Clifford Beshers

  • Everything is flat for miles in all directions. What is that cone warning me about? It seems like a dare. I wanted to drive on that spot just to see what would happen.

    A skinny traffic cone marks a bit of rough white sand between two gravel roads through the desert.

  • Crystal Reservoir, Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, where deep Mojave water flows emerge in the middle of the desert to make a few precarious habitats.

    Parched and cracked desert mud forms a beach at the edge of a green reservoir in the desert.

  • I brought my own absurdity to the desert. Before I drive through Death Valley, I stock up on food and water. A supermarket in Las Vegas has decent sushi, which I put on ice in a cooler. I was in Ash Meadows, looking at freshwater fish in desert pools, when it struck me how ridiculous this was.

    The photo shows an open box of supermarket sushi on a bench in a desert environment.

  • The desert seems to collect absurdities. Infrastructure is often crumbling, or improvised, signs that big dreams have failed in the harsh conditions and more modest ones have taken their place.

  • I drove through Death Valley National Park yesterday, and I had the pleasure of witnessing this dust devil.

    Correction: I did drive through Death Valley, but this was near Ash Meadows.

  • This is Mortimer, named when the vet’s assistant said male, not renamed when another said female.

    Mortimer is a small, shy cat who only comes out to play when everything is quiet.

    A rubber band and an office chair provided a fifteen minutes of amusement.

  • The sign reads:

    Theo’s MUSEUM OF INTERESTING THINGS

    Have a beautiful day! Est. 2020

  • These magenta flowers grow on long stems, forming a layer of color hovering above pale sage-green leaves.

  • I can’t believe the New York Times doesn’t recognize “deligod”.

  • Yesterday I saw a snail dreaming of writing a novel.

  • Nevada wears its geology on its sleeve.

  • Name a bookyou love that nobody else seems to know about or appreciate.

    Mine is “Doorways in the Sand”, by Roger Zelazny. I am reading it for the many-eth time, and still enjoy it.

  • My brother and sister-in-law are serial Golden Retriever owners, first Budger, then Bingley, now Booker.

    I have to think every time I need the current name, so I’ve decided on a coping strategy. I’m just going to use MRGR, pronounced like “merger”, which stands for Most Recent Golden Retriever.

  • On this Memorial Day I honor this fallen horse and the friend he left behind. I stop for photos at their paddock, and they always come over to check for carrots. Alas, I stopped by last week just as the rancher was arriving with a front-loader, the horse equivalent of a hearse. RIP

  • Pedestrians have the right of way at crosswalks.

  • His Majesty, in royal slumber.

  • “What do you ask of your King, subject?”

  • A bird’s-eye view proves the world is made of cotton fluff.

  • Late afternoon light and shape.

  • The light and space attracted a mother to give her baby girl room to roam.

  • Just light.

  • This should totally be a word.

  • Smoke signals. I think it says, “Stand up and go outside.”

  • As the snow melts, the mountains become blander and the pastures bright with greenery and flowers. The party is always where the water is.

  • I need to set up a family chat room. I need a technology that will support users from multiple generations, all devices, and won’t start any fights.

    What is your answer to this impossible question?

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