Last night I was just drifting off to sleep when I was startled by a loud BANG from right outside my window. I just barely saw tail lights as a car that had just driven by my house, continued over the hill just beyond my neighbors house. Not sure what I had heard, I went out onto the porch to see if I could see anything wrong. It was late and dark, but even without the outside lights on I could see my mailbox door was opened. I know I closed it when I retrieved the mail earlier, but sometimes it flips open if you don't shut it tightly. Nothing else looked amiss so I locked up and went back to bed.
This morning, when I left for work, I looked around again to see what may have been hit last night and that's when I noticed that the whole side of my mailbox was dented. I tried to close the door but it will only shut part way, the shape of the door doesn't fit the new shape of the mailbox, which looks like it was beaten with a very large baseball bat. This is a brand new mailbox, replaced just this spring when the ground thawed out, because my last mailbox took a major beating last Halloween.
I think I can bang it back into shape enough to be able to close the door, so at least my mail won't get wet in the rain or blow out of the box on a windy day. It just makes me so mad that these little thugs continue to be destructive and nothing can be done about it. Each year a new crop of hoodlums with brand new licenses and nothing to do, drive around town smashing mailboxes, egging houses and cars and tormenting animals.
Here's what my lovely mailbox looks like now. Maybe I will have to out a new mailbox on my Christmas list again this year. :-(
Now that I've vented, I guess I should get my butt in gear and finish some housework. I can see dust all over the coffee table and television.
Enjoy your Friday!
Oh and I went to the dentist today, and I had NO cavities! Yay ME!!
9 comments:
Jeepers that makes me mad. Sometimes you just got to wish could whack some of these miscreants on the head with a 2x4.
Fortunately you will be using George's mailbox soon. :)
That is very true, Iggy. Looks like everything I own is dented too. LOL
That is very frustrating when you can't catch anyone in the act. I suppose, if you were going to stay there, you could invest in a motion detector and spotlights, that might scare any potential vandals off. But since you'll be moving in with George, probably wouldn't be worth it. Unless he has vandals in his town too?
I remember as a teenager, we had a few cases of vandalism to our property. Our mailbox was completely knocked over and destroyed, a tire was slashed, and a young tree in the median between the sidewalk and street was chopped down. We also never figured out who was doing it.
Here, I see young kids, maybe 10-12, outside messing around with things I don't feel they should be. There's a decorative fence along the edge of the fairway, and some kids like to take the big pieces of lumber apart and use them to beat on the other pieces of the fence. Right now there's a whole middle section of the fence that is in pieces. Eventually, groundskeepers or someone will put it all back together again.
Kids have no respect today, and whether it's someone elses property or their own, they just don't seem to care. I took a drive down the other end of my road this evening and there were 5 other mailboxes with big dents in them.
They hit my mailbox so hard that they actually split the back seam of the box. I'm not going to bother to replace it, I'll get a PO Box if I have to, until I move.
One has to wonder if our parents werent on to something. Think of it, we mis-behaved and what happened? We got our asses whooped. So what the hell happened between their generation and this next one coming along? All this 1,2,3 "time out" crap is for the birds. Too much "spare the rod and spoil the child" has gone on in the last generation (or in some cases 2) and this is the direct result of it. Oh Im not for going out and beating a child but dammit if they do wrong we shouldnt feel guilty giving their asses a goodly whack. I dont ever recall the kids in my area doing garbage like that when I was growing up. Our mail boxes were actually slots in the front door but the newspaper boxes were out on the street like that and even with as easy a target as those are, they NEVER got attacked like that. Why? Because if we did and got caught our asses woulda got busted for it and then we'd be grounded to boot!
That said, I like the motion sensor and light idea but I'd go one farther and place a motion detecting camera up. That way the license is caught on film. A cheaper idea would be to brick in the box like some of those fancy schmancy houses do....Just ideas incase George's home gets the vandilizing that yours gets.
You're right, Lainie...not many kids have any respect for things these days. It's a shame.
dang! well I'm with Iggy...you won't be needing that mailbox soon :-). (it kinda looks like they put a firecracker in it and it imploded...cause your flag doesn't look bent to the shape of of the dent..but then I may not be seeing it)
And I'm with styxie. We all got in some trouble when we were kids but we got our butts whooped if we did. We were raised to respect other peoples property. and we really didn't have that much to do other than cruise or go to the show or skating..about what they have now. Just people let their kids run wild..why should a 14 year old be out till 3 a.m.?
I'll never understand why kids think destroying other peoples property is a fun thing to do. But for some reason, there are always those who think just that. Sometimes I'd like to blame today's society but then I remember my dad's stories of Halloween nights many years ago when they would rampage the town, turning over outhouses. In one instance they somehow got one guy's outhouse on top of his house roof.
We seem to have a dented theme going - dented mailbox, dented lawnmower. I think I'll head up the road and check out my mailbox - just to be sure lol.
George took the trusty pliers to the mailbox this morning and it looks a bit better and at least I can close it. It'll do for now, although George has the same issues at his house.
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