Rants from the Hill: On Packrats, Bobcats, Wildfires, Curmudgeons, a Drunken Mary Kay Lady, and Other Encounters with th

"If Thoreau drank more whiskey and lived in the desert, he'd write like this."-High Country News Welcome to the land of wildfire, hypothermia, desiccation, and rattlers. The stark and inhospitable high-elevation landscape of Nevada's Great Basin Desert may not be an obvious (or easy) place to settle down, but for self-professed desert rat Michael Branch, it's home. Of course, living in such an unforgiving landscape gives one many things to rant about. Fortunately for us, Branch-humorist, environmentalist, and author of Raising Wild-is a prodigious ranter. From bees hiving in the walls of his house to owls trying to eat his daughters' cat-not to mention his eccentric neighbors-adventure, humor, and irreverence abound on Branch's small slice of the world, which he lovingly calls Ranting Hill.