When I first moved into this palatial country estate, oh, alright. When I first moved into this old farmhouse that was out in the country before the subdivisions started growing faster than dandelions in a new front yard, there was a big ol’ steel mailbox out on a pole. You know the type, it looks like a typcial rural route delivery mailbox with a curved top, except it was a great big one. It was older and beat up, but functional. Out in the garage was a brand new one, painted black, in a cardboard box. The old one worked just fine, so I left it there.

One fall day, about a dozen and a half years after I moved in, the post master informed me, by note, that I had to replace the old box or mail deliveries would stop. So I dug out the brand new one, in a box, and put it up.

Now, mind you, the old one had performed yeoman’s service, had never blown over or been hit by a snow plow. Since I was putting up a new box, I mounted in on a new post, too. It looked grand until the first snowfall of Winter.

The snowplow clobbered it so hard it distorted the box and took the door off.

I managed to straighten it out enough to work but there was no door. Last week, during a heavy snowfall, the plow clobbered it again, this time, it took the arm, that extended from the post, and supported the box. Both were laying in a snowbank.

Snow joke

The next day, there was a small black mailbox, on a steel stick, held up with a sandbag. On the side of the box was a sign spray painted white through a stencil: GERMANTOWN HIGHWAY DEPT. Of course, in this last snow storm, the plow knocked that one over, too.

Meanwhile, there was no contact from the village about it so I just waited for it to play out.

Today, there is a large black mailbox on my post, mounted on a new support arm. The temporary box is gone. I know it isn’t my old one on the post - it has a door. It isn’t a new one, in fact, it has some old lettering on it and a tag inside that wasn’t completely removed.

But I don’t care - I have a mailbox now that will keep my incoming mail dry in rain and snow.