events unfold with interest.
But he soon discovered he was in for another surprise when he realised the duck needed to take her babies to fresh water.
The mother flew off, leaving her frightened ducklings high and dry, dangerously close to the edge of the building.
Realising what was wrong, Mr Armstrong ran downstairs and took up his position on the pavement below, next to the mother duck who was quacking encouragement to her babies.
The banker kept his eyes on the ducklings while chatting reassuringly to their mum.
Then the ducklings moved, two jumping right into his hands.
Gradually, the other ducklings followed and each was caught safely and passed over to mother duck.
By the time the feathered family was successfully reunited, a crowd had gathered and, with the help of some new-found friends, Mr Armstrong was able to move the ducks to a new home better suited to their needs, the local river.
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A man played dad to a dozen day-old ducklings by rescuing them from a ledge near his office, and then leading the entire brood to water with their mother duck.

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It's SOOO nice to see a great story involving a banker after all the negative ones over the last several months. They DO have hearts after all!! Loved this uplifting story!

As an animal lover, thank you!

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French Bull Dog

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Toddler buys $15,600 digger on auction site

Three-year-old Pipi Quinlan bought a $15,600.00 Kobelco digger on auction website TradeMe, prompting immediate damage control by her mom when her purchase was revealed.
Most parents are used to little ones sneaking treats into the supermarket trolley, but Pipi's deal must take the cake.
Parents Sarah and Reid Quinlan, of Stanmore Bay north of Auckland, were astonished to wake one morning to find Pipi had bought the huge excavating digger in a TradeMe auction.
The technically savvy kid had woken early and, with the rest of her family sound asleep, decided to play with the computer.
With a few clicks of the mouse she entered Internet Explorer and the Trade Me site her mother had already logged on to.
After a few more timely clicks, she had won the most recent auction listed on the site's homepage.
It was for a Kobelco digger, and she had it for $15,600.00 - money she didn’t have in her piggy bank.
"The first I knew about it was when I came down and opened up the computer," says mum Sarah.
"I saw an email from TradeMe saying I had won an auction and another email from the seller saying something like 'I think you'll love this digger'."
"Well, I had a few Duplo Lego play kits on my watch-list, so just assumed I'd won a digger toy-set," she says.
"It wasn't until I went back and re-read the emails that I saw $NZ20,000, and got the shock of my life," says Sarah.
"I called my husband Reid over to make sure I wasn't seeing things.
"I asked him what a Kobelco was and he said 'I think it's an earthmoving digger'."
"I jokingly said to Sarah, well you'll have to move the Honda off the driveway to make way for the Kobelco," says Reid.
Sarah immediately called TradeMe and the seller to report what had happened.
TradeMe has reimbursed the seller's costs for listing the digger and the auction.
While the seller wasn't impressed with Pipi's antics, he relisted the digger again for another auction.
The Quinlans say most people see the funny side, with family and friends already joking about the incident.
They've learnt to keep their computer well out of the reach of prying hands, and now have a great story for Pipi's 21st birthday.
Perhaps it's a lesson for many parents or childminders to keep a close eye on little ones around computers.
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Goose photographed flying upside down

A photographer has taken a picture of a greylag goose, as the bird was flying upside down.
Brian MacFarlane was amazed when he looked at the photo he had captured of the bird in flight.
The incredible display of mid-flight acrobatics is also a remarkable feat of wildlife photography
Mr MacFarlane was simply photographing geese buffeted by strong winds at Strumpshaw in Norfolk and did not expect to capture a moment of contortionism.
"The wind was making life difficult for the flying birds," said Mr MacFarlane.
"Some were expert at controlling their flight, while others were being tossed around in mid-air.
"On closer inspection of the image I realised it had flipped upside down but kept its head the right way up.
"Quite a feat!"
Paul Stancliffe, of the British Trust for Ornithology, based at Thetford, was able to explain the bird's bizarre behavior.
"It looks like this bird is in mid-whiffle," he said.
"When geese come in to land from a great height they partake in a bout of whiffling, this involves the bird twisting and turning to spill air from their wings and thus lowering their speed prior to landing.
"In 36 years of birdwatching I have seen this many times, particularly when watching pink-footed geese on the north Norfolk coast coming in to roost in the late afternoon and evening. I have, however, never seen a photograph of a bird in mid-whiffle like this. It is an amazing photograph."

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Lines painted at closed nursery

The "school keep clear" sign has been painted outside the closed nursery

A council member has admitted workers painted a warning sign outside a nursery school despite it closing 10 years ago.
The yellow zig-zag "school keep clear" sign has been painted in Aberdeen at St Peter's Nursery in The Spital.
The work - costing about £200 - was carried out despite the building being boarded up.
An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: "Staff have been instructed to check orders for all outstanding works to ensure they are still required."

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Did you know........

Your I.T. help desk was contracted out to the lowest bidder in Pakistan
I just got started posting yesterday and my Internet went down

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