oddly enough

oddly enough

Run ends for Ohio man’s Secret Santa bearing pies

COLUMBUS

A Secret Santa has told an Ohio man not to expect any more pecan pies, which arrived mysteriously for 35 years.

Willis Welch says the pie that showed up at his Columbus home during the recent holiday season was accompanied by a note that said, “It has been a great ride.” The person who signed it “Pie Fairy” also wrote: “My wings are shorter now, and I am a little too fat to fly anymore. But I still love you!!”

The Columbus Dispatch reports that the 87-year-old Welch still doesn’t know who was sending his perennial pastries, though whoever did it knew him well enough to know of his fondness for pecan pies.

Welch believes the first one came in 1976.

His two daughters have denied any involvement.

Jan. 4 birthday runs in the family in Ohio

TOLEDO

Jan. 4 birthdays have been running in one Ohio family for four generations.

Richard Stiff of the Toledo area turned 65 on Wednesday.

The day also is the 34th birthday of his daughter, Julia Gonyer, and it’s the first birthday of Gonyer’s daughter, Kourtney.

The string began with Stiff’s late father, Marshall Stiff, who was born Jan. 4, 1924.

The Blade newspaper reports that some people can’t believe it when they learn about all the birthdays on the same day in one family.

Others have said it’s kind of creepy.

All four family members arrived Jan. 4 through unscheduled, natural births.

The birthdays traditionally have been celebrated with one cake and one singing of “Happy Birthday.”

Firefighters pull back in fear of venomous snakes

VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Hoses weren’t the only things uncoiling at this blaze. Austrian firefighters answering an alarm found something their training didn’t prepare them for — a trove of highly venomous snakes.

Fire department spokesman Franz Resperger says 85 firefighters beat a hasty retreat from a burning barn east of Vienna after a neighbor told them to watch out for the reptiles kept by the owner inside.

The blaze finally was quenched Tuesday after an expert summoned to the scene captured seven snakes, including an Indian cobra and two Australian taipans — all packing potent venom that Resperger said there was no antidote for in Austria.

He says one of the reptiles was more than 2 yards long.

Associated Press