1. Christmas Miracle After Dying Donkey is Rescued and Given Shelter–A Surprise Birth in Stable
In a delightful and kind Christmas story, a pair of British travelers found ‘room at the inn’ for a dying donkey who then gave birth to a foal after receiving treatment.
Sue and Andy Toach were due to escape the cold of England with a winter vacation out in Boa Vista, Cape Verde. As it happened, Sue spotted a post on their hotel’s Facebook page about a dying donkey found stranded on the beach.
Animal lovers both, the Toachs purchased some supplies to take in a bid to save the skeletal and sick donkey—named Bella-Riu—from death.
On arrival, Sue teamed up with other hotel guests and local tour guides to find a veterinarian who might be able to treat Bella. They then managed to find a home for her at a local riding center and, just days later, Bella gave birth in the stable when nobody had even known she was pregnant.
“When Bella was found, she was very skinny, her hips and ribs were visible, her coat was matted and she was covered in parasites,” Sue told the British media outlet SWNS. “When I got there I was grooming her twice a day, and would sit and talk to her after I gave her twice-daily medicine.”
“The local tour guides came back to us the next day and said they had found a man, Sidnei, who could take Bella,” she said. Arrangements were made, and once in the stable it didn’t take long for Bella to get settled in her new, temporary home; she even made friends with one of his horses—who had been a fellow rescue.
Sue and Andy were due to fly home when she got a call from the tour guide Lindsay saying Bella had given birth overnight.
Sue had suspected Bella might be pregnant but vets weren’t able to bring her in to be scanned, so nobody knew for sure.
2. Family Is Finally Ready to Sell 1,000 Christmas Trees Planted a Decade Ago to Fund Their Grandchildren’s Education
In rural Indiana, a couple are selling around 1,000 stately fir and pine trees for Christmas to help fund the education of their 8 grandchildren. Shawn and Bruce Carpenter planted around 5,000 tiny trees a decade ago, reasoning that by the time they reach between 6 and 10 feet tall, their grandchildren will begin shipping off to colleges and universities across the country and will need a helping hand.
Time passed, and the Carpenters let nature take its course on the plantation; keeping a lookout for bagworms and mowing the grass between the trees, but doing little else besides.
Many died, but around a thousand, beautiful trees remain ready for the holiday season, meaning that Bittersweet Farms is finally ready for business.
“It was an investment to help our grandkids for college,” Shawn Carpenter told the Herald Times. “One that’s taken awhile.” “Bittersweet Farms Cut & Carry Christmas Trees for Sale,” reads a sign the Carpenters put out by their rural mailbox on Bittersweet Road in Bean Blossom, Indiana, located in the state’s south-central Brown County.
Pick Your Own Christmas Tree estimates that this year, after inflation, trees will likely cost around $13 per foot, with rural prices trending down towards about $75 for an average tree, but going for as much as $100 in the cities. Bittersweet Farms charges $10 per foot. If the Carpenters were to ship 60% of their total stock at a median price of $83, they’d pocket just shy of $50,000. Presuming expenses and taxes of 20% of the take-home, they’d close the season at around $39,000. If all 8 of the grandchildren attended university, they would receive $4,875 from their grandparents; a pretty helpful way to start the next chapter of their lives.
3. Ex-Paratrooper Who Survived a Horrific 1,000-ft Fall Now Breaks World Records as The Ultimate Runner
A former paratrooper who cheated death after plummeting 1,000-ft to the ground has overcome injuries to make amazing strides and become a record-breaking ultra runner.
The 41-year-old Superman is the first person ever to win all four of the world’s toughest races in extreme climates.
Since healing from injuries, Jon Shield has battled through jungles, deserts, frigid cold, and mountainous terrain, to become a champion of the ‘Beyond the Ultimate’ Global Race Series.
Last month, Shield won the Desert Ultra Marathon in Namibia after completing the 155 miles course (250km) in 27 hours and 39 minutes.
He’s also won the Ice Ultra Marathon in the Arctic and just months later was victorious in the Jungle Ultra Marathon in Africa. Last year, he won the Mountain Ultra Marathon across the Tian Shan mountains in Asia with a near record time of 29 hours and 32 minutes.
The British man’s incredible feats of endurance came after the horrible accident in 2013 that left him unable to run for seven years.
He was in the Parachute Regiment when he undertook a 1,000-ft parachute jump at night. Complications led to Jon plummeting to the ground at high speed, smashing his ankle, knee, and hip. He underwent several surgeries but the injuries were so severe he was medically discharged from military service months later.
