Minimalist poet, minimalist lifestyle

When Debbie Parkhurst choked on a piece of apple at her Maryland home, her dog jumped in, landing hard on her chest and forcing the morsel to pop out of her throat. When the Keesling family of Indiana was about to be overcome by carbon monoxide, their cat clawed at wife Cathy's hair until she woke up and called for help.
For their nick-of-time acts, Toby, a 2 1/2-year-old golden retriever, and Winnie, a gray-eyed American shorthair, were named Dog and Cat of the Year by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

A US holidaymaker got a nasty surprise when he discovered the lumps on his scalp were live maggots.

Aaron Dallas, from Colorado, US, sought medical advice when the bumps appeared on his scalp after a trip to Belize.

But it was not until the bumps started moving that doctors realised Dallas had five live botfly maggots inside his head, reports Sky News.

"I'd put my hand back there and feel them moving. I thought it was blood coursing through my head," said Dallas.

"I could hear them. I actually thought I was going crazy."

Adult bot flies are larger and more aggressive than European flies. One type attacks livestock, deer and humans.

They rely on mosquitoes, stable flies, and other insects to carry their eggs to a host, which in this case was Dallas.

"It was weird and traumatic," said Dallas. "I would get this pain that would drop me to my knees."

I used to have to regularly walk past a maggot farm, and no matter which way the wind was blowing I could always smell it from several hundred yards away.

A man and his new wife go to the Hilton Hotel for their honeymoon night. At the front desk, they check in and the receptionist gives the groom the key to the bridal suite. Just then he says to the groom, "Sir, It is now 6 o' clock, dinner will be served from 7:30 onwards." The groom looks at him and says, "Thank you, but we won't be needing any" and off he and his bride go to the room. The whole evening the people next door the bridal suite are phoning down to the main desk to complain about all the moaning, which doesn't stop for one minute the whole night.

Next morning at 6am, the groom phones down to room service. "Hi, could I get some breakfast brought up here?"

"Sure, what would you like?" asks room service.

The groom says, "Well, I have to replace all the energy I lost last night so you'd better get me 6 fried eggs, 9 sausages, 12 slices of toast and six litres of orange juice!"

Room service replies, "Gee, that's quite an appetite you got there. Is that for your wife as well, or just for you?"

"No that's just for me, can you send up six pieces of lettuce for my wife as well?"

Room service asks, "Why six pieces of lettuce?"

And the groom replies, " I have to see if she can eat like a rabbit as well!!"