Because I live in a part of Yonkers that is just above the Bronx River Parkway and below the LaGuardia Airport flight pattern, I am entertained by  all kinds of noises at all hours of the day and night.  Jet engines and police and fire sirens are common sounds. On very rare occasions, I’ve heard distant gunshots.

In fact, this morning a prolonged chorus of emergency sirens could be heard from the direction of the parkway; it was in response, I assumed, to a fiery accident somewhere north on the Sprain River Parkway, which rather dangerously forks at the BPR near my house.  The cacophony inspired my dog to howl in unison.

This sound was no mystery.

What does have me puzzled is a very loud booming noise that I heard late Friday night, near midnight. It came from the southwest, perhaps from New York City. It wasn’t thunder or anything mechanical, more like an explosion.  Just one loud “kaboom.” My cat, who was dozing next to me, also was startled. (The usually vigilant dog was asleep upstairs and didn’t hear it.)

I’ve heard this mystery sound once or twice before, but only at night or in the dark hours before dawn. This time other people heard it as well—as evidenced by a short piece posted on lohud.com this morning.

Theories abound.

My guest on “High Noon” today will be Samuel Rivers, a Mount Vernon realtor and Democratic district leader who claims in a lawsuit that he was threatened in an expletive-laced phone conversation with John Boykin, an aide to Mayor Clinton Young. Rivers taped the Feb. 16 conversation and released the tape to the press, expletives and all.

Rivers alleges that he was targeted for retaliation because he set up a meeting with Tony Castro, an attorney and past candidate for district attorney, who is a possible 2009 opponent against the current DA, Janet DiFiore.

Dots have to be connected here. DiFiore has been the target of a lawsuit and numerous editorial screeds by Sam Zherka, the publisher of the weekly newspaper, The Westchester Guardian. Castro’s bid for DA last time was supported by the weekly. Zherka has also lately urned his wrath on Young, the mayor.

Rivers has announced a desire to work for Zherka as a columnist.

The politics of revenge, in short, is thriving.

Read more about it by clicking onto a Journal News article. And then tune in today at 12 noon. That’s WVOX, 1460 AM, or log onto wvox.com. Calls will be taken at 914-636-0110.

Wow, this is hardly a case of “like father like son.”

Dave Spano, the son of County Executive Andy Spano appears in this commercial, calling for the abolishment of county government.

The TV spot was put together by Sam Zherka, the controversial publisher of the weekly, The Westchester Guardian, who has been leading a grassroots anti-county government movement. It’s startling to see that Spano’s own kid basically wants to do away with his father’s job! This must be a headache indeed for good old dad who says he’s going to run for a fourth term in November, despite the fact that he’s taken a public drubbing for the size and alleged redundancy of his imperial domain.

Zherka, who also appears in the commerical, told me today that Dave Spano, who is a friend, did the TV free of charge. It’s been appearing on local cable for the past week.

On Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Zherka is holding an organizational meeting at the Royal Regency Hotel, 165 Tuckahoe Road in Yonkers. This is in advance of an April 25 taxpayer protest-rally in White Plains that he’s dubbed a “Westchester Tea Party.”

Confucious once said, “May you live in interesting times.” That was a subtle curse.

So you know when a real estate brokers says this has been an “interesting year,” you know that means a lousy year since real estate brokers usually effect a sunshine view of things—even when the roof is caving in.

But that was the message from Patty Breen, an associate broker for Houlihan Lawrence, who recently mailed out a two-page sales pitch and/or frank assessment of the local housing scene titled, “2008 Marketing Report for Bronxville P.O.” This was interesting because I happen to live in the coveted 10708 zip code (in Yonkers) and because it also indicated that Westchester’s high-end market is finally beginning to feel a little bit of the pain that has already seized much of the nation.

In her missive, Breen said, “Our local real estate market has not gone unscathed by this economic crisis. Most notable, perhaps, is the ‘wait and see’ sentiment which has come to characterize the market.”

In other words, home-sellers around these parts are still in denial, thinking the prices will somehow return to the good old days of, oh, 2006.

Here are some stats:

BRONXVILLE PO

—27 homes old in 2008 (54 sold in 2007)

—Median price in 2008, $712,500 ($717,500 in 2007)

—Yonkers market down 22.5 percent.

BRONXVILLE VILLAGE

—35 homes old in 2008 (181 in 2007)

—Median price, $2.02 million in 2008 ($2.3 million in 2007)

Sales were also off in the co-op and condo market but prices held from 2007 to 2008, Breen reported.

I realize President Obama’s budget speech was a few days ago, which translates into eons in this frantic age of economic horror.

But as I sip from my second bottle of Bud on this cold Sunday night, I simply can’t get the annoying image of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of my mind. How many times did she stand up and clap? It seemed she rose to her feet whenever Obama sneezed. After awhile you could  tell that Joe Biden was getting fed up with it. At one point, he go up so wearily that I swore he was about to flip Pelosi the bird.

I long for the days when the House speaker was John McCormick, who was about 110 years old and just took a nap during executive addresses. Pelosi is a piece of work—It’s like she’s cheering because her team won. I’m sure she’s really a nice lady, though. Maybe I think that because she seems like she ought to be a supporting cast member on the old Mary Tyler Moore show.

It’s no wonder Congress is so hated. After the speech, every yahoo representative from Podunk clambored to get Obama’s autograph. When did that nonsense begin? And as always, there was Eliot Engel who practically stalks presidents at these events. The bespectacled, mustachioed Bronx Democrat must have arrived three hours ahead of time just so he could position himself for the grand, climactic, press-fleshing moment when the president left  the floor.

Engel will be forever known as the “Where’s Waldo?” of the House of Representatives. He does it every time.

I also loved it when the TV cameras scanned the room for audience reaction shots. My favorites were the quickies taken of Charlie Rangel, who looked like he was waiting for an indictment and John McCain, who looked even older than when he ran for president way, way back in November.

It was like Oscar night. The Republicans should’ve passed on the ridiculous Bobby Jindal, who flubbed his rebuttal speech and looked like a little kid stuffed into a man’s suit.  Instead, they should have hired Jack Nicholson to recite his You-Can’t-Handle-The-Truth monologue from “A Few Good Men.”