Jockstrip: The world as we know it.

Store displays 25 years of lunchboxes

CLEAR LAKE, Calif., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A California woman said her new memorabilia shop doubles as a museum to display the nearly 700 lunchboxes she collected during the past 25 years.

Debbie Clarke, 52, a former middle school teacher, said The Lunchbox Museum, her weeks-old pop culture memorabilia store in Clear Lake, features lunchboxes emblazoned with teen idols, TV shows, toys and other pictures in cases and shelves safely away from the reach of curious shoppers, The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee reported.

"People come in, and they're blown away because there's so many lunchboxes," Clarke said. "Then they start to look for the lunchboxes they owned as kids. They say, 'It's like walking back in time.'"

Customers said they find it difficult to leave the store.

"I think this is charming," browser Rose Marie Petkovich said. "You can't walk in and just walk out."

Tree carving stolen from Bills' stadium

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Officials with the Buffalo Bills say a tree carving of former running back Thurman Thomas was stolen from outside Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The 8 1/2-foot-tall wood statue, created by Carvings for a Cause from trees destroyed by a snowstorm, was unveiled to the public Sunday and remained outside the stadium during the game against the Cleveland Browns, The Buffalo (N.Y.) News reported.

However, officials said the carving was noticed to have disappeared Monday when it was to be moved to Sahlen's Sports Park, which sponsored the carving by chainsaw master Rick Pratt.

"I've never had anybody steal a carving," Carvings for a Cause founder Therese Forton-Barnes said. "They weigh anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds."

1,658-pound pumpkin crushes competition

HALF MOON BAY, Iowa, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- An Iowa man's 1,658-pound pumpkin was the winner -- and record-setter -- at the 36th Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in California.

Don Young, 45, of Des Moines was awarded $9,948 for topping pumpkins entered by 60 growers from California, Washington and Oregon at Monday's competition in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

Event organizers said Young's pumpkin, dubbed the "Monster from the Midway," crushed every giant pumpkin record in the state. It will be displayed at the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival during the weekend.

While a gargantuan gourd, indeed, Young's plump pumpkin would not have made the grade at this month's Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers Weigh-In where Nick and Christy Harp of Jackson Township near Massillon beat all comers wit the 1,725-pound pumpkin they grew, WJW-TV in Cleveland reported at the time.

Boy, 9, rescues 7-year-old from deer

WINTERSVILLE, Ohio, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- An Ohio 7-year-old who was attacked by a deer during a game of backyard football was rescued by a stick-wielding 9-year-old, authorities said.

Wintersville Patrolman Art Fowler Jr. said the male deer was on his way to a fight with another buck Saturday when he came across Brandon Hiles, 7, playing football with friends, WTOV-TV, Steubenville, Ohio, reported.

"There were two young male bucks in the area and the one child got in between the two and the deer basically attacked him," Fowler said.

Hiles said he came across the deer when he chased his ball into the woods.

"We were playing football and the ball rolled down into the woods. I went to go get it and the deer starting charging at me," he said.

The deer stuck its horns into the boy and flipped him over, drawing the attention of Hiles' friend Wyatt Pugh, 9.

"I started running, but then I looked back and he was getting attacked and I grabbed a stick and started beating it," Pugh said.

The boys fled and called 911 from Pugh's grandmother's house. Authorities said Hiles is recovering from his injuries.

"The male deer are coming into rut. What that means is, they're starting to get aggressive. Their hormones are starting to come into play," Fowler said.