There are 11 of them. I guess the angle of the almost-sun had to be just right. I hadn't seen a one of them when I walked across the road to get the mail. One glinted as I walked back. The more I squinted, the more I saw, in a wide swath. The dirtier ones blended in with the gravel distributed for a recent freezing rain event. I picked them up, looked over my shoulder towards the mailbox side of the road, and noticed some MORE that I'd missed!
Here are the other five. I'm sure you'll have to look closely or zoom in. They're in a flying-bat kind of shape. I must apologize to those of you who would like to see an individual closeup of each of the 16 pennies. I WAS in the middle of the road, and didn't think it was safe to linger. As I picked them up, I did note that 10 were face-down, and 6 were face-up.
Don't worry! I WASHED these road pennies, because some were absolutely filthy. Put them in a little cup of water and DAWN, the dish detergent that gets oily baby animals clean. It got my pennies, clean, too!
When I came upstairs later to check their dates, I found it interesting that even that a random shaking-out on the paper towel, and sliding them apart for drying, resulted in 8 pennies face-down, and 8 pennies face-up. As it should be, with 50-50 odds. For the record, the years of these pennies were: 1957 (a WHEAT penny), 1981, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1996, 2002, 2012, 2013, 2014 (4), 2015, 2017, 2018.
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You'll never believe what I found on WEDNESDAY, March 12. Okay. You will. I'm a believable kind of Val. Of course I was on the lookout for pennies when I crossed the road to get the mail. But what I found was a DIME! Heads-up, from 2017, with kind of a bad scar on FDR's face. Of course I looked around, in case there might be 15 more.
There wasn't, but there WAS a penny! Face-up, from 2013.
I got closeups of those two, and that's all you're getting, because there are MORE COINS TO COME! I proceeded to town, feeling all special for getting coins at the mailbox for two days in a row. Of course when you least expect it, a coin falls into your lap. Not so much falls into my lap, as lays patiently on the floor of the Casey's over in Main Post Office Town until I find it.
"Whew! Am I going to have a good Pennyillionaire story this week!" said Val as she pocketed her 1995 face-down rightful nickel and headed to her last stop, The Gas Station Chicken Store. Where you're not gonna believe it, but...
I found a penny on the way in! Face-down, from 1993.
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With such spectacular good fortune on Monday and Tuesday, I was almost relieved when Wednesday rolled around, and I didn't find a singer coin. But you know what's coming, don't you?
On THURSDAY, March 14, at my very first stop, I was called over to a closed register by an Orb K clerk. When I looked down, it was obvious to me why she had chosen to open the register at the very moment I was next in line.
I'd have missed that somewhat-copper pair if she hadn't opened up. The front one was face-down, a 1998, and the second one was heads-up, a 2008. Here, I'll give you a closer look at these two.
Now I see why that one was so hard to pick up! It was trying to hide under the energy-supplement rack.
I went outside into the gale winds of the Great Midwest Bomb Cyclone of '19, and nearly stepped on ANOTHER penny as I reached to open T-Hoe's door. I swear it was not there when I got out. I always look around, because that's where I often find pennies meant just for me. Maybe it blew in on a 60 mph wind gust.
It was a bit awkward getting the picture, what with clutching three scratchers in my left armpit, T-Hoe's keyring in my right hand, and swaying the the gale-force winds. I did it, though. For YOU, and because as Genius likes to say, "Pics or it didn't happen." This was a face-down 1982.
Whew! As I type this up on Thursday night, I'm almost afraid to leave the house on Friday and Saturday. There might be a limit on the number of pennies you can harvest per week!
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Val People Problems! Just as I feared, on FRIDAY, March 15, I stopped to pick up the mail, and found THREE MORE PENNIES! A face-down 2018, a heads-up 1979, and a heads-up 1994.
It's kind of hard to see the last two. Go straight up from the penny at the bottom, the area between the black dot and the twig, and look slightly left of center. I knew where they were, and could hardly find them in this picture.
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Oh, NO! The nightmare to the nightmare! Today (SATURDAY, March 16), I found TWO MORE pennies by the mailbox! With the sun's glare, I couldn't even tell if I had them in frame, but a zoom-in shows I caught both.
The dirtier one, just to the right of center, was a face-down 1980. The other, off to the left of center, was a 1998, heads-up. I had to rush home and stop the presses to ad my two cents!
I've been closely inspecting the road here since my 16-penny windfall on Monday, so new pennies are springing up every day. It must be a kid on the bus tossing them out the window. I don't care where they come from! I'll gladly take them. If no new ones are there on Sunday, I can believe my school bus theory.
I made 46 cents this week! If this keeps up, I'll have to keep a tally for tax time next year.
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2019 Running Total
Penny # 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44.
Dime # 4.
Nickel # 3, 4.
Quarter still at 1.
2018 TOTALS
Penny 131
Dime 17
Nickel 6
Quarter 1
2017 TOTALS (Started in March, 2017)
Penny 78
Dime 6
Nickel 0
Quarter 0
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I keep tellin' ya. Someone is leaving those coins just for you to pick them up. Better start wearing plastic gloves.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I did, upon climbing back into T-Hoe with my harvest, was text Hick. "I just found 16 pennies on the road by the mailboxes! Did you plant them there for me?"
Delete"No."
Nobody else knows I pick them up. Or if they know I pick them up, they don't know where I live, or where I'll be on any given day. It would be wasteful to plant a crop that I might not harvest!
My dad used to let me "find" money when I was little. he tossed the same handful of pennies into the grass, but I think you have a penny gifter on the loose out your way.
ReplyDeleteI really think this mailbox phenomena is due to kids on the school bus. It stops right there. They could be tossing them out the window after school, and I don't find them until the next day. Don't know why a kid would have pennies to toss out in the morning. It's not like you can get a half-pint of milk for 2 cents any more!
DeleteI'm reminded now of a pre-dawn walk to work about a dozen years ago now, when I found several dollars worth of $1 and $2 coins all along one section of footpath, I suspect someone had a hole in a pocket or bag, but being 5.30am I was alone on the street, so the coins became mine. About $6 altogether and every day after that I scanned the footpaths all the way to work but found nothing. I'd forgotten it until now. I wonder if someone was searching their car ashtray for loose change and when they found only pennies took the lot and chucked them out a window for you to find?
ReplyDeleteI don't think that theory would work here. They would have been parked back on the gravel, and tossed them there. These pennies were strewn on both sides of the blacktop road, along 30-40 feet. I figure a school bus is pretty long, and depending on where a kid sat, pennies could land in those spots.
DeleteI am always looking for spare change and I find quite a bit. But you did a great haul there.i
ReplyDeleteThis was a week for the record books!
DeleteYou must live in a giant wishing well.
ReplyDeleteHeh, heh! That could explain it! I hope I'm not responsible for granting wishes.
DeleteI bet there is a hidden camera watching you snatch up all this money!!
ReplyDelete