Everything on the agenda at tonight's Desert Hot Springs city council meeting was approved unanimously. How do they do it? Other political bodies in southern California must be jealous. Even worse than unanimity, the two most interesting items on the agenda were delayed. The Chamber of Commerce quarterly report was delayed because the CEO was not present. Recently the C of C has generated some news by removing the CEO and then reinstating her. Me, I just wanted to hear her mangle her numbers again. The other item was the plastic bag item. As anti-libertarian was it would be, it would have ...

Word comes to me that this landmark/eyesore midcentury modern gas station on Palm Drive will be torn down within about two weeks. Those who object are welcome to rush in with the thousands required to restore it to other-than-eyesore quality. ...

The Hinds Pumping Plant is the pump on the Colorado River Aqueduct that you can easily see from I-10 east of Coachella Valley. Most people call it Hayfield, since that's the name on the exit. But in 1967 it was renamed for Julian Hinds. This is the last pump on the aqueduct and raises the water up above 1,700 feet so it can cruise the rest of the way into the L.A. area. All my photos of the Hinds plant can be found here or if you want to see these plus all my photos from the ...

As I was moving to Coachella Valley I was driving my rented truck on I-10 approaching from the east when I was startled by the sight of what I now know is the Hayfield pumping plant and could only wonder what it was all about - it was my first time on I-10 east of the valley. A few months later when my friend Carlton was visiting we tried to just boldly drive right up to it, only to be thwarted by security. I can recall going on my second 4WD trip with Great Outdoors when Ed and Gardner stopped ...

Earlier I had mentioned to news reports of this guy who had crashed and then returned to walk along the highway naked with his guts hanging out, and now I'm linking to what would have been a dull, routine report of the charges against him because one of the charges is "risking a catastrophe." I am not familiar with the enlightened laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but that one sounds like it's either a leftover from the 18th century, or a new concoction dreamt up by someone at Homeland Security. I wonder if it's ever been used ...

This story rises above the usual one of someone-looks-in-a-place-that-appeals-to-young-adults-who-claim-to-be-sophisticated and finds things-that-don't-appeal-to-middle-aged-moms only because of the middle-aged mom's name: Marci Milfs. Sorry, no photo of the offended Milfs is provided. Mrs. Milfs went in to the Urban Outfitters in Lynwood, Washington, and dug into some books to find Porn For Women and Pornogami: A Guide to the Ancient Art of Paper-Folding for Adults. I couldn't find the books on Urban Outfitters' own site, so those are Amazon links. You can browse some of the contents of the books at Amazon and see that the ...

It only lists ten, so I have to guess that positions 11 and 12 would have been occupied by Budweiser (or Bud Light) and Clamato and Heineken...or, that is, Heineken as sold in America. I've not had the good fortune to drink Heineken in its home country yet. ...

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IMG_1441Photo by PSHiker.That's me, Scott, Ed and Peter at the top of the Hinds pumping station (most people called it "Hayfield") of the Colorado River Aqueduct. We are looking down at the point where the water pumped up is dumped into the portion of the aqueduct that flows through the Little San Bernardinos as they run along the edge of Coachella Valley.My photos are coming. ...

I haven't seen it mentioned yet in either the Desert Sun or Desert Local News that the new sidewalk on Palm Drive between Camino Aventura and Camino Campesino in response to the hit and run death of Carissa Nwene has been complete for about two weeks. Maybe they talked about this at the city council meeting that I missed. So I stopped there this morning to get a few photos. The complete set of photos is here, and these are some samples: How many drivers actually observe this speed limit as they come ...

A group that calls itself "TING" comes to visit Palm Springs twice a year and asked me to lead them on a hike in the Mecca Hills today. I was surprised to see how many Mecca Asters are still blooming. ...

Scott found a couple of baby kangaroo rats lying on Graham Road near Chuckwalla Road with no mother in sight. He moved them off the road, but their chances of survival seemed slim. Why would these blind babies even be outside the nest? In the following video you can see and hear the baby's heartbeat: Kangaroo Rat Pup(0538) ...

Yesterday I rode along on a Great Outdoors 4WD outing on part of the Bradshaw Trail. Other than little bits of dirt roads near Dos Palmas, this is the first time I've gotten to see the Bradshaw Trail which is drivable by any vehicle with good ground clearance. We started along the Coachella Canal near Dos Palmas and headed east, paralleling and crossing the Eagle Mountain railroad. A lot of the Bradshaw Trail runs along the border of the Navy bombing practice range which is lined with warning signs. A few dummy bombs were near the road in order, I ...

Dirty Jobs, the Discovery Channel show hosted by the stinky yet lovable Mike Rowe, will feature on May 5 a program on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Dirty Jobs website here. Over here you can see Bossco's photo of Mike Rowe at the upper tram station when they shot the program back in January. ...

Dana Hobart has been appointed as the new trustee from Rancho Mirage to the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. Mr. Hobart is currently a city councilmember in Rancho Mirage. He replaces John Fuschetti who announced his resignation a few days ago. "Fuschetti, 83, said Thursday that it was hard to drive from Rancho Mirage to the vector control district's Indio office because of his age and that back problems made it difficult for him to stand and walk." ...

Complete, updated, official information here. ...

18-year old Aurora Maldonado is organizing a march in Palm Springs to protest the prohibition of marijuana. She says she "grew up in Desert Hot Springs 'where marijuana was just a part of the natural order of things,'" She said she was inspired to organize this march on Saturday when she saw an ad for the Million Person Marijuana March in High Times magazine. However when I Google for "Million Person Marijuana March" I get only four hits: two from this Desert Sun article, one from a blog who says 10,000 marchers were on the steps ...

The regular reader will recall that my longtime hiking companion, the Canon 450SD, ended his reliable career with an instantaneous bout of lens lockup. I replaced it with a Canon SD870 SI in March. You may imagine my consternation, then, when on the hike on April 22 I looked down at the camera in my hand and saw that its lens was extended despite the fact that the camera was turned off. Pressing the power button only produced some little motor noise and then a series of beeps. Lens lockup in less than 5 weeks! I still had ...

Escrow closed April 25 on the Lautner Motel (AKA, the "Desert Hot Springs Motel"), designed by John Lautner. Final selling price was $425,000. The new owners, Tracy Beckmann and Ryan Trowbridge promise a swimming pool in the future. My set of photos of the Lautner Motel can be seen here. ...

The next Desert Hot Springs Historical Society soup supper will be held at Cabot's Pueblo Museum, 67616 East Desert View in Desert Hot Springs, California. A very entertaining presentation has been promised. ...