Late October Now in '17, What a Penny, What a Day

That title is a challenge for my fellow Golden Oldies listeners. It's a twist on a lyric from a fairly well-known song. At least to my generation and the one preceding it. NO PRIZE! Just another chance to guess the name of the song, or the artist, or both. No fair googling! I'm pretty sure most of you will recognize it.

Anyhoo...as you might surmise (and all you antipennyites shake your fist and scream, "WHY???")...this is a report on Val's pennyillionaire status.

On Wednesday, I was losing hope. No found pennies since October 7th. That's 18 DAYS that Val was penny-less! Hick had found several pennies in that time. And he's not even looking for them! Plus, he found two quarters! Okay. I don't begrudge Hick his cents. He has done good deeds for Neighbor Tommy over that time period, so he's cent-worthy. Still, I couldn't help but feel left out.

I took off for town Wednesday, ever the sunny eternal optimist that you've come to know me as...and stopped by Country Mart to get scratchers to put in Genius's letter this week. Yeah. I did happen to get two for myself while I was there. Anyhoo...I almost had to park somewhere besides my favorite space in front of the store, but I figured if I crowded the line a little bit, I could fit. It's on the end, mostly, with the spot on the left of it indented up to a corner of the building. So people would know not to park there if they didn't think they could back out without sideswiping me.

I got out, eyes peeled for pennies. Nada. Not a single cent. I went inside and did my business. Came back out, still scanning the sidewalk and pavement for coins and, perhaps, nail files. Nope. I clicked open T-Hoe's locks, stepped back as I pulled open the door, and saw it!

Right there under T-Hoe! And it looks like I'm not such a bad parker after all! I'm not really crowding the line all that much. Even though T-Hoe's door swings all the way to the middle of where another car would be parked if that was an actual space next to me. He has really wide-open doors.

Whew! Back on track with my pennies! This one was a 1998, The Pony's birth year. Let the record show that I had been worrying about The Pony and his airport travel standbyness all day Monday! And that Monday night, when I finally knew he was home and in bed, I clicked on a scratcher channel on YouTube, and saw a guy uncover a ladybug symbol. AND that on this day, on the way home, I got to radio station switching, and landed on "Holes in the Floor of Heaven," by Steve Wariner. A special song to me that is associated with The Pony and my mom.

Oh, but that's not all! Today, Thursday, I briefly stopped by the cemetery, then went on about my errands, my very next stop being a Casey's store, where I found A PENNY!

As with the previous day's penny, I didn't see it until I came out. I'm sure it was there. I was looking all around, but didn't see it when I got out of T-Hoe. Even though it was clearly positioned for my finding. Nobody parked next to me while I was inside. I guess it was just the sun's glare, though it was worse as I came out.

This penny was a 1963. I don't know of anything important in my life that year.

I finished up today's errands, got my 44 oz Diet Coke, and stopped by Orb K for a couple of scratchers. I debated on that. I had cashed in some winners at Casey's, but still had a winner left. I parked way around on the end, because it was busy. Well, well, well...lookie here!

Lookie close! Because this is the hardest one to see. It's a wonder ol' Val and her glassesless eyes even spot these copper jewels sometimes.

Found me another penny! A 1983. Again, no special date to me. Looks like people who shop at Orb K drive cars that have transmission problems. It's kind of hard to spot pennies on their parking lot.

Now...for all you antipennyites...here's a tale of how little respect Val gets. It seems like only yesterday Hick and I were taking toddler Pony and young Genius trick-or-treating on a side street over by their daycare lady's house. Hick said he would take them to the door, while I remained seated in the passenger seat. In the short time he was gone, a couple of young hooligans came up and soaped the windows with me sitting in the car!

And today, as I strode along the sidewalk to enter Casey's, walking beside a car that was parked parallel to that sidewalk, the driver talking out his passenger window to another guy carrying a big jug of coolant...the driver flicked his cigarette butt out his window and hit Val's pants leg with it! Good thing I didn't go up in flames!

Yeah. I don't get no respect. I didn't say anything about it, nor turn to give him the stinkeye. He even hollered out, "SORRY!" That's just the way it goes. You find some pennies, and Even Steven puts you back in your place.
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Let the record show that these were pennies #51, 52, and 53. I'm sure some of you found some pennies during my 18-day dry spell. Darn you!
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