Let’s just pretend February didn’t happen. Nothing happened and so I didn’t have anything to write about, so I didn’t get around to posting anything in the blog. Charlie would understand, he understood the sporadic nature of the desert. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it rains a lot. Because it does rain here, sometimes, we   Read More …

“All their life was spent not in laws, statutes, or rules, but according to their own free will and pleasure. They rose out of their beds when they thought good; they did eat, drink, labour, sleep, when they had a mind to it and were disposed for it. None did awake them, none did offer   Read More …

I’ll admit it, “Damn, I can be lazy!”, and not a sorry to be seen. All summer I looked forward to good weather so I could get some work done and here for a week it’s been in the mid 80’s and I couldn’t get off the couch. Luckily there are more industrious members who   Read More …

Have you missed us? Have you forgotten that weekend you spent here? Have you been thinking that you really need to get away? Have you been keeping our secret? Since last we talked there have been some things happening. Big thanks to Nick and Susi for a week of creative infusion and construction. Susi envisioned   Read More …

October is here and finally the temperatures are going down to manageable levels. No longer does the mercury try to escape the thermometer by day, no longer does the sunset presage the accumulation of humidity. There’s a comfort in knowing the worst of the heat is over, there is a satisfaction that comes with surviving   Read More …

Two nights ago we had one of those big storms, walls of sand and sound and wind, that make you turtle up inside whatever shelter you can find and hope that nothing too irreplaceable gets carried away by whatever wild and hungering desert god demands sacrifice. We also had JessyLou of Louography come down for   Read More …

It’s Labor Day Weekend and I’m bored so my mind was a bit sluggish when I checked the site mail and found this: From: Anna Angio Subject: Desert Rat Message Body: I have decided to rat on some of you and I have some pictures to share with law enforcement. Whoa, what’s this? For those   Read More …

In his book The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles gives the best distinction between a traveler and a tourist I’ve ever come across. He defines a tourist as someone who, having had their fill of wine and song and unsafe sex, will invariably return home, while a traveler simply winds up somewhere else, not stopping until   Read More …

“ Out of the hottest fire comes the strongest steel” Chinese proverb We’re half way thru the year and still alive. Not that the desert hasn’t tried its best to crack our resolve by throwing its worst at us. By day the mercury climbs to 115F in the shade and at night lowers to 90F   Read More …

Interesting fact. Hummingbirds are continuously hours away from starving to death, and are able to store just enough energy to survive overnight. To conserve energy while they sleep or when food is scarce, they have the ability to go into a hibernation-like state (torpor) where their metabolic rate is slowed to 1/15th of its normal   Read More …