Turkey Invasion!

6 A.M.

I have known for a long time that the inhabitants

of the distant star Meleagris (star of Turkey) intend to invade Earth.

Their targeted landing area: my backyard, chosen for its proximity to the cranberry bog in back, and the virgin forest of Mattapoisett, where the turkeys can hide among the local wild turkey.

These alien turkeys are highly evolved, and comes with a mission. The target attack date: Thanksgiving Day, 2011, when we humans will be captured and roasted, and served with cranberry sauce.

I hid myself in the yard all night, shielded only by my bicycle on the porch. At 6 AM, when I look out from under the bicycle, I immediately recognized this strange alien form - the turkey alien! Standing tall at about four feet, he is standing guard for some thing. Could it be the brood he has brought along in the alien spaceship?

When I looked to the right side of the yard, I was floored. There must have been a dozen of these alien turkeys running around the yard, silently cleaning up the yard of any residue or evidence the star ship may have left behind.

I grabbed my camera, and took a picture. click!

Right away, the leader alien heard that and silently sounded a command.

Quickly, the alien turkeys filed towards the woods.

Within 10 seconds, the aliens were on the way. The leader took up the rear, and marched everyone forward quickly.

I know they will be back and one of us will be kidnapped.

I am going to hide in the city this Thanksgiving. What about you?

Plant Attack !

On a hot summer day, while we were inside, hiding from the fierce burning Sun, a giant killer plant approached the kitchen door.

Who knows what its intentions are? Maybe it is trying to come inside the house and get some shelter. Maybe it is trying to kidnap us. Oh no!

Quietly, stealthily, the giant killer plant approached the door. It held out its tentacles to open the door. Hmm, where is the door key, said the plant to itself. "I bet I can wriggle into the house through this tiny opening.."

Ever alert, Paula sensed the impending danger. She puts on her red shirt (almost as good as a red cap), and jumped outside. With a swift pinch, she held the giant plant by the neck. The plant was rendered immobile with the iron grip of the pinch.

"Oh no, please let me go, I can't breath", said the giant plant. "Please let go, I am fainting."

"Will you be good if I let you go, " said Paula.

"Yes, I promise." said the giant plant.

"Will you stay outside and guard the door?", said Paula.

"Yes, I will, I promise. Anything. Just let go." begged the giant plant.

So Paula posed for a picture with her new doorman (door plant), and saved the day. Hooray for Paula!

That big tall plant came from one tiny seed from this bag - The Cosmos seed bag. I guess you can call this a Cosmos attack!

Jury Duty - August 10, 2011

I received a summon to serve on the jury in the Brockton Superior Court a couple of months ago. At first, it was a feeling of despair and powerlessness that overtook me. What can I do? I have so much going on right now, I can't afford the time off for this? Surely I should not be subjected to this unfairness?

Yesterday, with a little hope in my heart, I called the Jury hot line, and was told to report to the court this morning. Rats! no reprieve!

This morning, like a good citizen, I set off to Brockton early, arriving at the court at 7 AM, an hour before it is time to report for duty.

One of the big question of the day is: What should I wear for jury duty? According to the juror handbook, and I paraphrse: "you are a representative of the court, and should dress accordingly." Checking other websites, various opinions have been offered:

. if you want to be NOT picked for jury duty, dress to the hilt. The writer wore a suit, bow tie, shinny dressed shoes, and hoped to give an impression that he is a wealthy capitalist, and will not be picked. (this will not work, as I found out)

. wear sensibly, because you will be doing a lot of sitting and waiting, so you might as well be comfortable.

. Do not wear tank top, shorts and flip-flops.

Well, most of them are wrong. People wear anything to court, and the court officials did not blink an eye about whatever you wear.

The gate to the courthouse opened 10 minutes before 8 AM. People trooped in through the metal detector and baggage check. Women wearing tank tops, t shirts, shorts, flip-flops, tevas, as well as men wearing t shirts, shorts, sneakers are common. Men over 50 wearing long sleeves and long pants, dress shoes are common as well. So, it is a free for all.

For the Brockton Superior Court, there are two Jurors' room. (I have pictures, but need to extract them out of my iPhone, so I will add them to the blog lat

er.)

