Why Didn’t I Think Of This?
January 24, 2010 – 5:55 am
Every now and then someone comes up with an idea that is “simply” beautiful. Usually, it is some new product that makes you think, “Why didn’t I think of that?” My neighbor, Roy Terkelsen, recently came up with just such an idea.
Salem, Virginia is not known for its snowfall but a few weeks ago we got dumped on to the tune of 18 – 24 inches in just over a 24 hour period. On the bright side, I finally got to try out my Honda Pilot in the snow and it performed wonderfully. Unfortunately, with that much snow, when the city trucks plow the streets they deposit a pretty substantial pile of packed snow in front of your driveway and mailbox. It took me two days to dig out the driveway and an area in front of my mailbox so my letter carrier could get close enough to deliver my mail.
After I finished my hours of shoveling, I was driving past Roy’s house when I spied his simple brilliance. Instead of using his back to shovel the huge snowbank in front of his mailbox, he used his head. He simply mounted a spare mailbox on a 2 x 4 and pushed it into the snowbank where the letter carrier could reach it to deliver the mail.
My plan is to take it a step further and mount a cheap mailbox on a 2 x 4 with a freestanding base so I can just set it out in front of the snow after the plow passes. So let me go ahead and say it, “I wish I would have thought of that.”