1--The bad news is that the local postmaster who has been so helpful in the past is no longer there. He is no longer employed by the USPS....sigh 2--This AM I called about making an appointment with the person in charge. I spoke with the 'officer in charge'. When I asked his name, he gave me his first name, and would not give me his last name. Why would he have refused me that info? 3--I explained that I had several padded mailers that I had received in and they were unopened, and the customers who had sent them had been overcharged. I was wanting to bring them in, and have him (or anyone for that matter) inspect them and determine that they had indeed been overcharged. I explained that I then wanted a signed piece of paper saying that they were overcharged. He said he could not help me and gave me the telephone number of Consumer Affairs in Louisville. Well, I know from talking to someone down there a while back that there was at that time no Consumer Affairs Manager and that NO ONE was even an acting manager. gggrrrrrrrr........ 4--This week I received in a bubblie from Williamsport OH 46134 that was overcharged. It weighed .7 OZ yet was charged $1.05, which is for a 2 OZ large envelope. That means that either the clerk failed to weigh it, or else their scale needs calibration, thus is overcharging a lot of customers. I got a tel# for that PO, and when I called it, I get a non working # recording.........ggggrrrrrrr.........shot down on getting that done. 5--I was on the phone probably 30 minutes or so this AM with the USPS complaint #, getting 3 separate complaints filed. I have the confirmation numbers on all 3 of them and someone is supposed to call me back within 2 business days. Yeah right. I'm not holding my breath on that one. On the one report that was filed for overcharge, I have asked that the overcharge be sent to me. I wonder how they are going to handle that. shall I go on? Anyway, I this AM I learned about Restricted Delivery. Below is the info on that. Restricted Delivery Be sure your mail gets into the right hands. When you want your mail to reach a specific recipient, use Restricted Delivery. Sometimes, you might have private or highly classified documents that you require to be seen only by the addressee. Restricted Delivery ensures that your mail is only delivered to the person you specify, or to the person authorized in writing to sign for intended recipient. I just checked and the cost on a 13 OZ First Class Parcel, sent Certified, with Restricted Delivery signature and signed receipt of the person that accepted it being sent back to me would be less than $11. The exact amount escapes me now. What a bargain, huh, if the Parcel gets to someone who does their job? I have started to compose my letter to The Honorable John E. Potter..but will have to abandon that until I am feeling better. Postmaster General U.S. Postal Service 475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, DC 20260-0010 I also found an email address for him this AM, not that anyone would even really read any of the complaint emails and actually respond. I found the addy at the Answers.com site, so don't put much faith in it being up to date or valid. E-mail: pmgceo@usps.gov Light bulb moment. I can try taking in the overcharged envelopes, (one at a time might be best) along with an email from the member who sent them and they can authorize me to file for and collect the overcharged amount. I would think that would generate paperwork and that paperwork could then be used as additional evidence (proof) of the 2 year 9 month old problems of post offices across the US overcharging.

I'm actually going to plant next year!!. I buy all sorts of seeds and then never plant them. I hate trying to garden in NE Ohio, winter lasts too long. spring is 3 days in may or june. and by father's day drought seems to be setting in with the heat. by mid july everything is crispy and winter seems to start in september-- but you can be sure of snow before halloween, but the leaves haven't fallen yet. Ok, I exagerate, a bit. so next year i'm going to plant and actually water, to see what happens. I'm planting zinnias, zinnias and zinnias. I'm going to move my magnolia (not enough sun) i'm going to put in a korean spice viburnum, azalea viscosium, some type of an elderberry-- i think a cutleaf black one, ravenna grass, regular old joe pie weed. i'm going to dig up my failing front perrenial borders-- divide, separate, amend and lay out ina more outlandish color scheme (i'm actually going to put those bright orange poppies with dark purple iris and light blue catmint, and chartreuse alliums-- cause it works) I'm going to build proper trellises for my clematis. I'm going to plant basil, lavender, rosemary and thyme as well as dill and fennel. and I'm planting some tomatoes-- big fat juicy ones that taste like tomatoes are supposed to taste. OK everybody can email me next september and ask how it went. digger2

I know how you feel. I just saw my first visitor today. Don't give up! My neighbor keeps seeing them in the morning. I have a least one hummingbird visit my feeders. My son saw one a few days ago, and I finally saw her today!

Rosemary, you need to be on Internet Explorer and then download Smiley Central to your toolbar. This is the way it works for me...When you want to add a smilie to your post, find the one you want, click on it, and then a message will appear that says OOPS...click on #2 and then click the button to copy the HTML, I also have to click to allow access to my clipboard, then I use the Ctrl and V and click in my post to insert it. When you do your preview you should see the smilie if you did it right. Let me know if it works for you! Barb