Our rural-style curbside single mailbox got visited by the Mailbox
Fairy last night (AKA the $#%^=&%(^!! local teenagers...) First time
in about 10 years.

Finally finished off the redwood 4X4 that I set in concrete when I
was still in High School - it dried out and shattered at the cross-arm
dovetail cut. I patched the box back onto the stump of the old post
temporarily with 3/4" plywood, but it's time to Do It Once, and Do It
Right.

Anyone have a line on some cheap 4" extra heavy wall steel tubing
in Los Angeles? Nothing TOO heavy, I only have a Miller Challenger
MIG and oxy-acetylene with B and 50CF tanks, so the really big stuff
like railroad track and 4" bar stock is out. (Nuts.)

Unless I use Thermite... (Muahahahaha!!)

The wicked part being that I want to duplicate the silhouette of the
old post and cross-arm with brace, paint it wood brown with fake
graining so they think it's still an easy mark, put a plate-steel
rural mailbox at the top, and aim a camera at it - I could use sucker
rod or well casing for the post, but that would be far too obvious...

I should probably make some sort of break-away shear mount at the
base, with a chain so it doesn't go bouncing too far. And a twist
breakaway for the arm (preferably one rigged to let the arm swing all
the way around if smacked at speed...) Just so the lawyers for the
decedent can't say I was creating "an attractive hazard" - I believe
in the principle behind the Darwin Awards (letting fools self-cleanse
the gene pool) but for some unknown reason the District Attorney and
local Tort Lawyers do not.

Anyone seen one of the heavy plate steel "oversize" rural mailboxes
with a second inner locking door and drop slot? Haven't seen both
features on the same pre-made box, I might have to make an inner door.

After that, I have to find a big steel box suitable for making into
a package drop locker. But first things first.

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

A piece of 8" channel welded to 1/2 split 8" pipe makes a great looking
mailbox. The little buggers will vibrate all the way back to town after
hitting it. Mount it on a pivoting pipe that will swing it out of the
way if hit by a grader or snowplow. Dress it up with a redwood fscia to
conceal its true inner strength.G
Bugs

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 07:14:35 GMT, Bruce L. Bergman
wrote:

Our rural-style curbside single mailbox got visited by the Mailbox
Fairy last night (AKA the $#%^=&%(^!! local teenagers...) First time
in about 10 years.

Finally finished off the redwood 4X4 that I set in concrete when I
was still in High School - it dried out and shattered at the cross-arm
dovetail cut. I patched the box back onto the stump of the old post
temporarily with 3/4" plywood, but it's time to Do It Once, and Do It
Right.

Anyone have a line on some cheap 4" extra heavy wall steel tubing
in Los Angeles? Nothing TOO heavy, I only have a Miller Challenger
MIG and oxy-acetylene with B and 50CF tanks, so the really big stuff
like railroad track and 4" bar stock is out. (Nuts.)

Unless I use Thermite... (Muahahahaha!!)

The wicked part being that I want to duplicate the silhouette of the
old post and cross-arm with brace, paint it wood brown with fake
graining so they think it's still an easy mark, put a plate-steel
rural mailbox at the top, and aim a camera at it - I could use sucker
rod or well casing for the post, but that would be far too obvious...

I should probably make some sort of break-away shear mount at the
base, with a chain so it doesn't go bouncing too far. And a twist
breakaway for the arm (preferably one rigged to let the arm swing all
the way around if smacked at speed...) Just so the lawyers for the
decedent can't say I was creating "an attractive hazard" - I believe
in the principle behind the Darwin Awards (letting fools self-cleanse
the gene pool) but for some unknown reason the District Attorney and
local Tort Lawyers do not.

Anyone seen one of the heavy plate steel "oversize" rural mailboxes
with a second inner locking door and drop slot? Haven't seen both
features on the same pre-made box, I might have to make an inner door.

After that, I have to find a big steel box suitable for making into
a package drop locker. But first things first.

-- Bruce --

Get over to Brea often? Unicorn Metals often has 3-4" drops

Ask for Rito.

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner

Bruce L. Bergman wrote:
Our rural-style curbside single mailbox got visited by the Mailbox
Fairy last night (AKA the $#%^=&%(^!! local teenagers...) First time
in about 10 years.

