No more bloody High Schoolers in this household!

Graduation is done and over, the party has been held, the cake cut and we are on to new and higher heights. Finally at age 50 with a daughter almost 27 who has seen more of the world than I ever will, has learned to lob grenades, been gassed with a gas mask on, and has served in Kuwait, Iraq and Germany; finally the last student is done with high school. Now, come next January, and by the will of God, all birds will be out of the nest and I can enjoy my empty nest period in solitude and tranquility. We'll see.

Daniel's graduation was Friday night and over 500 graduates filed up and got their diplomas, songs were sung, speeches made by valedictorians and class officers linking pirates to graduates and all of the other nonsense that flows out of the mouths of 17- year olds. It was a long service under blue skies, with a slight breeze and temperatures only in the low eighties. A vast improvement from the 100 degree temperature of David's graduation in 2005. Alas, it was too long, overblown and uncomfortable. Luckily, we sat with Greg Meacham and made snide remarks under our breath.

Saturday I played golf and shot 44+41=85. My index has dropped to 10.5 in June and my handicap is now 11 at Diamond, so I should shoot 83. It was a good time on Saturday and I got to play with Dave Armijo, my old partner from Diamond who abruptly quit playing in 2005 after the birth of a grandchild. Dave shot 88 in only his second round of the year. I checked my card and have played 44 rounds so far this year. After golf, I drove out to Lowes and Home Depot and bought another sego palm for our palm garden over the pool and 10 bags of Ebony bark for the pool area planters. I laid that and went back for another six bags which finished the job. It looks really good, like lava or charcoal.

The party today was a success and we had about thirty people come by including the boys' 88- year old Great Grandfather and Joni, their Mom's best friend who lived with them for five years after Darla's divorce. We had a lot of our friends, including Rob McHone and his 16-year old daughter, Jacki, who hadn't seen Daniel in a year. She and Dan are off to a movie as I write this still catching up on old times. I can't blame Dan as Jacki has really grown up cute with a great personality. David is off to his Gathering college group at church. We played pool, talked, the kids swam and we ate a lot of cold cuts and chicken.

Church was great this morning. We are working on a series about Agape love using the 1st Corinthians 13 text. The pastor told a joke about a computer class that was being taught at the college. One of the coeds (a blonde) asked what gender a computer was. The instructor broke the class into groups to have them decide the answer and this is what they came up with.

The girls decided the computer was male because,

1. A computer has alot of raw data and can't process it.

2. After you buy it, you realize that if you waited, you would have been able to get a much better model at a lower price, and

3. In order to make it do anything, you have to turn it on.

The boys disagreed and said the computer was definitely female because,

1. Every mistake you make goes into long term memory.

2. As soon as you buy it alot of the other computers start looking alot more attractive, and

3. As soon as you commit to it, you spend half your paycheck on accessories.

Darla is off to some remote camp in Idaho next week for her aunt's 70th birthday celebration. She and Alicia fly out next Sunday night and fly home on Wednesday. Darla's folks will be there with their 5th wheel, so at least they will be staying in relative comfort. Darla knows me well enough that she didn't even ask me to go. I can do without a trip to Deliverance.

Well, this is short, but I have the Sacramento Insurance Group golf tournament tomorrow and I am on the committee. The current golf director has dropped some broad hints that they want me to run the tournament in 2008. We'll see. Next Monday, the 11th, is the David Oxley junior tournament at our Roseville Golf Club and I will be marshaling that event. It is definitely Summer in Sacramento. Be well. Ciao.