The shark deck. Did you hear about the skateboarding pig? I'm Johnny Mack
with five good news stories lots unpack here. Alison was all happy when her
husband floated the notion of expanding their family. Okay, that sounds great,
so husband Vince shared that he had a long time dream of owning a pig.
Alison wasn't immediately ready to commit, but they figured out a compromise.
It's four years later and now they live with Norbert, the one hundred and
fifty pound a pig. They also love a rescue rabbit who's mow and all
over the dog. Norbert knows how to skateboard, so now he's a TikTok
account and Instagram following the post more than sixty one hundred fans. Vince thinks
that Norbert has the intelligence of a three to four year old, which has
forced him and his wife to put locks on cabinets and the refrigerator. Sometimes
Norbert opens the fridge and goes to town on the fruits and vegetables. Vince
said, I knew would get some looks because we live in the suburbs and
we have a pig, But I like seeing people's faces light up. It's
been a positive experience all around, just being able to share Norbert's happiness and
positive vibes of everybody. Norbert is litter box trained. I know you were
wondering. Alison has warned people it can be a lot. People are like,
I want a pig and I'm like, no, no, you don't
take special people and commitment for the growing pains. Temperaments change and he's like
a three year old. He has temper tantrums. You have to learn to
curb that. A board pig or a frustrated pig gets destructive. So what
you do is he teach them the skateboard right. Vince started training Norbert on
a miniature skateboard when the pig was less than a year old. Norbert needs
fifteen to twenty minutes to pick up verbal commands. Vince said that led to
a week's worth of thirty minutes skating lessons when Vince would use his foot to
guide the skateboard as Norbert followed behind. Once Norbert learned to put one of
his hoofs on the board, it wasn't long before he got on the board
and used his back legs to propel himself forward. Now and Vince tells Norbert
to get on the board. The skateboarding pig wises. Vince has tagged skating
legend Tony Hawk and videos and social media posts in which Norbert becomes Tony Hog.
Good news for Francesca Teal. She lost her ring in the ocean.
The ring had once belonged to her great grandmother. She figured she never see
it again. You listen to the podcast, do you know how this is?
Imagine? I just teld you The story was, Yeah, she lost
her ring and that's it. And I signed off and I was like,
there's no happy resolve here. That would be a twist anyway. She had
been wearing the family ring while sass like a football with her husband at North
Beach and Hampton, New Hampshire. The ring fell off her finger. They
spent hours searching the water for it, no luck. She posted a plea
on her Facebook page, Hey anybody's seen her ring? Turns out a guy
with a metal detector saw her social media plea for help, and he somehow
found the ring. Leu ASKI strapped on a wetsuit and a headlamp. He
went looking for the ring. First two days nothing, he said, I
don't take failure all too well. I wanted to go back and give it
one last shot. Day three bingo. He posted it and said, please
tell me this is the rings I can finally get off this beach. I
am Patty Callahan, Henry, I am Mary Kay Andrews, I'm Kristin Harmel,
and I'm Kristy Woodson Harvey. Friends in Fiction is led by four longtime
friends, the four of us, with more than seventy five published books between
us. Through end depth conversations and interviews, we discussed the books we've written,
the books we're reading, and the art of storytelling. We are here
with endless stories to support indie bookstores, authors, librarians, and readers just
like you. We are always seeking innovative ways to introduce dynamic voices and trends
in publishing. On this channel, you will find hundreds of episodes with some
of your favorite authors, including the four of us, with our new releases,
as we reveal the stories behind the stories, offer writing tips, and
talk about the creation of novels, memoirs, and nonfiction titles. So if
you love books and you're curious about the writing world, you are in the
right place. You can listen to friends and fiction on any major streaming platform.
Hey, nice job by Vernon Jackson. Interesting name there, because that's
a subway stop on the seven train in New York City. You know where
I grew up, but I went through that stop almost every day. I'm
not making fun of your name, and mister Vernon Jackson, I just didn't
put that together until right now anyway. Vernon Jackson he owns a Cincinnati barbershop
and he takes care of his VIP clients, which are children with special needs.
He says that's something he's done since twenty twenty one. I was hearing
so many horror stories that parents were going through with other barbershops, and the
barbers or stylus had no patients with their kids. I figured I'd compromise by
coming in on my day off, so there'd be no other barbers or stylus
in the shop and I could give them the full attention they need. He
says having an empty shop helps some children who were sensitive to new environments and
sounds his goals to help the children get acclimated to the barbershop so they can
feel comfortable coming in when other employees and clients were there. Jackson says,
when I first started promoting that I was going to come into my day off
to do haircuts children with different needs. A friend of mine just randomly inboxed
me and said, hey, vern, can I sponsor a haircut? Then
more and more people asked donate money for haircuts, and Jackson started to go
fund me. He says. Their parents that would pay any amount of money
just for their child to have an experience like any other person. At the
end of it, I could tell them it's covered. They say I gotta
give you a tip, and I say, nope, trust me. This
is part of the Gifted program. This is a gift from the community myself.
Please receive it. More Facebook. An adopted woman found her mother using
a DNA site in Facebook after decades of searching that allowed her to meet her
grandmother just days before grandmom passed away. Rachel Ruiz always knew she was adopted.
When she turned eighteen, she was given a handwritten letter written by her
birth mom for her future daughter, saying she hoped one day they would meet.
It had limited information, Rachel said, I didn't feel like I needed
to find answers to complete myself, but I'm so happy I found my birth
family. She's now thirty five. She turned to ancestry dot com that helped
her filling her biological mother Angie. When she found the fifty two year old
Angie on Facebook, she knew instantly was a match because they looked so similar.
Her parents had prepared to give her the package when she turned eighteen.
They said, they had this beautiful crocheted blanket she made me. She had
a baby ring when she was born, a beautiful gold ring, and a
written letter which said you were here with me for nine months. I will
never forget you. I hope one day we will meet. That did meet
up, and they went over to meet Grandma Mary, who passed away three
days later. She said it was like her final life mission. I went
to the funeral and I met my cousin's aunts and uncles. Rachel feels blessed
to have two families, including a half sister who lived a few minutes walk
away from her house in Utah. Wow, and all right, little Nellie,
we're onto you. You see, Nellie's parents had just painted the wall.
Mom came by and noticed some handprints on the wall. Who do you
think did it? Mom said, I just moved and started painting the walls
white. I didn't realize for an hour or so that she did it,
so she asked the little girl, Hey, you know anything about these handbrits
on the wall, and little Nellie said, oh, yeah, the dog
Winston did it. Mom said, I just moved and started painting the walls
white. I didn't realize for an hour or so that she'd done it.
I didn't expect Nellie to blame the dog, but I knew I had to
record a reaction to my question as to who did it, as I knew
it would be amazingly funny. Poor dog, you know, Nellie, humans
and dogs have different pawprints. That's your five great news stories for today.
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