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Bush counts blessings, pardons turkeys

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush, leaving office with the lowest approval ratings in history, counted his blessings Wednesday as he pardoned two turkeys.

"This is my final Thanksgiving as the president," Bush said. "Over the past eight years, I have been given many reasons to be thankful. I'm thankful to our men and women in uniform and I am incredibly proud to have been their commander in chief."

The two turkeys, named Pumpkin and Pecan, were supplied by Paul Hill, chairman of the National Turkey Federation and a farmer in Ellsworth, Iowa. The birds were to be flown to Disney World in Florida, where Pumpkin was to serve as honorary grand marshal at the Thanksgiving parade and both birds would then spend the rest of their lives there without fear of ending up on the table.

In his remarks, Bush also said he was grateful to his wife Laura for her love and for their daughters, Jenna and Barbara, and thankful that his mother's illness doesn't appear to be serious.

"In recent weeks, I've talked a lot about sprinting to the finish," he said. "Yet I've assured these turkeys they will not be trotting to their finish."

Crocodile an unwelcome family pool visitor

DARWIN, Australia, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- An Australian man said he and his wife got a major surprise when they found a crocodile taking up residence in their backyard pool.

Steve Sanderson said immediately after his wife, Karen, jumped into their saltwater pool this week, he noticed a crocodile hanging out at the pool's bottom, the Northern Territory News said in its Wednesday edition.

"He was obviously a croc -- you could see his teeth hanging out the side of his mouth when he had it shut,'' Sanderson said.

Sanderson said his wife immediately exited the pool as a precaution but after noticing the wild animal had not moved, decided to go for a short swim.

"She realized he wasn't moving, so ... she had a bit of a swim around for five minutes,'' he told the News.

Crocodile handlers from the Parks and Wildlife department later arrived to remove the potentially deadly animal from the pool in the city of Darwin, the newspaper said.

Township to auction naming rights

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania township is set to auction off the naming rights for a main thoroughfare running through a posh new development.

The top bidder in the 10-day eBay auction that begins Thursday evening will have the right to pick a new name for a street in Cranberry Township's Park Place, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

"It sounds like something that could really benefit their community," says eBay pop culture expert Karen Bard.

Bruce Mazzoni, president of Cranberry Township Community Trust, told the newspaper inspiration for the fundraiser came from a recent eBay auction in which a bride auctioned the right to be a bridesmaid in her wedding.

The Cranberry Township auction will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday. The "buy it now" price for the naming rights will be listed at $250,000.

Mazzoni told the Post-Gazette says proceeds from the auction will be used for several ongoing projects.

Foot favor results in fetish Web site pics

VANCOUVER, Wash., Nov. 26 (UPI) -- A woman in Vancouver, Wash., says photographs of her feet appeared on a foot fetish Web site after she agreed to do a favor for an alleged student.

Vancouver resident Shannon Caicedo said she wasn't overly suspicious when a man approached her at her Vancouver Mall bed store and asked to photograph her feet as part of a reflexology school assignment, KPTV of Portland, Ore., reported Wednesday.

But after learning some of those photographs were posted on a foot fetish Web site, she said she saw last month's interaction in a different light.

"He starts taking pictures of my feet and videotaping. I guess, looking back, it was kind of an odd thing," Caicedo said. "He kept explaining, 'OK, now this is what I'm doing. This is why I'm taking these pictures. Can you spread out your toes?'"

Police are investigating the incident to determine if any crimes were committed, while Caicedo is struggling to have the photos removed through legal means.

"He had book bags, he had paperwork, he looked official," she told KPTV. "I thought I was helping out and it ends up I've been duped."