Hick Doesn't Make Cents

Hick called me Thursday afternoon to report that his 2002 Trailblazer did NOT pass inspection. The license is due this month. Which he can't get without a completed inspection. He also sent me a picture, which I'll share with you, in an attempt to placate any antipennyites who are also gearheads. Any antipennyites who are NOT gearheads will have to be happy with a pictorial on my OPC (Old People Chair). But I'm getting ahead of myself.

You may leave a diagnosis in the comments if you know what this is, and why the Trailblazer didn't pass inspection. And guess how much it cost to repair. No prize! Not even a penny! Just the satisfaction of a diagnosis well-guessed.

I had no clue what this was. I sent back a text to Hick telling him that Genius might as well send me a picture of the inside of a computer. It would be just as meaningful to me. I don't know why Hick assumes I will understand what he's showing me.
__________________________________________________________________

Here, by popular request, is my OPC

I hope I don't break my arm patting myself on the back, but I think I've captured the ambience of the dark basement pretty well here. Of course it has overhead lights, but I prefer the warm glow of the table lamp, and the ray of illumination from that adjustable floor lamp. You can almost hear the footsteps overhead, can't you?

Oh, and Thursday night, right after I turned on that floor lamp and cranked back in my OPC...the ladybug appeared, made two orbits around the lamp, and landed on my left shoulder, where it sat still for a couple of minutes, then took off for parts unknown.

Here's a view from the back of my OPC, with it cranked open:

That's a reflection on the leg part, I guess, since my OPC does not yet have any blemishes or worn spots. There's the throw blanket I won one year at the Christmas Eve party of my sister the ex-mayor's wife. And way down there, piled on the end of the coffee table Hick brought into our marriage...are the Jolly Rancher Candy Canes that came off the Christmas tree. Don't judge.
____________________________________________________________________

Okay, pennyphiles, here's what you've been waiting for...

SUNDAY, March 11, I was off to a good penny-finding start this week. I was in line at The Gas Station Chicken Store, waiting for a man to finish scanning his credit card to pay for gas. I saw a penny at his feet, but I didn't want to invade his space and bend over with my head near his nether regions. There was a lady waiting behind him, though she had come in after me. I didn't think she was a penny-nabber. But just in case, I set my 44 oz Diet Coke on the counter, and took out my phone to get a picture. Effectively calling dibs on that penny.

The Waiting Lady gave me a look that said, "Weirdo," but I made lemonade out that sourpuss by saying, "I collect pennies that I find. I've found about a hundred over the past year." Waiting Lady kind of grunted, humoring me, I guess. But she didn't act alarmed.

The minute that paying dude stepped off, I grabbed my rightful penny and put it in my shirt pocket. It was a 1999, face-up for a change.
_____________________________________________________________________

I had two near-misses through the week. Technically, they were ACTUAL misses. At Orb K on Tuesday, there was a single penny laying on the counter by the little coin swimming pool thingy at the end of the little coin slide thingy that came out of the cash register. In the past, I've claimed such a penny, but I didn't want to seem greedy to the guy waiting behind me in line. I left it. Regrettably.

In Waterside Mart on Wednesday, I could see a penny peeking out at me from under a black display case of Old Camp little liquor bottles. I think that's the name of it. Looks like some kind of whiskey, and it's twice the size of those little airline bottles that they keep in a glass case. I could have slipped that penny out and pocketed it, but I didn't want the barely-21 clerk to assume I was messing with the alcohol. Because, you know, the opinion of a convenience store clerk matters to me. So I left that one, too. Again, regrettably. But that's okay, because

FRIDAY, March 16, I was on the way to mail letters to Genius and The Pony, and stopped by Riverside Mart again, and when I opened the door, I saw these two beauties:

Yep. Waiting for me. If I'd parked like a normal person, and not cheated over to the right in that space (last one on the end, so not infringing on anyone else's door space), I would have been parked on top of them. I don't have good closeups, though I DID take them, despite a lady in a car three spaces over giving me the stinkeye. The penny on the left was a 2016, face down, and the one on the right was a 1963, face UP. They are on the kitchen counter right now, awaiting transport to the penny goblet in the bedroom.
_____________________________________________________________________

For 2018: Penny #19, 20, 21.
For 2018: Dimes still at # 6.
For 2018: Nickels still at #2.

Since 2017 (the beginning), this was Penny #97, 98, 99. ALMOST TO A CENTURY!
Since 2017 (the beginning), this was still Dime #12.
Since 2017 (the beginning), this was still Nickel #2.
_____________________________________________________________________