we left for the winter. I tried to get Ivy to grow up the post to no avail. This summer, a couple of weeks ago, after finishing a couple of my first mosaic projects I got the idea to mosaic the ugly mailbox. It took me a week to complete it but it was so worth it! :) No longer ugly and we have met several people ,as passerbys admire it, while we are sitting on our deck. I am having so much fun with this new found craft.