Transmitting from the Mahavie Wilderness in Joshua Tree, California, now is the time for Desert Oracle Radio, the voice of the desert.

Night has fallen on the desert.

Where does Night has fallen on the desert. Where, despite several days of concern from the national media,

the desert remains the desert.

Whether the flooding caused by Hurricane Hillary was especially severe will depend, of course,

upon your specific location and your specific knowledge.

People who've long lived in the desert know

that when a lot of rain comes down in a hurry,

roads wash out and you learn about the latest failures on your roof.

It's the nature of the desert. It's the nature of the desert.

Is why there are enormous fan-shaped washes

easily visible from every canyon opening from here to West Texas.

It's why Caltrans snowplow trucks are deployed to the east side in the summertime.

To clear the mud and other debris.

Beer cans, pinion trees, pickup trucks, entire cows, unearthed human skeletons, etc.

And all that comes racing down in great churning torrents of watery mud every time a thunderhead breaks over the hot ground beneath.

When you call a water witch to your land to place a well, long before the witch reaches for his or her

dousing rod, they go to the visible washes.

Because the water is generally underneath the washes.

That's where it seeps down and collects after those cloud burst.

The water can be a lot of places underground,

but the washes are always a good place to start.

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