IRS makes mistake.

CHIMACUM, Wash. (AP) - Brian Lawson, a self-employed market analyst, and his wife Jackie got both more and less than they expected when they ordered an Internal Revenue Service instruction booklet by telephone.

What the Lawsons wanted was a single copy of the Form 1040 instructions for 2003 to help fix them a numerical error on their returns that has resulted in them having to pay $300 a month in back taxes since they filed their return for that year.

What they got on Wednesday evening, three weeks after their call, was a UPS Inc. delivery of 12 boxes containing 2,000 copies each - 24,000 booklets in all - of the Form 1040 instructions for 2005.

The wrong booklets were sent from Bloomington, Ill., and arrived at the right place despite being addressed to Chimacum, D.C., instead of Chimacum, Wash.

"We're hoping they'll be more understanding of our error since they made this big error," Lawson told the Peninsula Daily News of Port Angeles on Thursday.

He said he was unable to get the IRS to return his calls, and the newspaper also was unable to get a return call from the agency's media relations office in Seattle.

Lawson did get one call about the booklets, though.

About 4:30 p.m. Thursday, a UPS employee called to say another 12 boxes addressed to him and containing 24,000 more booklets had just arrived at a warehouse.

Lawson told her not to bother delivering them.

He said he and his wife had learned one lesson from the episode: "We should have had someone else do our taxes."

What do people with too much money do? Buy money

A $20 bill printed on paper that mysteriously had an ordinary fruit sticker on it sold Friday for $25,300, an auction company official said.

The flawed note bears a red, green and yellow Del Monte sticker next to Andrew Jackson's portrait.

The buyer at the auction in Orlando, Fla., did not want to be identified, said Dustin Johnston, director of auctions for Heritage Galleries and Auctioneers of Dallas.

The 1996 bill originated at a U.S. Treasury Department printing facility in Fort Worth, but how the fruit tag found its way onto the paper of the greenback is unknown.

"I've collected for probably seven years now and nothing comes close to the way people react to it - their eyes pop out," said Daniel Wishnatsky, a Phoenix currency collector who bought the bill online in 2003 for $10,100.

Jason Bradford, president of PCGS Currency in Newport Beach, Calif., authenticated that the error was genuine and not faked outside the printing plant.

Currency goes through three printing stages, Bradford said: first the back is printed, then the face, and then the bill receives serial number and treasury seal stamps.

In the case of the Del Monte note, the seal and serial number are both printed on top of the sticker, meaning the fruit tag must have found its way onto the bill midway through the process, he said.

The note, in nearly perfect condition, has achieved celebrity status among currency collectors, appearing on the covers of the Bank Note Reporter and Numismatic News.

Creepy

Cy, short for Cyclopes, a kitten born with only one eye and no nose, is shown in this photo provided by its owner in Redmond, Oregon, on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2005. The kitten, a ragdoll breed, which died after living for one day, was one of two in the litter. Its sibling was born normal and healthy.

Upside-down tomatos!!!

At first glance, this might look like an unusual way to grow tomatoes. But Jim Appleby from Iowa has discovered several benefits to hanging his tomatoes in buckets. First, the air can circulate better so the plants have almost no disease problems. Second, the fruit doesn’t rot as quickly as that on the ground. And finally, some critters that eat tomatoes have trouble getting to the ripening fruit.

To make the upside-down containers, Jim used 5-gallon buckets with tight-fitting lids. He recycled his from a restaurant, but says you can find them many places, such as paint or hardware stores.

Jim scrubs each bucket out with soapy water and makes sure the handle is attached securely. He cuts a 2-inch or larger diameter hole in the center of the lid and one in the bottom of the bucket. To make the holes, he uses a drill with a hole saw bit (an attachment for cutting a door to install the doorknob).

With the bucket standing upright and the lid off, Jim covers the hole in the bottom with a coffee filter or scrap of fabric. That way the soil won’t fall out when he turns the bucket over. He fills the bucket full of a lightweight potting mix, shaking it to settle the soil.

Before he puts the lid back on, Jim lays another coffee filter over the soil where the hole will be. Next, he puts the lid on and turns the bucket upside down.

Jim cuts a slit through the filter in the hole and plants a tomato seedling. To give the tomato a fast start, he strips off the lower leaves and plants the seedling deeply so roots can form along the stem. He places the planted bucket in a sunny location and keeps it well-watered for the next few weeks.

When the plant is about a foot tall, Jim’s ready to hang it up. The bucket needs a solid support to hold the weight. A clothesline pole is ideal. If you hang the bucket from a building, make sure it won’t bang into a window or the siding on a windy day.

This part is easier with two people — one to lift and hold the bucket and one to fasten the chain. Jim drapes a chain over the clothesline post while a friend lifts the bucket. He pulls the chain through the handle of the bucket and fastens the ends together. You can buy chain loops made specifically for fastening or use a piece of heavy wire and twist it to hold the chain together. Either way, Jim finds he can raise and lower the height to harvest his tomatoes

'Artist' is another word for 'Moron'

An artist who chained his legs together to draw a picture of the image hopped 12 hours through the desert after realizing he lost the key and couldn't unlock the restraints, authorities said Wednesday.

Trevor Corneliusien, 26, tightly wrapped and locked a long, thick chain around his bare ankles Tuesday while camping in an abandoned mine shaft about five miles north of Baker, San Bernardino County sheriff's Deputy Ryan Ford said.

"It took him over 12 hours because he had to hop through boulders and sand," Ford said. "He did put on his shoes before hopping."

The artist, who is from the area, often sketched images inside mines in the Southwest. He had finished his drawing Tuesday when he realized he didn't have the key.

Corneliusien finally made it to a gas station and called the sheriff's department, which sent paramedics and deputies with bolt cutters. His legs were bruised but he was otherwise in good health, Ford said.

The artist did not have a listed phone number and could not be reached for comment.

And the drawing?

"He brought it down with him," Ford said. "It was a pretty good depiction of how a chain would look wrapped around your legs."