Rants from the Hill On Packrats Bobcats Wildfires Curmudgeons a Drunken Mary Kay Lady & Other Encounters with the Wild in the High

Tales of life in the high desert from the author ofRaising Wild.

As a curmudgeonly, irreverent desert rat, Mike Branch shares his stubborn enthusiasm for the constant struggle to tough out living in an unforgiving landscape. In this collection of short, comic rants he explores various aspects of life in the remote, high-elevation, western Nevada Great Basin Desert. Ranging in topic from natural history (bees hiving in the walls of the house, flying ants filling the chimney, owls trying to eat the cat), parenting (raising two daughters in a wild, inaccessible place), eccentric neighbors (road captain, mail carrier, drunken Mary Kay Lady), and adventures in the surrounding canyons, playas, and mountains, Rants from the Hilloffers a humorous and fun glimpse into what domestic life looks like out in the wild."

"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.