Monday, May 26, 2008

I think it's time for a contest

A few days before Easter, I received a package in the mail. I was just getting ready to go away for the weekend, so I almost didn't open it, but I am glad I did. I think I can honestly say that this is one of the strangest things I have ever received through the mail.

Eggs! And guess where they came from? They traveled across the country from Utah! My friend Connie has a farm with horses, goats and, of course, chickens and she knew that we needed fresh eggs for Easter. Isn't she great!

I got to thinking that this was indeed an unusual package and wondered what other things have been sent through the mail. So, in honor of this package we are having a contest over here at Knitting by the Sea. What is the strangest thing you have ever received or sent in the mail? Let me know in a comment and sometime around the end of June, we will choose a winner. My daughter will be a judge since she got such a kick out of the eggs. I'm not sure exactly what the prize will be, but it will be fiber related - maybe sock yarn, maybe fiber (if the winner spins). So, have fun.

By the way, we only lost like 4 eggs on the journey. Most of them made it just fine and tasted excellent! Thanks again, Connie, for a great package!

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure I've ever sent or received anything out of the ordinary myself, but I do have a funny mail-related item to share.

When I was in college, I worked in the campus post office for a year. This was about a year or so before the internet really took off, so people still wrote to each other in the traditional way. But every once in a while, someone would find a way to be more creative and would send a pancake through the mail. Not in a box or a package, mind you. But they would take a pancake and coat it with several layers of glue (or some other substance akin to that). Then they'd write their message on it, slap on some stamps, and send it off to the recipient. I do wonder about the letter's longevity. Does it still exist, 15 years later? Does the glue prevent mold from devouring it?

Carole Knits said...

When I was at camp my grandmother would always send me apricot squares in the mail. They were my favorite and even though it wasn't an unusual thing it sure did make me happy.

margene said...

Eggs? FROM UTAH!? REAL eggs are the best and that bunch is as pretty as eggs can get.

Sharon Rose said...

I once got a polaroid of a venus flytrap plant sent as a postcard. :)

And yesterday my driver's license showed up in an envelope! Apparently it fell out of my back pocket a week ago when I flew home from Seattle. A Northwest Airlines employee kindly sent it back to me. The funny thing is, I've been so busy I didn't even know it was missing!

Sanders said...

I used to be in a Mail Art group that would host 'test the post office' contests and folks would send things like plastic lawn flamingos ( not in a box- just addressed and stamped right on the flamingo) and once someone send a piece of toast! They had soaked in it varnish, addressed it, and put a stamp on it- it was a Toast Card! I didn't recieve it, but would have love to...

Kristen said...

Not sure how interesting the contents were, but when I was studying overseas in college I sent some things home from Nepal. First you find a box, load up your stuff and take it to the post office. At the post office they will take a piece of fabric and wrap up your box and sew it up. The sewed seams are then sealed with hot wax. And THEN you address it and pay for shipping. I was poor so I had it shipped ground in early November. It arrived in Minnesota in February. The box was pretty smashed but the fabric held everything inside brilliantly and it all survived!

Bianca said...

I once received sausage in the mail. It came from Germany, but it took quite a while... it did not survive the trip. the sad result was that we could throw it away.

Elaine said...

The oddest thing I ever received (well actually it was my roommate in graduate school who received it) was a broken container that had once contained her urine sample for a job interview.

The container was empty and the wrapper was ... well wet and stinky. The post office had stamped on the outside that urine should not be sent through the mail. Since this was a regular rubber stamp, it really cracked us up since it seemed like they got urine-soaked packages all the time.

Anonymous said...

The strangest thing I got in the mail was a salami from my Grandma at summer camp. This is strange enough to send, but given that I am a vegetarian, it is even stranger!

Tally Knits said...

The oddest thing I've gotten in the mail is my Bearded Dragon (and her sister, which belongs to my brother). I've also gotten ants, crickets, and tadpoles. I've shipped mice all over the country, but that's not "normal" mail.

I've heard of someone who sent a snowball (on lots of dry ice).

Jen C said...

One Christmas I received a yule log cake in the mail. The gift giver ordered it from Williams-Sonoma and it arrived on dry ice.

I work at a biotech company and often receive boxes of DNA. The boxes are labeled "Contains Synthetic DNA" I wonder if the FedEx ppl are weirded out by it. =)

teabird said...

The oddest thing I ever received was a letter inside of a plastic fish. My friend had taped my address and stamps on the thing -- and it got delivered!

(She also covered an envelope in fake fur, but that's another story...)

Heather said...

my MIL sent us cabbage patch doll clothes for our normal sized baby, she has sent so many odd things...um, a vibrating box for which i was called to the postmaster about was the strangest story though.

Turtle said...

I love the name of your blog...

Ok, my mom is a mailcarrier and has delivered everything from trees, ladybugs, bees, chickens etc to folks on her route.

For us personally, well my daughter was 2 when we moved from new england to hawaii. My mom would send boxes filled with things. Fall leaves, whole large real pumpkins, maple syrup and maple candy, lilacs, but the best was a package filled with dry ice and contained 3 snowballs. It had all the makings for a 3 year old trapped in hawaii to make a real new england snow man! The neighbors all thought we were crazy but the kids loved it as well!

Turtle said...

i forgot, what did i mail, well one weird thing was coconuts. We would collect them, write on them and mail them as was.