Finally finished off the redwood 4X4 that I set in concrete when I
was still in High School - it dried out and shattered at the cross-arm
dovetail cut. I patched the box back onto the stump of the old post
temporarily with 3/4" plywood, but it's time to Do It Once, and Do It
Right.

Anyone have a line on some cheap 4" extra heavy wall steel tubing
in Los Angeles? Nothing TOO heavy, I only have a Miller Challenger
MIG and oxy-acetylene with B and 50CF tanks, so the really big stuff
like railroad track and 4" bar stock is out. (Nuts.)

Unless I use Thermite... (Muahahahaha!!)

The wicked part being that I want to duplicate the silhouette of the
old post and cross-arm with brace, paint it wood brown with fake
graining so they think it's still an easy mark, put a plate-steel
rural mailbox at the top, and aim a camera at it - I could use sucker
rod or well casing for the post, but that would be far too obvious...

I should probably make some sort of break-away shear mount at the
base, with a chain so it doesn't go bouncing too far. And a twist
breakaway for the arm (preferably one rigged to let the arm swing all
the way around if smacked at speed...) Just so the lawyers for the
decedent can't say I was creating "an attractive hazard" - I believe
in the principle behind the Darwin Awards (letting fools self-cleanse
the gene pool) but for some unknown reason the District Attorney and
local Tort Lawyers do not.

Anyone seen one of the heavy plate steel "oversize" rural mailboxes
with a second inner locking door and drop slot? Haven't seen both
features on the same pre-made box, I might have to make an inner door.

After that, I have to find a big steel box suitable for making into
a package drop locker. But first things first.

-- Bruce --


Ah feel your pain, Bruce!

I'm the luckyest guy in the world with respect to curbside mailbox
placement as mine is located inches downroad of a telephone pole at the
end of our driveway, and only a couple of inches of box sticks out past
the pole towards the street. The swines would have to stop their vehicle
and get out of it to have much of a chance of even whacking the box
with a baseball bat.

It's been unscathed by vandals for the 20 years we've lived here. Others
on the street haven't been so lucky.

Well, it did get knocked down once about ten years ago, but that was by
SWMBO while she was backing out of the driveway and strayed too far to
one side. The "toldjaso points" I got from that one were worth my having
to splice on a new bottom section and replant the post. :-)

I probably showed you guys this one before, but I stopped and snapped a
photo of this mailbox which I spotted last year in front of the house
right next to the one we moved from 20 years ago. (A location where we
lost our mailboxes to vandals regularly.)

http://home.comcast.net/~jwisnia18/temp/mailbox2.jpg

The box is just a POS plastic one without it's door, but the "pole"
looks like it could handle a lot of malfeasance. Too bad the guy there
couldn't figure out how to plant it deeper or shorten the I beam as it's
about 15" higher than it should be.

Oh well, maybe he designed it for air mail? (Ducking for cover...)

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

Bruce,

Google for this topic in R.C.M It comes up every few years and there
were some great suggestions (as well as legal warnings).

My favorite was the person who made a mailbox stand that was attached
to a burried cross of metal. When a car ran over the mailbox, it forced
one of the burried arms of metal up into the pan.

You can always just use wood cladding over whatever piece of metal you
use. For me, that would be a lot easier than doing a nice wood-grain
faux painting job.

wrote:
Bruce,

Google for this topic in R.C.M It comes up every few years and there
were some great suggestions (as well as legal warnings).

My favorite was the person who made a mailbox stand that was attached
to a burried cross of metal. When a car ran over the mailbox, it forced
one of the burried arms of metal up into the pan.

You can always just use wood cladding over whatever piece of metal you
use. For me, that would be a lot easier than doing a nice wood-grain
faux painting job.

Search the archives for rec.woodworking and use "mailbox baseball" for a
lot of reading on the subject.
Joe

Joe Gorman wrote:

wrote:

Bruce,

Google for this topic in R.C.M It comes up every few years and there
were some great suggestions (as well as legal warnings).

My favorite was the person who made a mailbox stand that was attached
to a burried cross of metal. When a car ran over the mailbox, it forced
one of the burried arms of metal up into the pan.

You can always just use wood cladding over whatever piece of metal you
use. For me, that would be a lot easier than doing a nice wood-grain
faux painting job.

Search the archives for rec.woodworking and use "mailbox baseball" for
a lot of reading on the subject.

