MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

[Bronxgirl48]

Arizona has always sounded romantic to me, Dargo. (no humidity helps) Dusty cowboy trails, lovely old Spanish villas, Johnny Mack Brown....Ahhh! What do we have here in Florida? Summer thunderstorms, bugs, and crazy people.

[Bronxgirl48]

Swithin, growing up in da Bronx I never really felt the heat all that much. (maybe that's because it's the northenmost borough, lol) Chicago was much more uncomfortable.

[Dargo]

Arizona has always sounded romantic to me, Dargo. (no humidity helps) Dusty cowboy trails, lovely old Spanish villas, Johnny Mack Brown....Ahhh! What do we have here in Florida? Summer thunderstorms, bugs, and crazy people.

LOL

Well, like every place out there Bronxie, Arizona has its fair share of crazy people too ya know, and something I'm constantly reminded of every time I watch the Phoenix-based local news programs on my TV.

And like I said to Swithin up there, during the mid-summer we also have those summer thunderstorns as well around here. I had never heard and seen such thunder and lightning since moving here over a decade ago now.

But yeah thankfully and because of the dry heat, we DON'T have all those bugs you folks have, and so all the backyard swimming pools in Arizona don't need to be netted in like they are down your way.

Btw and speaking of AZ here...Did you watch 'Jeopardy!' last night? One of the clues in the category of "Flightseeing Across America" during the Double Jeopardy round was the following pic here (and a location just a mile or two away from my home here btw)...



...and Ken Jennings then saying, "Feel the energy as we check out Bell Rock, one of this Arizona city's famous vortex sites."

[Bronxgirl48]

Haven't wanted to watch Jeopardy since Alex passed....Wow, what a beautiful area, Dargo! I can understand Phoenix being, well, more suited (in movie terms) to noir than picturesque vintage westerns.

I'll bet your thunderstorms are much more colorful.

We've got alligators too but I guess you have to be on the lookout for Gila monsters.

[Dargo]

Haven't run across any Gila monsters yet, as they're usually only found in and around the lower desert areas like where Phoenix is located. This also would apply to scorpions as well. Have only ever seen one up here in Sedona.

A neighbor of mine did find a rattlesnake on his property a while back, but the only snake I've ever seen crawling around my property was a King Snake and which is a good thing, as its known that wherever you run across one of these non-venomous snakes you will not find a rattler, as King snakes eat rattlers.

(...now, the next question here would be: Do you know what a Javelina is?...we have packs of them roaming through the area)

[Bronxgirl48]

You know wildlife is super dangerous when science fiction and horror movies are named after them -- THE GIANT GILA MONSTER, THE REPTILE, THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE, etc.

Javelina, hmmm...never heard of it! Javelina, Javelina, tiny little thing, Javelina dance, Javelina sing.....

Wonderful, wonderful Arizona!

[Bronxgirl48]

I just looked up Javelina.

Wild pigs.

A few recorded rabies cases in Arizona.
Can attack humans when provoked.

[Dargo]

I just looked up Javelina.

Wild pigs.

A few recorded rabies cases in Arizona.
Can attack humans when provoked.

While they are distantly related to wild pigs, they're actually what is called a "Peccary".

One soon learns from the locals not to ever refer to 'em as "wild pigs", as once you do, you'll almost always then get a lecture from them on the difference.

(...hmmm...guess this then now officially makes me a "local" then, doesn't it)

[BagelOnAPlate]

We must seek out that mysterious ONE, TWO, THREE review! The gods (including Larry Olivier as Zeus) will be furious otherwise!

"Do you think that you could get like a camera from him at like a discount?"

"I didn't ask him for a camera...."
"Because you already had one, right? You sly fox....."

Saturday Night Fever is one of my all-time favorite movies --- a great example of how popular entertainment can have depth.
Karen Lynn Gorney is fantastic as Stephanie.
I'm sure she was offered movie roles after the success of Saturday Night Fever but she must have turned them down.



"He helped me, man. You don't know what it's like at that place. It's crazy!"

[Swithin]

I just looked up Javelina.

Wild pigs.

A few recorded rabies cases in Arizona.
Can attack humans when provoked.

I have a friend -- an English woman who settled in NYC many years ago. She worked in the WTC and fled, only to see it collapse behind her. She was so shaken, she had to leave NY. She purchased a house in the remotest part of New Mexico. She sent photos of javilena, which I had never heard of, up to that point. We don't often see them around Manhattan.

[Dargo]

I have a friend -- an English woman who settled in NYC many years ago. She worked in the WTC and fled, only to see it collapse behind her. She was so shaken, she had to leave NY. She purchased a house in the remotest part of New Mexico. She sent photos of javilena, which I had never heard of, up to that point. We don't often see them around Manhattan.

