BAKER, Calif. (AP) – An artist who chained his legs together to draw a picture of his legs wrapped in chains hopped 12 hours through the desert after realizing he lost the key and couldn’t unlock the restraints.

Trevor Corneliusien, 26, wrapped and locked a chain around his bare ankles Tuesday while camping in an abandoned mine shaft about 5 miles north of Baker, San Bernardino County sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Ford said.

Corneliusien often sketches inside Southwest mines.

When he finished his chain drawing, he realized he would have to seek help in Baker, the deputy said Wednesday.

“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.” Corneliusien’s legs were bruised, but he was otherwise in good health, Ford said.

Corneliusien finally made it to a gas station on the edge of Baker. He called the sheriff’s department, which sent paramedics and deputies with bolt cutters.

Corneliusien’s 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.”

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SANFORD, Fla. (AP) – Sally Erickson and Renzie Davidson thought they had the secret to marital bliss. But the eccentric list of demands outlined in their prenuptial agreement, including mandatory backrubs and a $5 nagging fee, still couldn’t save their marriage.

Now Erickson is suing Davidson for fraud, alleging he divorced her in secret more than two years ago, according to Seminole County court records.

Before exchanging vows in 2001, the couple agreed to a quirky prenuptial agreement. Erickson promised to cook breakfast at least four times a week, and, in return, “Renzie will not wake Sally up on her ‘off days,”‘ according to the document.

The agreement also required Davidson to rub Erickson’s back three times a week for five minutes. If Erickson used a certain expletive, she would be sentenced to one hour of yard work. And Davidson was to pay $5 each time he complained, nagged or made “a fuss about Sally’s expenditures.”

Despite their carefully laid plans, Davidson, 62, decided to call it quits 3 1/2 months into the marriage. Erickson, 61, acknowledged she was served notice of the divorce suit, but she said in court pleadings that Davidson later told her he had dropped the suit.

Erickson said Davidson secretly went to court and got a default judgment against her. Documents show Davidson was granted an uncontested divorce in February 2003 without Erickson ever appearing in court. She claims she didn’t know about the divorce until recently.

Davidson has not contested Erickson’s claim.

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OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – For former Gov. Gary Locke, the problem was bats. For his successor, Christine Gregoire, bigger predators threaten her small dog.

In recent months, a professional trapper has removed a raccoon and an opossum from the grounds of the governor’s mansion, and State Patrol troopers have run off an undetermined number of coyotes.

Gregoire has said Franz, the family’s 13-pound Pomeranian, is not allowed out alone for safety reasons.

“If you have a small dog like the governor’s dog, two raccoons could tear it up,” said Robert I. Dice, the trapper.

At least Gregoire and her husband, Mike, have not had to move. Eight years ago, Locke’s wife, Mona Lee Locke, and their children temporarily vacated the mansion because of a bat infestation, and the family got rabies shots.

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SHANGHAI, China (AP) – In a new twist on the phrase “working like a dog,” a company in northern China says it will hire only candidates born in the Asian zodiac’s Year of the Dog.

The lunar-calendar astrology used in China and other Asian countries counts the coming year, which starts Jan. 29, as a dog year. The Asian zodiac assigns a different animal to each year in a 12-year cycle, each of which is credited with different personality traits.

A personnel manager for Jilin Jiangshan Human Resources Development Co. Ltd. said his company believes people born in the Year of the Dog are more suited to its corporate culture.

“We believe that people born in dog years are born with some good characteristics such as loyalty and honesty,” said the manager, who identified himself only as Mr. Dong. “As a human resource company, those characters are exactly what we need.”

The company’s policy, placed on an Internet job site, has drawn accusations of bias from some Shanghai college graduates.

Although Chinese law forbids discrimination in hiring, it doesn’t say what constitutes an offense and job ads often come with a list of conditions including gender, age, height and even place of birth.

Dong said critics are barking up the wrong tree.

“I think we have the right to choose our employees by our own rule and I don’t see this rule could hurt anybody,” he said.

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