My favorite was the one with the 4" kelley bar in the middle of a
brick post. some very determined jd's tried to push it over with one
4x4, then tried 2 4x4's in tandem, then the rear 4x4 RAMMED the front
one, totalling a brand-new truck, which was left disabled at the site.
So, not only did one of their dads lose a new truck, but they all got
arrested for reckless driving, vandalism, etc. I think the poster's
neighbor got it all on videotape, too!

Jon

Joe Gorman wrote:

wrote:

Bruce,

Google for this topic in R.C.M It comes up every few years and there
were some great suggestions (as well as legal warnings).

My favorite was the person who made a mailbox stand that was attached
to a burried cross of metal. When a car ran over the mailbox, it forced
one of the burried arms of metal up into the pan.

You can always just use wood cladding over whatever piece of metal you
use. For me, that would be a lot easier than doing a nice wood-grain
faux painting job.

Search the archives for rec.woodworking and use "mailbox baseball" for
a lot of reading on the subject.

Oh, just a related note on legal matters, etc.

This happened in eastern Missouri, and laws will be different in different
areas. A farmer discovered some kids had run a 4x4 through his field,
leaving huge ruts, and then got it stuck. He quickly got a big tractor and
towed it into his barn, where he chained up the wheels with the biggest
chains
and locks he had, and then called the sheriff. While the Sheriff was
arresting
the people involved, he had his lawyer notify the owner of the truck
(presumably
the kid's father) that if they ever wanted to see their truck back, they
were
going to have to cover the farmer for all the costs of fence repair,
regrading
the field, maybe replacement of the damaged crop if any at that time, etc.
If those costs weren't met, he was going to seize the truck and sell it.

Jon

Jon Elson wrote:


Joe Gorman wrote:

wrote:

Bruce,

Google for this topic in R.C.M It comes up every few years and there
were some great suggestions (as well as legal warnings).

My favorite was the person who made a mailbox stand that was attached
to a burried cross of metal. When a car ran over the mailbox, it forced
one of the burried arms of metal up into the pan.

You can always just use wood cladding over whatever piece of metal you
use. For me, that would be a lot easier than doing a nice wood-grain
faux painting job.

Search the archives for rec.woodworking and use "mailbox baseball" for
a lot of reading on the subject.


My favorite was the one with the 4" kelley bar in the middle of a
brick post. some very determined jd's tried to push it over with one
4x4, then tried 2 4x4's in tandem, then the rear 4x4 RAMMED the front
one, totalling a brand-new truck, which was left disabled at the site.
So, not only did one of their dads lose a new truck, but they all got
arrested for reckless driving, vandalism, etc. I think the poster's
neighbor got it all on videotape, too!

Jon

If you ever get a copy of that video, please put it online. I would love
to see it!

Chris

I thought about the swing around mount a few months ago. Even better, a
spring loaded detent, so that in the event of a really good hit, it comes
all the way back around and gives the object that whacked it a good whack
back...

All in the mind of nothing too dangerous to inspire a lawsuit.

One idea was the post to be a simple break-away, easy to replace, mounted in
a socket on a steel baseplate.
Set the plate on the ground, and stack those limestone bits on it, the ones
that are around 12" across.
No nasty dangerous bulletproof post...
No sticky-up steel bit to tear up the bottom of the car and potentially
injuse a passenger...
Instead, car hits mailbox and post, post gives way, then some lovely rocks
gently massage the bottom of the vehice.


"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote in message
...
Our rural-style curbside single mailbox got visited by the Mailbox
Fairy last night (AKA the $#%^=&%(^!! local teenagers...) First time
in about 10 years.

Finally finished off the redwood 4X4 that I set in concrete when I
was still in High School - it dried out and shattered at the cross-arm
dovetail cut. I patched the box back onto the stump of the old post
temporarily with 3/4" plywood, but it's time to Do It Once, and Do It
Right.

Anyone have a line on some cheap 4" extra heavy wall steel tubing
in Los Angeles? Nothing TOO heavy, I only have a Miller Challenger
MIG and oxy-acetylene with B and 50CF tanks, so the really big stuff
like railroad track and 4" bar stock is out. (Nuts.)

Unless I use Thermite... (Muahahahaha!!)

