Our mailbox

In other news that is NOT virus related, our mailbox was smashed last night.  About 9:30, we heard a loud noise.  It wasn't quite a bang, but it was REALLY loud.  Andrew went out to look, and mentioned he smelled smoke.  I went out to check, and I could tell it was a smell of detonation, and thought perhaps someone had set off a firecracker.  Because it was dark, we didn't notice the mailbox.  About 1/2 hour later, I noticed a horrible smell coming from outside.  Andrew and I went back out, and it smelled like a skunk outside.  This time we had flashlights, and I noticed something in the driveway.  We thought it was a package Andrew had expected yesterday (that still hasn't arrived), but as he got closer he realized it was our mailbox in the driveway.  It had clearly been smashed by what we assume was a bat.  Andrew was also pretty certain that the smell was not a skunk like we originally thought, but a stink bomb.  Sure enough, we found the remnants this morning.

No one else's mailbox in the neighborhood was damaged, so clearly we were targeted.  We thought maybe it was a disgruntled baseball player, but none of the other coaches had any damage.  I thought whomever, it was, he/she was pretty brazen.  It was not late at night, we were all still up, there were lights on throughout our house, and Catherine and Thomas were both watching TV in our front room.  There are no curtains, so it would've been easy to see them.  They obviously were not concerned about being caught.

Andrew has purchased supplies to repair the post, although we aren't sure if the mailbox itself will need to be replaced.  We are considering calling the police, although right now we hate to burden first responders with anything but an emergency.  We definitely will if this happens again though.  The mailbox is an inconvenience, but the stink bomb actually concerns me.  I've asked the kids if someone could be unhappy with one of them, and generally speaking we don't believe so.  Thomas has decided we need to have a bat by the front door just in case.  I hate living like that, but we just don't know what it's all about.