That could be cross-posted in News That Makes You Say WTF?
It would fit right in with the people who raised a bear and a coyote (different people) thinking they were dogs.
I wonder if Richard Gere is in cahoots with a cybernetic wallaby to send out mind control rays. 
Yeah, the Hammond Japanese garden here in town has a cell tower somebodies went nuts over
And I’m like “My sisters in Christ, I’m not the one with the smartphone who needs the signal” and eyeing their iPhone.
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poor deer
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Were there any creatures seen running from the area at the time??? Can Richard Gere account for his whereabouts for the time in question??? 
Armonk is just across the river…
I have seen a couple of coywolves in my area. 
Is this anywhere near you @meep?
Road washes out do to a ton of rain:
https://twitter.com/BenNollWeather/status/1678223574698434560
It’s not far away from me, but the roads I have to travel seem okay. We managed to miss most of the rain ourselves as most of it dumped itself to our west.
nothing crazy, just wanted to share a tanker shuttle drill in my town
white boards!
water!
guys hanging around!
Summary
On Monday evening, the Croton Falls Fire Department hosted a tanker shuttle drill at the North Salem Highway Garage. The purpose of the drill was to simulate a large scale fire within the Croton Falls Fire District and shuttle significant amounts of water from multiple water sources to the fire scene.
Engine 149 with 2077 were drafting from a local water source near Station 2, while Bedford Engine 108 was drafting from Peach Lake. Car 2073 was monitoring both water sources, while Cars 2071 and 2072 were handling scene operations. Tanker 8 was acting as a first alarm scene Engine while feeding Ladder 67 with 2074. Engine 148 with 2076 was acting as a second alarm scene Engine while feeding Carmel Ladder 12-5-1.
As a result, there were 11 tankers shuttling multiple loads of water to the scene from the fill sites. In about one hour, over 108,000 gallons of water were shuttled to the scene. The drill was a success and allowed for CFFD and all mutual aid department attendees to hone their skills.
Thank you to the following mutual aid departments for attending the drill:
South Salem FD
Somers FD
Goldens Bridge FD
Pound Ridge FD
Vista FD
Bedford FD
Bedford Hills FD
Mount Kisco FD
Katonah FD
Carmel FD
Mahopac FD
Brewster FD
Putnam Lake FD
Mill Plain FD
Ridgefield FD
WCDES Battalion 13
WCDES Field Comm 1
WCDES CC4
North Salem VAC
North Salem PD
We are always looking for new members and mutual aid members to join our department. Croton Falls Fire is one of the busier volunteer fire agencies in Westchester County. Click “Join CFFD” on our website today for more information and access to our membership application.
what is it with people and their crazy pets around here
https://www.tapinto.net/towns/somers/sections/community/articles/a-turtle-s-tale
Summary
A Turtle’s Tale
SOMERS, N.Y. - A Somers family is once again shell-ebrating the safe return of its beloved pet tortoise.
The 60-pound reptile vanished from the backyard of Tom and Patty Barcia’s home on Tomahawk Street on July 24.
It wasn’t the first time Hardshell’s gone on the lam.
His owners estimate that he’s pulled his Houdini trick at least a dozen times over the last 24 years.
Usually, the African Sulcata tortoise doesn’t get very far.
By simply posting an alert on social media they’ve quickly received multiple reports of Hardshell “sightings” from eagle-eyed residents or folks passing through the area.
Not surprisingly, a lot of the time he seems to be heading to either Lake Shenorock or the Amawalk Reservoir for a dip.
Once Hardshell camped out in a neighbor’s garage. Not realizing it was someone’s pet and not a wild critter, she used a broom to gently nudge him back outside.
He’s also been known to wander around Horton Estates, Patty says.
But Facebook wasn’t around when Hardshell, then only a couple of years old, first took a powder so the Barcias had to turn to a local television news channel for help.
That little sojourn made him a bit of a local shell-ebrity.
This time, Hardshell ended up more than 25 miles away, in the Putnam County town of Patterson.
How in the world did he get there?
He hitchhiked … sort of. Tortoises have claws, not thumbs like we humans. They use them for digging, climbing, and defense.
Hardshell was happily plodding along on Route 118 (Tomahawk Street) that fateful Monday when he was nearly run over several times.
Concerned for the creature, and other motorists, a woman stopped her car to block traffic. Two men who work for a fencing company then loaded him into their truck.
Thinking that was strange, the motorist followed them into The Preserves and jotted down the name and phone number on the vehicle.
They ended up carrying him to the home of one of their clients, a Patterson woman who they knew cared for dozens of turtles and tortoises.
The Barcias hadn’t noticed Hardshell was gone until the next day.
After frantically searching their property in vain, they started posting on every social media site they could.
The motorist saw the family’s post on Facebook. She called the fencing company which in turn gave the Barcias’ phone number to the woman who had Hardshell safely tucked away in an outdoor pen.
She called the Barcias and asked for proof so she could make sure she was releasing the tortoise to his rightful owners. They sent her photos and videos and the next morning, although exhausted from having spent a sleepless night, went to pick up their errant pet.
“It was wild, insane,” Patty says.
REUNITED
Scientists say that because tortoises are reptiles, they aren’t capable of feeling “love” as humans understand it.
However, they do show signs of affection and appreciation for their owners, such as following them around, tolerating handling, and eating directly from their hands.
As soon as the relieved Barcias arrived in Patterson, Hardshell cruised right on over to be petted and fussed over.
“He’s more than a pet; he’s a member of the family. He knows us; he knows the sound of our voices,” Patty says.
Two plus decades ago, their then 8-year-old daughter had wanted a dog for her birthday, but that wasn’t an option for the family. They went to a pet store where she picked out what they thought was a turtle instead.