The wicked part being that I want to duplicate the silhouette of the
old post and cross-arm with brace, paint it wood brown with fake
graining so they think it's still an easy mark, put a plate-steel
rural mailbox at the top, and aim a camera at it - I could use sucker
rod or well casing for the post, but that would be far too obvious...

I should probably make some sort of break-away shear mount at the
base, with a chain so it doesn't go bouncing too far. And a twist
breakaway for the arm (preferably one rigged to let the arm swing all
the way around if smacked at speed...) Just so the lawyers for the
decedent can't say I was creating "an attractive hazard" - I believe
in the principle behind the Darwin Awards (letting fools self-cleanse
the gene pool) but for some unknown reason the District Attorney and
local Tort Lawyers do not.

Anyone seen one of the heavy plate steel "oversize" rural mailboxes
with a second inner locking door and drop slot? Haven't seen both
features on the same pre-made box, I might have to make an inner door.

After that, I have to find a big steel box suitable for making into
a package drop locker. But first things first.

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

Christopher Tidy wrote:
Jon Elson wrote:



Joe Gorman wrote:

wrote:

Bruce,

Google for this topic in R.C.M It comes up every few years and there
were some great suggestions (as well as legal warnings).

My favorite was the person who made a mailbox stand that was attached
to a burried cross of metal. When a car ran over the mailbox, it forced
one of the burried arms of metal up into the pan.

You can always just use wood cladding over whatever piece of metal you
use. For me, that would be a lot easier than doing a nice wood-grain
faux painting job.

Search the archives for rec.woodworking and use "mailbox baseball"
for a lot of reading on the subject.



My favorite was the one with the 4" kelley bar in the middle of a
brick post. some very determined jd's tried to push it over with one
4x4, then tried 2 4x4's in tandem, then the rear 4x4 RAMMED the front
one, totalling a brand-new truck, which was left disabled at the site.
So, not only did one of their dads lose a new truck, but they all got
arrested for reckless driving, vandalism, etc. I think the poster's
neighbor got it all on videotape, too!

Jon


If you ever get a copy of that video, please put it online. I would love
to see it!
I don't remember who had this happen to him, and I'm not absolutely sure
there was a video, but I seem to remember there was. I've never seen
it, I'm sure.

There's an interesting fortress mailbox 2 blocks from me, on a dark
curvy road. The house up on the hill is an A-frame sort of thing, and
the owner made something like an A-frame for the mailbox. On the
side where the cars would approach, it has rows of 2x4's at about a 45
degree angle. On the other side, it has interleaved vertical 2x4's.
The box sits just inside the point where the two sets of 2x4's meet.
It is not just 4 boards, it alternates 2x4's with a space the width
of a 2x4. So, there must be about 10 2x4's on each side. It certainly
looks like if a mid-size car hit it at speed, it would flip the car
over, just like one wheel going up a 3' tall ramp. This thing has been
there for at least 16 years (as long as we've been here). I've never
noticed any damage to his mailbox, either!

One quicky I have used on halloween night a few times is to put a
paving brick in the mailbox. I've got one that nearly fills the box.
If some idiot with a baseball bat were to whack the mailbox, I think
he'd know there was something solid in it! I've also thought about
putting a can of the brightest Day-Glo oil-based spray paint in the
box, and if somebody really whacked it hard from a moving vehicle,
it might burst the can and spray their car. Some really fast-drying
paint with lots of solvent in it, so it really bonds to the car's
finish might be hard to explain to daddy.

Jon

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 10:12:03 GMT, Gunner Asch
wrote:
On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 07:14:35 GMT, Bruce L. Bergman
wrote:

Anyone have a line on some cheap 4" extra heavy wall steel tubing
in Los Angeles?

Get over to Brea often? Unicorn Metals often has 3-4" drops

Ask for Rito.

No listing in Brea, but there's one listed in the CA beverage
container recycling list as:

Unicorn Metals Co., 325 E. 4th Ave., La Habra CA 90631 714/992-2562

Is that them? (Brea is a little further east.)

I have to go down to Buena Park (just south of Fullerton Airport)
about Noon-Thirty on Saturday, and hang a few light fixtures in the
freshly-finished garage for a good friend, I could hit Unicorn first,
it's within 5 miles....

And after everything else is done, onward to the Mouse House at 1313
S. Harbor Blvd, Anaheim for the evening.

