"Mail Alert" Tells When The Mail Has Arrived

"Mail Alert" Tells When The Mail Has Arrived FARM HOME Miscellaneous 26-3-34 My mailbox is 100 yards across the street from my home so I want to be certain the mail has arrived before I go out to get it. I made my own "mail alert" by mounting a 3 by 5 1/2-in. aluminum block on the mailbox lid. The block is painted white on one side and red on the other side. The block is hinged at the bottom and is mounted on a metal bracket that's bolted onto the mailbox lid. In its normal position the block leans back against the mailbox lid. But when the mailman opens the lid, the block falls forward and exposes the red side which indicates that the mail has arrived. The hinge was made by welding a short bolt onto each end of the bracket. The town I live in passed a law that banned the use of burn barrels, and I didn't want to pay $20 a month to a trash hauling service. So I used 3/16-in. thick sheet metal to make a 3-ft. sq. stove that doesn't send any ashes up into the air. It fills from the top and has a 4-in. sq. flue welded on top of it. Halfway up the stove is an air vent with a protective cover to prevent sparking problems. The stove doesn't have a bottom but does have a big hinged door on top for filling. When it gets about half full of ashes I simply turn the stove over on its side, then dump the ashes out on the ground from the bottom and scoop them up. All the stove's outside edges are fitted with heavy angle iron to reduce warping from the heat. (Elmer M. Pinkerton, 305 West D Street, Elmwood, Neb. 68349 ph 402 994-5885)

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