Mailbox Confusion

Andrew has become quite neighborly these days. When we first moved to Middle Ave I think he was more than a bit apprehensive about the neighborhood idea…hence the smart ass remarks for months about "Hey neighbor" with a wave as they passed. He spends the majority of his week working on the house or his business, which also happens to be at our house, so he knows whats going on in the neighborhood. And so does the mail lady.

The mail lady LOVES Andrew…and loves how our house is being transformed…even if we are currently missing our entire front porch. Her biggest concern and confusion these days? Where to put the mail.

See, we had our mail box on the front porch, neatly placed next to the "82" on the wall next to the door. She walks up our scraggily front walk each day…rain & snow included…and delivers the mail with a smile and a quick chat about the happenings in Tiverton. Its very Norman Rockwell. Sometimes I feel like I live in the 50s around here…but that charm is exactly why we love this place.

So why is there mailbox confusion these days?? Well, we went to fix the obvious rotten parts of the porch and came to find that in fact, it was not just a few small parts of the porch. Nope. It was pretty much the ENTIRE porch. After even more uncovering, we came to find the old porch quite shocking. Shoddy construction, old termite damage, rusted footings "holding" it up, and 100 year old shingles.  It was even more fitting with everything we have found so far.

BEFORE:

MID-REMOVAL

Looks sturdy enough...

Rusted Footing with big shims

Termites…yum

Old table…thats a good use of wood for a porch...

Random Plug in the ground...

Lots of concrete to fix this! 

Old concrete & rusted footing…how do we dispose of this???

Put it in a Tiverton trash bag and leave it for the garbage men Monday morning (oddly enough, they didn't find this humorous!)

Our favorite is back: Maine siding!! 

Talk about first class lunch service...

Not only does the mail lady have no front porch to put our cherished house bills and catalogues of things we cannot afford, but the back porch has also been out of commission. The new one you ask?? Yes. That one is under construction with some stone landscaping that has transformed our back walkway and yard. So for the time being there will be mailbox confusion. Stay tuned for details on the landscaping and new front porch.