The Mailbox

I’m not a big collector of stuff but I recently had the opportunity to own an item I couldn’t resist.

Some years ago my dad picked up his father’s mailbox. A few weeks back, dad offered me the mailbox and I jumped at the chance. The gift really meant a lot to me.

I guess a part of family history is understanding where you came from…and no better way to know where you came from than to have the postal address of the family home place on display!

Then again, maybe I just have a thing for the mail!

Back to the box, the thing is…before it could GO on display, it needed some TLC. Over the years, the elements had taken their toll.

The first thing I needed to do is wash it up and after it dried, I went to work on the rust. I picked up a wire brush at the hardware store and I began sanding it off. It took quite a bit of ‘elbow grease,’ but after a couple sanding sessions, I felt like I had gotten all possible rust off the unit.

Then, for cleanup, I took out the ShopVac® and sucked up all the rust dust and then, again, I wiped down the mailbox with a wet rag.

When I opened the box up, though, I ran into a complication…spiders. I guess that makes sense, when you think about it. Still, I couldn’t bring the mailbox inside and bring the arachnids in with it.

Then, upon closer inspection, I could tell the spider:

• Was black
• Had a slick consistency
• Had markings on its back 
  (I didn’t get close enough to verify the color)

So, after a couple attempts to scoop it out, I brought back the ShopVac® and sucked up the itsy bitsy spider and I dumped the contents of the ShopVac into the woods for good measure. 

With all my clean-up complete, it was time to turn my attention to repainting the mailbox. I wanted to preserve Pap’s address on the side, so I taped it off (with some newspaper). My dad recommended Rust-oleum® and Lisa and I were able to find a variety of it that looked fairly similar to the original metallic silver color.

Over the course of three days, I applied three coats (allowing each one ample time to dry before I applied the next coat). Three was the magic number, as it turned out. After three coats, I felt pretty good about it.

It’s now resting on the hearth – just a few feet away from the ‘Pap Chair,’ one of the Sears antique maple chairs that also came from the family farm. Lisa figures we’ll store newspapers and magazines inside - maybe even incoming mail.

That seems appropriate, when you imagine the countless pieces of mail my grandfather, grandmother and my dad (and his siblings) retrieved from the box over the years. Then, you consider the many periodicals graced the surface of Pap’s mailbox…maybe even a Sears Roebuck and Co. catalog or two where they found the chairs. 

Makes you think.

JG

Originally posted 7/25/2013