Dread Browsing

Rick Thues September 9, 2025 Uncategorized 3 Comments

Episode #867 September 13, 2025 Every day I read the news. And the news is never new.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifW0PiSUgPU&list=RDifW0PiSUgPU&start_radio=1   There are disasters, distractions, declarations, and declinations. Someone massacres children, shoppers, or partiers. There is political violence or suicide. A fire, flood, hurricane, earthquake, or tsunami threatens and kills people. The stock market is falling again. A political scandal rises from long-locked and redacted documents. Secrets are revealed by political rivals. Revenge is exacted. Apologies never seem to come. A movie is tanked by the critics, even though it sets new summer blockbuster records. Someone drops out of an...

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Hope Prayer Intent

Rick Thues August 31, 2025 Uncategorized 3 Comments

Episode #866 September 6, 2025 I wondered about the difference and progression of hope, prayer and intent, so I wrote this poem.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkhyXpZ22gM&list=RDEkhyXpZ22gM&start_radio=1 Hope, prayer, intent Hope arrives uninvited, soft and absurd— laughter in the wrong room, the scent of rain in a locked house. It makes no case, needs no evidence. It is breath before the plan, murmur behind silence, the flicker of something beyond reason’s edge. Not certainty—never certainty— but the feeling that perhaps, just perhaps, this time might be different. We hold it gently,  as if it could break. We feed it small phrases: maybe,...

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EC

Rick Thues August 30, 2025 Uncategorized 1 Comment

Episode #865 August 30, 2025 In the mountain chaparral, the air is dry, and we live above the clouds.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvtYEdYjkJM&list=RDUvtYEdYjkJM&start_radio=1   Air conditioning is costly to run. We have an excellent electric rate from our power co-op and a small house, but the house is a drafty cabin built in 1988. Air conditioning is not very efficient. Because we live above the clouds, the air is not very humid. An evaporative cooler (EC), AKA a swamp cooler, is an excellent solution. We bought a 4000 CFM window-mounted EC, which I installed in an upstairs window. The natural draftiness of...

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iMentor Tech Day

Rick Thues August 24, 2025 Uncategorized 3 Comments

Episode #864 August 23, 2025   It has never been possible for the iMentor to fully retire.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C58ttB2-Qg&list=RD0C58ttB2-Qg&start_radio=1   I was an Apple consultant for 25 years. Throughout that time, some of my clients became my friends. I have always helped my friends with technical issues. Most are minor fixes, and others require consultation. Sometimes I need to provide eyes-on help to resolve problems. One friend recently received a failing hard drive error from Windows OS. I talked her through what to tell her technician. She needed her old drive cloned onto a new drive, then an external drive...

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Cutworms

Rick Thues August 14, 2025 Uncategorized No Comments

Episode #863 August 16, 2025 Paula grows tomatoes in her greenhouse.       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16vAeyi3hqc There have been various diseases and pests over the years, ranging from blight to tomato hornworms. Copper fungicides have been effective for blight and leaf spot. Some bacterial and viral diseases require the removal of the plants. Pests require more aggressive measures. Hornworms can be hand-picked off the plants. Neem oil disrupts worm feeding and larval growth. It repels many pests. Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) is a natural bacterium effective on caterpillars. Slugs and snails can be caught and drowned in beer traps. Spider Mites are...

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High Country Bloom

Rick Thues August 4, 2025 Uncategorized 2 Comments

Episode #862 August 9, 2025 At 3600 feet the high chaparral hills of Aguanga are always green.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37SSreTW1Ss   The evergreen brush consists primarily of Manzanita, Red Shank, and Chamise. These plants paint the hills with deep forest green. The only times that these hills are not green is when they are white. Several days in the winter, the hillside is dusted in snow. Snow stays for a day or two, converting the area to a winter wonderland. From January through July, the chaparral is white with blooms. Manzanita blooms from January to March with urn-shaped pink and...

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