One of the things my mother always stressed when we were children was to never, ever, hang out by the rail road tracks. This was of course for good reasons. One reason was that we could be run over by a train and they would have to come and pick us up with a mop and bucket. My mom's other reason, and the one that scared me even more than getting run over, was the hobos, or bums that rode the rails and might be camping in the woods nearby. I didn't know what the hobos might do with me, but it scared me just to think of shadowy men in rags lurking in the woods.
Of course, kids being kids, we went and played on the train tracks anyway. They were like a secret path that led us into forested areas that automobiles couldn't reach. To keep from being run over by a train, we would put our ears to the track, just like we saw the Indians do on the Lone Ranger, and listen for the rumble, which meant that one was coming soon. When a train was approaching, we would get all excited and dig into our pockets for our pennies, which we would then lay on the rail so that the tons of train could squish them into a thin flat disk. Some of my brother's showoff friends would sometimes lay a nickel on the track, but I could never part with that much money. Just squishing a penny that could have bought a bag of candy at 'Rudy's' candy store bothered me. To this day I can't walk by a penny lying on the pavement without bending over to pick it up. For all the money I've wasted in my life, I just can't seem to let a penny go wasted on the street.
Like most people, I don't like change accumulating in my pocket, so I am constantly emptying the change into a 'coin can' on my dresser. The problem with this, is that I eventually have two or three full containers of coins, which I can't bring to my bank, because I bank by mail. One option is to bring it to the supermarket where they have a machine that will take your change and give you your money, minus eight percent. Minus eight percent, is like leaving a penny laying on the street to me, so I bought a coin sorter/counter from Amazon.com and started rolling my own coins. It works okay. It isn't designed for high volume, but it does the job and I now have 'found money'. You know what found money is don't you? That's Friday night drinking money! Like I said, I don't like to waste money.
In Michigan, I save all my aluminum cat food cans. A 30 gal plastic bag full can fetch about $15. at the scrap metal yard, which goes to buy more cat food. Scrap metal is big business up here and premium prices are paid for copper, aluminum, steel, tin, and especially junk appliances and cars.
ReplyDeleteAluminum cans bring in .10 each. One can really rake in the money from all the beer cans found during hunting season along the roads. Just an observation you hunters. I know you guys are law abiding, sober, don't trespass, and never accidentally shoot each other out in those woods.
That train looks like they welded a 1955 Chevy on top..
ReplyDeleteGaret, the train is real and ran through Tinley Park back in the 1950's.
ReplyDeleteGaret, as for saving cat food cans. Rats is the answer.
I'm surprised that someone who lives in your apartment with you hasn't found how much fun it would be to go shopping with this found money. You know how much he loves to shop.
ReplyDeleteWe did the same things at the train tracks that ran through Chicago Lawn. Also, if we saw the train coming we would wait for the caboose and scream "chalk" and would sometimes score a big piece of yellow chalk. We would then go under the viaduct and use our artistic skills on the walls. Our trains were not as fancy as the ones that you had in Tinley Park, ours were just the plain old working models.
Actually Garet, it looks more like an Edsel than a Chevy to me.
ReplyDeleteI too have purchased a coin sorting contraption. It makes it a lot easier than sorting them by hand. I feel the same with giving anyone a percentage to exchange my coin for paper currency.
ReplyDeleteI do use my quarters on a regular basis for laundry so it takes longer to get enough rolled coin together to make it worthwhile to take it to the bank.
I use my debit card whenever possible to avoid the use of outdated coins and paper money. Did you know that the real currency use to be in gold and silver. Since it became too heavy to lug all those gold and silver coins around some smart as decided that paper money (which represented all that gold and silver) would be a good idea to use. Logically you should be able to go to your bank and trade all your paper money in for your gold and silver. NOT ! Although one can buy stock in gold and silver, I don't believe their exists enough of it to give back to everyone from Fort Knox. So inconclusion, paper money and coins aren't real money, only representations of gold and silver.
ReplyDeleteGaret, where do you think the money for the "stimulus" package is coming from? They just print up that $300 and give it to you. You will end up spending it all on gasoline, making sure it all goes to Bush's rich oil buddies in Saudi Arabia.
ReplyDeleteFederal Reserve Notes are fiat currency, which means that the government is not obligated to give the holder of a note gold, silver, or any specific tangible commodity in exchange for the note. Before 1971, the notes were "backed" by gold: that is, the law provided that holders of Federal Reserve notes could exchange them on demand for a fixed amount of gold (though from 1934–1971 only foreign holders of the notes could exchange the notes on demand).[1] Since 1971, federal reserve notes have not been backed by any specific asset. While 12 U.S.C. § 411 states that "Federal Reserve Notes . . . shall be redeemed in lawful money on demand" this means only that Federal Reserve banks will exchange the notes on demand for new Federal Reserve notes. Thus today the notes are backed only by the "full faith and credit of the U.S. government"—the government's ability to levy taxes to pay its debts. In another sense, because the notes are legal tender, they are "backed" by all the goods and services in the economy; they have value because the public accepts them in exchange for valued goods and services. Intrinsically they are worth the value of their ink and paper components.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_Note
Alan: Gee that sounds like the fox (Bush) guarding the hen house (his profits from big oil) hehe
ReplyDelete