Mom Is Great For News, Gossip



Luca sitting on the floor of the car, looking tired,
and very grateful a lone Toyota 4Runner happened
by that hot summer day. Photo courtesy of Jake Quinones, NM Backroads.

As appeared in the Albuquerque Journal Rio Rancho section July 9, 2011

Telephone conversations with my mother back East are always guaranteed to be enlightening and irreverent as we try and solve the world’s problems, along with Florida murder trials and whatnot. And, of course, when we get to gossiping about the family, well it’s downright juicy.

Turns out the other night’s conversation had us telling similar stories from each other’s corner of the world.

“Did you hear about the kitten that was thrown off the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York?” she asked me.

“Heavens no,” was my response. “What happened?”

Apparently, someone in a moving car threw something out of the passenger’s side window on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge last Saturday.


What looked like trash began to move after it hit the retaining wall on the bridge. It was a 5-week-old kitten.

“Wouldn’t you know the car right behind the culprit was an animal control officer who pulled over and rescued the kitten before it stumbled over the edge and into the water below,” my mother said.
The New York animal shelter named the kitten Verrazano, and has had dozens of calls from hopeful adopters.

Well, after hearing that I knew I could top her story with another animal tale from right here in New Mexico.

Jake Quinones of New Mexico Backroads, a southern New Mexico-based backcountry vehicle exploration guiding and photography service, is always out driving the desolate and deserted roads in the uninhabited areas of our state.

He recently wrote on his blog about something he happened upon while driving the winding Indian Route 12 along the New Mexico/Arizona border.

“I passed dead horse after dead horse. Some lay on the embankment while others made it a bit further into the scrubland before dying,” Quinones wrote. “The third dead horse I passed provided surreal scene. A black puppy was playing in the grass tufts behind the massive carcass.”


Quinones said the black puppy fled in fear as he approached, but there was another puppy too injured to run.

“Her belly and paws were riddled with spines and goat heads,” Quinones said.
Not only that, it appeared the puppy had been rolling beneath the dead horse’s ruptured belly for days.
“I picked her up and held her to my chest; her tail started to wag,” he said. “The spines and goat heads embedded in her skin made holding her like embracing a cactus.”

The final picture on the blog shows the dirty puppy, which looks like an Australian shepherd mix, sitting on the floor of the car, looking tired, and grateful a lone Toyota 4Runner happened by that hot summer day.

“Oh, that is a great story,” my mother said. Not missing a beat, she continued, “Did you see that hotel maid case in New York was dismissed? You know she was a hooker.”

Quote of the Week: “If you can’t make it better, you can laugh at it.” – Erma Bombeck
Read Jake Quinones full story on Luca the puppy here.