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Leslie Knope would be proud of how this Parks and Rec team is handling a graffiti artist.

First there was the deer. Then came the armadillo.

The paintings popped up in the Bear Creek Parkway tunnel. No one took credit.

Thus, a small mystery began to excite the 42,000 residents of Keller, Texas.


Who left the graffiti? Why did they choose to paint these animals in particular? And what will become of these works of art?

Photo by Mike Sexson, shared with permission.

What little information has comes from the City of Keller Government Facebook page, which has been sharing updates as the mystery unfolds. The Parks & Recreation Department first became aware of the deer painting on January 11, according to a Facebook post sharing the first image. Over the weekend, an armadillo appeared. A bird joined them a few days later.

Usually works of graffiti are painted over in short order, but this is where the plot thickens. Was parks manager Gary Davis angry? Not at all. In fact, the post noted he doesn’t have the heart to paint over it.

The animals were there to stay.

Photo by Mike Sexson, shared with permission.

From the start, it’s been clear the city wants to know the artist’s identity. But the whodunnit isn’t going to end in an arrest.

The city isn't looking to reprimand the artist. They're looking to help them.

Cody Maberry, the director of community cervices for Keller's Parks & Recreation Department, says he wants to find the artist to “give them the credit that they deserve for their talent.”

That’s not all. Maberry is also hopeful that the artist will be interested in working together.

“We've got a public arts board and we would love to work together to maybe help them,” he says. “We want to create a mural under there. What do we want? What do they need? How can we make it the best it can be?"

This hope that the city will get to work with the person (or persons!) responsible is no secret. The game is afoot, and they’re enjoying every minute of it: “We're not sure who is more excited: the Parks folks or the Public Arts Board,” they wrote on Facebook.

Photo by Mike Sexson, shared with permission.

Although the artist has yet to come forward, they're still hard at work. On the morning of Jan. 26, a turtle was added to the artist's creative menagerie.

Photo by Mike Sexson, shared with permission.

Did Banksy make a trip down to Texas? Will the artist or artists ever come forward? Is the turtle the last of the series? At this time, the mystery remains unsolved.

As for the paintings, the city doesn't have plans to remove them any time soon — unless someone comes in and defaces them.

For now, the deer, armadillo, bird, and turtle have found a safe place to call home in Keller, Texas.

Angelina Jordan blew everyone away with her version of 'Bohemian Rhapsody."


At Upworthy, we've shared a lot of memorable "America's Got Talent" auditions, from physics-defying dance performances to jaw-dropping magic acts to heart-wrenching singer-songwriter stories. Now we're adding Angelina Jordan's "AGT: The Champions" audition to the list because wow.

Jordan came to "AGT: The Champions" in 2020 as the winner of Norway's Got Talent, which she won in 2014 at the mere age of 7 with her impressive ability to seemingly channel Billie Holiday. For the 2020 audition, she sang Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," but a version that no one had ever heard before.

With just her Amy Winehouse-ish voice, a guitar and a piano, Jordan brought the fan-favorite Queen anthem down to a smooth, melancholy ballad that's simply riveting to listen to.

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Family

People are applauding the dad who bought a Mustang for his teenage son living with cancer

“Dad, I’m going to squeeze a few extra months of life just to be able to drive this.”

A 2020 Mustang.

Many parents swear that a child’s first car should be a “beater.” First, it teaches them to have something to strive for in life. Second, the kid will probably put some nicks and scratches on the car, so it’s best to start with something where no one will care. Third, the insurance will be cheaper.

Finally, a kid should have to earn having nice things and starting them off with a brand new Mercedes isn’t going to instill much work ethic.

Even though a large number of parents say a teen’s first car should be a clunker, many are applauding Joe Tegerdine, a father in Springville, Utah, and his wife Kerry for buying their son Joseph, 18, a 330-horsepower 2020 Ford Mustang.

Unfortunately, Joseph has osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer and has already outlived his prognosis.

