Car Talk

12/4/09 Mailbox post, given away on Freecycle.org; Massaging, heated seat topper, given away to my brother-in-law

Double downsize today, which brings two things to mind. The first is a story; the second a cautionary tale.

The Story:

We live on a dead-end, private road, so our mailbox is clumped with our neighbor's mailboxes at the top of our street. About two years ago, I pulled alongside the row of mailboxes, as I do most days on the way home from work, rolled down my car window, and reached out to get my mail.

Only there wasn't anything there.

No mail. No mailbox. Not even the post the mailbox is supposed to be mounted on. Just a gaping space between the other mailboxes.

Thank you, local teenagers.

Within a few days, I had gone down to the local hardware store and purchased another mailbox and another post, which I installed back in our USPS designated area.

(By the way, I reported the missing mailbox to my local postmaster, figuring that messing with mailboxes consituted some sort of serious, national crime. She responded with the government's version of "Sucks to be you!"

Thank you, federal bureaucracy.

A couple of months after that, the boy who lives next door delivered my original mailbox post -- with mailbox still attached -- to my driveway. Apparently he'd found it in the woods. No longer needing it, I stored it away in the shed, where it lived until today, when a guy came by and picked it up.

I hope his local teenagers don't find it as appealing as the kids around here did.

The Cautionary Tale:

I bought a massaging chair topper (yes, that's what they are called) for Joanna several years ago, because I thought she might like it in her car. Since she's no fan of Maine winters, I figured she'd especially appreciate the fact that it had a seat-warming function.

Alas, she never really used it, so it was time to offer it to someone else. My brother-in-law Jean has to frequently make the long drive down to Boston, so I figured he might like to give it a try. He seemed interested, and I made sure he understood he couldn't give it back one I handed it off to him. Fortunately, he agreed.

However, I feel I must pass along some sage words of advice that I once heard Click and Clack dispense on Car Talk:

Be very careful when using the heated car seat. After a couple of cups of coffee and a bran muffin, the heated seat can create unexpected and unwelcome problems.

Jean, you've been warned.