Judy is the bomb!! **big smile** (((HUGZ))) you can go to sams club if you have one near by and buy a box of them that's what i did, its much cheaper! LOL, then after you start trading, save your envi's, you won't have to buy anymore! trust me on tht! i had a whole huge kitchen trash bag full of them!! LOL one time i had two of them full!! i thought i'd need them, so i saved them (i wasn't trading for a bit) LOL ya, i ended up throwing them away, hubs said throw them away!!!! man, he was furious!! LOL so save them! they may look alittle used, but they are reusuable, i used aknife to open mine, LOL and i sometimes either used scotch tape or stapled them shut, as for the baggies, i use walmart little baggies (100/99 cents in the hobbies) and i made some using the method they showed, and pumkingal? she had a whole page on how to make them and so did quiltingfox. its very economical! LOL especially if you get lots of magazines! LOL

What you may be missing is that nothing should be followed to the letter. In WS or life for that matter IMHO. The purpose of following the instructions you posted was to see how you method worked. Following them "to the letter", is what anyone else would have done to give it a try the first time. After trying the method the first time following the instructions you posted, would be the time to make any changes that would improve the method as a whole or for an individual person. In this particular method of packing up seeds, there is nothing to improve on as it isn't one that is going to work, IMHO and experience. "You changed the conditions by using tape. Would that be an absolute? Was it even mentioned? Would some other kind of tape be a better choice? (if it were needed at all)" Yes, I added the tape that was not mentioned. and yes it is an absolute to need the tape. For bubble envelopes to go through the post office at the large envelope rate, there are certain requirements to meet. One of them is for them to be uniform in thickness and slightly bendable. The straws, once placed in the bubble envelope moved around. If there where more than 3 in the envelope, they moved around when the envelope was moved into different positions, bunched up at one end and the bubble envelope was no longer uniform in thickness. Mailing it this way, without the tape would end up having the bubble envelope cost more, go as parcel rate and if you tried to send it as first class, there wouldn't be enough postage on the envelope. The tape used, scotch magic tape, was and is the best tape to use to hold down anything and the easiest to remove from anything. "You said the seeds stuck in the straws. Were they 100% dry going in? Were the straws 100% dry? Any moisture in the seed would cause problems no matter what method you use to package them." Oh yes, my seeds are as dry as you can get and have been stored in paper coin envelopes made from scrap paper for months. Tiny seeds couldn't be any dryer either and they are stored in plastic prescription medicine bottles from the local pharmacy. None of the seeds stick to the inside of the bottles. The seeds are stored inside a house with forced hot air heat, can't get any dryer than that, and heat that has been running since mid October daily. The straws couldn't have been any dryer either. In newly purchased boxes that where never opened till Sunday and been in the house, in the dry heat for almost 3 months. The issue of the seeds stuck in the straws is not an issue of how dry the seeds are or not, or how dry the straws are or not. The issue with the straws is the same as with the ziplock baggies, static electricity that holds onto and all but cements the small and tiny seeds to them. The don't come out without shredding the baggie or flushing he seeds out of the straws. OR, you just give up and toss some of the seeds out. "Constant, steady, heavy pressure on the packets for extended periods of time? "I dont believe that this is, in any way, an accurate recreation of real world conditions trades may encounter as they traveled thru the postal system." This was a perfect recreation of the abuse that our mail gets going through the postal system. From what my letter carrier has described to me at various points in time, our flat mail, first class mail, bubble envelopes get tossed around as if they where balls, have heavy packages placed on top of them and get tortured through the postal system before being given to the local letter carrier for delivery. This is one of the many reasons that bubble envelopes need to be used to ensure the safest way of transporting seeds from one location to another. If I had young children in my home which I don't, my children are all grown adults in their mid twenties an early thirties, I would have had them playing catch with the bubble envelopes for an hour to simulate the abuse they would receive going through the postal system. "As far as time, cutting, and folding, and taping and writing and sealing seems it would be a little more time consuming than using a stapler." Though I don't find it time consuming, it is much easier than using the pressure of staples and worrying about the seeds getting stuck in the straws, caused by static electricity, which is the same thing that happens when using the ziplock baggies, especially when putting small and tiny seeds in them. I do my best to reduce my plastic consumption as well. The gallon ziploc bags I use to cover my containers for WS, all get dried in the sun, packed up and reused till they can't be reused again. Usually at least 2 WS seasons and sometimes more. The same with the glad press and seal that I use for WS as well. Printer paper is a non issue in my house as well, the printer is well used and going at least 3 times a week for various things and hubby's work. I print out at least 800 packets in less than 2 hours during the summer months and know what my gardens will produce in seeds, so the cutting, folding, labeling is done long before the seeds are collected. And yes, if the printer is not used once a week, you damage the printer heads, clog them up and need new ones. May as well be printing out seed packets to keep the printer heads running. Fran

And in daylight with a few more pillows added (still trading them out to find the right combo, and haven't yet put pillows in the green shams). Verdict - country? ;) (DH, who NEVER has an opinion came in and said, "Oh, I really like that blanket thing." Then again, he knew I was annoyed @ him so he may have thought that sn opinion on "decorating stuff" would buy him brownie points)

No, not fond of Reader's Digest....except when I am in the doctor's office and that is all they have to read. BTW, since we're on this subject, when I broke my left wrist, I found out that it makes a difference what hand you become accustomed to using to....uh...take care of business. I am right handed, but when I was less than five years old, I had two very serious injuries to my right hand. I had a 3rd degree burn and later, a gunshot wound with a .38. So, many of the things that little kids learn then, I learned to do with my left hand, and continued to use my left hand. For example, I learned to use scissors with my left hand. And bathroom duties, left hand. I couldn't believe how hard it was to use my right hand to do that. Does it make a difference to most people what hand you use...or are you ambidextrous when it comes to using the toilet paper???