Down to the wire it went. A thick wire. Three days thick. On SUNDAY, December 29, I made my regular trip to town for a 44 oz Diet Coke, and scratchers. The Pony had some winners he wanted traded on fresh tickets. My plan was to patronize The Gas Station Chicken Store, and the Backroads Casey's.
The first part of the plan went off without a hitch. My tickets cashed in, others bought, magical elixir secure in T-Hoe's cup holder. I took the alley across the moat to Casey's, where the parking lot was full. Dang those other patronizers! I took a detour to pick up some lunch. Thought about skipping Casey's entirely. But a little voice in my head said, "Now, Val. You know that your first instincts are usually correct. Get back over to Casey's for those tickets." I listen to myself pretty well. Better than Hick does. So back I went. Only one car parked in front. Plenty of room for T-Hoe.
As I slid out, taking care not to drag the back of my pants leg on the muddy running board, I surveyed the concrete. NO PENNIES! Oh, well. As I rounded T-Hoe's bumper, up on the sidewalk, I was thinking that I still had two more days to break my 2018 penny record.
Sometimes, all you gotta do is wish. There was a penny, right in my path! Waiting for me to come back to Casey's. I'd have missed it if I didn't listen to that little voice.
It was a 2018, face down. I don't hold that against him. I put him in my shirt pocket, and headed inside, smug with the joy of breaking my record. The pressure was off.
Well. Ain't that a fine how-do-you-do? Right inside the door was ANOTHER penny waiting, just for me!
I didn't get a close-up, because the clerk, the one who's told me about finding pennies all over the basement of the house she bought, called me out. "Oh, so now you take PICTURES of them, too?" Just in a joking way. And right after I'd seen the THIRD penny, over at the other register!
YES! I broke my one-year penny record!
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2019 Running Total
Penny # 132, 133, 134.
Dime still at 20.
Nickel still at 8.
Quarter still at 5.
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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Does the IRS monitor your posts?
ReplyDeleteAs closely as a waitress who has noticed stemware missing from her table, I think...
DeleteIt is reported as "other income" at TurboTax time. After being Even-Stevened with the losses, of course.
Hooray for records broken!
ReplyDeleteLaverne and Shirley are so hysterically funny I can only ever watch one episode at a time, then have to take a break for about three years to get over it.
Yes! I was thrilled at the last-minute additions!
DeleteI wish Laverne and Shirley episodes were showing on a regular basis. I don't understand why every time Hick turns on the TV, he can find Andy Griffith, or MASH. I much prefer Laverne and Shirley.
I thought of you when I found a 1945 wheat penny. You are going to hit it rich one of these days when you find a rare coin. My kids did when they were digging to China in our back yard. Their dad asked a collector how to clean the foreign coin up. He said, Insert it into a raw potato and it should come out like new. HA! If only we had warned my mom. She came over and cleaned out my fridge, and tossed "that nasty rotten potato".
ReplyDeleteOh, no! That's a raw deal! I find a wheat penny every couple of months, usually out of a penny roll I get at the bank for my 44 oz Diet Coke money. Exact change takes 4 pennies a day.
DeleteIn fact, there's one on the kitchen counter right now. I give them to Hick, who collects them. I guess he needs to look up their dates and see if any are valuable. And give me a cut of the profit!