Mailbox Saga

There is a lot of bittersweet stuff going on right now in Marygate life. I guess it is time to sorta lighten it up by telling the "mailbox saga". Three years ago when we moved here, we proudly put out our Rubbermaid mailbox (personally I thought it ugly but that is another story). Within the first week it was annihilated. Leo glued it back together whereupon in the ensuing rest of the year it repeatedly felt the blows of the neighborhood hoodlums.

One day, after many fixin's, our neighbor told us that he spied our mailbox about a mile down the road. The boys finally figured out it just pulled out of the ground so they gleefully carried it with them.

So, then Leo decided to get the strongest mailbox we could legally get. (You know where this is headed don't ya?) It was so heavy I had trouble carrying it anywhere. The post was cast aluminum steel, the box welded to it and the whole sunk in three feet of concrete. We were so proud of that mailbox. I can't think why I didn't take a photo of it for posterity!

The first go the batboys had at it didn't yield a dent. So they unloaded as much shot at a short distance and blew all the numbers and paint off of it. Leo trudged down there and repainted it and put on new numbers. It looked just as good as when we first got it. It got a few blows in the coming months but we finally thought we'd beat them.

A month ago, we came out early one Sunday morning and found that they had taken a sledge hammer to it. So powerful were the blows or so dedicated I should say, they broke the weld and put deep dents all in the mailbox itself. It hung there forlornly in the October dawn.

SO after much counsel we decided to get a cheap mailbox and take it in every night. So for the last month Leo puts it out in the morning and picks it up when he gets home from work. This lasted for about a month.

Another Sunday morning and we walk out to find that they had used their truck to drive over the post, set in three feet of concrete mind you, until they broke it in half. Off to the store where we bought another post, this time six feet of treated 4x4 with a vinyl sleeve for looks. We dug the hole over four feet this time and prepared to pour in the concrete.

Then I had a brainy idea. Our neighbors had left some old horse drawn farm implements on our property. One was particularly heavy. Why not put the post in the middle of it? They would do heavy damage to any truck that might try to run over it.

It took ten years off my life to watch Leo maneuver the heavy, cumbersome mower onto the side of the road. But he did great job. As the mower settled we realized a tongue of metal made a perfect perch for the mailbox. So we dispense with the post. Now we are really country!

I only hope that the destruction stops. These particular boys ran over some other people's boxes and ended up doing significant damage to their truck. They were discovered so I hope that they can do something constructive with their lives! It is a shame when fun is so destructive of time and money.

I have put a picture of our mailbox b/c it is so funny!