Erin said...

Beautiful eggs--I love the green ones! This wasn't something we got in the mail--rather something we sent--but a few years ago, my husband and I were getting rid of some household things and selling them on eBay. As we were packing them up and trying to find packing material around the house, he insisted that we pack the boxes with some of his old underwear. It took me a long, long time to try to talk him out of it... to no avail. Just a few months ago, he finally said--"I can't believe I did that!"

Montreal Mama said...

The strangest thing I've ever gotten in the mail was a used light bulb. I participated in a swap on Swap-bot.com (I refuse to do any more swaps on that site anymore) and someone sent me a package that had used items from their house (GROSS!) One of which was a burned out used light bulb. WEIRD!

suzzcq70 said...

Once we are ready to have another child, we will be having our embryos mailed to us/our doctor's office, for defrosting and transfer to my uterus . . . is that weird to some people??

florapie said...

The strangest thing I've ever sent was chocolate bars, with an address label and a stamp-and they got there! DH once attempted to send a dollar bill, with just an address and a stamp, but it didn't make it.

Cornellian said...

Strangest thing by far? Bees. My father was a beekeeper so every year we'd get TONS of "queens" in the mail for the hives. They send them in these little cages and they buzz and move and stuff and it's crazy.

Me, Myself, and I said...

A soda bottle! In an online exchange, I received an empty soda bottle that was cleaned out, a hole was cut in the side, and some things were put in the bottle. The hole was taped closed and the label was put over the hole. I knew I was getting it, but it was still very funny!

Katie O said...

My first winter away from MN, when i was living in Phoenix, my uncle sent me a sandwich baggie, with a few drops of water in it, in my Christmas card... he said that he had tried to send a snowball, but it had probably melted before I got to me. Ok, so maybe not odd, but very cute and appreciated!!

purple-power said...

The strangest thing I ever received was a model of the Eiffel Tower. What's so strange about that you wonder? Well, I have no idea who sent it, why they sent it (I hadn't gone to Paris nor was I planning on going) nor had anyone I known gone recently. No return address. I never did find out who sent it or why.

Anonymous said...

Strangest thing I ever got in the mail was a cuckoo clock. My mother sent it, because she thought I was cuckoo to move to TN.

5elementknitr said...

I was recently in a Naked Mail swap. Apparently, with the correct postage, you can send just about anything throught the US post office. The swap was designed to test that theory!

I sent a cleaned and taped plastic mayo jar full of goodies. I recieved an elephant! A rubber elephant bank taped shut and also full of goodies! It's about 8" X 6" and resides happily in my sons room.

Anonymous said...

In junior high school I received an ant farm in the mail. I was trying to do a science project for school, and had very few resources, so I wrote to a entomologist who I had read about in some kids science mag and I guess he wanted to encourage me so he sent me an ant farm to study. Charming in a NYC apartment. My mother took one look at it and pointed out that we spent a lot of time and money trying to get rid of ants, why did we need to purposely bring them in. I explained that this was different since these were real scientific ants.

Anonymous said...

The strangest thing our family ever received (it was for my daughter's 5th or 6th birthday) has a back story. My MIL (now deceased, and I know it's not nice to speak ill of the dead but ...) was an MD and my FIL (also dead so I can dish with impunity) was an engineer. I mention that so you know that (a) they were educated and (b) they had money. They disliked me from the word go and I guess that rubbed off on my daughter even though she was their only granddaughter. My FIL had asked me what my daughter liked shortly before her birthday and I said she loved LEGOs. I figured this was good since even if they bought her one of the tiny little sets, it would be something she liked. So a few days after her birthday a package arrived, just the right size and shape for a tiny LEGO set. Rachel could hardly stop dancing up and down she was so excited about getting a present in the mail for her birthday (late of course). She kept saying "I wonder what it is". I was sure in my mind, but I said you'll have to open it to find out. She asked if I knew and luckily I said that I didn't. When she opened it, there was no LEGOs. What it was was a piece of metal. Not some sort of decorative thing, just a threaded curved piece of metal. She asked me what it was and I said that I didn't know. She was devastated and said she was going to send it back. So in walks my husband and he sees the box and asks what it was - was this a present from Grandma and Grandpa? Yes says Rachel. What is it, he asks? We don't know says Rachel and bursts into tears. He opens the box and looks inside and says, trying to be helpful, "Oh I know what it is - it's a J-hook. It's what we use to hang up the tools in the garage" And a used one at that. Great birthday gift for a 5 or 6 year old girl - right?

knitmomma said...

My son collects "treasures" whereever we go. They are often bits of hardware, like nuts, bolts & washers. We visited my parents, and he forgot a treasure. My father found it and mailed it to him. So we got a used, dirt filled nut in the mail!

ikkinlala said...

I think the strangest thing I've ever received in the mail was a plastic rattle, because I don't have kids. It appeared to be in good condition, but sounded very much like something broken - maybe that was a feature.

Several other people seemed to think that the strangest thing I've gotten in the mail was a care package from my family which included, among other things, bear jerky and dried beans. Apparently these are not standard care package fare for university students. I then proceeded to tell them about mail-order pig semen, which is another odd thing I've gotten in the mail (if you'd rather not explain this one to your daughter, I wouldn't blame you).

I'm really not as much of a hick as that last paragraph makes me sound.

I once sent a frisbee without any packaging material.