The Republican National Convention in Tampa more than made up for its late start due to Hurricane Isaac. I was blown away by Tuesday night’s speeches of Ann Romney and Chris Christie. Ann not only touched the nerve endings of my heart, she also made a wonderful case for the humanity of her husband. Christie, I thought, succeeded in holding back a little of his notorious anger. At the same time, he delivered a powerful blast of common sense, which made me sit back and say, “Wow!”
With my wife’s and my decision to take down our patio’s beamed roof in about a month, I have begun moving my three 20-foot-long solar panels from the patio roof to the south-facing roof of the house. This morning, donning my newly created safety rope tied from my belt to the chimney, I moved the first panel into place. Not to worry, I will have someone help me with this project.
One of the coordinators of TreePeople, where I spend my Wednesday mornings charting their trees and shrubs, this morning printed out a copy of the surveyor’s map of the main park for me. On the way home, I stopped at Kinko’s and had the map enlarged. Then I cut up the enlargement, and had each part enlarged again. Now I will more easily be able to plot with precision the location of the trees and shrubs.
On Monday, my almost 95-year-old mother and I went to the Apple store where she bought herself a new large-screen Mac computer. I spent Monday setting it up and teaching her some of the Mac tricks I learned. Mom, who has macular degeneration in one eye and floaters in the other, was amazed at how well she can now read the enlarged print (spell that COMMAND and + keys).
Being the “saver” that I am, I was able to email Naomi 14 letters that she wrote to me over 20 years ago. Naomi is a 3rd cousin I located many years ago, but with whom I had lost contact until recently. Next, I will email Naomi a copy of her family’s 1940 census. Naomi is on that census, so she will know that I know her age. With Ancestry.com around, there’s no hiding ages any more.
Last but certainly not least, my wife and I celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary on Sunday. We, just the two of us, went out for a special lunch treat. That lunch brought back memories of our recent cruise, and very special feelings.
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com.