Another One Bites The Dust

We've had our share of mail woes since we moved into this house about four and a half years ago.

Let's recap, shall we?

Mailbox #1: Newman broke the door so it would barely stay closed. Then it was run over by a three-year-old. New post and mailbox. The pretty, expensive kind that matched all the others on our street.

Mailbox #2: About a week after the shiny new post and mailbox was installed, the flag was broken off by an unknown assailant. And then not too long after the flag went down (literally), Newman proceeded to break the door completely off. New mailbox.

Mailbox #3: This time, I bought the cheapest mailbox I could find at Lowe's and mounted it on our pretty, expensive post.

And since the cheap-o mailbox went up, things have been pretty ok. I mean, besides not getting our mail/getting other people's mail. Newman even recently made a ginormous stride in the right direction by bringing a package to the door. I know, right?

Back to our story...

As is our custom, when C got up from his nap on Saturday, he and I went outside to get the mail. And I immediately knew we didn't get any mail that day.

Because this is what I saw.

Now, since Orange Truck People moved long ago, I'm pretty certain it wasn't a three-year-old this time.

Unfortunately, whoever hit our mailbox this time wasn't responsible (or sober) enough to own up to it.

We suspect it was one of Party People's usually not-so-sober partying friends, but there's really no way to prove it, and we were even told such by the police department when I called to see if it would do any good to file a report.

This was no love tap, either. When OTK #2 rolled the truck down the hill and hit our mailbox, it broke. But it wasn't the victim of a violent collision. This poor mailbox took quite a blow. We're talking a full-on hit and run.

Now, since this will be our third post and fourth mailbox in the four and a half years we've lived in this house, I was really tempted to do it up nicely. You know, something made from concrete or possibly surrounded by giant boulders or land mines.

Instead, I purchased a $30 mailbox kit at Wal-Mart, which usually has everything a person could ever want. But the problem is that you have to actually dig a hole and put concrete in it.

That's no good - for many reasons, but the main one being that when our house was constructed, the guys who poured the curb and sidewalk were a little sloppy with the concrete and there is only a thin layer of dirt and grass covering large amounts of cement in the general mailbox area.

So since Husband's not the "handy" type and I'm not the "hard labor" type, we decided to find another alternative.

Since we'd been without mail for several days, we decided enough was enough. Last night C, Husband and I made a trip to Lowe's. And bless the poor guys who work the hardware section, we wore them out. They helped us find a post, mailbox, and all the little hardware stuff we needed to install everything.

We came away with quite possibly the ugliest mailbox setup known to man. But at this point, I don't really care.

Today, Husband and his friend G (who is the handy type) borrowed some tools and began the installation process.

While they were out working on the post, Newman was making his rounds. He actually handed the mail to Husband. You don't even know.

They told Newman our mailbox had been hit yet again and we'd have the new one up by tomorrow. Newman's comment: "There'll be more. Get used to it."

Great. Just what I needed to hear.