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]