Okay, not really.  More like postal employee bitten by kiting bug.  But I thought I'd chat about interesting Post Office stuff, since in real life I'm a city carrier at USPS.

First, do you know you need never pay more than current rates for your letters?  Since the Forever (liberty bell) stamp was issued when rates were 41 cents, stocking up on them has been one of the best bargains at the post office.  They will be good FOREVER as a first-class stamp for a one-ounce letter (approx 4 pages).

And did you know that semi-postal stamps such as the Breast Cancer Research stamp are also good for current rates even if purchased prior, and need no additional postage to use?  LOVE that - I'm not only making a donation to breast cancer research but won't need to add a cent to use them.

Now, as a carrier I can offer some self-serving tips to make both our lives easier:

- Check your mailbox with clean hands.  When food gets on your mailbox, birds, spiders and wasps are not far behind.  True fact.  If you wonder why your mailbox has these pests and your neighbors don't - hel-lo.

- Pick up your mail regularly or put it on hold.  It concerns us carriers to see mail in the boxes day after day...week after week (really).  We wonder if you are okay, or have moved.  And we have to clean out the box when it fills, hold it ten days and return it to sender.  Not good, if you are still there and want your mail eventually.

- Give us easy access to your box.  This includes cars, garbage, dogs - the whole gamut of stuff that tells us you don't care if you get mail!

- Thank you for all your kindnesses, compliments, patience, and friendships.  I love my job and it's all because of you, the public.

Micki Mommy Mailcarrier

For the annual Community Environmental Fair (CEF) on April 26, the challenge for The Sky’s The Limit! volunteers was to create kites from recycled and reusable materials.  Of necessity and curiosity, since I started making kites 4 years ago I’ve grabbed any plastic or paper around the house to fashion a kite.  So the practice isn’t foreign to me, but refining it has been more a trip than a journey! 

The Fair and kitebuilding lasted more than 4 hours and the kites were flown in a park surrounded by large buildings.  This calls for simply constructed, easily flown, lightweight kites, so I adapted some of my favorite newspaper and shopping bag kites to lighten them up.  We made nearly 200 – Old News(papers) – New Kites, Go Green with the Red White and Blue (former tablecloths) for the VFW, and My Kite’s My (shopping) Bag were this year’s choices.  Please come again next year for more ingenious kites!

The City of Pocatello is the main CEF sponsor, and local businesses, offices, and organizations such as the Greenway, recycling centers, and kids’ crafters all volunteer to help put on the Fair.  This year’s theme, GO GREEN, emphasized hands-on demonstrations, green exhibitors, live music, free green activities for kids, and entertainment throughout the day. 

The rest of the participants hope for a sunny, calm day – I hoped for and got a light breeze to fly the kites!  And we all hope for lots and lots of folks to attend every year, learn how to implement green practices into your everyday life, and have fun!

A big thanks to our volunteers Joan, Chelsea, Marie in Pocatello; JoEtta from Paul; and RJ from Boise.  Your tireless kitemaking with The Sky’s The Limit! was impressive and over the top!  Thanks also to the VFW for partnering with us again – see you in the fall at the Memorial Building for another workshop, Come Fly a Kite With a Veteran. 

Registration is now being taken at the Portneuf Library for our next workshop June 5!