One of Melody's troop's service projects for the year was another round of replacing dead trees that were destroyed in the 2007 and 2003 wildfires in the San Bernardino National Forest. This time around we would be planting trees near Lake Arrowhead. We hit the road early in the morning, and during the drive on Highway 18 we were greeted with this sight:We were very lucky with the weather, because the days before and after were unseasonably cold and yet this Sunday was just perfect.

The organizations that were managing the large group of volunteers that day were Tree People and Forest Aid. Somewhere around fifty volunteers met at Lake Arrowhead Elementary School, where most of us received a free blue plastic water bottle before being shuttled to the planting site off a forest service road nearby. Each group picked up their hard hats, a bag of 32 Ponderosa and Jeffrey Pine seedlings, and digging tools, and were then escorted up a hillside to watch a planting demonstration. Then off we went.We carried two types of planting tools: a scraping tool to clear off a spot for planting, and a blade tool to make a hole. Since Mel's troop split into two groups, we planted a total of 64 trees by lunchtime.Melody, of course, had to make some time to catch ladybugs and butterflies.(David, what kind of butterfly is this?)

Afterward, the troop drove to Lake Arrowhead Village to eat lunch and then called it a day. Melody and I lingered near the lakeside before deciding to head to last year's planting site on our own. Back on Highway 18, we passed several stretches of dead trees.It was a short drive to Heap's Peak Arboretum and the Sequoia Trail nearby. The area where we planted last year's trees was near the halfway point of the trail loop, where it bends in a small switchback. Both Melody and I were sad to see that none of the trees we planted on the barren slope above the switchback nor on the slope below survived the year. However, in the area within the switchback was a nice row of two-year-old Ponderosa Pines, plus one Sugar Pine (second from the front, which is a slightly bluer color).We had been told that each year-old seedling that we planted had less than a 50% chance of thriving, but from what Mel and I could see, only 10-20% of what we planted last year was still growing. It was worth the effort nonetheless.

Over the years, Canon has been the brand of choice for cameras in my family. I've owned two SD PowerShots, my dad had two or three A series, and my sister has her own PowerShot.

2004 was the year that the number of photographs I took exploded. In June of that year I bought a pocket-sized Canon PowerShot SD100, which made it so easy to take candid shots anywhere, anytime. That camera lasted until June of 2007, a decent three years, before something failed and my photos started coming out like this:I decided it was time for a new camera with more megapixels and cool functions, and I wanted to stay with Canon because I didn't want to have to figure out a whole new interface with a different brand. And thus, I became the new owner of a Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (IS = image stabilization! Woo hoo! No more incredibly shakey movies!) in July 2007. I even knitted a camera cozy for it, which really came in handy the day I lost the camera at Disneyland—I had my entrance ticket receipt inside with my name on it and everything, which made it easy for me to reclaim it at Lost & Found.This camera has been with me through many adventures. It was a great camera for my purposes.

Nine days ago, when I was ready to take some photos of a knitting project, I pulled the camera from the cozy. I pressed the ON/OFF button. The camera powered up, made a "click" sound, went "beep beep beep beep beep," and then an error message appeared on the screen: "Lens error, restart camera." The camera shut itself off.

Wah.

I repeated the above about a dozen more times, except the "click" sound was no longer happening.

My next step was to go online and Google "Canon SD850 IS lens error." Whoo boy. I was not happy to see that this is pretty much a common problem with Canon cameras, and that Canon has failed to address or admit to a lens design defect, and has continued with the same lens design for at least the past four years. A lens repair would be in the neighborhood of $150-$200. Not gonna happen. I decided this camera was a total loss.

Fast forward to last night. I Googled some more, and found a blurb on the My Biggest Complaint website that advocated "smacking the crap out of your camera" to fix the lens problem. I had nothing to lose, so I took the camera over to the kitchen counter and whacked it face down eight times in a row. I pressed the ON/OFF button.

Lens error, restart camera

I gave the camera another eight whacks. I pressed the ON/OFF button.

Click. The lens extended, and the camera powered up the same as before the lens problem. I took a few photos this morning, and the camera seems to be in normal working condition.

This experience is going to make me rethink ever buying a camera from Canon again.

In our neighborhood we went through the 1990s thinking ice cream trucks had gone the way of the passenger pigeon (that means extinct, Melody). Back in the 80s there would maybe be one or two a week, and then the following decade, nothing.