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 13:29:58 GMT, Ignoramus5275
wrote:

A house not too far from us is so located near a bend in the road,
that its mailbox was destroyed regularly. They finally installed
mailbox post made of a 10" or so pipe, filled with concrete.

Yeah, but making it overtly and obviously bomb-proof just invites
the little *******s to get a stick of dynamite or some plastique and
test it...

The whole idea of a stealth steel mailbox is to fool them into
taking a whack at it. Or try running it over. That's payback time.

Besides, if it's by a curve in the road, most of the hits were
probably accidental. Planting a few sections of concrete K-rail or
Armco steel barrier there would be a better choice, because one of
these days the drunk/sleepy/speeding person won't stop at the mailbox,
they'll end up with a TransAm in the middle of their Living Room...

Did you see my "Thanks to Bruce Bergman" post about fixing most leaks
in my air compressor?

Yup. You are most welcome. There's always a fix for every problem,
and sometimes it's a very cheap and/or simple one, but sometimes you
really have to search for it.

Some days I'll spend 45 minutes figuring out exactly what the
problem is, five minutes fixing it, and 10 minutes packing everything
back in the truck to go to the next call. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

-- Bruce --
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 13:37:38 -0500, Jon Elson
wrote:
Joe Gorman wrote:
wrote:

Google for this topic in R.C.M It comes up every few years and there
were some great suggestions (as well as legal warnings).

My favorite was the person who made a mailbox stand that was attached
to a burried cross of metal. When a car ran over the mailbox, it forced
one of the burried arms of metal up into the pan.

Nice thought, I can see how that would be rigged. ;-) But the
road is paved, and even though we have "rural curbs" (a paved swale
instead of a full squared-off concrete city curb) the mailbox isn't
set far enough from the edge to make the buried catcher bar work.

Or I'd have to dig under the swale and the bar would have to break
it's way up through the asphalt first. Which would take some serious
bar, and even more serious engineering of the joint design between the
post and the bar, the pivot point it works against, a big footing...

Making the post just plain not move at all is simpler, or to break
away in a controlled manner - but not until it's had a chance to do
some serious front-end damage.

You can always just use wood cladding over whatever piece of metal you
use. For me, that would be a lot easier than doing a nice wood-grain
faux painting job.

Search the archives for rec.woodworking and use "mailbox baseball" for
a lot of reading on the subject.

My favorite was the one with the 4" kelley bar in the middle of a
brick post. some very determined jd's tried to push it over with one
4x4, then tried 2 4x4's in tandem, then the rear 4x4 RAMMED the front
one, totalling a brand-new truck, which was left disabled at the site.
So, not only did one of their dads lose a new truck, but they all got
arrested for reckless driving, vandalism, etc. I think the poster's
neighbor got it all on videotape, too!

I was here for the last round. But it's almost Halloween again,
which means it's Mailbox Mowing Season for a few weeks as the "Little
Darlings" think up destructive ways to consume idle time.

And you folks in Flyover Country have all those snowplow drivers
making lists of where the easy posts to snip off are, and eagerly
anticipating the first big snowstorm of the season...

-- Bruce --
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 06:04:09 GMT, Bruce L. Bergman
wrote:

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 10:12:03 GMT, Gunner Asch
wrote:
On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 07:14:35 GMT, Bruce L. Bergman
wrote:

Anyone have a line on some cheap 4" extra heavy wall steel tubing
in Los Angeles?

Get over to Brea often? Unicorn Metals often has 3-4" drops

Ask for Rito.

No listing in Brea, but there's one listed in the CA beverage
container recycling list as:

Unicorn Metals Co., 325 E. 4th Ave., La Habra CA 90631 714/992-2562

Is that them? (Brea is a little further east.)

Ayup. They have two locations. Unicorn's metal yard is at the
corner..or nearly so on the south side of Lambert road almost to
Cypress. There is a multistory "U-Store-it" next to it. Its a small
sign, and the yard is only about 75' wide..but its really really deep.
Electric motors/panels/subs are near the back G. Btw..they bought 6
million pounds of fasteners from somebody at one time...if you need
fasteners..bring your list...

I have to go down to Buena Park (just south of Fullerton Airport)
about Noon-Thirty on Saturday, and hang a few light fixtures in the
freshly-finished garage for a good friend, I could hit Unicorn first,
it's within 5 miles....