I take it by your use of the word "often" here, you didn't meant this literally, and where being ironic by your use of it here. I say this because as far as I know, there are no Javelinas in your neck of the woods there in the Big Apple, nor in fact pretty much any place other than in AZ, NM and TX.

However, I have heard there is now another animal that is quite prevalent in my area of the country (I hear a number of them howling quite often during the dead of night and in addition to seeing them occasionally strolling through my property and neighborhood) and which have made their way to your area in recent years. I'm speaking of the Coyote.

(...and so, have you run across any of them while out and about on the streets of Manhattan?...I've heard that some were even recently spotted within the confines of Central Park, in fact)

[laffite]

Haven't run across any Gila monsters yet, as they're usually only found in and around the lower desert areas like where Phoenix is located. This also would apply to scorpions as well. Have only ever seen one up here in Sedona.

A neighbor of mine did find a rattlesnake on his property a while back, but the only snake I've ever seen crawling around my property was a King Snake and which is a good thing, as its known that wherever you run across one of these non-venomous snakes you will not find a rattler, as King snakes eat rattlers.

(...now, the next question here would be: Do you know what a Javelina is?...we have packs of them roaming through the area)

A King snake is the black and white, yes! Out of the memory hole. When I was about 11 or 12 an object fell to the canyon but only about eight feet down. A few of us were leaning on the railing of a back door rather sizable porch adjacent to the canyon floor. A King snake had been present a moment before and then another one. I jumped into the little backdoor wilderness and retrieved the object and somehow climbed to the top with it. I was too young to feel bravado (I was a slow learner) and thought the feat as ho-hum. When someone said, "My, you are so brave," no such thing was felt by me, no prideful beam rose to my cheeks. It was as if my mother had asked me, "Go get the paper, darling." But NOW ... I'm surprised, almost amazed, that I did that!. Oh, but to be that blase today! There's innocence for you. I was to young to be deemed stupid. I only learned that later.

[Swithin]

I have a friend -- an English woman who settled in NYC many years ago. She worked in the WTC and fled, only to see it collapse behind her. She was so shaken, she had to leave NY. She purchased a house in the remotest part of New Mexico. She sent photos of javilena, which I had never heard of, up to that point. We don't often see them around Manhattan.

I take it by your use of the word "often" here, you didn't meant this literally, and where being ironic by your use of it here. I say this because as far as I know, there are no Javelinas in your neck of the woods there in the Big Apple, nor in fact pretty much any place other than in AZ, NM and TX.

However, I have heard there is now another animal that is quite prevalent in my area of the country (I hear a number of them howling quite often during the dead of night and in addition to seeing them occasionally strolling through my property and neighborhood) and which have made their way to your area in recent years. I'm speaking of the Coyote.

(...and so, have you run across any of them while out and about on the streets of Manhattan?...I've heard that some were even recently spotted within the confines of Central Park, in fact)

Actually, there have been sightings. Haven't heard of any in the last couple of years. About three years ago, our management sent an email to all residents that a coyote was roaming around the neighbourhood. It came down from Westchester, possibly via the West Side Highway and into Riverside Park, which is right near me. The email was to alert us, and particularly to alert people who may be walking their dogs.

Central Park is a few blocks east of me. The Central Park coyote could have walked over from there as well, though that would have meant passing Broadway, which would have caused a stir, unless it was in the wee hours.

https://www.westsiderag.com/2019/03/01/ ... rside-park

https://gothamist.com/news/photos-video ... t-for-nypd

I like this recommendation, in cases one encounters a coyote. This is more or less what our building manager told us to do, in the event of contact:

4. Keep Coyotes Wary. If you are approached, act big and make loud noises until the coyote retreats.

[Bronxgirl48]

"Do you think that you could get like a camera from him at like a discount?"

"I didn't ask him for a camera...."
"Because you already had one, right? You sly fox....."

Saturday Night Fever is one of my all-time favorite movies --- a great example of how popular entertainment can have depth.
Karen Lynn Gorney is fantastic as Stephanie.
I'm sure she was offered movie roles after the success of Saturday Night Fever but she must have turned them down.



"He helped me, man. You don't know what it's like at that place. It's crazy!"

On my list of Best American films.

[Bronxgirl48]

I just looked up Javelina.

Wild pigs.

A few recorded rabies cases in Arizona.
Can attack humans when provoked.

While they are distantly related to wild pigs, they're actually what is called a "Peccary".

One soon learns from the locals not to ever refer to 'em as "wild pigs", as once you do, you'll almost always then get a lecture from them on the difference.

(...hmmm...guess this then now officially makes me a "local" then, doesn't it)

"Peccary" I always thought it sounded either like a Dickens character or what Joan Hackett in THE GROUP picked up at her doctor's office in order to safely begin an affair with the cynical New York City guy who secretly lusted after Lakey.