Pleasant Valley Mailbox

Pleasant Valley Mailbox

     Every time I mow the lawn, the song Pleasant Valley Sunday goes through my brain - especially the line here in status symbol land. Who knew the Monkees would have songs in our head decades after they themselves were a flash in the pan? Mike can recite the poem from one of the Monkees' albums that has to do with Peter Percival's Pet Pig Porky, except, that is, when you ask him for the poem at Stories on the Square on the night when the theme is pie – (the Pet Pig Porky liked pie) then he has complete brain blockage – Poor Thing!

     And I have Just Another Pleasant Valley Sunday. The song has to do with conforming to what everyone else is doing. When I mow the lawn, my itty bitty front yard, in a subdivision built in 1992 with houses really close to one another – I am bitter that the yard really can't look too much different from all the other yards. It has to conform – or neighbors might get irritated and realtors would steer potential buyers away from our street if things got too wacky. The grass is trimmed, with well trimmed weeds scattered throughout. The Bradford pear tree has seen better days, but it provides a sense of privacy as it gives less exposure to the front of the house. There are hedges on either side of the centered stairs to the front door. I would say the yard conforms boringly well with the rest of the neighborhood.

      But over the years, some individuality has come to the front yard. Like the ivy. I asked people at work 20 years ago if they had any plants they would like to share, and Derrill gave me some ivy. I put it by the side of the driveway that has the railroad ties. The ivy took off! Then I put some with the hedges – the ivy started growing up the front of the house! And then there was the mailbox. The ivy grew over the mailbox such that the only thing visible was the door – kind of like Frodo's door, only not round.

      The ivy became a landmark. If the girls were expecting friends, they would tell the friends that once they turned onto the street, our house is down the road a little bit – it is the one on the right with the ivy covered mailbox. I don't think I have a picture of it after all these years – guess it is one of those things I took for granted and thought would always be there.

I especially liked that the mailbox was covered with foliage and yet there were no bees about to bother the mailman. Yeah, we had the coolest mailbox in the neighborhood. We were proud.

      Then Mike came along.

      First he said that all the ivy in the whole yard should go! Then he said the mailbox was just not cool – it was drooping and looked a little low class!

      Well, it was drooping a little – but it was still cool. And besides, the ivy was probably holding the whole thing together – and what a pain it would be to have to replace the pole and the mailbox should the ivy be mowed down. So the ivy-covered landmark remained.

      For 10 more years.

      But now major things need doing inside and outside the house. The Bradford pear had some big-time trimming done last summer, and right now it is in bloom – we'll see how the leaves come out this season, and if the tree continues to look sad, it will be replaced. More trees, in the backyard, came all the way down last year.

      And I gave in about the ivy.

Mike at site of old mailbox; and the Bradford pear in bloom

      Yesterday, Mike took a chainsaw to the greenery about the mailbox. And as predicted, the pole and box came down with it. He asked me what kind of new box I would like from Home Depot. I said “nothing too Pleasant Valley Sunday” - He gave me a look that said “that's all Home Depot has.”

      The ivy went in the back of the truck along with a small snake that Mike found by the mailbox – (and I was happy the mailman did not have to deal with bees?) I swept the sidewalk and moved a giant earthworm that kept wanting to inch into the road. Later we saw a robin making a feast of that earthworm in the yard. Sigh.

      A black metal post was inserted into the old hole. Some dirt, and some cement filled in the hole. A new box was put on top. And Gasp! The street address numbers were added to the box. Double Sigh. Now we are officially ready for old age – an ambulance will be able to find us should the need arise. 

      But how will friends and family find the house without the ivy on the mailbox? They don't know the street number! All is lost!

      I told Mike that I might dangle a peace symbol from the horizontal part of the pole and he said that would only encourage vandals who would otherwise not even notice the new mailbox. Well, I have enough peace symbols to wear down the most vigilant vandal.

      And the tug of war for individuality continues.

      There is more to Pleasant Valley Sunday – and there will be more posts, once I calm down, about the backyard.....

88 20150329 Pleasant Valley Mailbox