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Millennials and Gen Z ditch top sheet to the dismay of Boomers


Once again the youngins are flabbergasting the older generations with their disregard of things they deem unnecessary. There's always something that gets dropped or altered generation to generation. We learn better ways or technology makes certain things obsolete. But it doesn't matter how far we've come, our beds still need sheets to cover the mattress.

The debate is on the use of top sheets, also known as flat sheets. They're the sheets that keep your body from touching the comforter, most Gen X and Boomers are firmly for the use of top sheets as a hygiene practice. The idea being that the top sheet keeps your dead skin cells and body oils from dirtying your comforter, causing you to have to wash it more often.

Apparently Millennials and Gen Zers are uninterested in using a top sheet while sleeping. In fact, they'd rather just get a duvet cover, though they may be cumbersome. A duvet cover can be washed fairly frequently, while some may opt for a cheeper comforter that they don't care is washed often because their distain for a top sheet is that strong.

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Pop Culture

Veterinarian lists things pet parents do that 'give him the ick' and they are spot-on

Though meant in good fun, these 'icks' could be helpful pointers for pet parents everywhere.

Representative Image from Canva

Vets are some of the people we'd least like to give "the ick" to


Ally McBeal first brought us the phrase “gives me the ick” back in 1999. And it’s recently had a resurgence, thanks to, you guessed it, TikTok. And while it’s mostly reserved to the dating world, the term can and has been used to describe virtually every red flag or pet peeve under the sun.

And now, thanks to Dr. Frank Bozelka, we can enjoy a veterinarian version of “icks.” And just to be clear, the icks in question don’t come from the patients themselves…but the pet parents.

While Dr. Bozelka is clearly just poking fun, he doesn’t shy away from highlighting some of the choices that pet parents make that cause some serious problems for their furry friends.

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Science

Yurok Tribe in California becomes first indigenous tribe to co-manage National Parks land

The Yurok had 90% of their homelands taken during the Gold Rush. Now they're getting some of it back.

The Yurok Tribe has lived among the redwoods for thousands of years.

The history of colonialism and the stealing of lands from indigenous peoples in the Americas is fraught with pain and suffering that has gone unseen by many. A growing Land Back movement has been fighting, in part, for indigenous people's reclamation of their ancestral homelands and the restoration of land management based on Native knowledge and practices.

One small but significant move in that direction has taken place in the redwood forests of northern California. The Yurok Tribe, who had 90% of their homelands stolen during the Gold Rush, has joined the Redwood National and State Parks and the nonprofit Save the Redwoods League in an agreement that will give ownership in 2026 of 125 acres (50 hectares) of land near Orick, California to the tribe.

According to the AP, the land is named 'O Rew in the Yurok language, and the tribe's cultural resources director Rosie Clayburn said the return of the land is proof of the “sheer will and perseverance of the Yurok people."

"We kind of don't give up," Clayburn said. The Yurok Tribe has been living along the Klamath River for thousands of years and is currently the largest indigenous tribe in California, with over 6,300 members. It is one of the few tribes in the state that lives on a portion of its ancestral lands.

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Joy

People are gushing over penguins picking out the perfect 'lucky charm' for their mate

“Oh to be a little penguin picking out a pretty rock for my love."

@detroitzoo/TikTok

This is too adorable.

Humans weren’t the only ones celebrating St. Paddy’s Day last Sunday. Penguins at the Detroit Zoo got in on the fun as well, only with more Valentine’s vibes.

“Love is king during penguin nesting time,” read the onscreen text for a video posted to the zoo’s TikTok, as the aquatic love birds scanned through a pile of colorful pebbles, searching for the perfect gift to present their partner. How romantic.

Out in the wild, this adorable courtship ritual is pretty standard, at least for Gentoo penguins. Male gentoos find a polished stone or pebble to offer their potential mates—Mother Nature’s engagement ring, if you will.

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