<p>What a great kid, Shawbridge. That made me feel good.</p>
<p>Hope everyone has a great day today…though all this talk of weddings still makes me nervous.</p>
<p>I am still not fully unpacked from graduation, and that is #1 priority today. Onward…</p>
<p>So lovely Shaw. He sounds like a gem and applause to you and your wife.</p>
<p>Thanks for the wedding gift suggestions. H said the groom just had a huge garage sale; sold his home and is moving in to bride’s home. I was pretty sure the answer would not be “stuff”!</p>
<p>Very nice, shawbridge. </p>
<p>Thinking of those parents who are attending graduations today - hope your day is wonderful!</p>
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<p>That is priceless, shaw! I am tearing up just reading it.</p>
<p>Congrats to all of this weekend’s grads!</p>
<p>The wedding was very sweet. It was in a small church in a tiny town south of here. The bride looked beautiful in a gorgeous and age-appropriate dress. Had a few glitches, although I’m not sure that’s the right word. For example, a baby that started crying at just the wrong moments, and a pianist who hit more than her share of the wrong notes. But the bride and groom didn’t seem to notice and were obviously very much in love.</p>
<p>Gift dilemma was resolved when I learned they had requested no gifts (H had misplaced the invitation). </p>
<p>I tried out wearing for the first time a skirt I plan to bring to D’s graduation. Skirt was fine but need to figure out how to make the shoes more comfortable. I’m not used to wearing heels! My toes were sliding downhill and were squished. The shoes are not high, maybe 2". Ouch!</p>
<p>cq–they have stickies/pads to put under the ball of your foot so you do not slide forward. Target has a great supply of such items as most any dept. store will. I have now ordered 24 pairs of shoes from Zappos and am keeping two. I have been buying things from Amazon that I could get at a store but with no shipping I might as well save the gas. You might try both of these places.</p>
<p>oregon101, I have some of those, and they were placed in the shoes, but I was wearing hose (yes, I know it’s dated), so I don’t know if that was the issue? Or if I had them in the wrong position inside the shoes? Or I need different ones?</p>
<p>The thread title seems to have been changed – now we’re the High School Class of 2009. So much for college.</p>
<p>Ha! --noticed this also --why? Did too many of our S’s go on their own journey? So we are no longer allowed the college of 2013?
Also–am so noticing how little I time I now take to read any other new post–just go straight here and I use to look for us and so notice others and sometimes try to be helpful.</p>
<p>^the moderators seem to have gotten a bit OCD on the housekeeping front. There’s an extensive thread about it, wherein I am my cranky self and observed that re-titling the threads was a bit heavy-handed IMHO based on traditional bulletin board etiquette. They claim its necessary to organize it and make the content inform and more easily accessible to users, but I’d argue that the unintended consequence is that they will ultimately have less participation for the very reason Oregon observed.</p>
<p>Shaw, what a lovely testament to your parenting. Golden!</p>
<p>In contrast to cq’s lovely wedding, in these parts, yesterday was mosquito zombie apocalypse hell at the mc-compound.</p>
<p>On Thurday, I had fogged the entire yard and field within an inch of its life after the spring flooding in the river tripled the mosquito population. Thus began the war.</p>
<p>I got a late start on the house painting portion in the am Saturday, but had lined up my defense…a row of citronella table top torches, a burning smudge pile of sage, and charcoal burning frankenscense. I applied “real” bugs pray and got to work.</p>
<p>Well let me tell you, I’m not great at free hand to begin with, but being attacked by mosquitoes does nothing for te speed or quality of my work, and the 80 degree intense sun was not helping. I was relieved when the sweatlodge girls turned up…until of course I realized the zombie Mosquitos would be even worse up the hill.</p>
<p>It was truly unlike anything we’d ever seen anywhere on earth, even the huge fire did not deter these suckers. And we further enclosed the fire circle with citronella torches and blasted the lodge with sage smoke. By seven pm we’d finished the sweat and exhausted from fighting, fanning, slapping and the unrelenting Mosquitos we abandoned camp and ran directly down the hill and jumped into the pool…where they were still biting our faces, but couldn’t get the rest of us underwater. </p>
<p>Thn we ran into the house and begged mch to go up and put out the fire and retrieve the hose (fresh meat.) </p>
<p>So. On Friday we hired a pro to treat, since there was already evidence my fogging efforts we exceptionally temporary, and. Cannot wait for him to come.</p>
<p>The funny thing is for my entire life until moving here, I was a total organic gardener who avoided pesticides at all because I did not want to destabilize the natural ecosystem. And after a mere 1.5 years in the country, I’m all “nuke-those-b<em>stards with anything ya got” – which only goes to show that I’m more pragmatic than environmentally astute when it’s my own a</em>* at stake (literally…was bitten in said butt five times, I kid you not.)</p>
