OK, so here's the story first. Was waiting for an SASBE to come to me to fill up the bubblie with the "wanted seeds". Bubblie came on 11/21/08, inside one of those clear plastic bags from the post office. Immediately I noticed that it looked like something had been spilled on one side of the bublie and figured HMM, looks like the cofee missed the mouth and landed on the envelope. Went to open the bag and found the following "formal printed on the post office's plastic bag. Remember now, the envelope looked like a small amount of liquid had been spilled on the bubble mailer, but other than that, no damage at all to the envelope and I did find everything inside it was in perfect shape. "UNITED STATES POST OFFICE KANSAS CITY MISSOURI 4127 Dear Postal Customer The enclosed was found to be either loose in the mails or damaged as a result of mechanized processing by the Postal Service. We realize that your mail is important to you. Every employee with the Kansas City Post Office is trying to handle expeditiously and without damage, every piece of mail with which he/she is entrusted. With local volume of about 4.5 million pieces daily, we must use mechanized and automated systems to ensure our customers receive prompt service. A malfunction of this equipment can result in a damaged piece of mail. Irregular bulky items, such as coins or paper clips, enclosed in envelopes can also cause equipment to jam, resulting in damaged mail. We are constantly working to eliminate damage to any mail. You can help by assuring that each letter or parcel you mail is prepared and addressed properly. We appreciate your concern and offer our apologies for any inconvenience you have experienced. Sincerely Plant manager" Of course it doesn't explain what happened to this particular piece of mail that was stained from a liquid on the bubblie and no part of the bubblie was damaged any other way than that. To bad they aren't as equally concerned in charging their customers the correct mailing price to start with. Someone must have been "sipping something" while at the machines and spilled it on the bubblie. Fran

The dog keeps a low on-line profile, as he works for an unnamed government agency. Sorry, I have to refer to him as 'the dog', due to his sensitive job. Tried to figure out his current assignment without success. I attempted to put his discarded paper back together after he shreds it; but unfortunately he likes to pee on it first. My two piles aren't shrinking fast enough, there is still stuff to use up. Shall I start a pile in the garage or on the roof? Maybe I can move the fence line ten feet back, the neighbors never come out in the back yard anyway. Late Update- Found out that the dog works for the National Weather Service. It seems that in addition to being service animals, herding animals, and sniffing out various forms of cancer; dogs are able to predict the weather accurately for five days in advance. The Weather Service is only accurate two days in advance. Anyway, his job is to figure out how to make compost piles smell more and knock out the dog ability to predict the weather. And I was guessing he worked for the CIA. Nope, just a government branch looking to protect itself.

You know, you should be able to see what his IP address is. Then look it up and you can see where he's located. Looks like this and should be at the bottom of the email he sent you: IP addresses consist of four numbers separated by periods (also called a 'dotted-quad') and look something like 127.0.0.1. The strange thing is that nothing like this text comes up when googling. It sounds quite personalized. Are you sure it couldn't be from a friend or relative who's trying to invite you to Monaco for Valentine's Day? Here is a link that might be useful: IP address

Tinker_2006, I think the dissonance I'm experiencing is because of the highly patterned bedskirt. I think it's beautiful, but it seems like it calls out for an unpatterned comforter or duvet so that you get that soft, smooth lofted look contrasting with the busily patterned bedskirt. You could repeat the eyelet with trim on pillow shams. Also, I like a more decadent look that includes Euro pillows, but that's just personal preference. If I can, later I will try to find some pictures showing what I mean.