Sunday, September 7, 2008

How to beat the Mailbox Mashers

Rural life comes with certain hazards. When I first moved to the farm I had a fondness for cutsie mailboxes. I hand painted the letters, I had one with cows painted on it. These snazzy mailboxes are like a magnet to those delinquent road-trippin' juveniles with a whole lotta pent up anger and frustration....or maybeeee...they're just bored. They will spend an evening cruising back roads, one guy drives...the other guy holds a baseball bat and takes a swing at mail boxes - I think they get points or something...maybe the dude that picks off the most mailboxes gets a case of beer, who knows.
My days of cool mailboxes are definitely over. I get the cheapies and wait 'til they are completely demolished before I put up the new one.
The Husband came up with this groovy idea. The mailbox sits on a post, he added this second post the the side of that one...making sure that it supports the side of the mailbox as well. Any bat-bearing juvenile delinquent that wants to take a swing at the mailbox is going to have one heck of a sore arm if he makes contact with the post, there is just no way the mailbox is going to go flying off the post if it gets smacked.
It's been a few years since I've had to buy a new mailbox...this one looks pretty tired but it sure beats having to fish the mailbox out of the ditch!
Wasn't that a great idea?
This post was inspired by Robert who is hosting a photo challenge this week...yup, another photo challenge. Hey man, I like 'em. The name of the challenge is "Show Me"...today is the mailbox, I think tomorrow is the kitchen.
Uh oh, does that mean I have to clean it?

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh your husband had a great idea. If ours gets smashed. which our area is prone to that... I will def steal your idea!

Rebecca (Ramblings by Reba) said...

That's a fairly brilliant idea... :)

Dr.John said...

Poor old box but a great idea to protect it and a good picture. In the town I used to live rural mailboxes got shot up.

Carletta said...

Rural life indeed - I didn't shoot that side of mine. :)

You have great angles on these!
I'm glad you're joining in!!!!!

Anndi said...

The Husband is quite handy and ingenious!

Anonymous said...

That was a great idea. Long live the mailbox! Now, if you make an H and set the mailbox in the middle, you can probably go back to painting them fancy. However, the post office just made my sister take down her fancily painted mailbox because it wasn't one of the approved mailbox colors.

Dianne - Bunny Trails said...

We're in the same boat at our house. At the end of my post is a picture of our previously smashed mailbox.

Great shots. I love your husband's idea for adding the extra post.

You can see mine here

Gattina said...

That's crazy ! Fortunately nobody has such ideas here, but I have to say that mailboxes are usually incorporated in the entrance door. Mine is quite unusual !

Robert said...

This is the second such story I read about this. GRRRRRR. That is no fun to have that happen. But I'm glad you're participating and are enjoying this.

Robin said...

Swatting mailboxes with a baseball bat doesn't seem like my idea of fun either, but hey, what do I know...

Glad you finally found a solution that works.

Anonymous said...

A good idea, that second post. Now that it's up why don't you give art one more try...this time do something that makes the dent part of the picture...like a valley... or better yet, some sort of "ouch".

Dianne said...

that is a great idea!!

I'll never understand how destroying things is fun.

I was a pretty wild teen but still never found any joy in hurting other people or their property.

Raven said...

Good thinking on your husband's part. Sad that kids are so bored they can't think of anything but destruction to entertain themselves.

Melli said...

You gotchu a SMORT one! And the mailbox has "character" TOO!

Lori said...

what a fantastic idea! Very smart husband. The mailbox bashing reminds me of the movie Stand By Me. OY!

Anonymous said...

Great idea! I might try a version of that for mine. I don't get teens with bats, but my snowplow guy has knocked mine off several times just backing up. When I went out one time to talk to him about it, he rolled down the window and I got such an instant waft of pot...now I know why he clips it!

J'Ollie Primitives said...

Great idea!
One of the most ingenious mailboxes I've ever seen was made from cast iron poles in the shape of a giant tuteur ~ you know, the triangle of poles for vines to grow up over ~ with the mailbox suspended in the middle by heavy-duty chains! That guy meant business!