I chose a lesser used room, and was the first to walk in, so I had a pick of one of about40 chairs. I picked a far left corner, and bunked down for a long wait. The air conditioner was running at full blast in the morning, so it was very cold. (Note to self: bring a jacket next time)

I had brought a lot of reading m

aterials: technical notes, mysteries books, Judge Dee books, so I am good in this department. I forgot drinks, so I had earlier walked over to a Dunkin Donuts and bought a bottle of water ($1.81 - note to self, bring water from home next time)

Around 9 AM, we the jurors were rounded up and ushered into an empty court room. We were shown a video on "Our civic responsibilities" that talked about the jury system, the one-day one-trial jury system, and how it is an honor to serve our community, etc. After a video, a real-life judge (Maria Hopkins) came out to greet and thank us, telling us what a great thing we are doing for the country and the community.

We were herded back to the jurors' rooms, and there I sat, reading, dozing off, waking up and reading more, until around 10:30 AM, when they moved us to another court-room.

In this court room, a Judge (Barry) came out and explain to us that this is going to be a civil case, as in a plaintiff suing a doctor and the doctor's group for malpractice. From the questions he asked later, I surmised that the plaintiff had a prostate cancer operation that went wrong. Both him and his wife, and the doctor were present in the court room, as were their lawyers.

It is funny, or apparent that the plaintiff's lawyers were dressed plainly, in a couple of cheap suits, while the doctor's lawyers came from law firms with better sounding names, and wore better and more expensive suits. The contrast is that obvious.

The next thing they have to do is to select the jury. In order to do so, the judge asked a list of 17 questions: like

. do you personally know the people involved in this case: the plaintiff, his wife, the doctor, the firm, etc

. do you personally know any of the witness who will be called to this trial? he then list the names.

. do you have any knowledge of prostate cancer and its cure?

. do you think you can give an unbiased opinion and ruling to this case?

. do you know (some medical procedure... apparently related to this treatment)?

. do you personally know or relate to anyone who has had prostate cancer?

. have you at any time considered suing a medical professional for malpractice?

...

each time you have a Yes for an answer, you raise you juror number card, and the court bailiff will read out the number and record it.

After all the questions have been read, the judge called the jurors, one at a time, to have a side bar with him. He will question you on the Yes answers, and the lawyers from both sides listen in, and ask questions as well. Based on the answers, they will decide if you are suitable as a juror or not.

Well, one of the things the judge also said, was that this civil suit will take a couple of weeks. He expect both sides will rest NEXT Friday, witness being called next Wednesday. With deliberations, this could extend to the week after next. This is if they do not sesquest us. If they do, I won't see mom or you or Tim or Lena or JP or Timmy or Becky or my laptop for the next 14 days. Bummer. I don't want to be picked !

Well, I am juror number 43. So we went down the list, each person going up for side bar. Number 1 went up, spoke to the judge and lawyers, and was told she has to sit through the trial. Number 2,3,4,5,6 were excused. Number 7 was picked, while 8 to 17 were excused. And it went on and on. Finally, number 42 was called, spoke, and was excused.

I was ready to stand up and go over to talk to the judge, when he stood up and said "We have worked very hard this morning, let us take a 10 minute break", so everybody just stood up and left the courtroom.

I was just getting my books back into the backpack, and stood up, when the court clerk came over to me. He is an older man, about 60, slim, glasses. "Hi, your are Mr Mui. I noticed you are from Mattapoisett." I acknowledged.

"I am in the Tangerwoods Chorus group, and some time back, I met this young lady, Sarah Mui, in the chorus group, and we became friends. She is just a fantastic person, so unforgettable. " I said "Oh, that is my daughter Sarah."

"Please, please, please, say hi to her for me. Tell her what a nice person she is and that I will never forget her. My name is John Barr." I said I will.

"She was going out with this nice young man, who is going to become a lawyer...", I told him about Tim, and the children, and he was very happy to hear things are going so well for Sarah.

He hope there is a chance you can be back and join the Choral group again.

When the 10 minute break is over, people trooped back into the courtroom. I was the first to go up to talk to the judge and lawyers. The judge started by asking me about the person I know who died of cancer. I was thinking of Stanley, but I interrupted, and said, "Your honor, I was mulling over question 4 you asked earlier, in which you asked if I can be unbiased in this case. I don't believe I can. My daughter is a medical doctor, her friends are doctors, I have doctor friends, and I completely sympathize with how hard they work to achieve success. I cannot be unbiased. "

Judge Barry looked at me for a few seconds, and said, "then I will have to excuse you."

Ok, so I turned around, and walk off the courthouse.

Camping at Baxter State Park

Day 1 - August 2, 2011, Tuesday.

