Barker Ranch

I spent yesterday up at Barker Ranch in the very southwest of Death Valley. Barker Ranch is where old Charles Manson and his "family" hid out and were eventually found. It is pretty damn remote in that you have to drive forever to get there. However, due to the sheer mass of humanity in southern California, there were still plenty of people around. We shared our visit with some ATV riders who went inside the cabin to smoke some pot in homage to Mr. Manson. The first photo is of a side building ("the guest house") and the view down Goler Wash (I suppose the family used to sit up here to see if anybody was coming), the second photo is of the main cabin itself.

The remainder of the pictures are not of Barker Ranch but of other interesting finds up Goler Wash. It is normally a pretty tough 4x4 road from what I understand, but it has recently been graded. So we had an easy time. The water was running up the wash, though, and I bet by this summer it will be a pretty tough go again. Anyhow, plenty of mines, abandoned cabins, and assorted debris.

I managed to make an adventure out of the day by insisting on taking a detour to the north border of the east section of China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station. The map insisted there was a road, but it was just a river bed that got worse and worse. Then it started to get dark. Then one of my passengers threw up (the second time that day). Gave up and turned around just shy of the border. Just as well -- I didn't really need to be the accidental target of a sidewinder missile after all.

Earlier in the day, I stopped by a local brewery and picked up a case of my current favorite beer and a case of another selection for the spring.

More Big Empty

Desert Finds

Now that it is winter in the desert, it is finally time to be outdoors and explore. The snakes are in hibernation, and the air is cool. Only bad thing is that the days are short and there seems to be more wind during the winter and spring months.

In our wanderings recently, we've found some strange things in the middle of nowhere. First, you see the flag on the top of a hill. You can see the flag from a road nearby, but there is not a building within 10 miles of this hill and I cannot figure out what it is doing there. Second, is a nice little man. He was truly in the middle of nowhere. Not even a paved road within 20 miles, and we had hiked about a mile from a fairly tough 4x4 road to get there (the woman had to get out and push once when we were on the road). You may not be able to tell in the attached picture, but there was a dried up snake skin wrapped around his neck. That was a little gross.

Things seem to be well preserved out in the desert. You'll often see old cars, appliances, mattresses and tires -- stuff that people can't just give to the trash guy. So they dump it out in the desert. Although I generally prefer my spaces empty, with as little sign of humanity as possible, it is nice to have the occasional surprise such as the flag and man.

Christmas Podcast

Perhaps as highly anticipated as Oprah's Favorite Things, it is with great pleasure that I present the second annual Unwilted Christmas Podcast.

Google Docs

For the next week, I plan on exclusively using Google Docs for all my word processing needs -- even those at work. My initial impression was that it has a lot of potential. I like the ability to add tags to my documents. But maybe I'm still old school -- I also wanted to be able to put them in different directories (there may be a way -- I didn't see it). Another initial impression is that I wish the work screen were bigger. Finally, I love the fact that I can directly save as a pdf file. I could always do that with Open Office -- but now I can do that on the fly anywhere there is a net connection.

On a different note, I toyed with getting a Sony Mylo but decided to wait. A little short on cash right now, and I'd like to see what people think after having used it for more time. I sounds fun, though.

Bright Eyes

Time for another podcast. This one featuring Bright Eyes. The last song features the main characters from one of the best novels ever written.

Humvee

About to get run over by a Humvee.

And So It Goes

Happy Days Are Here Again. Sort of. Really, I just feel like Binky in this Matt Groening cartoon from 14 years ago. All I can offer after this election is a pathetic wave of the flag and a "yay."

Nixon Now

I love the authentic 1970s feel of this ad. The fact that it is for Nixon makes it even better.

Hot New Look and Nostalgia

Yet another hot new look for unwilted. I wanted to upgrade to the blogger beta, which required the change and more traditional look.

While playing with the blog, I've been streaming today's A Prairie Home Companion and it is in Pullman, Washington back in the Palouse. Nostalgia. Two things come to mind. First we need a Western Garrison Keillor. Garrison's talk about the wheat and rolling hills and sunsets make me want to hop in the damn car and drive 1500 miles to be there again. Second, the Palouse is probably the ideal place in this country. Although this won't happen, just for a minute I did think about throwing everything away and taking the family up to some town like Dayton (Washington -- NOT Ohio). Buy a cheap house and make do.

Barenaked Autumn

I guess Barenaked Ladies have a new album. Saw them on Conan O'Brien last night (not a show I normally watch, but I noticed they were on so I recorded it). I think the song is just okay. They rely on being catchy and quirky, and I guess not every song can be that way. What is left is just blah pop. I'm sure they still put on a hell of a fun show, though, and I'm going to try to catch them on this tour if they play a smaller venue near me.

My Life is Back

The computer is up and running again, and I feel like my life is back. It is like being broke for a month and then all of a sudden getting some money. A great feeling. It is about time for a reformat, however, so I may do that over the long weekend. And I've already decided on an early Christmas present -- one of the new, cheap MacBooks and a home wireless network to go with it. It took me a while to get on the whole laptop / wifi thing, but I'm all about it now.

Freakin

Well, my desktop computer (which is also our TV, radio, phone, etc.) has officially freaked out completely. Hardware issue, and let's hope the answer is in the mail. Meanwhile, I'm on a borrowed laptop stealing wifi from a neighbor across the street. I'm in a corner of the house that we never use because I can only get signal quality from there -- and just barely at that.

So to all the loyal readers of unwilted (and there are about four of you), the updates will remain a bit infrequent.

Meanwhile, if you've not registered to vote against the pricks, please do. I'm sending in my Idaho absentee ballot tomorrow -- not that it will matter much there.

Best Song Lyrics

From Kris Kristofferson's The Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me:

I can read my fortune in the bottom of a glass
And I can see its time for me to make my last request
Will you fill my grave with whiskey when I'm laid away to rest
So the boys can say I drank my way to hell.

Update

Not many updates lately -- I'm traveling a lot right now. However, I did put up an Amazon book store (with a Western American Literature theme) and also updated the unwilted homepage. I've never made money as an Amazon affliliate -- and I don't expect to. It is just interesting to see how it works. If somebody wants to buy a book that way, fine. Also, I don't love the look of the new homepage, but I used Photoshop to create it and I was interested in that process.