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[Reporter]

St. Paul, MN--10/25/11:  A former client called. But this time it was not about a lawsuit. She wanted to know how to do what I do!

[Reporter]

St. Paul, MN--10/30/11. The Halloween spirit is here. But why is it that I need to be reminded of it by the spirits, too?

Driving home yesterday near midnight, I came to this usual 4-way stop at this intersection that I have crossed everyday for the last 8 years going and coming from home. I saw a person biking on the other side of the intersection and I slowed down a bit. The wheels were glittery, and I thought that they were made shiny to prevent accidents. But as I stopped at the intersection, I saw no bike going anywhere from it.  I looked right and left, views were clear into the distances and yet saw no biker or bike around.

I crossed the intersection, went one block and turned right back to it, crossed it and then went back to where I had driven from before. I thought the intersection might have had something that reflected my beams only. So I tried driving the same way again, this time paying real good attention to the spot where I saw the biking reflection. Turned out, there was no reflection.  Nothing shone back from there, even though my beams were pointing directly at the same spot.

[Peachy Fish]

St. Paul, MN--10/30/11. The Halloween spirit is here. But why is it that I need to be reminded of it by the spirits, too?

Driving home yesterday near midnight, I came to this usual 4-way stop at this intersection that I have crossed everyday for the last 8 years going and coming from home. I saw a person biking on the other side of the intersection and I slowed down a bit. The wheels were glittery, and I thought that they were made shiny to prevent accidents. But as I stopped at the intersection, I saw no bike going anywhere from it.  I looked right and left, views were clear into the distances and yet saw no biker or bike around.

I crossed the intersection, went one block and turned right back to it, crossed it and then went back to where I had driven from before. I thought the intersection might have had something that reflected my beams only. So I tried driving the same way again, this time paying real good attention to the spot where I saw the biking reflection. Turned out, there was no reflection.  Nothing shone back from there, even though my beams were pointing directly at the same spot.

That's scary Reporter.

[Reporter]

That's scary Reporter.

I know, Peachy. And now I wonder if I should keep taking that route home. It's the closest of the three available routes to my home.

[Peachy Fish]

I know, Peachy. And now I wonder if I should keep taking that route home. It's the closest of the three available routes to my home.

Reporter, did you take a different route?

[Reporter]

Reporter, did you take a different route?

No, Peachy. I'm just so used to this route that I've just driven by the same intersection over and over again almost without thinking. And I don't mind. I think that whatever it is, if it is so thin as to be invisible, it can't harm me anyway. Plus, it must have left the area by now.

What do you think?

[Reporter]

11/06/11--St. Paul, MN--A terribly strong, windy weekend with wind speed at 29-33 mph. My mother said, "Cua loj kom nplooj zeeg."  Normal around this time of year. I've noticed that there would be some rain or some kind of brief storm, then the leaves turn colors and fall off with the wind striking them or shaking them down a bit. In the past, I thought nature was doing its laundry. But lately I've noticed that nature has combined all of its forces in just the right amount to move things accordingly. Very interesting. But I wonder where the wind comes from...

[Reporter]

11/13/11--St. Paul, MN--Just went back to Forestville yesterday. Got six more dozens of eggs. The farmer remembered me and said he has had problems keeping up with the egg sales. People have been buying too many and his chickens just haven't laid enough of them for us. I had wanted 20 dozens yesterday. But all he got left were six dozens.

Forestville State Park, somewhere in southern Minnesota (Saturday, Sept. 25, 2011)--I came here to hunt squirrels but got lost finding my way back. And then I ran into a farmer who was selling gourds, eggs, and pumpkins. I stopped by his house and asked for direction to the highway that would lead me back to Rochester.  I also bought 10 dozens of brown farm-fresh eggs from him, and found my way back to St. Paul.

How I was lost: there was a road that led directly to the highway to Rochester. But I went the other way on that road instead. That's because it's full of farms and similar-looking corners around here.