Picked up Becky and Kelly in Natick, MA. around 10 AM. They had jus

t came back

from an Ohio friend's wed

ding the day before. Apparently the flight was delayed, and they were

still agitated at the airline, so there was so

me conversation about that.

Arrived at Portland around 12:15 PM. It is a

bit too early to meet Gabriell

e at 1,

so we headed downtown at Commercial Street, and walked around a bit. B

ecky a

nd Kelly went into a store to buy some Chinese tea (Peach and Ginger)

, and tea b

all (put loose leaves inside, and sink ball into water bottle to steeping.)

Met Gabrielle and Amalie at 1 PM. Amalie is so cute - big smiles and s

aid a couple of words. We went to Thai Pom res

taurant for lunch - 2 orders of fresh spring rolls, triangular curry puffs. Good appetizers. The spring rolls are very fr

esh, nicely shredded vegetables, with thinly sliced shrimps. The curry puffs are crispy on the outside, and not too spicy curry chicken insi

de. A complimentary salad comes with the meal.

For entries, we ordered yello

w curry tofu - not too spicy yellow curry sauc

e, with a

scoop of white rice on the side. We also ordered crispy roast duck with vegetables,

and a noodle dish.

We all enjoyed the

meal.

From Portland, we continued on to Augusta. Becky took over the driving from Augus

t

a to Bangor, and South onto Route 1A to Elles

worth.

When we reached Fran

klin, Ann came out to greet u

s and gave everyone a hug and a kiss. Abel was

home and greeted us. Uncle Louis came out too.

Abel had made supper - macaroni with pesto sauce, pull pork with beer sauce, and steamed zuccini. Becky and Kelly wanted to go for a jog, so off they w

ent with Abel, who showed them a

n abandoned railroad bed good for jo

gging, while Louis, Ann and I had supper.

Stefanie and Mike pulled up a while l

ater wh

ile Becky and Kelly were out jogging. Uncle Louis pulled up Djaju's old truck and camper so Becky and Kelly chose to stay there overnight.

Day 2 - August 3.

I shared a room with Abel the night before, and he had to get up early to work. He will join us at the camp site the next day. I woke up around 5 AM with Abel, and went downstai

rs to have coffee with him. He made a good pot of strong coffee, so I quit

e enjoyed

that

.

Louis came down around 6, a

nd started waffles from scratch. His secret for

mula is

he whipped up egg whites, and folded the egg whites into the batter. When everyone is up later, he started the waffles, and they

were deli

cious! I just ate them plain, but there was strawberry sauce, and rhubarb sauce as well, and whipped cream too. I think they taste nice pla

in.

After breakfast, we loaded up the cars. Becky, Kelly and I in one car, and Lou

is, Stef, and Mike in the Mazda6 statio

n wagon. We first went to Shaw's to pick up some stuffs for samoa: chocolate bars and marshmallows. We picked up some

whiskey as well, but they did not have any cigars, so we did not get it.

We drove up route 1A to Bangor, and picked up Rt. 95 North. Baxter State Park is about a two hour drive to Sherman Mills. This is the North gate. The South gate is at Millinocket, the entrance to Mount Katahdin.

On the way up, Kelly downloaded a lot of show tunes for us, like Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Cats, etc. We enjoyed listening to the show tunes while driving.

We got off at Sherman Mills, and arrived at a town called Patten 10 miles

later. We stopped at a restaurant called Debbie's restaurant for lunch. Lo

uis ordered fish chowder and fish sandwich. The fish chowder sounded good, so I asked for it too, and Mike, upon hearing that, ordered a bowl as well. Unfortunately, Louis had the last one.

I ordered a stuffed chicken. It is kind of like chicken kiev, with pasley inside the chicken breast, and breaded and deep fried. It also came with mashed potatoes, and beets. Becky lov

ed the beets, so she took some from my dish.

Becky ordered a hot roast beef sub. Kelly ordered a BLT with hand-cut fries. Th

e

fresh cut fries were great. Very tasty.

Stef had a meatball sub, and Mike had a (I forgot what he had).

The State Park is still a 25 mile ride from

Patten. We arrived at th

e park around 2 PM, and found the camp site. It is "walk-in tent site #1". From the parking lot,

we walk across a bridge over a small, but deep river. From there, it is

about 300 feet to the camp site.

It was starting to sprinkle a little w

hen we got to the camping

ground, so we quickly set up the two tents. Stef had a four-person tent by Field and Stream. Very nice, tall and airy ten

t. Kelly had borrowed a pup tent from her aunt, and it was just perfect for two.