<p>The thing about treating is that my understanding is that it also kills off predators of the eggs, which concerns me in true control. I am also looking at the acre-sized mosquito magnet, but research is kind of spotty on its efficacy - a kill rate of “hundreds” is frankly unimpressive considering that i personally killed thousands by my own hand after a 6 hr run time 
and I don’t know that “attracting” even more mosquitoes here with the co2 is a great idea, considering the river is large and forest boarders the back.</p>
<p>So I’d welcome any tips you guys have on serious, integrated mosquito control. I practically live in the back yard and my zapper rouse has already been uncovered by the current evolved and evil generation of zombie mosquitoes (I suspect its only getting gnats now…)</p>
<p>The human experiment continues…if you never hear from me again, run for your lives because the mosquito zombies have overwhelmed my defenses :)</p>
<p>Congratulations to all of this weekend’s graduates! Woohoo! Love seeing the happy faces on the FB page. It really makes me smile to see the happiness on the grads and all of your faces. </p>
<p>kmc…we have so many mosquitoes around here and at the lake! I usually fog before a party but for everyday I just leave out bug spray, use citronella candles and the coils that add the smoke and have pots of plants on the deck that emit scents that they don’t like. (lemon grass, lemon balm, mints, marigolds, scented geraniums, basil,rosemary and lavender) Many people swear by catnip but I haven’t used it …yet! I sometimes try to keep a fan blowing under the table to keep ankles free of bites! Hope you find something that works for you!</p>
<p>I guess if my D is graduating, we need to graduate too to a new thread. Seems a little unusual to put us back to hs, but I guess they are trying to define their audience.
Employment prospects look good from my D’s university. The business school dean announced at convocation that 87% of the graduates had jobs with an average salary of $51,000. Of course, that doesn’t reflect my D’s situation - but she is thrilled to be going off to an internship in the West and ready to work hard to make it into a full time job.</p>
<p>Oh my goodness, Shaw. That was soooo touching.</p>
<p>CQ - I really wish that I had sneakers yesterday for the long walk to/from the graduation site. I don’t care what I looked like, and I would have changed into my fancier ones once we had walked the mile. The balls of my feet are still hurting this morning. Odessagirl ended up walking barefooted after the ceremony.</p>
<p>KMC, you crack me up. </p>
<p>Today we need to unpack the SUV and car from all of Odessagirl’s belongings. Ugh…not looking forward to that chore. Who am I kidding, I don’t look forward to ANY chore, :-)</p>
<p>OK, itching just thinking about all those mosquito bites. I’d be a bleeding mess the way I scratch at them. </p>
<p>We’re by swift-moving water and so don’t tend to get many mosquitos – I just use the repellant wipes, though I hate the way my skin feels afterwards.</p>
<p>“Today we need to unpack the SUV and car from all of Odessagirl’s belongings.”</p>
<p>Whew! I am so not looking forward to this! We just rented a mini Uhaul trailer to bring WoodyD back home.</p>
<p>My best tip to combat mosquitos is the little brown bat. I have no idea of your climate and potential bat invitation success, but I absolutely know they work. One of the reasons I love being at the Nook all summer is no mosquitos and when you come from a place where the mosquito could be the state bird, it’s an important distinction. </p>
<p>When we redid our family house more than a decade ago I think, we saved bat guano so when the house was done our bats would come back. We had some trouble for a few years to get them to nest, but now they seem to feel at home. The trick is to build a house that gets the hottest sun and paint the thing black - so it’s even hotter. Well, that’s what you have to do hear probably because there’s so much shade, that it’s hard to get too much direct sun. </p>
<p>Some people are afraid of bats, and while I don’t like them swooping towards my head if they get misdirected into a house, but I just try to remember, they don’t want to be there anymore than you want them to be… unlike mice who seem quite content to move into any nook and cranny in a home with free food. </p>
<p>Shaw - I literally got all choked up. So many achievements to be proud of when it comes to your S. I know ours has worked hard… and while he isn’t dealing with any kind of learning issues, the truth is he’s always been just that much smarter than the rest of us when it comes to “book learnin’” as Tom Sawyer used to say (or should have if he didn’t). We have never really helped him with his work much beyond flash cards. He used to give me a stack of note cards in HS and ask me to quiz him. Let’s just say, I learned a lot of us US history myself his sophomore year. My point is, there is something internal that drives him completely separate (and above) from our expectations when it comes to academic work. Please note how I specify academics - as I know S’s “fun” side has landed him in his share of hot water. I guess his dean made note of that not too long ago in that he always took responsibility and never pushed the blame on anywhere but himself, “learning wisely from his mistakes.” Well, that’s good to know! 