And after everything else is done, onward to the Mouse House at 1313
S. Harbor Blvd, Anaheim for the evening.

-- Bruce --


Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 22:23:31 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Jon
Elson quickly quoth:

There's an interesting fortress mailbox 2 blocks from me, on a dark
curvy road. The house up on the hill is an A-frame sort of thing, and
the owner made something like an A-frame for the mailbox. On the
side where the cars would approach, it has rows of 2x4's at about a 45
degree angle. On the other side, it has interleaved vertical 2x4's.
The box sits just inside the point where the two sets of 2x4's meet.
It is not just 4 boards, it alternates 2x4's with a space the width
of a 2x4. So, there must be about 10 2x4's on each side. It certainly
looks like if a mid-size car hit it at speed, it would flip the car
over, just like one wheel going up a 3' tall ramp. This thing has been
there for at least 16 years (as long as we've been here). I've never
noticed any damage to his mailbox, either!

I'm surprised no wannabe stunt drivers have used it.


One quicky I have used on halloween night a few times is to put a
paving brick in the mailbox. I've got one that nearly fills the box.
If some idiot with a baseball bat were to whack the mailbox, I think
he'd know there was something solid in it! I've also thought about
putting a can of the brightest Day-Glo oil-based spray paint in the
box, and if somebody really whacked it hard from a moving vehicle,
it might burst the can and spray their car. Some really fast-drying
paint with lots of solvent in it, so it really bonds to the car's
finish might be hard to explain to daddy.

There's an idea. A dye-filled plastic jacket for the box on Halloween.
Smack it and get dyed. Police will instantly know who to arrest!

For the truly sick, more of this thread was covered over on the Wreck
a couple years ago, so google it.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
WARNING! WARNING! Dangerous Mailbox Approaching. Evade! Evade!
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
http://www.diversify.com Your Wild & Woody Website Wonk

Bruce L. Bergman wrote:

I was here for the last round. But it's almost Halloween again,
which means it's Mailbox Mowing Season for a few weeks as the "Little
Darlings" think up destructive ways to consume idle time.

And you folks in Flyover Country have all those snowplow drivers
making lists of where the easy posts to snip off are, and eagerly
anticipating the first big snowstorm of the season...
At least, this is not a problem for me. We have a HUGE rock right
behind the mailbox. I have no idea how big it is. it is
roughly 1' wide and 4' long, and about 2' tall, and that is
what is visible above ground. The shape of the thing suggests
there is much more of it BELOW ground, almost like a bedrock
outcropping. Also, there's a phone pole a few feet past the
rock. No snowplow or other municipal machinery has ever clipped
the mailbox. If a plow hit that rock, wow!

They certainly hit a few mailboxes around here when the snow gets
deep, though. You see lots of them bent at funny angles right after
a good snow (the mailboxes, not the plows).

Jon

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 22:23:31 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Jon
Elson quickly quoth:


There's an interesting fortress mailbox 2 blocks from me, on a dark
curvy road. The house up on the hill is an A-frame sort of thing, and
the owner made something like an A-frame for the mailbox. On the
side where the cars would approach, it has rows of 2x4's at about a 45
degree angle. On the other side, it has interleaved vertical 2x4's.
The box sits just inside the point where the two sets of 2x4's meet.
It is not just 4 boards, it alternates 2x4's with a space the width
of a 2x4. So, there must be about 10 2x4's on each side. It certainly
looks like if a mid-size car hit it at speed, it would flip the car
over, just like one wheel going up a 3' tall ramp. This thing has been
there for at least 16 years (as long as we've been here). I've never
noticed any damage to his mailbox, either!


I'm surprised no wannabe stunt drivers have used it.
This thing is HUGE, unless you had a fully loaded dump truck, it would
turn you over for sure. Even an idiot would realize the thing would
wreck your car but good! Even though I think the dump truck might
smash the thing, it would probably do serious damage to the truck,
like a punji stake job on the right fender area.

Jon

They certainly hit a few mailboxes around here when the snow gets
deep, though. You see lots of them bent at funny angles right after
a good snow (the mailboxes, not the plows).

That use to happen in my neighborhood. Then the city starting paying
for replacements and it all stopped.