Sarah who???

The pick of Senator John McCain to be his running mate. Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.

Click on the bottom picture to read the caption.

Transformation

I've said it before: Barack Obama's speech to the Democratic National Convention tonight was a transformational moment. He made his first big impression on the national conscience four years ago when he gave a speech at the convention of that year.

People began to notice him.

Tonight, I can't imagine anyone, even my lifelong Republican father, who couldn't have been moved by this speech. Granted, he is a natural orator. But tonight he overcame all the rhetoric and got down to the points of his "change."

I was a supporter of Hillary Clinton to the end of the primaries. But tonight, I totally came over to the Obama side. For the first time, I saw not only the high-minded speechifying but the true measure of the man.

I will be proud to do what I can to elect Barack Obama the next president and I think he may go down in history as one of our best.

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Other convention highlights:

The speeches of Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton. I thought Joe Biden's speech was good but not great. Although I didn't see all of it, I gather the speech by the governor of Montana was quite a barnburner too.

I was quite happy not to see any sign of John Edwards.

Contrary to the view of Colonel Colonel, I think the Clintons were spectacular at this convention and both of their speeches were great.

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AND, I thought Michael McDonald's verson of "America" was nearly as good as the late great Ray Charles'.

Carpentry

The BRD is moving out in less than a month. She bought a house in the next town over . . about 11 miles from here. Since the other half of the duplex will be rented out to strangers, she decided to put a wall between the two halves of the back patio. Up until now it's just been one big open space, which none of us really used because of the shared front patio.

So she hired a carpenter. The guy she had used once before, who did exemplary work, never answered her phone calls this time so she found a different guy.

SWMBO asked if she could have him build a ramp down from our back door to the ground, a distance of about three feet. SWMBO's ailing knees can't handle steps very well any more but since we would now be using the back yard for our outdoor time, she needed a comfortable way to get down there.

Well, after two or three weeks, here's what the guy has accomplished. (And he hasn't shown up since last Friday.)

SWMBO says it's typical of construction guys. They take on two many jobs all at once and then go from one site to another, doing work for the person who yells the loudest.

And let's face it. As the guy pointed out the last time he was here, we can get down to the back yard now though I don't think SWMBO will attempt it until the job is more done and the promised railing is in place.

Meantime, the wall between the two yards? Hasn't been started yet.

I think I need Mike.

Miss me?

I don't know. I just don't seem to have much to talk about. Or write about. I may be getting bored with blogging. I have a friend in Denver who works for a t.v. station. While he was in Beijing, for over a month I think, his station asked him to write a blog. When I complimented him on it, he responded "Have I told you? I HATE BLOGGING!" Yet he was very good at it. I don't HATE BLOGGING. But I do get bored with it from time to time. I guess all bloggers do. Or most of them. Some of my fellow bloggers seem to spin a good story every day. And Tombo is amazing, putting several posts out nearly every day. Of course, he is fascinated with photography, too, and frequently posts great pictures or commentary about photography. As for my photos, they all too frequently have been of one or more of the cats, or the flowers or the sky. Too narrow a focus? Could be. Reminds me of an old song: Don't Get Around Much Anymore.

So . . . what do you all think of the Democratic Convention so far? It was good to see Ted Kennedy last night although he seemed to have trouble reading the teleprompter. But he can still stir up the crowd. His niece, Carolyn, comes from good stock but she definitely is not a spellbinding speaker. The biggest surprise of the night for me was how good a speaker Michelle Obama is. Her talk even kept me away from the Diamondbacks game for an inning or two.

It will be interesting to see how this 70 day election cycle plays out. I hear both Bush and Cheney are going to speak at the Republican convention. What can they say? How will the conventioneers treat them? That should be interesting.

Equally interesting: How this 70 day election cycle will play out.

A New Look

Well, I have that dratted Tombo to thank for this. If you look over on the right, you'll see a new look. It's called a "manga" for whatever reason and allows you to create a cartoonish version of yourself. I don't have that much hair (most of the time) and it may have a little gray in it these days. But what the heck, it gave me something to waste my time on for an hour or so.

Elvis has left the building

Elvis Presley died on this day in 1977. He was 42. Had he lived, he'd be 73 now.

But he left early. His way.

Potpourri

It was nice to see Michael Phelps erupt with joy when his teammate in the 400 meter relay knocked off a Frenchman to win the gold at the Olympics. For Phelps, though it was another gold medal, it wasn't an individual honor.

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John Edwards. What can one say? The story is not going to end and as revelations follow revelations, he seems to look more and more sleazey. On NBC tonight, there was a report that said a friend of the girlfriend said the affair began much earlier and lasted much longer than Edwards has claimed.

And the money. It costs a ton of money to relocate both Rielle Hunter and the former Edwards aide from North Carolina to million dollar homes in California. The man who claims to have paid the bill says Edwards knew nothing about it. But, can we believe him?

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Back to the Olympics, or at least to Beijing. A friend of mine is there helping to cover the events. He has sent pictures and many videos back for personal use. I can't run the videos but I have seen pictures of Brian Williams, Lester Holt, Dave Barry, and an array of formidable appearing "food" in what is known as the "snack area". The Chinese have put on a great show so far but that food - - - sorry, can't take it. And my friend, who has a much weaker stomach than I, certainly can't. I can't imagine what he's eating.

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As regular readers of this blog know, we have roses. Lots and lots of roses. We also have an archway over our front patio. We've been trying to train the roses on both sides to climb up, over and join. I've been encouraging them recently with a little bending of stalks and tucking them into the lattice work. Hopefully, they will soon join and grow together.

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A friend of mine in Idaho sent me this by e-mail today:

An elderly couple was celebrating their sixtieth anniversary. The couple had married as childhood sweethearts and had moved back to their old neighborhood after they retired. Holding hands they walked back to their old school. It was not locked, so they entered, and found the old desk they'd shared, where Andy had carved "I love you, Sally."

On their way back home, a bag of money fell out of an armored car, practically landing at their feet. Sally quickly picked it up, but not sure what to do with it, they took it home. There, she counted the money--fifty-thousand dollars.

Andy said, "We've got to give it back."

Sally said, "Finders keepers."

She put the money back in the bag and hid it in their attic.

The next day, two FBI men were canvassing the neighborhood looking for the money, and knocked on the door.

"Pardon me, but did either of you find a bag that fell out of an armored car yesterday?"

Sally said, "No."

Andy said, "She's lying. She hid it up in the attic."

Sally said, "Don't believe him, he's getting senile."

The agents turned to Andy and began to question him. One says: "Tell us the story from the beginning."

Andy said, "Well, when Sally and I were walking home from school yesterday. . . "

The first FBI guy turns to his partner and says, "We're outta here."