From functional to decorative

You likely remember all the 'drama' we had over our mailbox installation. If not, check out my blog entry on Feb 13, 2007.

Last Wed our neighbor across the street Jim (whose mailbox post we attached our mailbox to) was approached by our neighbors 2 doors down, Barbara & Ann, about adding their mailbox to his post, too. Apparently they had just been picking up their mail at the post office periodically but now want to have it delivered at home. Jim loves Barbara & Ann so of course he said yes. He was going to take his mailbox off the top and ours off the side, attach a long board to the top, and mount all 3 to the long board. But then the wheels of creativity started churning.

Jim & his wife Barb are weekenders. They live in PA and come here to their Lewes home every weekend. In Feb Jim had back surgery and was given a note from his doctor to take 6 weeks off to recover. He decided to spend the 6 weeks recovering here in Lewes. Barb comes down on the weekends since she is still working. At the end of the 6 weeks the doctor gave him another 6 weeks, so Jim is still here in Lewes and has been loving all the free time to work on house projects, hence what follows.

So Jim, an engineer who always likes to have a project going on, decided to construct (not purchase) an 8-foot long section of white picket fence to which he would attach the 3 mailboxes, for a more decorative look. As he was working on the fence/mailbox holder, our next door neighbors John & LaVon who just returned from wintering in FL asked if they could add their mailbox to the fence/mailbox holder too. They had a separate post for their mailbox, but it kind of cluttered that side of the street. Since our street is a 'driving route' the mailman doesn't get out of the Jeep to delivered the mail, so all the mailboxes must be on the same side of the street.
Jim loves John & LaVon too, so he agreed to add their mailbox to the fence/mailbox holder.

I'm not sure why Jim didn't simply buy a section of fence. Maybe he thought it would be "fun" to build it himself since he's got every tool in the world in his shed. But I think the project became a bit more involved that he thought, since it took him about 5 days, working practically 8 hours a day, to finish the fence/mailbox holder.

When it came time to attach the pickets, Jim cut about 6 different tops so we could select the one we liked best. We all decided on the rounded top with the hole in it. Jim cut all the pickets to match, primed and painted them, and finally attached them on Sun. So now we have a section of white picket fence with 4 mailboxes attached. I think it looks really cute.

When I mentioned in front of Jim's wife Barb that I thought it was a funny coincidence that we all have the same metal mailbox, but in 4 different colors, she suggested that the fence/mailbox holder would probably look even better if we eventually replaced the metal mailboxes with wooden ones that look like houses. Then Jim suggested that she shop online to find 4 of the same kind so they'd all be the same size. Then I suggested that if they're all the same mailbox, maybe we should get some craft paints and paint the house-looking mailboxes the same colors as our houses. We 4 home owners could do this together and bring a dish, making it a party! They chuckled and said something about it being a great idea, but when I mentioned that last party (bring a dish, making it a party) Joe said "Leave it to the gay neighbor to turn a conversation about mailboxes into a party." I just rolled my eyes and defended my idea.

Drag Queen name of the day: June Bride