Ray Maxwell is a fascinating man. He has done so many wonderful things, we'd need a month to even summarize them! In this episode we touch on a few -- hot air ballooning, finding minerals by looking at vegetation from space, how wind moves over mountain peaks and what those aerial waves and ridges can be used for, changes in vision after cataract surgery, setting up a studio, teaching people to fly (motor planes, gliders, remote control planes, and drones), Vancouver BC Canada, lots of tech, and philosophy. Although Lois and Ray met thru Office Hours, Ray has many other years of broadcast experience -- radio, tv, podcasting, web streaming, and Youtube. You can see his face online at:
Maxwell's House -- "Stop by the house of polymath Ray Maxwell and see what he's investigating today. Ray is a teacher, color scientist, pilot, photographer, Photoshop wizard and raconteur who each week takes on different real-world applications of complex scientific notions."
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Rupert McRae !!!!! 'Nuf said.
Well, actually, that's not enough. Rupert is one of the great panelists on "Office Hours", which is where Lois met him. He has had a long, productive career in other people's companies and is now his own boss.
It's too complicated to try and describe everything in this summary. Better you should just listen to this show.
(Note: You can also SEE Rupert McRae on various episode of Office Hours on their website.)
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Author and journalist Anne Da Vigo joins Lois to talk about her books and her process.
Anne's journalism career (specializing in feature writing and crime reporting), spanned more than a dozen years at newspapers throughout California. Her latest -- Bakersfield Boys Club -- was loosely inspired by the Lords of Bakersfield murders of the 1970s and 1980s. Da Vigo covered the trial in the first of the Lords murder cases.
She is the author of a previous thriller -- Thread of Gold -- and numerous short stories. She is also part of the Blue Moon writers' group that meets weekly in Davis; and, as always, continues to write.
The finale of today's show is two Merle Haggard songs about Bakersfield.
(This aired two weeks in a row -- 2 Dec and 9 Dec 2021.)
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Author Barbara Meyer Link talks about her new book -- Chokecherry Girl -- and about writing.
Music by Jose Cabezas closes the show.
PS: This episode also aired on 10-28-2021.
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That's Life. That's Water and Soil!
Understanding our water -- where it comes from , where it goes, how it's used, and by whom -- is a vital to knowing what to expect in the future. Understanding how our soils were formed and how the various soil types interact with that water is the basis for many of our gardening and farming decisions.
Davis is in the Sacramento River watershed. It was either marsh or grasslands before Europeans arrived. Because we had annual flooding, our rivers and creeks developed natural levees which overtopped each year and deposited gravel, sand, silt, and clay on the surrounding land -- the lighter particles travelling further than the heavier material. So your yard might be sandy-loam, silty-loam, or clay-loam -- depending on where in the county you live.
Soils and water and other things are part of this episode, talking here to guest Don Shor (of Davis Garden Show fame!) about so many things we don't have time for there.
-- Lois Richter, KDRT.ThatsLife@gmail.com
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Author, retired professor, writing group leader, Davisite -- these are just some of the ways to describe today's guest, Scott Evans.
Whether you're a mystery enthusiast; or interested in litereary giants such as Hemingway, Shakespeare, or Plath; or want to become an author; or just like reading ... there's something for each of you in this show.
We start talking about the journal Scott edits -- "Blue Moon: Literary & art review";
then shift to his on-going weekly writers' group;
and move on to Scott's new novel "The Caribbean Prisoner";
then back to the beginning with his 'literary' murder mysteries -- "Tragic Flaws", "First Folio", and "Sylvia’s Secrets";
forward again to his intro of some of the writer (now authors!) in the Thursday group;
and finally settle back for a little history of Scott himself.
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Feeling sentimental again.
Looked thru my large collections of Golden Oldies and decided to air a show of some of the songs that were popular when I was in high school and early college.
So here you have "Selected Songs from 1964 to 1972".
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In August 2021, Lois stayed in San Diego (California) for 2 weeks. Lots of great things there to enjoy, including walking in Balboa Park! There were many beautiful flowers -- both in the Botanical House (see photo) and in people's front yards. After getting back home, Lois asked Don Shor (a plant expert and former resident of San Diego) what each plant was and if she could grow those San Diego flowers here in Davis. The answer -- as usual -- was "It depends." In this case, "It depends upon which species it is and whether or not that one can withstand cold."
We also talked about why there are so many dead tree stumps on the San Diego hillsides and why there were dead orchards and vineyards along the freeway in the southern San Joaquin Valley.
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David Hosley had led a very full life. Lois could have interviewed him about many many different things and filled up a show -- his long media career (starting at age 12!), being a renowned investigative reporter, teaching at various colleges and universities, UC administration, managing LOTS of radio and tv stations, producing six documentaries, training journalists in ethics, heading non-profits, talking about the history of migration into California and the challenges of life in the San Joaquin valley, and sharing thoughts on community, economy, social assumptions, and why people work after retirement. As I say, we COULD have filled up an hour on any of those. Instead, because we met working together on a project of the Davis Genealogy Club, we started with family history and went from there. |
