I've heard stories...

[34FieroGT]

Normally I wouldn't post this kind of thing, but Gary has asked for more 'useless' posts, so I figured that I'd oblige.     I was home sick today, strep throat, and clearing the driveway.  My wife wouldn't be able to do it, and my son is still too young to have chores.  Got down to the end of the driveway and saw this:




I was already in a foul mood, having to clear the driveway while under the weather, and this didn't help.  To put it blunty, I was P****ED!  I had heard stories of this happening, but just considered them only that, stories.  Called the township and they gave me the number of the snowplow supervisor.  About ten minutes after calling him, he showed up to take a look.  Things get a little better here:  he's going to send a crew out this evening to put a new post in.  This I want to see.  The earth at the side of the road is hard enough to dig when it's not frozen.  Anyways, they've got the benefit of the doubt right now.  If my mailbox is not back up by tomorrow afternoon, the township will be getting another call.

Oh yeah, my afternoon got better still.  The snowblower broke after I finished about 3/4 of the driveway.  The rod that pulls the pulley to put tension on the drive belt snapped.  Bad things come in threes, and that's two so far.  Who wants to guess what will be next?   

[MacPhail]

All I know is that I don't want to be around you when #3 eventually happens.   

Hope you're feeling better soon.

Cheers, Derek

[FieroBUZZ]

ROFL!     Country living.

Use an old Fiero rim and a steel pipe upright.  You can set it on the ground and just tip it up if they knock it over.  Or you can put a concrete base and bolt the rim down.

Now they know you're a wuss, it'll be knock Tyler's mailbox down season.   

I watched some kids (from upstairs) take a swing at mine from a pickup truck.  Truck screeches to a halt past the next house after a huge BANG! Seems the guy missed the box and whacked the side of the truck.  Hope it was daddy's ride!       Lots of swearing involved.  Box was fine.

[MacPhail]

Maybe I'll take a spin out that way and knock it down myself.   

Cheers, Derek

[dguy]

Called the township and they gave me the number of the snowplow supervisor.  About ten minutes after calling him, he showed up to take a look.  Things get a little better here:  he's going to send a crew out this evening to put a new post in.

Consider yourself lucky.  Not only does Beckwith state right up front that their snow plow operators won't be held responsible for rural mail box damage, but they double back and expect the owner of any mailbox which damages snow removal equipment, to pay up.   

To their credit though, we've only ever had one mailbox amputation over the course of 9 years or so out here.  ...and that one hit, was in the middle of summer.   



...as for countering the ol' mailbox baseball game, here's a fun defence to run.  Take one oversized mail box, and one normal one.  Normal box goes inside the big one, fill the intermediate gap with concrete.  Mount that sucker securely to a good post, and the baseball players will only ever come back for one more inning.   


Get well, Tyler.

[34FieroGT]

Don, how is that right?  You have a stationary post, a snowplow hits it, yet you're responsible?  Doesn't make any sense...

Anyways, the township showed a up a day late, but they didn't resink the mailbox post.  They drove in a metal angle bracket and nailed the original mailbox post to it.  The mailbox is back up, but it's none too stable.  I'm seriously considering sinking a 12" sona tube in the spring and filling it with concrete to mount the mailbox to.

As for the third thing:  My Jetta pumped out all it's coolant half way into work a couple of weeks ago.   Long story short, after a couple of weeks of troubleshooting (I don't have much time to work on it right now), the only possible cause left is the headgasket.   

[dguy]

Don, how is that right?  You have a stationary post, a snowplow hits it, yet you're responsible?  Doesn't make any sense...

It doesn't make any sense to me, either.   

I've never gone to the trouble to verify it against any local bylaws, but it's usually mentioned when the fall edition of a local newsletter comes out.


Sorry to hear about the Jetta.  Any room in the garage to pick at it, or is it still full of Fieros?

[can machine]

A friend of my dad's had a problem with someone running over there mail box with a big 4X4 with a brush guard. It happen three times. So he burried a 8" diameter steel post about 4 feet in the ground. Then he covered the pipe with a hollowed out tree, so people would think it was wood. He found a puddle of coolant and a bunch plastic bits all around his slightly bent mailbox one morning.

[Kitten]

A friend of my dad's had a problem with someone running over there mail box with a big 4X4 with a brush guard. It happen three times. So he burried a 8" diameter steel post about 4 feet in the ground. Then he covered the pipe with a hollowed out tree, so people would think it was wood. He found a puddle of coolant and a bunch plastic bits all around his slightly bent mailbox one morning.

hehehehe.... nice