Building a snowman in Georgia, and more

Building a snowman in Georgia

An Indiana man drove more than 700 miles to present his two granddaughters with a truckload of snow. “I’ve been complaining all winter about not having snow,” said the man’s daughter, Randi Dyer of Lawrenceville, Ga. Her father, who was not identified, happened to be heading to Florida on a business trip. Initially, he thought about filling a cooler with the white stuff, but decided instead to load his Chevy long-bed pickup with it. After greeting their grandpa in Georgia, the girls spent the morning building a snowman. “My neighbors have been stopping to take pictures,” said Dyer, “and wondering how we got snow in our yard.”

Martha Washington was quite a looker

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Think of Martha Washington, and an image of a frumpy, plump old lady probably comes to mind. But now it appears that our first First Lady was once quite a looker. Using correspondence, other records, and a 1796 portrait, a team of historians and forensic anthropologists has created a computerized, age-regression portrait of Martha in her mid-20s. The result is a slim, beautiful woman with dark hair and a demure expression, dressed in the deep purple silk gown she wore when she married the father of our country. “I think it’s a whole lot closer to the reality of what she was,” said University of Virginia historian Edward Lengel.

A gift-wrapped box, 4 feet tall

Gabriel Hurles and his classmates at Sutro Elementary School in Dayton, Nev., were enjoying cupcakes for his sixth-birthday party. Then he noticed a gift-wrapped box, 4 feet tall. Hurles tore off the wrapping paper—and inside he found his father, Army Spc. Casey Hurles, just back from Iraq. Hurles senior hatched the surprise when he learned that his leave would coincide with Gabriel’s birthday; the two hadn’t been together since June. Hurles returns to Iraq shortly, but his tour will be up this summer. “He has to work,” Gabriel explained. “He works in the war.”