Posting images of packrat middens because I need to think about something besides the cruel policy coming down out there. Check out the defensive use of cactus on midden exteriors and their way of using foodstuffs like rabbit brush for insulation. They’re waiting for snow to but we have very little.

Watching the deer climb the hill nibbling for forage as the temps dip toward the negatives and I feel this overwhelming tearful empathy. Times are hard. Winter has grown hard here in the desert. Please make spring more hopeful than this.

A really beautiful example of what flora dominates the ridges in much of this high desert. I’m still learning species. Lichens fascinate me. Small fescue, tiny gilia, buckwheat & low forbs all evolved prickly stems & leaves. Gently getting gown on my knees, I love staring into these little worlds.

Happy Christmas Eve. Every year I inflict this upon you, one of my least popular comics ever. Enjoy!

The trees of an aspen grove are connected clones of one grand organism. In the desert they shunt water distances from gully bottoms, shading soil and surviving on ground water where it rains almost not at all.

Some of Idaho’s high desert is so dry that generally snow evaporates rather than melting. Less than 7” of rain a year here. That’s Sahara level.