But the hunting was not that great. I walked 45 minutes through  a state park before I got to the hunting area. I crossed two streams, one already had a bridge made of three logs. Some Hmong must have done that, since I could not imagine a Caucasian knowing how to do that or even thinking of doing that. I have seen Hmong people build bridges this way before.

Then I went up a hill, got thirsty, sat down to drink and eat a little snack before moving on.  

My partner and I spent the entire day there and got just one squirrel.

We returned to the parking lot just to meet a park ranger who seemed to question me harshly.

"Where did you just come from?" he asked.

"From the trail. We went hunting over the hill," I told him.

"Where did you hunt?" he asked.

"By the hill, past that hunting sign on the trail. There's a sign that says 'Public Hunting Permitted' or 'Allowed,'" I said. "And on the other side, it says 'Restricted. Shooting and Hunting Prohibited.' But we crossed the river and went up the hill and hunted up there. Real far away."

He said some horseback riders have complained about seeing people carrying guns in the state park. I told him they never saw us since we were up on the hill when they were riding by. I meant to say they have lied to him. But I didn't see a need to say more on that, since we haven't done anything wrong. Even if they had seen us, there's nothing illegal that we have done anyway.  So I did not allege that they had lied.  We did hear them and the horses gallopping and the horses blowing their noses, I added. "But they could not have seen us. We were over the hill pass the stream and in the woods at that time," I said.

The man went on to say that the horse riders claimed to have seen two people carrying guns by the metal bridge just down the hill from the parking lot.  He felt the two people carrying gun description identified us, since has just seen us carrying a gun and there were just two of us.  Whether he made that up or not, I don't know.

"We didn't meet anyone by the bridge and no one saw us with a gun."

Apparently, the park ranger said the horse riders claimed the gun or guns carried by the hunters they saw had the guns cased--whoever it was have done this legally.

"The law is that you can carry guns in state parks but they must be cased," he said.

Mine was cased and he saw me carrying the cased gun onto the trunk of our van. He did not say anything about that.  

The ranger then said that people were not happy seeing other people carrying guns in the state parks, suggesting that we hunters needed to stop going hunting at Forestville. That's how his words felt to me.  

I told him there was a sign by the trail that allowed hunting in that part of the state park. I even described the writings on both sides of the sign to him. Then I said, "I understand, especially kids. Kids can get scared if they see guns. But that is something you will have to take up with the state. The place allows hunting."

"Have you hunted here before?" he asked.

"Yes. Nine years ago."And I told him other people have hunted here, too.

The ranger realized I was right.

"I am not with law enforcement, and you are not in trouble or anything," he said.

Of course not. What problem would there be? I have not done anything wrong.  He saw my cased gun. He knew there was a hunting spot there. If he had checked, he would have seen the one squirrel I got that day--6 short of the daily limit--along with my small game hunting license, and nothing else illegal.

He asked for my name and phone number. I gave them to him. I then asked if he wanted my ID and other information, too. He said he didn't want them and that he just wanted my number in case he wanted to ask more questions after talking to some other people who have hunted that day.

The ranger then added that he and management might have to find some different and better ways to allow the hunters to get to the hunting area.  

The ranger reached out to shake my hand. I shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you," he said. And he let me go.

The horse riders cannot try to take over the park for themselves. That's one thing I'm sure of.

[Reporter]

11/17/11--St. Paul, MN--I dreamed that an attorney friend of mine has been very ill and was being taken somewhere--either to the hospital or home. He was leaving the scene where he and I had just been working at.

I told him I hoped he was well and that he should let me know how things go so I could visit again soon.

"They might just tell you to attend the funeral instead," he said about his own condition.

"Either way," I responded, trembling. "My best regards!"

He hopped onto a car. Suddenly, the dream scene appeared on the side of a hill. A pick up was running there with my friend lying dead and facing up on the back of the truck.