Louis has a canopy. It used to belong to his father. It is about 8 by

8 feet, and 10

fe

et tall in the middle. We put the picnic table under the c

anopy, and that is our mess tent for the next few days.

We were not sure about the rain, and how well Kelly's tent can withstand the rain, so we pulled it close to the canopy,

and

put up a tarp to partially cover the tent.

When we were done with setting up the tents, it was about time for supper. Louis set up the

Coleman stove, and the Optimus stove, and cooked up some hamburger, stoufer's stuffing, and a good pot of coffee. We all ate with gu

sto.

We had bought some bundles of firewood, so after

dinner, we burned up the firewood, and had a camp fire. We sat around the fire, drank coffee, soda, or whisky, and smoke cigars, and tell tales.

When it was time to go to sleep, we adjourned to our tents: Stef, Mike, Louis, and I shared one tent, and Becky and Kelly in the other

tent.

Then the sky opened up. Rain! and rained some more. By the morning, I can see rain drops collecting at the top of the tent, and slowly, very slowly, the drops penetrated the tent, and dropped down on the sleeping bags. Splat! Sp

lat! I can hear the droplets falling onto the sleeping bag.

I was up at dawn, wit

h the first light, and listened to the snoring and breathing in the tent. I slowly opened the tent window one little notch, the size of a peanut,

and can feel the fresh air coming in. Ah !

fresh air.

Day 3, Thursday August 4, 2011

Breakfast was span and scrambled eg

gs, with coffee. The spam, sliced thin, pan fried until the edges were crispy, was a combination of saltiness and sweetness. Good tasty treats. The coffee was an eye opener. We had sugar and Coffee-Mate creamers, so it add

ed to the coffee's deliciousness.

The girls - Becky and Kelly emerged from a soggy tent. Half the tent was inundated with water, The other side, on slightly higher ground

, fared better, so they both squeezed to that one side. Their sleeping bags were so wet they weighed a ton.

After breakfast, the group decided to hike Freeze-out trail. Louis and I took the wet sleeping bags, some wet clothes, and laundry, and headed to town.

We stopped at the Park gate, and inquired about an extra camp site, to accommodate Abel or myself. I paid for tent site #25 for the night, and lean-to site #3 for Friday night, so now we can legitimately accommodate 7 people in the park. The sites are $30

a night, much cheaper than what it would have costed me if I were to get a hotel room as originally intended.

Onward to town, about 30 miles away.

We went to the laundermat, shoved a sleeping bag into a machine, and Louis st

arted puttin

g coins into the machine. "Wait a minute, Louis

, is this a washing or drying machine?"

It was a washing machine, and it took $6 to operate it. We pulled the bag out of the machine, and shoved it into a dryer. I went to the shop next door to change for $10 of quarters. After putting some coins into a couple of drye

rs, we left the laundermat to shop around a bit. We needed things like tarp, ground covers, more spikes, more food, some beer and wine.

As I am walking, I can feel my jeans f

alling down. I pulled it up, and down it goes again. Th

e $10 worth of quarters were so heavy

, they keep pulling my jeans down. I put them into the car and received instant relief.

Since we are in town, we went to Debbie's restaurant again for lunch. We tried something called "Poutin" for appetizer. This is a Canadian

favorite - french fries, melted cheese, with a big ladle of brown sauce on top. A sort of cheese fries w

ith gravy.

While eating, a nice old couple in the next table talked to us, and told us they were involved with the Lumbermen's Museum in town, and that they were very proud of it, so on the way bac

k, we stopped by the museum, and bro

wsed around. It does have a very big collec

tion of tools and machinery

. They showed a video "From stumps to ships", showing how the early lumbersmen work, cutting down trees and transporting the

m down the rivers.

The video was long, and the sofa was soft, so I fell asleep after a while. Very typical of me.

The group was happy to see us b

ack at the camp, bringing in ice, beer, wine, and dry sleeping bags. Their foray into Freeze-out trail was not so successful. The trail was flooded, just a few hundred feet into the trail, and everyo

ne came back soaking wet up to their ankle

s. Becky and Kelly had tevas, so they fared pretty well. Abel, Mike, and Stef were up to their ankles in water, so their socks and sneakers were all wet.

The sun was coming out a bit in the aft

ernoon, so we busied ourselves drying things out. Very soon, it was time to make dinner.

