Good point. Perhaps I was running the root file rsync command as a regular user? I guess it doesn’t matter… it works now. The fact that switching out the public key solved this kind of indicates that that was the issue. The route I took to a working solution is less important than actually arriving at a solution. The important thing is that I learned a few things in the process of doing this, namely, the computer does exactly what you tell it to do and not what you think you told it to do, and, for me anyway, the problem is between keyboard and chair (PIBKAC), and lastly, it’s not enough just identifying an error (easy), you’ve got to identify why the error exists (not so easy). To be fair, you told me that in one of your posts.
So, thank you for helping me with this.