Dick's Speeches

Sixty years ago I seriously damaged my hearing. Since then, it doesn’t improve. It goes downhill with age. This year, after giving up on less expensive solutions that didn’t work, I gulped hard and laid down six thousand dollars for top of the line hearing aids. They work! They really work! But hearing doesn’t come back in zero time. The brain needs to be retrained. One of the first things I noticed were ordinary sounds that I found annoying. For example, the sound of water splashing in a sink. I also learned that many of my electronic gadgets make beeping noises that I didn’t know about. But it took several months before I noticed the pleasant sound of songbirds riding my bicycle in the country. Reflecting on that, I realized that I assumed that songbirds went extinct decades ago, probably because of climate change. Of course, my wife was delighted because my improved hearing made her life much easier. She has a diminutive voice. Speaking louder was uncomfortable for her. It

Two days ago, Libby and I went camping behind the barrier dunes on the beach at St. Augustine. Naturally, we went for long walks on the beach. Like most people, we love being barefoot on the wet white sand. Late April is a very good time for that.   The hours of daylight are long.   The water temperature is 70 degrees.   Afternoons bring a fresh and cool onshore breeze. Perfect. After The beach walk, I retired to my hammock to read my book. The hammock was slung between two Shady live oak trees. I looked up from my book. There on the tree truck in front of me were two geckos. They seemed to be competing to be the gecko highest up on the tree trunk. Aha, I thought! I know that game. It is called ¿Quién es más macho?. That is Spanish meaning who is most manly. But the game is hardly limited to Hispanic men. It is a game played by all high-level creatures. Mammals do it. Birds do it. Bees do it. Even Toastmasters play Macho.   Both males and females play the game. It personifies the e