Hello ferrety friends --

Kimberley (of <<Hooray!!!> PINGFORD'S PORRIDGE <<!!!Hooray> ) and I
thought you might like to hear this story.

I use Pingfor's Porridge here in Ethioia. The quality is great, and
becasue it is concentrated, it is a fine value, and is easier to deal
with the shipping (fr US to Ethiopia, where my ferts and I live) than
it wd be w kibble, etc.

Or so it had been in the past.

I made a big order many months ago, and Kimberley sent it in two parts.
The first part arrived safe and sound, and though Customs opened it up,
it passed without a problem.

But the second box just never arrived. Where could it be? Where has it
gone? What haaaaaappened to it???? And then came some bad results of
penny pimching by us on postal services. There is no mail delivery to
houses or businesses. All mail must be picked up at one of the post
offices. My friend Abeba had been using a relative's (Berhanu's) PO box
for decades to save on the annual fee. All those years in the US I had
been sending my letters to her there. I'd joined her in using the PO
box when I came here.

So one day (in March, I think) we got word that the last notice for a
package was at Berhanu's. It proved, of course, to be the Pingford's
Porridge but also that the last notice had expired. Five days before
we arrived at the PO, the porridge had been sent back to the US.
SIgh............

So I emailed Kimberley, and we waited and waited and waited for the
box to be returned.

Just last week (June, right??!?) I had given up and was abt to tell
Kimberley that the box must have been impounded or lost, when we got
another message fr Behanu -- we should come to pick up three notices
for a package -- including the last and fianal notice.

I was expecting some medicine, and assumed the notices were for it
BUT -- YES !!! the sender was identified as Kimberley. NOw, these
notices have NEVER identified the sender before. What a jolt, what
a fine surprise.

We were without a car -- our Vitara had been at the service garage for
10 days, and we live out close to the country at the city's edge. It's
the rainy season. Is a long walk to a bus in store for Abeba and me?
Never mind, we must be quick!!

But, yipee a wealthy friend with a driver and a big 4-wheeler helped
us out. In style we were driven around the city. First to the main
PO where we'd picked up the first box -- but, nope, we had to go to
another location. OK, the Immigraion offfice is right next door --
we'll go pick up my renewed residence permit. Omigod, problems
there -- first to one office thenanother, with a total of 6 stops and
lots of paperwork and mostly friendly people before, YES!, my green
card was in my hands.

Then off to the other PO office -- lunch time was almost over when we
got there. We stayed in line till the woman was ready. Then all sorts
of paperwork and signing, plus a lecture on having left the package
so long in storage (and a storage fee). And then we bore it away in
triumph and were driven home. We thanked the driver, Nahome, went
inside, opened our box (this time untouched by customs) and rejoiced.
There were many silver packets and a large ziplock, all filled w
porridge and ready for us to divide into little bags and freeze.

Inside the box also was a T-shirt designed by DEVA for Kimberley. I
put it right on and it fit perfectly. It shows a ferret praying for
PingsfordPorridge.com supplies! Very cute and nice colors -- teal
brown, black, white, etc.

We left the opened box on top of our freezer (where we store all the
animal food except the cat kibble) and started to have lunch -- quite
a late one. Then a commotion -- WOW Alula, our #7 cat, had broken into
the big ziplock of the red version of the Pingford's and was devouring
it. Alula was routed, the porridge safely covered over, and we finished
our lunch!

Meanwhile, last month, we got our own PO box for future shipments and
all other mail.

Now that I have plenty of porridge on hand, I plan to phase out the cat
kibble that the ferrets are getting along with their soup. BUT WHAT DO
YOU ALL THINK ABOUT FEEDING SOUP ALONE -- WILL THE FERTIES' TEETH ROT
AWAY WITH NOTHING TO SCRAPE OFF THE SOUP?

[Posted in FML 6740]