Pregnant Woman Saves Pets from Burning Building

This week in Independence, KY, an off-duty animal control officer rushed into a burning apartment complex to rescue over thirteen pets - two dogs, six cats, a snake, a bearded dragon lizard, a rabbit, a lovebird, and a tank of fish.

Amy Leslie, who is in her second trimester of pregnancy, is shrugging off those who call her a hero, but I do indeed hope she receives some sort of award or prize or special recognition. (Not since Pee-wee's Big Adventure have I known such bravery and love of animals.)

Trolling for Trophies

Just received a press release from the Kentucky Fish & Wildlife Foundation, who are having their "Trolling for Trophies" drawing at the end of this month. Apparently the winner of the drawing gets a $1000 shopping spree with Tim Farmer at Bass Pro Shops, an all-day chance to fish in a 13 acre private lake stocked with 50-inch muskie, 23-inch hybrids, 10-pound largemouths, 3-pound shellcrackers and 2-pound crappie. Plus, you get to be on TV, on the Kentucky Afield show.

Sounds pretty good to me... even though apparently neither trolling nor a trophy is actually involved! (The fish themselves are the trophies, I understand that, but still, I like trophy trophies!)

David Lynch's Favorite Caviar

David Lynch, auteur known for classic weird cinema such as Inland Empire, Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Wild at Heart and the television series Twin Peaks, knows a lot about fine cuisine. And Mr. Lynch has declared the best caviar he's ever tasted as coming from, of all places, Kentucky.

Shuckman's Fish Co. & Smokery, located at 3001 West Main Street in Louisville, has a knack for coming up with products loved by those in the know, and has been doing so since 1919. In addition to David Lynch, celebrity testimonials have rolled in for Shuckman's from Emeril Lagasse, Gary Busey, Ned Beatty, David Domine, NPR's Lynne Rossetto Kasper, and Peter Halikas from Dean & Deluca. Even Mikhail Gorbachev and President Clinton have dined on Shuckman's wondrous creations.

So why is one of the nation's leading smoked seafood companies located in Kentucky? I have no idea. It's just one of life's little ironies, like how you have to go to Northern Italy to find the best Southern Italian restaurants.

Visit Shuckman's website here.

Giant Muskellunge

According to the new edition of the Kentucky Fishing and Boating Guide, a 14-year-old Mt. Sterling girl named Sarah Terry recently caught this record-breaking muskellunge (commonly called "muskies") in Cave Run Lake, Rowan County.

The Big Fish of Dixie Highway

If you liked The Unfriendly Fish Fountain, here's an even bigger fish to fry. This enormous fiberglas bass decorates the sign for Pepper Tackle on Dixie Highway between Valley Station and Fort Knox. Though it's hard to gauge the size perspective in the picture, the disturbingly lifelike fish is bigger than a pickup truck.

The Unfriendly Fish Fountain

The unfriendly fish fountain, with its strangely Donald Duck-like countenance, was one of the very first entries on our old site back in 2002. Located on the corner of First and Main streets in downtown Richmond, this irate-looking sculpture has greeted passersby with its surly scowl for many years.

The fountain no longer works, alas, but its fish-faced glory lives on.