“No one told us he was a tortoise,” she says, so they had no clue what they were getting into.
When Hardshell was a baby, he was small enough to be bathed in the kitchen sink. Now he hangs out in the backyard, near the pool where he has a favorite rock to sleep under.
Unfortunately, he has learned that when the gate is not closed properly it makes a handy escape hatch. Tortoises are very good diggers, too. So, when Hardshell was a toddler, he was able to claw his way out from under the fence.
In the fall and winter, Hardshell lives in a bedroom that was vacated by the one of the Barcias’ now-grown children. He lounges around in a huge sandbox outfitted with tortoise-appropriate bedding, a rock, and pieces of driftwood.
The Barcias, knowing that he’ll be with them a long time, are thinking about building Hardshell a small heated barn.
Tortoises are big, tough, and slow survivalists that can live to be 150 years old. As adults, they can weigh between 70 and 100 pounds.
At 60 pounds, Hardshell is too heavy to lift.
“He’s not like a sack of potatoes you can throw over your shoulder,” Patty explains.
You have to pick tortoises up in a certain way. A cracked shell can kill them. And if you don’t hold them horizontally, it can impede their breathing.
After giving the Barcias a tour of the grounds, the woman offered to loan them a wheelbarrow so they could cart Hardshell to the car. They politely declined, telling her to just open the gate to his pen.
He immediately tagged along behind them, like a dog.
CLEVER, MOTIVATED
Chris Evers, founder of Animal Embassy, an organization dedicated to exotic animal rescue, adoption and environmental education, cares for a variety of tortoises at his North Salem home.
He has African Sulcata, the third biggest kind; red foot, and leopard tortoises.
The rascally reptiles can be “very clever as far as escaping goes. They are motivated, driven; they know what they want and generally they’ll find it.”
His tortoises have two acres to roam, but they still go AWOL.
They are good diggers and it isn’t hard for them to claw their way free.
They can’t literally gallop off like the occasional stray horse Evers has helped track down, but they’re faster than most people think.
After all, “slow and steady wins the race,” he says, adding that they can “go quite far.”
Even if they’re not far away, they can be hard to find because they like to make holes and tunnels.
These burrows provide tortoises with a cool place during the dry hot days of late spring and summer when water and food is scarce and a relatively warm place to park themselves during winter hibernation.
So what frequently inspires them to set off for parts unknown?
Sex and food.
They’re either looking for a tasty treat or another tortoise to mate with, he explains.
GAME PLAN
Hardshell’s family wants to head off any future misadventures at the pass. They were considering getting an Apple AirTag – a small, tracking device usually used to locate easy-to-lose personal items such as keys, bags, or wallets – and gluing it to his shell.
While using an AirTag to track a pet may sound like a good idea in practice, Apple itself and veterinarians discourage it because it contains batteries and could be harmful if swallowed.
It’s better to microchip potential runaways instead, they advise.
None the worse for wear, Hardshell is now home, happily hanging out with the Barcias and their grandkids, doing his laps around the yard, and maybe, just maybe, deviously plotting his next big adventure.
“We were very, very lucky,” says Patty.
Did they check him out for cybernetic implants that would make him a formidable part of a superpowered gang of hyper-advanced animals led by a shadowy marsupial criminal mastermind???
You just try to tell me that there’s zero probability of that!!!
Kind of nice:
Know Before You Throw
By Susie Thompson, North Salem Town Historian
and Cynthia Curtis, North Salem Historical SocietyWe cringe when we see a dumpster. What piece of North Salem history just got tossed? A 20th century scrapbook? Photos of the construction of the reservoir? A program from a 1940s concert? A Revolutionary War pension record? A 1910 family photo? A hand drawn map of Salem Center? A yearbook? All of these things make up the flesh and bones of our collections and help us answer the many queries we receive about the history of buildings, families, hamlets, and the unique features of this wonderful town. We love to help, and it’s so much easier if we have the information at hand.
We share and work together and sometimes divvy up the tasks. Team work! So, we ask you to please do the same. Help us help others.
If you have an old photo album, newspaper clippings, letters, scrapbook, map or quirky memorabilia, please share with us. We accept outright donations if the material is germane to North Salem or has a North Salem connection. If you don’t want to part with the item, we are happy to scan, copy and return it to you. Or, just send us a scan or copy (and any info you may have about it, please!).
The North Salem Historical Society recently received a trove of memorabilia from someone who grew up in town and felt it was time to clean the attic! Before passing items along to family members she thought about us and made us copies; other items she sent for our collection. Everyone gained. The Town Historian recently accepted beautiful arrowheads and scrapers found on a property on June Road. They are priceless reminders that Native Americans were our first settlers.
If you are looking for information, contact Cynthia Curtis, North Salem Historical Society, and/or Susie Thompson, North Salem Town Historian. We will work together to pull information from all of our sources to help you.
Cynthia is my next door neighbor
DANGIT!
This is not a mistaken sighting [and yes, I’ve seen a lot of deer out lately… I saw a doe & 2 juveniles out this morning] –
Black Bear Sighting
posted 10/12/23
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There has just been bear sighting (two bears) at the intersections 116/121 on old Salem Center Road. The police are aware, Please be aware. At this point there weren’t bothering anyone.
Be Safe
Warren Lucas
My brother lives in the middle of a couple of cities, sort of in a greenbelt. Came out one morning to bear prints on the hood of his car. He called the government folks and was told that the old bears drive out the young males. And the young males will go for hundreds of miles down greenbelts and power line corridors. So they weren’t surprised. Also, did nothing because it wasn’t a nuisance yet.
Send the hounds up north!!! 
:cyberneticwallaby: