TAKING THE OFF-RAMP

Phoenix Photographer Kevin Dyer wanted to impress Yoko, visiting from Japan, so he took her to Jerome's House of Joy, a brothelturned-restaurant. Built in 1890 and operated as a house of ill repute from 1912 to 1946, it morphed into a restaurant. Good food, red light décor, a kitschy gift shop and the odd allure of a bordello gone upscale ensure a month's long waiting list in the season. Reportedly, the owners once turned away President Richard Nixon. Kevin and Yoko didn't get a table, but got a kick out of the visit anyhow.

Jewelry for Squirrels?

THE SENTINELS OF forest-fire reduction strategy may come in small, furry, bushy-tailed packages, according to a group of Arizona Game and Fish Department researchers.

Researchers fitted about 45 tree squirrels around the Flagstaff area with transmitter collars to learn whether forest officials can protect nearby communities by clearing out debris, trees and other potential forest fire fuels without discouraging wildlife from living in those areas. If the squirrels venture out of their dense forest nests and into areas thinned by fire or cutting, it will be an indication that forest thinning is a viable strategy for both humans and wildlife.

The squirrels used for the study are Aberts, or tassel-eared squirrels. The project is one of the region's first electronic squirrel-tracking projects. The squirrels will be captured, weighed, fitted with collars, released and monitored over a two-year period. The collars will be unobtrusive-like wearing a necklace. -Kimberly Hosey

Top 10 Rodeo Superstitions

WHEN IT COMES TO their game or skill, most athletes have a superstition or two. Some baseball players never step on a foul line, while some hockey players always lace up the left skate before they lace up the right. Some athletes refuse to wash their jerseys during a winning streak, and others eat the same meal before every game. And chances are, you'll never see a rodeo cowboy wearing yellow.

Perhaps some of the strangest competition superstitions come from rodeo cowboys and their solid traditions, which have kept these 10 superstitions alive in Arizona's rodeo arenas.

Taylor Celebrates the Fourth by Having a Big Blast

FAMILIES STAND IN A CIRCLE, passing out earplugs while men of the Thornhill family place an anvil in the middle of the street with another anvil on top. Sandwiched between them is a cylinder filled with black powder. A man holding a flaming cloth at the end of a pole ignites the paper fuse. Children cover their ears.

The explosion blows the anvil 10 feet high and gets the cows running. The blast is loud enough to wake up the pioneers in the cemetery. It was their idea to begin with, so they can't complain. Folks in the Silver Creek Valley in 1880 devised a way to imitate a cannon on the Fourth. The Firing of the Anvil has been a tradition ever since.

The day comes complete with a patriotic program, barbecue, night rodeo and fireworks display. Generations of small-town Americans celebrate Independence Day in their own unique ways, but no town has a bigger blast than Taylor. -Jo Baeza

off-ramp Historic Custer Art on View in Tucson

TWO PAINTINGS OF George Armstrong Custer, one of the West's greatest celebrities, stand in the dusty basement of the Arizona Historical Society's Tucson headquarters.

Cassily Adams painted the oils, part of a three-section triptych, in about 1885 for St. Louis beer magnate Adolphus Busch. He eventually donated the panels to Custer's 7th Cavalry, which moved to Fort Grant, Arizona, in 1896. The two end panels came with it, but not the centerpiece, which later was destroyed by fire in 1946. Long before that, Busch had hired artist Otto Becker to repaint that centerpiece, and eventually distributed more than a million copies of Becker's bloody print. Custer's Last Fight hung in saloons everywhere, becoming a famous American painting.

After Fort Grant closed, the end panels went to a ranch near Willcox owned by the fort's caretaker, where they stayed until his son donated them to the Historical Society in 1944.

One shows Custer as a boy carrying a toy sword and playing soldier. The other shows his body riddled with arrows at the Little Big Horn, the sun setting behind him.

The public can view the cracked and darkened panels by appointment.

Information: (520) 617-1175. -Leo W. Banks

Traveling Lite

TRAVEL IS GOOD for broadening one's horizons, but it can often broaden parts of us that we'd rather keep narrow. Between foreign cities, fast food, fatigue and limited workout facilities, hitting the highways and skyways can sabotage even the best health and fitness routines. The Athletic-Minded Traveler: Where to Work Out and Stay When Fitness is a Priority by Jim Kaese and Paul Huddle and Healthy Highways: The Travelers' Guide to Healthy Eating are guidebooks for those who seek to stay fit without staying home.

The Athletic-Minded Traveler lists 78 hotels with onsite or nearby fitness centers, as well as the types of equipment available, while Healthy Highways maps out more than 1,900 health-oriented food stores and eateries across the country. Whether you're on vacation or on business, these informative sidekicks can help trim the fat of travel planning and keep you on track with your healthy habits.

Information: www.socalpress. com and www.healthyhighways. com. JoBeth Jamison