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Happy New Year to Everyone ! 🥳 Show your mailbox scores for 2024 in this thread! Link to past years:

Earlier this year, my wife proposed the excellent idea of replacing our sadly leaning stick of a mailbox post with something a little more grand, hewn in stone, studded with ammonites of our own discovery. I had intended to take on this project earlier in the year, before the Texas sun would hit me twixt the shoulder blades like a sledge hammer, but a schedule overrun in my kitchen and laundry room remodeling gave me a late start. Anyway, this project took me longer than anticipated since this was my first time dabbling in stonemasonry. The process took me about 6 weeks in my spare time, starting with research of mailbox height from road level and setback from the curb using the USPS website. Next, I made a design in 3D CAD and had a drawing approved by the Postmaster. Following that, I called 811 and had utility companies mark presence of lines in my yard. I dug a 2 x 4 foot rectangular hole about a foot deep, filled half of it with gravel for drainage, then poured a 6 inch concrete slab, reinforced with rebar. The superstructure is composed of cinder blocks with voids infilled with cement. My boy and I opted for a honkin' big mailbox capable of holding a USPS Flat Rate Large box. "Go big or go home", as they say. My neighbors expressed reservations about the stark gray "flak tower" standing in my yard, but their concerns were allayed when I faced the entire structure with flagstone that more or less matches our house, down to the "mortarless limestone" construction, which essentially means mortar on the back of the stone, with no grout filling the gaps. As a cool side note, it turns out that the flagstone has many fossil fish vertebrae and scales throughout. I'm not sure of the age or provenance of the stone, so I guess that adds a measure of mystique. What I do know is the provenance of the ammonites, and the buddies I was with when I found them on various trips. A couple of these guys are Forum members, so this thing now stands monument to both my wife's design vision, and also to various friendships. There are ammonites on all 4 sides, 10 in all, including Mortoniceras equidistans from the Fort Worth Fm, Eopachydiscus marcianus from the Duck Creek Fm, and Morts from the Duck Creek. One Eo even has a small Macraster washitae tucked into the aperture. Anyway, I drilled several drain holes into the base of both side planters, so now we can fill them with gravel and potting soil for my wife's choice of xeriscapic flora. We'd better get some good mail going forward!

Hey guys! I am very excite, I just received my really nice Aulacopleura konincki trilobite. At first I was quite astonished by the very small size of the trilobite (1,3 cm) But It compensated quality wise and It has this really nice goldish colour you can only see in real life. The trilobite also sparkles alot with little glimpses of light as if it was cristalised... very nice but normal? These pictures are taken with my little jewlers magnifying glass so we can see better. Both side spines and eyes are complete Very happy to share this piece with you. Kind regards.

Today I had a great surprise in my mailbox: some beautiful Nodipecten collierensis scallops, from Florida!!! Many of you know how much I love fossil seashells, so obviously I was eagerly awaiting these. Thank you so much to Rod @dalmayshun, from whom I got those little beauties as a gift! Max