Double Tale

Last night Doc and I attended a Christmas Eve service at a local church.  The entertainers put on quite a performance (actually five of them throughout the day).  It was very loud and high tech.  This morning’s Christmas performance by the Penny Angels was every bit as impressive – and much quieter).

Doc with Double Tails and Knee Braces

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This Christmas morning Doc wanted to a) get his coffee and b) break in his new knee braces.  He insisted I go with him (and get my coin for today).  The dogs, of course determined this now to be a Family Christmas activity.  The Two Tails demanded to go along as well.

Our first stop this morning was at a closed car wash.  I set out to find merely a coin or two.  Doc hopped out of the van and said we should go find …….25 coins?

We walked the doggies, logged in several hundred steps and found my requisite coin.  (Actually we collected 24 coins [20P, N, 3D] which is a double Coin Mine).

Our second stop was at a shopping center where Doc planned to get his coffee.  The grocery store was closed, so we walked the parking lot to get a few more steps logged.  We collected 10 Pennies and a Dime on that walk.

The third stop was to get Doc’s coffee.  He headed toward the shop, I headed in the opposite direction across the empty parking lot.  I was talking to the Angels,

“We have pennies, a nickel, and dimes.  If you want to make for a good story this morning, you could deliver a quarter to me right now and complete a Hit for the Cycle”.  Within 3-4 minutes there was a shiny quarter in a dirt patch!  And as I bent over to retrieve it, another quarter appeared!  TWO quarters.  I guess that means the Penny Angels wanted me to write a (Double) Penny Tale today (since they delivered a Double Hit for the Cycle).

Coin Finds in Starbucks Courtyard

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I headed back to Starbucks to meet Doc.  He had his coffee; I had my quarters.  But the Penny Angels were not through with us.  Doc spotted a penny in the Starbucks courtyard.  We retrieved it.  There was another penny and another penny and another… it felt as though we were surrounded by coins!  Within moments we had gobbled up 69 coins!  The coins had crusty white sediment on them.  It wasn’t until we got home and I could wash them, that we could determine we had collected 62P, 3N, 4D at that spot.

Then, as we returned to our van to leave, Doc spotted a Wheat penny!  (Perhaps from the Angels of Christmas Past)?

Instead of SPENDING money on Christmas, we were FINDING money on Christmas…. And enjoying Playful Time with the Angels.

Christmas Count:   P (94), N (4), D (8), Q (2) = 108 Coins

Some Lessons Today: 

·     The Angels enJOY when we Play like a Child with them

·     Set your expectations / goals higher than the minimum daily requirement

·     The Angels are there to assist and will generally perform much better than humans will

Rainy Day

Rainy Day and Sell Day almost got me down …

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We were headed to our cabin to say goodbye to it.  (More on Tales from the Penny Palace).  As we left home Doc suggested we stop at the nearest car wash (which would be closed do to the rain) and look for the day’s coin.  I hopped out and found a penny within a few minutes.  That put me in a slightly better mood.  The song “Pennies from Heaven” came to mind. 

“Every time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven

Don't you know each cloud contains pennies from heaven?

You'll find your fortune's fallin' all over the town
Be sure that your umbrella is upside down…”

So I playfully turned my umbrella upside down and said (outloud), “OK Angels, I’ve got the Dismals today.  Do something to make me laugh!”  I looked over in a dirt area. It had been recently raked and there were several piles of debris.  At first did not see any coins in the dirt, but then a dime, and a nickel, and a penny, and a penny, and a nickel, and a penny ….  There were 16 pennies, 2 nickels, and a dime.  That made a Coin Mine (defined as at least 12 coins found at one location).  I was laughing with the Angels and thanking them.  As I turned to leave, I noticed a small raked cluster of debris.  Right on top of everything was a quarter!  That made a Hit for the Cycle!  Thank you Angels for your humor and “attitude adjustment”.

 

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And just what was Doc doing while I was out in the rain gobbling coins?  I had told him to stay in the van and stay dry – I would just be gone for a few minutes.  He promptly ignored me, grabbed his umbrella, and then held my umbrella over me while I was playing with the coins in the mud!   What an incredible partner and Best Friend.

Apple Penny

I purchased my new iMac computer in July of 2013.  Every day since then when I power up the computer it says ### days since your last back up.  When it reached 400 days, it was time to take action!

When we first bought the computer, we were advised to purchase a backup device.  We did that 16 months ago and it has been sitting in the box ever since.  Last night we followed the instructions which came with the device and tried to back up my computer.  After a frustrating hour, I gave up and booked a training session at the local Apple Store.

Wheat Penny Find

This morning Doc and I had our ‘class’ with Gilbert at the Apple Store.  He was great.  It only took 5 minutes to deal with the Back Up chore.  Then we had the remaining part of our hour to explore other topics.  I asked Gilbert to teach me effective ways of sending photos for Travel or Penny Tales.  We looked around us for something typical which I would photograph for my Tales.  Doc said, “What about the Penny on the Floor right next to you?”  I thought he was bluffing.  I had positioned my gear, moved my chair, unpacked the computer with accessories, and done several other things on that very spot.  I KNOW there was no penny there when we began the training session at that countertop.  And no one had come close to me in those 15 minutes.   There is no “Logical” way to explain how that Penny appeared there.  Unless ….. it was providing me the opportunity to share Penny Finding with  Gilbert and with YOU.  A reason to post one more Wonderful, Joy-filled Story!

Note:  The Penny is a 1945 wheat penny – minted in the same year Doc was!   LOL

Back in the U.S.A.

International Travel is full of adventure and new scenery.  But when it comes to Penny Finding, there’s no place like home.

We were on a Penny Finding streak of 439 Consecutive Days before we flew off to Australia.  Western Australia (WA) is pretty sparse as far as population.  There were zero Starbucks  (much to Doc’s dismay) and coin finds were rare.  Heck, we saw many more wallabies than wayward coins over there!

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In the 41 Days we were in Australia we found only 64 coins.  That is less than 2 coins per day; however, the total value was $14.55. That averages 35¢/day.  Pretty Nice!

Our first seven days of Coin Finding back in the U.S. yielded: 78 coins.  That is an average of 11 coins per day! Total value of $1.97.  (That is less than one of the Aussie $2 coins).  That averages 28¢/day.

Tuesday:  Arrived home from Australia approximately Noon after way too long on a plane.  That evening we headed to the grocery store.  Only one Penny. (We were pretty tired).  Warming up again.  Been a bit out of practice.

Wednesday: Grocery Store P, D

Thursday: Restaurant  P, D

Friday Starbucks, Gas Station, Dry Cleaner   P(4), N

Saturday:  Car Wash  P(50), N(3), D(7)

THIS was Penny Finding at its Finest!  I found a few coins, Doc found a few, then we went to wash them off and found a few more and a few more and a few more….gobble, gobble, gobble!

Sunday: Target, Grocery Store   P(4), D(2)

Monday: Target   P, N

It’s Great to be Home and back to the Penny Palace!