What's a penny worth?

From the time I can remember, Dad would be driving down the road, and he'd slam on the brakes and back up. There might be a wrench or screwdriver or something lying on the side of the road. I do the same. A good friend and I were driving in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, with six or eight lanes both ways. and there lay a ratchet. We braved the traffic, but we got it.

One of my favorite places to walk around and look is outside a store where people are digging out their keys and as a result dropping some change. If it's a quarter or dime or nickel or even a penny, I'm after it. It doesn't matter if it's grungy, I'm definitely after it. In a way, I feel like I won the lottery, if it's a quarter or several small coins. I've heard if you come across a coin with the wrong side up you will be unlucky, if you pick it up. I can never remember which side it is, so I just pick it up. The story is, if the wrong side is up, then the best thing is turn it over for the next person. That's what I've been told. I don't have a clue where this belief came from.

Back a few years, a penny would buy you a piece of Bazooka bubble gum or a sucker or a jaw breaker. A glass bottle of soda was a dime. For a quarter, you could get a bottle of Coke and a bag of peanuts and have change. Take a couple swigs from the Coke and then dump in the peanuts. I never drank much coffee back then, but I'm betting a coffee would have been a nickel or a dime. People today don't think at all of wasting a dollar or two or five or 10. For many people money has no value. When we buy something, we flash the plastic and get a bill later on. We send in the minimum and keep flashing the plastic

It's not the same as having cash in one's wallet. When I spend what's in my wallet, I'm broke. That's it, I'm broke. Plastic, though, has seemingly no limit. Most plastic cards have ridiculous spending limits on them. Just plain ridiculous. Credit cards are nice to have, but they are flat out dangerous.

Marge got a turkey out a week or so ago and baked it. It was probably a 10- to 12-pound turkey, so we definitely had leftovers. But she also made mashed potatoes, home frozen sweet corn, dressing and homemade rolls. Way too much food, so there was a bunch left over. Leftovers! Not a problem for us. We both love leftovers. But for some, leftovers are just tossed in the trash. They don't eat leftovers. It's like, why bother with leftovers. There seems to be the feeling that we have an abundance of food so why bother. I think it's shocking how much food is left behind at a restaurant to just be tossed.

A guy and a gal meet and sparks fly, and they get married. When you see them, there is that gushy spark coming from both of their eyes. But right from the git-go, they want a new car and big home and kids and fancy job and all that goes with it. I read a book years ago on the major problems that cause married couple to separate. One of the major ones was financial problems. Why not drive a used car for a while? Or maybe rent a one-bedroom until they can afford a down payment on a starter house. Simply live within one's means.

When we live within our means, we live like we can afford it rather than live like we want to regardless of whether we can afford it or not. We have the resources to buy hamburger, but instead we buy ribeyes. Stores and credit cards are guilty as well. There are numerous advertisements on purchasing a new vehicle for nothing down and a decent monthly payment. But come to find out, it's for 84 months or seven years. Base price can be $40,000 or $50,000 or $60,000 dollars or even more. Shocking to say the least. Some can afford it, but some can't. It's a burden that seems to grow and grow.

Back when I was probably in the seventh or eighth grade, I discovered a rifle I just couldn't live without at Coast to Coast in Ogallala, Nebraska. I had to have that old rifle. There were coyotes to hunt and paper targets to punch holes in. Dad said I'd have to earn it. So Dad bought probably eight or 10 baby pigs to feed out. My job was to take care of them. So probably with Mick's help, Dad put hog rings in their noses. Morning and night I had to carry milk or hog slop out to feed them,

Day after day I fed the hogs. But each time we went to Ogallala, I'd go in to Coast to Coast and check how the gun was coming. It was an old government gun, so the bolt had to be bent and scope rings had to be installed. A guy that worked at Coast to Coast was kind of a gunsmith so he was doing the work. Finally the day came to sell the hogs and pick up my gun. I bought some ammo, also a Lee Hand Loader, bullets, primers, powder scale and powder. I was fixed.

I knew where the money came from to buy that old gun. Every trip from the house to the hog pen meant carrying two five-gallon buckets of slop. Twice a day I made that trip. I would imagine Mick carried a few, and Dad did too, but it was my job.

I grew up understanding where money came from, but back then most kids grew up the same. A penny was important. Today I'm afraid most don't have a clue as to the importance of a penny. An old timer told me years ago: "Take care of the pennies, and you won't have to worry about the dollars."