Then the city built a community center/YMCA, then a baseball park with playground and multi-use field, and finally an environmental library. Nowadays you can't throw a rock without hitting at least one ice cream truck. Who would imagine ten years ago that I'd bemusedly watch three different trucks swerving around each other trying to get the most business during a busy sporting event? I've seen at least five or six different trucks at various times of the day or week. Apparently the city doesn't strictly regulate them, so it's like the Wild Wild West of ice cream trucks. It's pretty cool.

One day last year, I noticed one truck going around with the music volume turned down unusually low. When I mentioned it to Melody, she said one of our neighbors, Tom, had accosted the driver (a Hispanic woman) and screamed at and threatened her (probably with something stupid like deportation) because the music disturbed him or something. Tom can be a real jerk so this didn't surprise me.

On two occasions, when I stepped out to see the latest idiot blasting rap music at full bass and volume, it turned out to be a freaking brightly-colored (purple maybe?) ice cream truck/van thing. Thank goodness this doesn't seem to be the guy's regular route since I've only seen him the two times, wishing his stereo would blow up. Plus the second time, he pretty much sped down the street, which I didn't think would help him sell anything.

Mel's favorite ice cream truck driver is some kind of eastern European dude who gives her a discount. She usually gets the Neapolitan sandwiches, while my nephew likes Sponge Bob with the freaky black gumball eyes.

We have our least favorites as well, typically those who charge more for ice cream than the others.

The Santa Ana Winds have been howling for the past three or so days. Yesterday, I took the dog for her daily walk—which was Mel's job, but she had some important teen-angsty drama or something going on—and spotted this little guy. Mel said it was some sort of jumping spider, but I don't know. It posed for the camera and didn't jump on me.
The walk around the park was a little unusual for me, as I was simultaneously roasted by the sun thanks to my black sweater, and chilled by the blowing wind. After Molly and I finished our circuit, Mel and I pulled a couple of kites out of the garage.

I flew the kite above. It liked to lean to the left and then divebomb into the ground. It was fun (not) having my right hand yanked by the kite string while snapping photos with my left hand. Most of my shots came out blurry.

Mel had the much cooler dragon kite.

At the beginning of the day, Melody had around 50 boxes of cookies she still needed to sell. Today also happened to be Flag Football day, with the first games of the season going on in the park all morning and early afternoon. Melody got to work with the help of two of her cousins.
She sold almost 30 boxes, which means we still have another 20+ we need to sell by the end of the month. We have lots of Caramel deLites, if you happen to be craving any...

Later that afternoon, the two older girls and yet another cousin poked around the backyard and dug up a few live treasures. Now, this is what the back wall normally looks like towards the end of the day:
Boring, gray/brown lizards sunning themselves on the wall, scuttling away if you approach too closely. But when you (or a fearless teenager) flips one over, it becomes much more interesting.
Cool. Mel observed that this particular lizard had previously lost its tail, which was smaller than usual and appeared to be in the process of growing back. The kids eventually put the lizard back in its hiding place, but it wasn't long until Mel shouted, "I caught a frog!"
Rawr.

I don't see the point of eating minestrone soup if you're going to avoid the vegetables. I hate carrots and peas but I still eat them if they're part of a larger dish. The "starving kids in third-world countries" argument doesn't work with her. The way she acts, you'd think she'd die if she ate something that wasn't hot cheetos.

Cookie sales and deliveries for Girl Scouts - San Gorgonio Council began February 28 and will run until the end of March. I went and put Mel's troop's cookie booth info on Twitter as a sales experiment:
Several troop parents have this sign taped inside their car windows. We'll see if this improves sales from last year. I'll send reminder tweets on the day before and morning of each cookie booth, assuming anyone starts to follow us.

Still sick and dealing with a runny nose and possibly bronchitis.
On Saturday I was in Palm Springs for Mel's haircut appointment, and it happened to be perfectly timed with the city's annual Black History Parade down Palm Canyon Drive, just outside the salon's front door. I'll admit that I enjoy watching parades! This one was pretty typical of small-town parades, with high school bands, various drill team clubs, children's clubs, local churches, local law enforcement, and at least one celebrity, Super Model [sic] Beverly Johnson.
Melody was very happy with her haircut.

