Page 22 RAIN October 1976 RAINDROPS: Hello again, or hello for the first time if you're a new reader. If you subscribed during the summer, this issue of RAIN is likely to be the first you've received. In case any of you were worried and felt forgotten, you weren't. We do ten issues a year, October through July, roughly, and so we haven't issued a new RAIN since Vol. II, No. 10, in July. But we are back again on paper ·,and in your hand. We all kept busy over the summer, including lots of trips, work on the Rainbook of Changes and on RAIN Papers on insulating shutters and solar/ water heater workshops, various consulting jobs, devising a subscription renewal process, etc., etc.... Along the way we had hours of useful help from Cathy Macdonald, a Portlander on summer vacation from Humboldt State College in Arcata, CA. She called one day and offered to help. She impressed us with her quick learning and personal ease in our sometimes confusing RAINworld. She's back in Arcata now, and we hope to see more of her in the future. Sunset Western G,1rden Book, 1973, $5.95 from: Lane Publishing Co. Willow & Middlefield Roads Menlo Park, CA 9402 5 Outstanding basic resource for any laridscaping for the western U.S. Climate zones, plant selection guide for a wide variety of special situations and a western plant encyclopedia covering more than 5000 plants. Highly useful, and should be emulated for other regions. , Another Sunset book, Low Maintenance Gardening, 1974, $2.45, covers selection of low maintenance plants and their care for many Climates and situations., Our first 500 subscribers came up for renewal during the summer and . were sent letters at the end of August. Of these, about 100 have renewed ·so far, and with new subscribers added in, we now have .a total of about 1200. ·· paid subscribers. If your subscription is expiring, a notice ·will b.e stamped on · ·· your copy of RAIN, and you'll be sent . a letter. The letter will say which issu~ is yourlast. We'd like to keep there~ newal process simple and don't plan to send more than these two notices. · We'd appreciate your help in renewing promptly (even before you get a notice if you like) or saying you're not interested. If you'd like back.issues, you can . order any we have available by using the blank on page 23. If you're a subscriber who missed any issues because you moved w,ithout notifying us, you · too need to order them by the same . process (see "Moving Soon? box). Be- . fore you order any, though, read about our Rainbook, page 23. . When we raised our prices in May, we eliminated the "institutional" subscription, which provided for 3 copies of each issue. If you would like multiple copie.s to the same address ea'ch month, write and ask about special rates. If you write to us at RAIN and don't want your letter printed as it stands, ,please say so. We don't print all letters, but if one is pertinent to a topic, we'd like folks to see it. And if you write to anyone we mention in RAIN and want an answer, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE is the usual ab- · breviation, and it's an important part of a RAIN reader's vocabulary). (AM) '· Freedom of Informatio~ ·Clearinghouse P.O. Box 19367 Washington, DC 20036 Write for their report on the Freedom of Information Act-what it is and how to use it. There's an incredible amount of useful information hoarded in the federal vaults, and the FIA is a great burglary tool for prying it out. It's also useful to find out who's been snooping on you and what they kn,ow, and to see -how well the government has been doing its job. (TB) Moving S~on? .or Moved Rec.eiidy? When a subscriber moves, it costs us. about 50¢ to change our three·sets ·of file ~ards (alphabetical, zip code and · expiration date order, in case you.·· wondered). That's an inevitable cost of maintaining a current mailing list. But ·when a subscriber depends on the . Post Office to notify us of an address . change,.we pay them 25¢ for .the notification (even if it's only "moved, left no address"). And the PO usually returns the unread copy of RAIN to us: It would then cost us another· .13-24¢ postage to remail it. So we' ask that if you want any issues yoq missed by moving,' please be willing to order them and pay a dollar each. . And if at all.possible, let us know before you move so we can avoid . your missing them in the first place. .. Making friends with your mailman . also helps. . . .RAIN's office is at 2270 N.W. Irving, Portland, OR 97210. Phone (503) 22 7-5110. See page 24 for subscription info. RAIN Staff Tom B~nder Steve Johnson Rhoda Epstein Marcia Johnson Lee johnson Lane deMdll Anne McLaughlin Typesetting: Irish Setter Printing: Times Litho Thanks to:Cathy Macdonald
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