Father Crowley: Desert Padre of the Owens Valley

"God bless America, let's save some of it." — Edward Abbey One of the senators Utah sent to Washington has slipped in some very dangerous legal language into the big federal budgeting bill, language that’s vague enough to allow the beginning of the sell-off of our Western Public Lands. Including National Forests. Not including national parks, monuments, etc., but very much including Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands. In fact, that’s what this senator, “Based Mike Lee,” titled this section of the Senate legislation: MANDATORY DISPOSAL OF BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT LAND AND NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LAND. No, sorry, not gonna happen.  Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Mojave gets slow in the summertime, not much going on. So there was much excitement when the word spread on that early summer night: The Marines were shipping out to Los Angeles. Rumors of troop carriers and white buses, full of Marines with full kit, ready to go, and deeply annoyed to be called back early on a Saturday night. But, it was something to do, somewhere to go. Everybody wants to get out of the Mojave in summertime. Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The reality of knowing the wild animals on your land is knowing that they generally live on an accelerated timeline. The new crop of Mojave cottontails and rock squirrels each spring will shrink to one or two lucky buddies by late summer, with the rest succumbing to reckless road crossings and red-tail hawks and rattlesnakes . . . the local ravens feasting on the remains, if there are any.  Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Hosted and written by Ken Layne. Broadcasting Friday nights on KCDZ 107.7 FM in the High Desert, from Amboy to Zyzxx. Thanks for supporting this show at Patreon.com/DesertOracleSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The maniac who blew himself up outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic is our latest High Desert dingbat to make the national news. Luckily, the four (or five?) injured in the Palm Springs terror attack have been treated and released from the hospital. But who bombs fertility clinics? Meet America's worst new subculture, the violent anti-natalists. With geographically relevant soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’ve run around the breathtaking Eastern Sierra, you know Crowley Lake, and Crowley Point, and maybe even the rare Crowley Lupine of the Sierra’s Eastern slope. All three are named in honor of Father John J. Crowley, the Padre of the Desert. His heroic life and tragic death are remembered on this very Catholic episode of Desert Oracle Radio, with soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here’s how the Channel 12 news in Phoenix began the story, Thursday night on the 10 o’clock news: “God sent that dog to rescue my son.” These words were spoken by the toddler’s father, Corey Allen, outside the family’s home on the west side of rural Seligman, Arizona. Corey Allen says he was working on the roof, Sarah Allen was inside with their youngest. And two-year-old Bodin Allen went outside to play. But when Bodin Allen’s mom called for him, he didn’t answer. He wasn’t there. And after an hour of frantic searching beneath a darkening sky, the Allens called the Yavapai Sheriff’s Department and before long there were dozens of search-of-rescue volunteers and deputies searching the area. Helicopters with spotlights scoured the plateau, the pilots reporting two mountain lions prowling the territory. A rancher named Scotty Dunton discovered the blond-headed toddler, seven long miles away from home, deep into the backcountry to the west. The boy was coming up the driveway, along with Scotty Dunton's big ranch dog, Buford the Anatolian Pyrenees. This is EPISODE #141: THE VANISHING BOY with soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Written & hosted by Ken Layne. Thanks for supporting this advertising-free program on our Patreon.com/DesertOracle page.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's a cool & pleasant springtime in the Mojave High Desert. The hummingbirds are lingering on the branches of creosote and catclaw, looking around for the flowers. Where are the flowers? Well, that’s always the guessing game up here, isn’t it? Sometimes they’re evident by the end of March, sometimes it’s the beginning of May. Varies by terrain, by altitude, by a hundred little differences from spring to spring, in this forward motion of our lives. ALSO: Traveling Doc Holliday's West.  Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Happy Ides of March, happy St. Patrick’s Day, and happy five-year anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdown — the beginning of it anyway: 15 days to slow the spread . . . not a great slogan, for what it cost, but that’s what we got. Much of the world is much the same as it was five years ago. Same iPhone, same president, same daylight savings time. Where did the lockdown time go? What did it do to us? Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Thanks for supporting this advertising-free broadcast at Patreon.com/DesertOracle. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2024 http://DesertOracle.comSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Night has fallen on the desert, the desert spring is here, and that means the bugs are coming back, and that means we’ll be seeing a lot more of our beloved desert friend, the wonderful wonderful Cactus Wren. Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2025Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A winter storm cut loose from the mountains, the cold wind whipping around the creosote, rain dripping down through the swamp-cooler vent: 2025 came in like a Lion and it’s the Year of the Snake. We’ve got both out here, in the Mojave Wilderness. Mountain lions, or cougars. And snakes, too, although it’s still a bit early to see our reptile friends up here at 4,000 feet elevation. (Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver, written & hosted by Ken Layne.) Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2025  DesertOracle.comSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracleSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.