oddly enough

oddly enough

Farm dog suckles piglets

CAMAGUEY, Cuba

Yeti the dog already had a litter of pups to care for when the piglets adopted her as a second mom.

Ever since then, the Cuban farm dog has been pulling double-duty, nursing not just her own young but also the 14 swine.

Farmer Mannorkys Santamaria said the piglets also take milk from their mothers, but when they see Yeti, they run to her for a meal. On a recent day the young porkers followed her around the farm as if she were their real mother.

“No one imposed this on the dog,” Santamaria said. “The piglets discovered this on their own and began nursing with her when they turned 15 days old.”

Santamaria, 35, and his wife, Eida Fernandes, 40, raise pigs, chickens, doves and turkeys on their small farm in the eastern province of Camaguey. There also are several mixed-breed dogs that have showed up on the property over the years and stayed.

So far, Yeti is the only one to become an adopted mother to pigs. Fernandes said she doesn’t seem to mind. All but one of Yeti’s biological offspring have been given away, and the one pup remaining nurses alongside the swine.

Ohio couple wed on plane, then skydive from it

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio

A newlywed couple in southwest Ohio have put a twist on the idea of taking the plunge.

The Middletown Journal reports Phil and Gail Mathis of Middletown wed Saturday afternoon on a plane 7,500 feet in the air before jumping out of it for a skydive.

The 58-year-old groom tells the newspaper he wanted to do something crazy. He says he told his bride the only way they’d get married was if she would skydive with him, though his friends told him his love of three years wouldn’t go for the idea.

But on Saturday, 54-year-old Gail Mathis took the leap. She says it was about a minute of freefalling, and then she enjoyed floating downward with a parachute, but she’s not sure she’d choose to skydive again.

Calif. woman uses birth dates of family in lottery win

ALHAMBRA, Calif.

A Southern California woman who won half the $18 million SuperLotto has her children and grandchildren to thank for the win.

That’s because Audelia Ramirez used their birth dates to pick the winning numbers.

The California Lottery said Thursday that Ramirez claimed her $9 million prize last week and said she’d love to buy a new house after living in a small apartment for years. The 73-year-old has six children and eight grandchildren.

Another winning ticket sold at Junior Liquor in San Diego remains unclaimed.

The winning numbers were: 22, 27, 32, 31, 2 and Mega 11.

Associated Press