On Friday I left the keys in the ignition while getting gas at Costco, and the frakking car locked itself as I was at the pump. I left the window open about 1", enough to fit most of my hand through, but only at the top. Of course I left my phone in the car as well. I spent about a minute trying to figure out how I was going to deal with the situation, which was basically to go searching for my mom who was buying pizza at the snack bar because she had an extra car key. Then I just said Frak it and shoved my hand in the window opening, forced my wrist down the side of the window where the opening was barely more than a half inch wide, pretty much nearly crushing my poor wristy, and flipped the lock with my fingertips. My mom later said, "You should always keep your keys in your pocket," but hell, I'm just going to make sure I keep the window all the way down from now on. I spent the rest of the day with a bright red line across my poor widdle wrist. NO I'M NOT A CUTTER, FOO...!
The tree is still loaded with grapefruit, even though we picked a couple of bags full and my sister gave them away to her coworkers. We even had a stranger come to the door today asking if she could pick a few. If you're in the local area and want a bag of grapefruit, let me know. They are around 99 cents each at the grocery store, or so I heard, so you're getting a nice deal here.

My mom calls San Bernardino Peak her own personal Mount Fuji.

It's no fun getting sick because your kid picked up a virus from a schoolmate. Yesterday, after sleeping all day, I rocked back and forth in my bed for an hour straight.

I only lasted one day at jury duty.

A few years ago there was an armed robbery involving several men out in the desert. XYZ Law Enforcement Agency (fake name, duhr) responded, and during a foot chase with one suspect, the fleeing man ditched his gun; however, at some point the pursuing officer felt threatened and shot the suspect twice, killing him. The family of the suspect decided to pursue an "unreasonable use of excessive force" (or something like that) civil case against the officer.

Every potential juror was given a list of questions, such as name/hometown/occupation, ever served on a jury and if so, was a verdict given, does anyone you know work in law enforcement, etc. When my turn came up, I stated that my brother works for XYZ Law Enforcement Agency, the very same one as the defendant. After lunch break, the plaintiffs' lawyer re-interviewed everyone who mentioned having a relative/neighbor/friend in law enforcement. Basically, his question was, "Would that influence your ability to give a fair verdict in this case?" Two people admitted that they would give more credence to the defendant because people in law enforcement hold higher standards and would be more believable. I said it would make no difference to me and that I felt I could make a fair judgement, and so the Judge asked, "So you wouldn't discuss this case with your brother?" to which I responded, "He would insist that I didn't."

Next was the preemptive strike, where each lawyer was allowed to remove five potential jurors. Surprise, surprise, the plaintiff's lawyer excused everyone with connections to law enforcement, including me. The defense lawyer was pretty cool, because two of the people he excused had mentioned during their interviews that being on this jury for three weeks would be a hardship (one said it would be a financial hardship, the other was an elementary school teacher whose class was participating in a science fair the following week).

The top eight remaining jurors on the list were placed on the jury, and the final juror was the woman sitting to my left who was just above me on the list. So even if I weren't excused during the preemptive strike, I wouldn't have made it on the jury anyway.

Unlike Superior Court, which only pays you $5 a day beginning the second day of jury service, Federal Court pays you $40 + mileage beginning the first day, so I ended up with a $55 check for all that. Sure beats the $5 that I had to pay back to my employer (because they automatically reimburse you) a decade ago.

This hat was purchased at Disneyland, the land of sunshine and happy children. I was wearing a shirt with a big white peace sign, but I don't think anyone other than my sister noticed the contradiction with the hat. It was my mom's 75th birthday last Thursday so my sister and I took her for a day of fun. For 2009 you can get in Disneyland for free on your birthday, unless you're already an annual passholder in which case they give you a $60 gift card that can only be spent on merchandise (like, pirate-themed hats) in the park only on that day. It can't be spent on food, which was a real bummer because we would have splurged at the Blue Bayou restaurant (the one inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride).

~*~

Tonight was the night before my latest jury service was to begin. Normally I would need to call the jury confirmation number after 7:00pm, but I also had the option to check my status online. Cool.

Participant Number: 5XXXXXXXX
Zip Code: 9XXXX

You do not have to report on Tuesday, January 27. Be reminded however that you are on-call for two weeks. Please go to work and check this message again, after 7:00pm, on Monday, February 2 for the next day's reporting schedule.

Melody asked me, "Wouldn't it be so cool to be on a jury for a murder case?" I would have to think on that for a bit. The last two times I was in jury selection were for an auto theft case and a burglary by a housekeeper, which for a 13-year-old are not all that exciting. Both times the jury was selected before I was interviewed, so maybe the third time's the charm?