Down the Drain

When it comes to clogs, plumbing company Roto-Rooter has seen it all. In the spirit of year-end sharing, the Cincinnati-based drain-clearing experts revealed the top five weirdest objects pulled from pipes by its plumbers in 2005. Topping the list: a live Civil War cannon shell, daintily drawn from a residential sewer in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and thought to date from an 1863 siege. A North Carolina crew pulled a live cat from a storm sewer after it jumped from its owner's arms. The rest of the freaky finds resulted from unusual items -- a drug stash, a bevy of empty mini booze bottles and a collection of G.I. Joe action figures and Matchbox cars -- deliberately flushed down toilets by geniuses.