24/7 Chat About Anything

[Malamute]

Well....horses actually lived in the Americas way back, migrated to the old world, then trained humans to redistribute them back to their original territory.

 Thats my version anyway. 

 

[VanFan]

Either way, their presence sure changed things!  Treasured memory:  seeing a (nervous) feral white mare and foal under a full moon near Monument Valley.  I'm drawing a lot on memories right now.  Glad to have them!

 

[VanFan]

A year ago today we were camping in a beautiful pine forest at around 8,200' near Greer.  Finally, "home," slipping in a little meal prep between soft afternoon showers.  Perfect.

 

[Qxxx]

Cool. Mogollon Rim. Have you visited Payson? A cool little town not far from where you were at. I went in there from Holbrook and camped just north of town (in Houston Mesa CG, pay), but it was 24F at that time, so I didn't stay long.

 

[wayne49]

Speaking of oddly named craters.
Lunar Crater off US-6 in middle Nevada (in the wide distance nowhere between Tonopah and Ely) has nothing to do with the Moon. The crater was formed as a result of a volcanic eruption.

Pre atmosphere large objects could and did strike Earth.

 

[Qxxx]

Hi wayne, did you actually go in to Lunar Crater? I remember reading about it 2 or 3 years ago, and it sounded like the road in was rather poor for normal vehicles.

 

[Firebuild]

amazing the cats are feral but the horses are wild.

breaking news the are NO wild horses in the Americas,  they are all feral.

highdesertranger

 Yes you're right, the horses at Assateague are feral. It's thought that a Spanish galleon sunk and the horses made it to shore.

Hey but what about the offspring?? Aren't they wild?? They were never domestic.

 

[highdesertranger]

then you could use that argument for feral cats, hogs, and dogs. or any other invasive species that makes it one generation. somehow horses
and donkeys get special status. highdesertranger

 

[crofter]

Hi wayne, did you actually go in to Lunar Crater? I remember reading about it 2 or 3 years ago, and it sounded like the road in was rather poor for normal vehicles.

What is the definition of normal vehicle? 

What is the definition of wild? 

I have 4 feral cats tryn to move in on me. Someone has been feeding them and then left the area. These cats are the small lynx type with the tufted ears, yellow eyes, and nasty claws, a mother and three kittens. I consider them to be wild animals, full of diseases and fleas. I might get fleas and corona virus from them, but at least they are not mountain lions. There is plenty of food for them here, lizards and birds. I would prefer the lizards and birds to these cats, personally. The other danger they present is that they will rip out my AC ducting causing my AC unit to freeze up and stop working in the big heat. I need to see if there is a government trapper I can get traps from before that happens. 

It is 118 in the shade today in southern AZ. I am considering flipping and becoming nocturnal. Last night it was a balmy 80 degrees in the late hours when I was standing there looking at the huge full moon. Daytimes in the heat it is really too hard on the vehicle to be out driving around. And it is easy to get a little dehydrated when you are out in the heat.
~crofter

 

[highdesertranger]

"There is plenty of food for them here, lizards and birds."

and there lies the problem with all feral species.

highdesertranger

 

[crofter]

2.4 billion birds this year agree with you.
~crofter

Description: link to article.

https://abcbirds.org/program/cats-i...domestic cats is,2.4 billion birds every year.

 

[Qxxx]

Hey crofter, don't bring me into this argument about parsing the difference between feral and wild. Very underhanded of you.

High temperature here today in high desert Galt City was 87F. That's why they call me HDQ. Thank you.

 

[crofter]

Actually, cats may not be the worst. According to this study, rats have cause more birds to go extinct than cats by a close margin. Why don't the cats just eat the rats instead?
~ crofter

Description: link to article.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5056110/

 

[crofter]

....the difference between feral and wild.....

I have always looked for the tufted ears, and light eye color, shorter tail on cats. Yellow or gold eye color is rare in domesticated animals, brown or blue is more common. Also there is something to do with the toes on canines, dewclaws or extra toes.
~crofter

 

[bullfrog]

Some of my best childhood memories are going to the local dump at night shooting rats. Did slightly wound an old drunk one night as a rat was chewing on his hat when I shot him. I killed the rat but the drunk ran off. There are things I miss about Kentucky.

 

[crofter]

And here is what wacky universe says about that.
~crofter

Description: link to youtube video

 

[Qxxx]

I have always looked for ...

Oh foo, they all look the same to me. Heck if Marilyn Monroe :heart: called them wild horses in the "The Misfits", that's good enough for me.

 

[crofter]

The animal whisperer, woman finds out all their secrets. Relates to hunting, living in nature.
~crofter

Description: Link to youtubevideo.


I have never seen this silver line they are talking about, but I have had the sense of the animal giving themself in hunting. -c

 

[VanFan]

Have you visited Payson? ...camped just north of town (in Houston Mesa CG, pay)

Nope, never have.  In fact, I have not spent much time in Arizona and would like to explore more.  I'll put that CG on our list for a shower stop.  Looks like it's in Tonto NF and quite a bit lower in elevation than where we were in Apache Sitgreaves NF (Ponderosa pines).

 

[Qxxx]

That entire area north of Phoenix and south of Flagstaff is incredible. Payson was a neat little town. I didn't go to Sedona out of sheer crowd avoidance misery, but very much liked Prescott over on the west side. There are many places to camp, look on freecampsites.net. And for that matter, the entire s.w. area of AZ is wonderful. Tombstone, Bisbee, Chiricahua Natl Monument, on and on.

Prescott is where they filmed the famous fight scene in Billy Jack. Very neat "old town" area with 100 yo bars and buildings. I liked it very much.