At 4:33PM CST I called the postal station to see if the carrier had returned. He had! And the office was open until 5:00PM!!! I was out the door at 4:37 PM and arrived at the station at 4:51 PM. Long line of course. What were all those people doing, getting in my way and actually mailing things, while all I had to do was pick up?
Anyway, Miles will spend the night in a warm, lighted apartment, instead of a cold dark box!!! And tomorrow he will get his picture taken with my grandma. I’ll offer him some cake, but is he on a diet?
Miles had a good time at the birthday party. He did indeed turn down the cake, saying he had to watch his weight to fit into his tux. My grandmother enjoyed having her picture taken with Miles, and he entertained a couple of great-grandchildren that were at the party. Plans for tomorrow include birdwatching, it’s the annual Audobon Society birdcout!
Miles did a community service thing today. He participated in the annual Audobon Society Christmas Bird Count. Had his own pair of binoculars and everything. Pictures were taken of course. Since he didn’t have any winter clothing he had to go out in his tux, but I’m making him a scarf, and a Santa hat. If I can find a pattern he’ll get a coat and boots to go with the hat. Miles needs a bigger wardrobe.
Tomorrow Miles will go with me when I teach my Sunday School class. Who do you think will be more entertained, the monkey or the 2nd and 3rd graders?
He definitely does!! I wanted to buy him some more outfits, but he already cost me like 60 bucks and I couldn’t afford anymore than that at the time.
They had so many cool outfits. I was like "Ooooh he can wear this if he goes by a beach, and this one for winter, this one for rain, this one for when he visits Tripler in Iraq… etc.
But I only had money for one outfit, so I decided on the tux. I’m trying to encourage everyone to get him an outfit appropriate for his surroundings, but I also realize it’s not in everyone’s budget. Shipping him has got to cost a bunch already. Especially you guys mailing him International! I don’t know what that costs, but I’m sure it’s a ton, and I really appreciate it!!!
If any of the more affluent dopers would like, you can leave some money in his box to help out the people who mail him overseas and stuff. I think he’s going to harmless next, and I’d like him to go to Australia after that.
… Anyway, if anyone has the extra time and money, you can go to a Build-a-Bear Workshop or similar teddy bear building place and they’ll have a ton of clothes that will fit Miles.
Thanks again everyone!! This tour is turning out great!!! I want to keep him going a long, long time!!! I want him to visit at the very least, every continent. Well, maybe not Antartica.
Please encourage any international dopers you know well, and get them to participate. I know we have some great guys in China, Columbia, Saudi Arabia, Japan (i think), Holland, a shit load in the UK, etc. Anyone in Africa or Central America?
Also, harmless, can you email me? I need to be absolutely sure of his next address.
Miles will at least have a hat and scarf when he leaves me, hopefully a coat and shoes/boots as well.
Looking at the small souvenirs Miles has accumulated has got me to thinking. Shouldn’t they be sent home to Bear Nenno every few visits or so? Just in case there was another accident in the mail. Especially the pictures. I may photocopy his journal, up to the time it leaves me, as well.
Also, yes, any large items you’d like Miles to have can be sent to his home address. You may also send any CDs or rolls of film or misc stuff like that here. No need to keep those in the box. But clothes and pins and stuff I would like him to keep throughout his world tour. So keep those in the box with him.
After Miles leaves me he will travel to Florida, to visit harmless, who he was headed for when he got lost I discussed mailing Miles with** harmless**, because the earliest Miles could go in the **US Snail ** would be December 27th, because the 26th is a Sunday. Neither of us are sure he could arrive by New Year’s Eve, and he isn’t supposed to spend holidays in a box.
I don’t want to be greedy with his time, so I’ll ask other Dopers, in particular** Bear Nenno**, what they think I should do in this case. If you all think he should go on right after Christmas then go he will.
But who wants to spend New Year’s Eve in a box? It’s also my 50th birthday, at which I’m not looking forward to!
BTW, Miles didn’t disrupt my Sunday School class yesterday. The kids(2nd and 3rd graders) loved him, and wanted to carry him along to practice for the Christmas pageant, but they were already too wired so I said there weren’t any monkeys at the Nativity!
