Transmitting from the Mojave Wilderness in Joshua Tree, California,

now is the time for Desert Oracle Radio, the voice on the desert

And on this night in the merry month of May

We are having a little birthday party here in the radio studio.

Just me and the low-energy ghost.

And that old owl hooting from the upper branches of the big Joshua tree outside.

Because his radio show is now four years old.

Pretty much grown out of the cute stage.

Or maybe that's age 10.

It really varies with the individual and whether they were ever cute to start with.

Because some creatures go in reverse.

Our beloved kangaroo rats start off as miserable little squirming, sightless gummy worms, just the most

awful things.

And then through the magic of the absurdly long digital code sequence that builds the mature

animal out of thin air and rat milk, we get the delightful kangaroo rat

and all of its rodent cousins. A few days back I was walking down this dry wash full of desert willows, and I nearly stepped on a squirming little

kangaroo rat, just blindly going nowhere in the warm morning sunshine.

It had that beautiful tawny fur on the head in the back, so I thought maybe it's a kangaroo rat,

but when I scooped it up with my hat to relocate the buddy about three feet over into the shade

of a dent stand of Mormon tea.

The legs seemed a little short to my eyes.

So maybe it was the kangaroo mouse, the mouse version of the kangaroo rat.

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