Swimming buffaloes pull a fast one

Southern California is so large that you can live here all your life and still be unaware of some annual rites. For instance, the Reef Seekers Dive Co. publication carried an item with the startling (to me) headline: “Catalina Buffalo Swim.”

It announced that the Catalina Island Conservancy was looking for scuba divers to help out with the yearly bathing exercise for the big animals.

The beasts are led into the water at the Isthmus, the article continued, and the divers will then herd them “around the harbor (all boat traffic will be stopped).”

The divers will occasionally give them “a scrub (especially legs and hooves) with brushes that will be provided.”

The article said a free lunch would be provided, noting that “ironically, they’ll be serving buffalo burgers.”

I knew that Catalina had buffaloes -- descendants of the animals brought to the island for a movie in the 1920s -- but I couldn’t understand why I had never heard of this event.

Then I noticed that the date of the publication was April 1.

Not sure about this claim, either

While on vacation, I ventured into Quartzsite, Ariz., which is sort of the swap meet capital of the nation, and found one vendor who used some cutting humor (see photo).

I Don’t Want My MPG!

Mention was made here of the license plate that declared: I H8 XON. Well, evidently not everybody’s so worked up about the prospect of $4-a-gallon gasoline. Lisa McMurray of Pasadena saw a Hummer with the plate: 7 MPG.

Ghost train sighting

Certain railroads are operating trains by remote control in their rail yards, apparently alarming some passersby who wonder if the rider-less vehicles are runaway locomotives. Hence the explanation that Stan Kelton of Huntington Beach spotted in La Mirada (see photo).

A different type of ‘train’ sighting

Pedestrians get no respect in Southern California, a point that was brought home for Martin Greenberger of Westchester in the form of a misspelled sign (see photo).

Thanks for the warning

Whether it was the work of jokesters isn’t clear, but Ken Brock of Upland observed that banners that said “You’ll Be Impressed” and “Excuse Our Mess” had been combined to achieve a result that the owner probably didn’t appreciate (see photo).

miscelLAny

Elayne and Meredith Purcell noticed that the directions for a de-shedding brush for pets included this suggestion: “If you are not sure whether your pet is of a shedding breed, check with a veterinarian.”

Of course, if you weren’t sure, why would you have bought the darn thing beforehand? (Not sure, by the way, about the wisdom of testing the de-shedding brush on a buffalo.)

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012, and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.