Friday the 13th on Monday?

Everything seemed normal when I woke up and then got ready for work. It wasn’t until I was pulling out of the driveway that I realized somebody had hit my mailbox during the night! That is the third time since I moved here!!

My neighbor, Rick had put the post in when somebody creamed the existing one when I was in the hospital, if you remember.

The door was broken off and lying in the road. I looked for (well, hoped for - they must pay!) a broken mirror or paint or something that would indicate whoever hit it had damaged their vehicle, but no, nothing…

Click on this to see where the door ended up!

This poor plastic mailbox was here when I bought the house!

The weather matched my mood. It was chilly and overcast and looked like rain (or snow) for most of the day, although none was predicted.

Then, when I was at work, my co-worker Fred asked me if I’d heard about the coming construction. Naturally, I hadn’t. It seems that, come January, they are going to completely shut down I-96, from Newburgh (just past where I work) to Telegraph (two miles past where I live) for a YEAR!!! They are going to redo all the entrances and exits, the bridges and the surface of I-96 itself.

Now, you might think (as I did briefly) that I could just take Plymouth Road home, since I drive that way into to work every morning (I’m in no hurry to get to work, but want to get home fast!) BUT, it’s estimated that 100,000 vehicles travel I-96 every day, and they are going to detour them onto either side of the closed freeway, which means 5-Mile, heading west, and Plymouth Road, heading east!

Holy Crap!

Anyway, I went to Home Depot at lunch and bought a new mailbox. The post was still standing, although its twisted a bit, BTW. So, I bought a cedar wood one (well, the cedar is covering a steel mailbox). It was just funky enough for me, plus it smelled fantastic! I’ll take it!!!

I didn’t want to mess up the look by putting decals of my address on it (like I did on the original, plastic one) so I bought some small, black aluminum numbers to put on the post. I also bought two red reflectors to screw onto the post. I am not sure if that will warn the assholes of its existence, or just give them a better target.

Once at home, I unloaded everything, went inside, treated the cats and warmed up some clam chowder for my lunch. Then I headed back to work.

After work, I got home, took out the trashcan, treated the cats again and changed clothes. I headed outside to remove the old, original mailbox.   I got it off and the wood base it was screwed to seemed solid. Note: I tried to twist the post back so it was square to the road, but I couldn’t budge it. It’s not right, but I suppose its not that bad… Sigh…

I took the new one out of the box and realized I had to attach the flag and flag base to it. So, I did that. Then I screwed it onto the existing wood base. That wasn’t as easy as it sounds as the cedar covers the screw holes in the steel box.

It didn’t feel secure enough, so I put two screws on an angle inside. That ripped up some steel, so I took a small hammer and pounded down the metal, then took a flat file to it. (I really wish I hadn’t tried that…)

The reflectors had holes for screws and a self-stick back, so I used both. Then I put my street number (on the side the mail carrier comes from) on the post. They were black aluminum with only two small black nails in each packet.

Naturally, I dropped one into the Shasta daisies! Good luck finding that one! So, I used one of the almond nails I bought for the rubber seal on the shed door. It was the only nail I had that was small enough but still had a head. After I had them all put up, I went and got a magic marker to blacken the head of the one nail.

That ripped up metal on the inside bottom bothered me, although I did smooth it out some. So, I measured the inside and cut some of that foam shelf liner I used in the kitchen. I held it down in place in the front with double stick tape (it has a “grip” bottom that works great on wood, but not so much on slippery steel).

Finally, I carefully peeled off that bar code the mailman scans when he gets to my box. I stuck it back on the inside of the lid for him. He can change it if he wants.

All in all, it looks okay. I’m not thrilled with the flag, but understand why they had to stick it out there like that. And, it does smell fantastic, like your Grandma’s closet or something.

I went inside and it was almost 8:00 p.m.! So much for everything else I wanted to do tonight. Instead, I warmed up two slices of meatloaf, the other half of the baked potato and, this time, some of the cauliflower. It was really too much to eat that late at night, but it was good.

I watched one taped show and then went to bed, before anything else bad happened.