Phoebe the Bleeping Cat Archives

September 15, 2024

Does Anybody Recognize this Mailbox Killer?

Driver who destroyed my mailbox 09-11-2024

I came home from grocery shopping to find my mailbox flattened. The guy above mowed down a rose bush, destroyed my mailbox, missed my wife’s van by about a foot, bounced off a manhole cover in my front yard, and kept going down Kingway Drive at 10:14 a.m. on Sept 11.

I’d like to have a serious discussion with the driver about covering the cost of replacing the mailbox.

Dead mailbox

I thought I’d never have to replace it

When I put it in several years ago, I endeavored to make it as bulletproof as possible. I filled the pipe with concrete and rebar and set it in concrete two feet deep. I wanted some kid with a baseball bat to get a big surprise.

I hoped whoever ran over is going to have some serious body work to fix. They not only literally flattened the box, but they yanked the post out of the ground. I didn’t see a trail of liquids, so the vehicle might have had a strong enough bumper to protect it.

Yanked right out of the ground

I can view the security camera video, but it’s in a weird format that was going to take more trouble than it was worth to post.

By the way, the driver appeared to be bald or have short hair. If this was a crime show, some tech would be able to pull up the license tag, but I don’t have the skill or equipment to do it.

When the rains stop, I’ll replace it with something even more substantial.

P.S. In case you were wondering, I didn’t have any political signs in the yard.

June 27, 2023

Time to Gripe about Walnuts

When I walked out to the car a couple weeks ago, I saw some marble-sized walnuts on the ground, just about the size that would hurt if you stepped on them with your bare feet.

Saturday, I noticed that a branch had snuck its way under my tarp car cover. When I grabbed the clippers, I saw that we’re going to have an early walnut season this year.

I’m not a big fan of walnuts

Griping about walnuts is a perennial topic for me. See my musings.

May 4, 2021

A Different May 4 Post

May 4 is traditionally the day when I heed the admonition of my old friend and chief photographer, John J. Lopinot: “Never forget,” referring to the killings at Kent State on that date in 1970.

Last year, he and I agreed not to forget that date, but the pandemic that was just starting to crank up made Kent State feel like ancient history.

Here is the 2020 post, Portrait of a Pandemic. It contains a lot of links to past pieces I did on the era.

My new world

For more than a year, my world has contracted to a few grocery and hardware stores, Phoebe the Bleeping Cat, and the view out the windows on Kingsway Drive.

The PTBC photo above is the precursor to the lead shot. I try to give her as much outdoor time as she’ll eat, but she seems to have gotten too addicted to the great indoors. The webcam picked up the deer in the background, so I headed over to the door for a better view.

The Phoebes took that as an invitation to come in. Unfortunately, there was no good way to frame the backyard livestock with her.

When I chanced to glance around, I saw not one deer, but two and a huge coon. Looking more to the “garden” yard, I spotted eight ears that belonged to four more deer, for a total of six deer, one coon, and an annoying cat.

The funny thing is that I had just mentioned to a friend the other day that I had only seen one deer here in the past couple of months. Maybe they’ve been vaccinated and feel more comfortable to move around.

October 14, 2020

Who Wants Walnuts?

Phoebe the Bleeping Cat is tired of having to dodge falling walnuts. They also provide an obstacle course that slows her down when she’s trying to catch squirrels who are too tempting.

She blames the walnuts for her lack of success in apprehending the “fuzzy-tailed tree rats,” as Brother Mark calls them.

I’ve complained about them in the past

Every year it seems like I’m posting about the trials and tribulations of walnuts hitting the roof so hard it sounds like somebody breaking in.

These were a few I raked up out of the driveway last year.

Speaking of raking stuff up, here’s my 2014 rant about the green bombers.

My memory must be fading, because I plowed much the same ground in 2018.

I’m serious. Come and get ’em

These things are big enough that I’m going to have to corral them before I can run the mower to mulch the leaves.

Give me a ten-minute warning if you want me to be wearing pants, and I’ll loan you a rake, a five-gallon bucket, and two or three trash bags (you can keep the latter).

There are still plenty more in the trees. With that in mind, I might even loan you a hard hat or my bike helmet.