Thanks, Danny, for all your wonderful suggestions. Your dealer must really love you! Not only do you purchase a lot from them, but you treat them royally. Don't tell me that, in addition to all your other talents, you also bake your own cookies?!

After I posted this entry, I went to HL's dealer listings and was even more dismayed to find that my backup dealers are gone, too. (I have not purchased a lot in recent years - have been on the hunt for some of the older LE's.) My very first dealer was within five miles of home (and on the way to and from work). Needless to say, I was always hanging around there - never left without putting something on layaway. It was like losing a very dear friend when the owners retired and closed the shop. I continued to buy from their daughter who was about 22 miles from me (she's the one who is closing shop now) and also developed a good rapport with a dealer 34 miles from home - would place my orders by phone and pick them up when I finished paying on the layaways (that one is no longer listed). There was a dealer about 10 miles from me but they didn't care much for H.L. and finally discontinued the line. Luckily, the listing showed a shop which is only about 15 miles away, so I am going to check it out. I am very familiar with their name - it is a very old store so will probably continue to be around for a while - whether they will continue to carry H.L. is another matter. There are several shops closer to me but they only carry the little lights. Everything else is just too far for me to go. I have a real foreboding that we have a trend here. I guess it's time to place a call to H.L. - see if I can get a feel for what is happening. I may have to take you up on your offer, Danny - very generous gesture on your part. It would be great to have a real connoisseur check the lighthouses for me prior to shipment - in case I need to do this, do they have a layaway plan?

I, too, get very discouraged when a whole "four seasons" series is issued. It's almost as if there are not enough lighthouses around!