With the leftover hamburg

ers, Louis broke them up in the pan, fried them up, and added hamburger helper. On the side, he warmed up a can of beans. Stef and Becky used t

he samoa forks to grill some hot dogs for us, so supper was hot dogs and beans, with hamburger helper. We also brewed a couple of pots of coffee. The food tasted so good.

Over camp fire this night, we had beer, whisky, and cigars, and

good conversations.

When it was time to go to sle

ep, Abel accompanied me to the parking lot. I drove the Mazda6 station wagon, and Abel his jeep, to camp site #25. We put down the back seats and slept

in the cars. With the seat down, and a good pad, the car was very comfortable.

Day 4 - Friday August 5

Up at dawn again. I waiting until daylight, then got up to clean up. It is surprising how little water i really need for shaving, and brushing, and

washing my face. I can do the whole routine in about a cup of water.

Back at camp #1, we made breakfast. We fried up some linguica, and cooked scrambled eggs, with a pot of coffee. Percolated coffee tasted so good at

camp, there must be something to it.

Today, we decided to hike the South Branch trail to Black Cat Mountain. The entire trail is about 9 or 10 miles, highest elevation 2600 feet.

We drove to South Branch camping area, about a 20 minute ride on the park tote roa

d. There wasn't much to see on the park tote roads, just trees on both sides. We were so hoping to see a moose or two along the way, but no luck.

When we got out, everyone stretch to prepare for the hike. Becky asked why I wasn't stretching, so I kneeled down and stretched my hands in a praying position as a joke. Everyone laughed.

It was a warm day, bright sunshine, perfect day for a hike

. The beginning part of the trail was still soggy from the rain a couple of days ago. We had to step over water and mud, and

at times, step gingerly on logs laid down on the trail. As we get on the higher elevations, the trail became dry and we faced another danger. Rocks and sheer cliffs.

Parts of the trail is now dangerous. Some parts of it you have to use both ha

nds to hold on to the hand holds and climb with your feet, and pull yourself up. The pictures in this blog is all from this day's hike.

We reach a peak around noon, about 3 miles into the trail, and took a rest there. Along th

e trail, there were many blueberry plants, so we picked and ate blueberries along the way. Becky and Kelly picked and bottled a full Helgine bottle

full of blueberries.

At the peak, we decided to turn around and go back, instead of pushing onward and complete

the route.

On the way back, there was a side trail - Howes Brook trail, which can take u

s to a pool and a waterfall. We took the side trail, and was rewarded with a small natural pool under a

small waterfall. Becky and Kelly changed right away, and played in the water. It was a warm day, and everyone enjoyed the feeling of the cold water. I changed into my swimming trunk as well, and dove head in, into the pool. Ah, the cold water was so refreshing. It was cold, but not icy cold, so it was very enjoyable.

On the way back, we past by South Branch pond. Our original plan was to have a swim there as well, but everyone felt like going straight back to camp, so we did.

Louis, Abel and I spent the night at the lean-to shed in site #3 this night. The lean-to has three sides. The fourth side was completely open to the element. I tucked myself into the

sleeping bag, and was able to get a good night's sleep.

Day 5, Saturday August 6

Up at dawn again. Louis and Abel were still sleeping. I got up, brought my bags to the p

icnic table, cleaned up, shaved, and decided to start moving my belongings to the car. This is the last day at camp, and we have to vacate it by 11 AM, so I figured I will get a head start.

I went to camp #1, and started preparing breakfast, and moved anything not needed for the morning to the car.

For breakfast, I fished around the cooler, and found half an onion, half a green pepper an

d half a yellow pepper, a pack of linguica, and seven eggs.

I cut up the vegetables, diced the linguica, and scrambled the eggs with a splash of cream. By that time, Becky and Kelly were up. Kelly volunteered to help me cook, so I asked

her to stir fried the vegetables, then added the linguica. When the mixture is well fried and browned, I poured in the scrambled eggs and viola - Fajita. Every one enjoyed that, with a

slice of spam on the side, washed down with good strong coffee.

After breakfast, we disassembled the tents, the canopy, and packed up everything for the cars. Becky, Kelly and myself decided to take the quickest way out of the park, and head straight back to Boston. Louis in one car filled with camping gear, and Abel, Stef a

nd Mike in the jeep decided to take the park tote road south to the South gate, hoping to see more of the park, and maybe a moose.

Becky did most of the driving south. We stopped at Portland and had lunch at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. After that, we dropped off Kelly in Natick, and arrived home around 4

PM. It was a wonder camping trip.