BELTON - Interstate 35 came to a complete standstill Sunday afternoon after a seven-car pile-up on Interstate 35. Two other smaller collisions were reported immediately following the initial accident. Northbound traffic was diverted onto feeder roads while the southbound lanes crawled along at speeds of about 10 mph. Ambulances, police, and state troopers fought traffic to get to the scene of the accident in the northbound lanes near mile marker 289.

On a recent sunny Sunday morning, Colleen Harvey unloaded kayaks to take a small group on a 3½-mile paddle below the dam on the Leon River. Harvey and her brother, Bo, own Heart of Texas Kayaks in Temple, which opened about a year and a half ago, just in time to experience the surge that outdoor adventure sports like kayaking are riding nationwide, and locally.

So now your interest is piqued and you want to get involved in an outdoor adventure sport. Here´s some answers to frequently asked questions: Do you have to be in great physical shape?

SALADO - There are those who say if a person looks and listens carefully late nights, the ghost of Sam Houston can be seen on the balcony of the Stagecoach Inn in Salado delivering his anti-secession speech to the locals. Many legends thrive about this venerable hostelry at 1 S. Main St. that is reputed to be the oldest continuously operating hotel in Texas. It gives the place a distinctive panache.

These are the Dog Days of Summer. Those days that are defined as hottest days of summer when temperatures are high, and the weather is dry and sultry. There is some good news … the hottest days will start to go down around the 11th of August, according to the Old Farmers Almanac. Dog Days began July 3 and are slated to continue for 40 days. That is when the almanac predicts they will end.

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Brett Favre is back. It remains to be seen whether he´ll still be the leader of the Pack. The Green Bay Packers reluctantly embraced Favre´s forced return to the football field Sunday, after failing to come to a financial agreement that would manage to make Favre happy while staying retired.

AKRON, Ohio - Vijay Singh raised both hands over his head when he saw his 3½-foot par putt swirl into the cup for a one-shot victory, a familiar sight for someone who has won 32 times on the PGA Tour. This was more relief than celebration at the Bridgestone Invitational.

HOUSTON - The Houston Astros are starting to believe they can make a second-half surge. The New York Mets, meanwhile, have reasons to worry. Ty Wigginton homered and the Astros beat New York 4-0 to finish their first three-game sweep of the Mets since September 1993.

LONG POND, Pa. - Rain was falling. The cars were parked on pit road with Carl Edwards in 22nd place, and the driver and crew chief Bob Osborne were arguing heatedly on top of the team´s pit box. Not the most likely formula for winning a race.

ATLANTA (AP) - Skip Caray, a voice of the Atlanta Braves for 33 years and part of a family line of baseball broadcasters that included Hall of Famer Harry Caray, died in his sleep at home on Sunday, the team said. He was 68. The cause of death was not immediately known, but various health problems had limited Caray to calling only Braves home games this season.