ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Determined runner struck by deer finishes half marathon

SANDY HOOK, N.J.

A runner who was struck by a deer during a half marathon in New Jersey still managed to cross the finish line.

Christina Sanchez tells the Asbury Park Press that she was on Mile 10 of the Jersey Shore Half Marathon at Sandy Hook on Oct. 7 when a large buck took her out.

Sanchez says the deer came dashing out of the woods and struck her in a “blur of brown and white fur.”

The Fair Haven woman was knocked down before the deer sprinted back into a wooded area near Gunnison Beach. She received attention from emergency personnel who gave her the OK and encouraged her to finish the race.

Sanchez finished about 10 minutes slower than her goal time. But she says she wasn’t going to give up.

North Carolina goes to the frogs as flooding, breeding align

MANTEO, N.C.

In the wake of Hurricane Florence, the North Carolina coast has been plagued with a tide of frogs and toads, but the storm’s record-setting floods aren’t entirely to blame.

State biologist Jeff Hall tells The Charlotte Observer the coast is experiencing a convergence of two types of frog and toad population explosions. The first wave takes the form of tadpoles born during June and July’s abnormally heavy rains, while the second is a boom of “explosively breeding” toads. Those toads found an ideal habitat in tiny puddles created by Hurricane Florence.

But the flooding has also augmented the interactions between humans and amphibians, as the latter group searches for dry ground.

Hall says coastal residents are likely to find frogs and toads in odd places until floodwaters recede.

$1,000 reward to nail thieves of California hammer sculpture

HEALDSBURG, Calif.

The artist who created an 800-pound sculpture of a hammer that was stolen from a Northern California community center is offering a $1,000 reward to nail the thieves.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported Oct. 9 that Healdsburg artist Doug Unkrey made the offer. He made the 800-pound ball-peen hammer out of mixed metals. It has a long redwood handle and measures 21 feet long and the head is 6 feet tall.

The piece, valued at $15,000, was loaned by the artist about a year ago to the Healdsburg Community Center. It vanished from the lawn sometime Oct. 5 or Oct. 6.

Unkrey says it would have required about eight people or a flatbed trailer with a winch to carry off his work.

Associated Press