Mailbox Mystery

Let's go back in time about 3 weeks.

Tyson, Audrey and I were gone from our house from 4:30-7:30pm. When we left, everything was just as it should be and when we returned, our mailbox was gone. Both Tyson and I noticed that the mailbox was not laying on the ground where you would think it would be if it had been knocked over, so I thought that maybe whoever hit it was nice and moved it up onto our porch for us. Nope. It was no where to be found. So Tyson asked some of our neighbors if they had heard or seen anything during the 3 hours we were gone and none of them knew anything.

(Sidenote: I don't know why the picture orientation changed when I uploaded it, but I don't want to take the time to change it...)

(2nd Sidenote: This same mailbox was knocked over a year or so ago, so Tyson put it back together with JB Weld and reinforced it with some steel posts inside...so we also wondered how much damage it caused to whatever or whoever hit it.)

So...I went to the post office and had our mail put on hold. I was told we could have it held for 30 days and then we would have to get a PO box until we had a new mailbox. I also contacted our homeowners association to find out where we could get a new mailbox and found out that if we wanted a new one, it would be around $300. We decided to not buy one right away.

About ten days later, Tyson was talking to one of our neighbors and he said that he saw one of our neighborhood mailboxes in the trailer of the company that mows our neighborhood common areas. Tyson called the mowing company and, sure enough, they confirmed that they had picked it up because it was in some bushes by the entrance to our neighborhood.

Seriously...so you're telling me that whoever knocked our mailbox over thought that it was a good idea (and worth the extra effort) to pick it up, load it into their car, drive to the entrance and then dump it in the bushes?!? Why not just leave it on our lawn so we can at least try to put it back together?!? I don't get it.

Anyway, we were able to get it back from the mowing company and, to our complete surprise, it was fine! I was expecting to see it cracked and broken and to have to buy a new one. What a relief!

So...on Sunday, we decided to put the mailbox back together and it just happened to be a very windy afternoon. Tyson was JB Weld-ing it back together but the wind kept blowing it over. I tried to hold it in place but a gust of wind would come up and it would cause me to move and we realized that we would have to stand there any hold it for 4-5 hours until it was dry. That was something we weren't willing to do, which meant we had to come up with something that would stabilize it. We tried the ladder and the wind knocked that over in about 10 seconds. Tyson's next idea was the mower and it just so happened that the handle was at the perfect height, so we backed the mower up next to the mailbox and then put some wood blocks under the wheels so it wouldn't roll away. Then Tyson got some rope and some stakes and tied it all together and it worked! And it looked rediculous! It made me think of one of those Jeff Foxworthy "You might be a redneck if..." sayings. Here's some pictures to prove it:

Now, if there was just some way to find out what happened during those 3 hours we were gone...