Believe it or not, after nightfall, I drove up beside it, and opened the door and got the mail out, without disturbing them. I had to drive close enough to allow the door of the mailbox to rest on the door of my vehicle, because if I had allowed it to open all the way, it would have crushed a bunch of bees.
You'll no doubt notice in the pictures that the mailbox looks pretty beat up, and rusty in spots, so I might as well explain that right up front. LOL. For years, the high school kids in this part of the world have delighted in driving around at night and smashing rural mailboxes. They especially love to do it after football games, but it can happen on almost any night. For all I know, they may do this all over the nation, but anyway, they have been pretty bad about it in this area.
Most folks just give in and buy a new box when that happens, but I'm not gonna give the vandals another shot at a new box, (they love to smash new mailboxes). I just take a sledge hammer and beat mine back out to where the door will sorta close, and keep right on using the same old box. There's no telling how many times I've straightened it and put it back up on it's stand, (they usually knock it completely off the pedestal--one night they knocked it plumb across the road, and I found it in the ditch on the other side. That night they even stole the pedestal--I never recovered it).
Another reason why I keep using the same old box is because it's one of the largest mailboxes in the world, and I can't find a new replacement anywhere near as large. I don't know if they stopped selling them, but I haven't run across another one in years. It's big enough, for example, to hold two or three shirtbox size packages, so it comes in pretty handy at times.
Anyway, the kids seem to be gettin' tired of beatin' up that same old box, cause it's been a long time now, since they worked it over, though they have mangled a few of the nighbors' mailboxes since then. (They'll probably hit it tonight, since I brought it up. LOL).
Here are a few pix of the swarm of bees. Bear in mind that the box is about two feet long, to give you an idea of the size of the swarm. Sorry about the quality of the pictures--it was late in the afternoon, and the lighting left a lot to be desired.
I'm glad they weren't killer bees. They seemed pretty gentle. They'll probably leave before noon tomorrow, after they rest a while. If they don't leave, the mailcarrier is in for a surprise, when he comes by. LOL.
Love,
Wayne