Please find out, and let me know what UPS would charge for Next Day or even 2 Day shipping.
2)Check the queue for any other Kansas addresses.
3)What are you New Year’s plans in Topeka? Will you be attending a huge fireworks activity? Or something small and familyish.
Best case scenario:
If we could find a Doper who is wanting and willing to receive Miles on New Years,
and
Willing to pay for 2 Day Air from UPS,
and
Planning to be downtown in a large city to attend the fireworks display.
Then that would just rock! And then he could go to harmless after that.
That’s just what I’m thinking. I’m always easy and open for input. I’d like to get the word out to find a Doper that might want to do this. It would almost require it’s own thread. I don’t know if that would piss off the moderators or not.
I think it’s a different enough subject that it should be fine.
Will someone who’s friendly with the mods find out if a seperate thread in search of a New Year’s Eve host who fits the above parameters would be ok?
If not, we’ll just talk about the first 3 options…
If there is a nearby Doper in Kansas, possibly Missouri, I know some of the KC Dopers, then I’ll be more than happy to send him on, and pay for the postage. I don’t want to hog Miles. I think harmless will be cool with that too, as we did discuss it by email. I’m going to check the address labels in the box, and see what I come up with. Bear, can you let me know if you find someone first?
I met Miles yesterday at Baker’s house! She graciously invited me and the kids over for some fresh homemande mulberry muffins, and even gave each of them a stocking stuffed with chocolates and toys!
There’s gotta be something we can do with him around here. We need to brainstorm.
As I told Bear Nenno in an email, my only regret at not having Miles on New Year’s Eve would be that I’d been planning on a picture of Miles “partying naked”, with a wine bottle in either paw!
And after he’d been such a good boy in Sunday School!
harmless, Miles will go out to you tomorrow morning, probably UPS, as that will be a more convenient option for me than FedEx, and Bear Nenno advised me not to us the US postal system if I wanted guaranteed delivery by New Year’s Eve.
Miles now sports two new pins on his vest. One is a meadowlark, the state bird of Kansas. The other has the official state seal, which is also on our flag. He will have four postcards, an example of Sunday school artwork, and a Santa hat. I crocheted the latter myself, and he will also have mittens and a neck scarf. I know his next stop is with harmless in Florida, but it’s been chilly here in Kansas.
As for all Mile’s other paraphenalia in his box, I’ll send most of it on, but just in case he ever gets lost again I thought I’d take out the photo CD’s and send them directly on to Bear Nenno. I won’t have my pictures of Miles developed yet, so I could put them in a package all together.
With all the goodies Miles is accumulating, sooner or later the package is going to get heavier, so maybe some of it can be sent back to Bear. What does anybody think about that?
I’m really going to hate to let him go. It’s been a lot of fun, sniff! I sure hope he has a good time in Florida for New Year’s!!!
Yeah, when it starts bulking up, just send the stuff along to his (my) home address. In fact, any photo CDs and such can be sent straight to me at any time. I’ll make sure they get posted on his Picture Site that Matt set up (If they haven’t already been posted on there)
Thanks for taking such great care of him. And I’m glad you had so much fun!!
In case** harmless** sees this thread before the email that I sent:
I ended up sending Miles through the USPS after all, because when I called the UPS outlet the guy sounded so dumb I wouldn’t trust them either. Details are in the email.
But the USPS folks sounded on the ball. Sending Miles first class would mean he would be supposed to arrive no later than Thursday, but that still made me worry, so I splurged and sent him Priority Mail. If they perform as promised you should have Miles tomorrow!
And I do think Miles drinks, so can you ask him to raise a glass of champagne to me on my birthday, New Year’s Eve?
I wasn’t aware the USPS claimed to get anything to a destination by a certain time. I thought all their things were like “2-3 Days” or “5-7 Days” or whatever.
… just as long as it gets there, we’re all happy!!!
Next, we need to start getting ahold of whomever the Doper on the list in Australia is!!! Let’s get Miles Down Unda!!
j/k