H&I have still not settled on a gift for graduation although knowing he wants travel money… but I still think he needs something commemorative. Doubtful H gave it any thought this weekend because he spent it golfing. :)</p>
<p>I need a sou cleaner. I seem to make a real mess whenever I take on a project and while I do a great job, I always end up with more stuff to clean than I should. So like a sou chef, I think someone who follows behind you and cleans your paint brushes and other tools would be just the ticket I need.</p>
<p>And if i haven’t said it… I agree with NMN- it is really nice hearing of all the graduations…makes my heart happy! Although I think it’s ridiculous in a forum that also has subforums for graduate school, med school etc to change us back from College Class of 2013 just as they graduate. BUT, I guess there is some reason to not have it be college class of 2013 when some are taking a little different road right now. Again, my own D graduated a full 6 years after she “should” have. Now I just hope she can find a job but at this point she’s a very qualified server.</p>
<p>It is so nice to see all of our students growing into adulthood and becoming such cool people that we can enjoy and be proud of. And the fact that they are starting to appreciate us (thinking of Shaw here) is the icing on the cake.</p>
<p>It is amazing to read evidence of the fact that our '09 graduates are now grown-ups. Well, sort of. At least they seem to be going into delightful young adults. Thank you to everyone for sharing stories and memories about their students/graduates. Keep it coming!</p>
<p>I sympathize with the mosquito stories. We have black flies now and they’ll be here until mid-June or thereabouts. Makes it challenging to garden in peace.</p>
<p>Had a joint graduation family celebration today. Interesting indeed. Enough said.</p>
<p>sabaray…waiting to hear about the graduation!</p>
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<p>Sigh. For me, that USED to be mcson! Perhaps I need to adopt a good-natured teen :)</p>
<p>Re: Bats – we have em, lots of em, and they’re fired, because clearly they’re on a diet or something. I’ve considered ordering some dragon flies, but they could end up being quite a pool nuisance. </p>
<p>NM, I should probably consider some more potted plants along the deck – i have a whole 20 foot bed of lavendar along the pool house but maybe that drives em south to the deck. On the south end of the pool i have geraniums. so i might be driving them east…inadvertently. ive got a huge copper planter i could plant a mix in and put on the deck near the eating area.</p>
<p>I think I will also increase the density of tiki torches around the pool. I’ve also ordered a pound of frankenscense for an outdoor burner. They’re supposed to hate that too…so here’s hoping!</p>
<p>I’ve kinda figured out that in addition to the tripling of local population due to the flood this year, my density could be related to my elderly neighbor, who hasn’t filled his pool yet. For some reason, he doesn’t cover it overwinter, but drains it instead. Could be the iron in our well water here that gives him trouble. At any rate, I suspect this gigantic container of a few inches of water has contributed to the problem. If he doesn’t fill it soon, I may have to ask him outright if I might treat him to some larvicide.</p>
<p>Kudos to all the grad events, I’ll double the woot ;)</p>