[LadyLionness]

I am curious to know how the first Hmong converted to Christianity. When? Where? Why? What really prompted them to do so? What was it about the dead boy's body on the rock that may have frightened them into abandoning their century-old traditions? Tell me what you know. I am just curious.

That folktale? Well, you want details or you want just the gist of it? And I do have a lot of others I could share. Soon.

My husband knows story ... out of the mouth of the Christian Missionary Alliance's missionaries to Laos... I will ask him and post it for you.

[Reporter]

My husband knows story ... out of the mouth of the Christian Missionary Alliance's missionaries to Laos... I will ask him and post it for you.

Great, Lionness. I'm waiting!

[Renaissance]

Great, Lionness. I'm waiting!

http://hmongdistrict.org/Hmong%20District%201/25612/index.html

first guy to convert was a thao clan leader ( i think his name is boua chao thao??)

[LadyLionness]

http://hmongdistrict.org/Hmong%20District%201/25612/index.html

first guy to convert was a thao clan leader ( i think his name is boua chao thao??)

Yep, that's the one.  Thanks, Ren....

[Reporter]

http://hmongdistrict.org/Hmong%20District%201/25612/index.html

first guy to convert was a thao clan leader ( i think his name is boua chao thao??)

Yep, that's the one.  Thanks, Ren....

The article doesn't mention any name. So, Bao Chao Thao was converted in 1950? The article should name all of those who converted initially and why. Do you two know why? When I met Zam Nob Yaj, one of the 7 Hmong who initially converted to Catholicism and who helped Yves Bertrais develop the Hmong RPA writing system, he gave me the reason for his conversion: the Christian's story about the beginning of the world was much more sophisticated.

That man has died though. Is Bao Chao still alive?

[LadyLionness]

The article doesn't mention any name. So, Bao Chao Thao was converted in 1950? The article should name all of those who converted initially and why. Do you two know why? When I met Zam Nob Yaj, one of the 7 Hmong who initially converted to Catholicism and who helped Yves Bertrais develop the Hmong RPA writing system, he gave me the reason for his conversion: the Christian's story about the beginning of the world was much more sophisticated.

That man has died though. Is Bao Chao still alive?

I believe he has died.

I didn't get a chance to talk to my husband yet, but from memory of one of his class...

The American missionaries, Ted and Ruth Andrianoff - it may just have been Ted on this first trip - went up to this village with a Laotion interpreter and wanted to stay and spend some time with the Hmong people.  There was an abandon house that belonged to Bao Chao Thao.  He as a shaman and a leader in the village.  They told the missionaries that they could stay there.  The missionaries were very grateful and happily stayed at the abandon house. 

All night long, the villagers waited gleefully for the missionaries and the interpreter to run out screaming, to never return... for the abandon house was actually a haunted house... no one could stay through the night in it.  However, it was quiet all night long.

The next day, Bao Chao asked the missionaries if they had a good rest in the house.  Ted said that he did and thanked Bao Chao for allowing him to stay there again.  Bao Chao asked if anything happened during the night, whether they saw or heard anything strange.  Ted said no, and asked Bao why he was asking these questions.  He explained that the house has been haunted for many years and that no one has been able to spend even a single night in it.  He was wondering why the ghosts didn't bothering Ted and the interpreter.  Ted explained that he believed in God and his God was stronger than any spirits or demons.

Bao Chao wanted to know more about this God that is could conquer the spirits and ghosts of that house.  So, through the interpreter, Ted told Bao Chao about God.  He converted and became a Christian.  He went back to the village, explained everything to them and the next day, the whole village wanted to convert.  Ted led them all to Christ and baptise them that day.  He went back to Vientiane and requested for more missionaries to go and help him b/c the neighboring villages also wanted to convert.

That's all I remember... some of my facts may be a little off... I think my husband knows some of the folks that are still alive.  Are you wanting to interview them?