Hole will make giant pumpkin ineligible for fair

KENAI, Alaska (AP) — J.D. Megchelsen holds the record for giant pumpkins in Alaska, and the Nikiski gardener knew he had a candidate this year to beat the record of 1,287 pounds set in 2011.

But when a boom truck gently lifted the behemoth on Monday with rigging and a sling, the big pumpkin revealed a big disappointment: a thumb-size hole that will make it ineligible for the competition at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer.

"It's not going to count," Megchelsen told the Peninsula Clarion (http://bit.ly/1dkIEWX). "It's a bummer, but it's the rules."

Entries must be free of rot, chemical residue and serious soft spots. They can't have holes or cracks that reach the pumpkin cavity.

A scale on the crane indicated the big pumpkin weighed 1,500 pounds but Megchelsen estimates the state competition scale would have registered closer to 1,420 pounds.

"It's just killing him," said Pam Elkins, Megchelsen's sister-in-law. "He eats, sleeps and dreams pumpkins. All he does is pumpkins."

Megchelsen began to pursue the record in 2002. He set the record in 2004 with a 700-pounder. A year later, he grew a 942-pound pumpkin and in 2006 he grew the first Alaska pumpkin to exceed 1,000 pounds. The current record followed in 2011.

Two years ago, Megchelsen said, he had a disqualifying hole in another of his giants. It might have surpassed the record if it had kept growing, he said.

His 2013 pumpkin probably grew too fast when it opened a hole in a "rib valley," he said. During the height of a growth spurt in the warmest part of the summer, Megchelsen said, he was feeding the pumpkin up to 300 gallons of water a day.

The hole likely opened the first week of August when the fruit hit its peak growth spurt of 41 pounds in 24 hours. That happened two days in a row, he said.

When the pumpkin was hand-pollinated June 5, it was the size of a cherry tomato.

Megchelsen plans to take his pumpkin to Palmer for weigh-in day. He's not likely to leave it there on display, he said.

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Information from: (Kenai, Alaska) Peninsula Clarion, http://www.peninsulaclarion.com

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Weather radar shows giant ‘storm’ of dust, bugs in Texas

(NOAA/National Weather Service)

Forecasters in Texas thought something was wrong with their equipment late last week when radar showed a massive area of rain and strong storms stretching from Dallas to Austin on a dry summer day.

“It looked like it was raining,” Jennifer Dunn, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Dallas-Fort Worth, told the Austin American-Statesman on Friday. “We thought something was wrong with the radar, but we checked our instruments and measurements. Everything was working fine."

A screen shot from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed what appeared to be large swath of storms in the area. But while temperatures in Austin hit a record 106 degrees on Friday, skies were clear, Dunn said. She suspected the radar was picking up bugs—like, a lot of bugs.

But Pat McDonald, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in New Braunfels, Texas, disagreed.

“If it were just bugs, we’d be talking about the second coming of Christ,” McDonald said.

Dust, pollen, humidity, "lady bugs, grasshoppers, bees and even a few birds," he said, were likely kicked up into the atmosphere by a weak cold front and showed up on radar as a storm field.

"Not the apocalypse," McDonald said.

The mass disappeared after early Friday evening as temperatures fell.

And we probably won't see any apocalyptic air masses on the radar for a while. According to the National Weather Service, record or near-record low temperatures are expected across Central Texas through midweek.

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Giant, fluorescent pink slugs found on mountain

(NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service)

It would seem to be something you'd see only in a cartoon or at a Phish concert, but according to park rangers in New South Wales, Australia, dozens of giant, fluorescent pink slugs have been popping up on a mountaintop there.

"As bright pink as you can imagine, that's how pink they are," Michael Murphy, a ranger with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "On a good morning, you can walk around and see hundreds of them."

The eight-inch creatures have been spotted only on Mount Kaputar, a 5,000-foot peak in the Nandewar Range in northern New South Wales.

Scientists believe the eye-catching organisms are survivors from an era when Australia was home to rainforests. A series of volcanoes, millions of years of erosion and other geological changes "have carved a dramatic landscape at Mount Kaputar," the park service wrote on its Facebook page, and unique arid conditions spared the slugs from extinction.

They "probably would have long since vanished, if a volcano had not erupted at Mount Kaputar about 17 million years ago," Ben Cubby wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald. "The result of that eruption is a high-altitude haven for invertebrates and plant species that have been isolated for millions of years, after Australia dried out and the rainforests receded."

And they're not the only unusual inhabitants on the mountain.

"We've actually got three species of cannibal snail on Mount Kaputar, and they're voracious little fellas," Murphy said. "They hunt around on the forest floor to pick up the slime trail of another snail, then hunt it down and gobble it up."

If you're not into pink slugs - check out other pink creatures:

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Giant rubber duck makes splash in Hong Kong harbor

HONG KONG (AP) — A six-story-high rubber duck is making a big splash in Hong Kong.

Crowds watched the inflatable duck being pulled by tugboat across Victoria Harbor in front of Hong Kong's signature skyscraper skyline.

Tourist Zhang Wenjin from Shanghai says it's a big surprise. "This is huge. My daughter liked it when she saw it just now. Because kids like cute stuff."

Yu Kwan Yee of Hong Kong was part of the crowd. "The duckie is swimming," the 2 ½-year-old said.

Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman created the bright-yellow duck, and it was built of PVC material in New Zealand by a company specializing in large sails.

Hofman was on hand as the duck arrived and said it later had to be deflated because high winds and waves created a "big challenge."

The duck has been transported around the world since 2007, bringing a message of peace and harmony. It has previously been to Osaka, Japan, Sydney, Sao Paulo, Auckland, New Zealand, and Amsterdam.

It will be anchored at a Hong Kong terminal for display until June.

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"Panda-monium" as giant pandas arrive in Canada from China

By Fred Thornhill

TORONTO (Reuters)-Canada has an international flavour Panda diplomacy Monday with the arrival of two "very important Pandas" at the start of a 10-year loan of two Canadian zoos.

Speaking as the two giant Pandas arrived in Toronto from China, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Junsai-that animals were given the designation of VIP-noted that when he started his speech in Canada two years ago, was greeted only by Canada of the Protocol.

But the pair of pandas, Er Shun, and Mao, 5 4, earned a personal welcome by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has reached an agreement for the loan of pandas during a visit to China last year.

"I am delighted to officially welcome you to Canada ... a couple of China's national treasures," Harper said at the airport.

Officials hope that Er Shun, who is female, and by Mao, who is male, will partner during five years in Toronto and the next five years in Calgary, Alberta, to produce the first Canadian panda Cubs.

"China wants to be known for other than economic skills," Gordon Houlden, Director of the China Institute at the University of Alberta, told CTV television. "This helps serve that purpose."

China has often lent pandas to foreign zoos, in offerings that can be profitable for both parties. Fees paid by host countries Fund help panda research in China, but zoos hope to recover that extra visitors.

Other costs include large quantities of bamboo that you eat the two Panda-pass from 10 to 16 hours a day eating 20 to 14 kg (31-44 lbs) of bamboo.

FedEx Corp., which flew the pandas in Canada from China, will fly in 600 to 900 kilograms (1,320 to 1,980 pounds) of bamboo each week by the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee because "Pandas are picky eaters," he said.

(Written by Randall Palmer; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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