At 01:45 PM 4/4/01 -0500, DW wrote:

>One way that _some_ water gets into boxes, and certainly enough to cause
>unbagged paper to get squiggy and metal rings or staples to rust is through
>condensation of atmospheric moisture.

I've taken to putting silica gel packets in some of my letterboxes in hopes of keeping water vapor out of the air. I don't know yet if it helps, but it should. I know the gel has a limited useful life, so I intend to replace the packets each time I visit a box. We have a computer assembly operation here at work and most boxes come with silica gel packets in them. I have the packets saved for me, rather than getting tossed.

My Montana letterboxes are bearproof ammo cans, but my Indiana and California boxes are Rubbermaid. I put black nylon straps around all of the Rubbermaids to keep the lids on.

I actually drilled a tiny vent hole under the rim of the Anza-Borrego (Calif.) box. It's in a desert setting and I was concerned that the huge range of day-to-night temperature variation would blow the lid open despite the straps. I'm thinking now that I'll regret doing that, especially because I didn't put much, if anything, in Zip-Locs.

If any So. Cal. area letterboxers are headed that way, drop me a line. I'd like to negotiate getting some help from you. ...We have an excellent little Chocolatier here in town, for example.

Thanks,

-Mark (in Montana)