Meet the peanut-turtle!

This turtle (a red-eared slider) was found wandering the St. Louis area in 1993 with a six-pack ring trapped around his mid-section.

Due to the constriction of his shell, some of Peanut’s internal organs (his lungs, in particular) failed to grow properly. He was an easy pray for predators so he could not be released into nature.

turtle Peanut 6 packHe has become the official mascot for Missouri’s Department of Transportation and Department of Conservation’s anti-littering effort, a program called No MOre Trash.

This is what Peanut looks like now:

turtle Peanut 6 pack 2Whether it’s turtles in six-pack rings or squirrels in yogurt containers, what happens to our trash and how we dispose of it matters.

Here are a few other common household items to watch out for: any fishing line, or plastic lines, because animals can get tangledin them, not just in the water, but also birds or squirrels. And be mindful of balloons when they pop outside. Birds and other animals may ingest them and die.

Every little effort counts ! Remember to cut up plastic packaging in small pieces when you put them in the bin, and avoid using plastic bags or balloons.

More here: Upworthy-Peanut story

Undercover policeman in wheelchair sees acts of kindness

After two robberies of wheelchair-bound people that were carried out at knifepoint, a Vancouver police officer went undercover as a paralyzed man in a wheelchair with brain injury.

Much to his surprise, instead of being victimized, he saw repeated displays of human kindness in this rough neighborhood.

Sometimes he asked people to buy something for him, to see if they would steal his money. At the end of the operation, the officer had $24.75 more than he started with. People chose to give rather than steal.

We usually see news stories about people doing bad things, but those aren’t the only stories.

The reality is that there are lot of kind people in the world who treat others with respect and consideration.

Operation Wheelchair – YouTube.

More detail here:

Upworthy-wheelchair undercover

Making pomanders

Want to keep your house or your wardrobe smelling of orange and spices? Make pomanders and keep them everywhere you want this nice fall smell in the air…

This is really easy. You just need to pick a firm orange with no blemishes and stick cloves in it, in the pattern of your choice.

It will even be easier if you pierce the orange’s skin with a knitting needle before pushing the clove through!

Pomanders

Ingredients:

oranges

oranges

cloves

cloves