STRANGE BUT TRUE: Tales of the weird and wacky

We found out how much Mick Fleetwood’s ‘balls’ were worth this wacky week, and you’ll never guess what a woman named her baby after giving birth at McDonald’s. Then there were skiing Santas, a Grinch with photo radar, and a golf game gone very wrong.

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE!

Mick Fleetwood’s icon “balls” sold for at auction for US$128,000 this month. The wooden prop appeared on Fleetwood Mac’s iconic album 1975 album Rumours, cheekily hanging from the lanky drummer’s waist. It was one of a number of Mac items sold with partial proceeds going to charity. Stevie Nick’s dress from the Rumours cover went for over $31,000.

AND WHAT KIND OF DIP?

A woman named her baby “Nugget” after delivering a girl at an Atlanta McDonald’s. Alandria Worthy said that her labour was intensifying and her fiancé was driving her to the hospital when they stopped so she could use the bathroom at the fast food restaurant. “I went into the bathroom and my water broke immediately,” Worthy said. The baby was delivered with the help of two restaurant employees.

DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW

More than 300 jolly ol’ elves – all dressed in red – dashed together down a mountain with white beards and Santa hats flapping in the breeze at the Sunday River ski resort in Maine (photo). A skiing Grinch and a skiing Christmas tree joined the party. The Santa Sunday has grown in popularity over more than two decades, raising $7,500 this year for a local charity.

TRASH TALK

A celery stalk sighting and a little luck came together to help a New Hampshire man find his wife’s wedding rings in a 20-ton trash trailer, the jewellery wrapped in a napkin he had accidentally thrown away, not realizing his wife had cleaned the rings and wrapped them in the napkin to dry. Several hours later, he returned and asked for help in finding the rings amid the piles of garbage. After about five or six scoops, they saw a white bag with a telltale clue – a celery stalk sticking out the side – and started going through the bag. At the very bottom, underneath some carrot or sweet potato peelings, there was a napkin. “Literally, I opened up the napkin, there were the two rings,” said the relieved hubby.

GRINCH HELPS STOP TRAFFIC TICKETS FROM COMING

Motorists who speed a little bit through selected school zones on the Florida Keys Overseas Highway during the holidays might get an onion from the Grinch instead of a traffic citation. Colonel Lou Caputo, of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, donned the Grinch costume Tuesday afternoon and stood side-by-side with other officers as they aimed a radar speed detector at cars travelling by a local elementary school. He says he portrays the fictional character created by children’s author Dr. Seuss to give motorists a “gift,” but also to call attention in a nice way to the need to obey speed limits in school zones.

Caputo and Sheriff’s Office deputies have been staging Grinch speed enforcement details in selected Keys school zones for 20 years. Drivers who travel about 5 mph or less above the school zone’s speed limit can choose between traffic citations and odorous onions presented by the Grinch. Those speeding beyond that will likely get a costly ticket. “It catches them off guard, Caputo said. “So, when I present the onion to them, they’re contemplating what to do. But when I give them a clear choice of a citation, or the onion, they will take the onion,” he said. “And I’ve had them eat the onion, right in front of me.”

OUCH AND YUCK!

An argument between two men over a golf game led one golfer to bite the nose off the other in the parking lot of a Mississippi casino. Police were told the two men had been arguing throughout the day about their game. The victim was taken to hospital; the perpetrator eventually turned himself in and was charged with felony mayhem and faces up to seven years in prison. The nose was not found.