Page 38 of 39 FirstFirst ... 2836373839 LastLast
Results 371 to 380 of 383

Thread: Bartering And Horse Trading (Part Duh)

  1. #371
    Moderator madfranks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    11,761
    Thanks
    7,376
    Thanked 8,034 Times in 4,008 Posts

    Re: Bartering And Horse Trading (Part Duh)

    Sorry to hear about your injury, agnut.
    "Liberty is so creative, and the government is so stupid, that I’m very optimistic about the future"
    - Lew Rockwell

  2. The Following User Says Thank You to madfranks For This Useful Post:

    agnut (25th September 2016)

  3. #372
    Palladium agnut's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    388
    Thanks
    2,414
    Thanked 606 Times in 195 Posts

    Re: Bartering And Horse Trading (Part Duh)

    Hi all; got a few goodies last Saturday. I went with a friend who never seems to buy many items. So the truck has lots of room for my bulk buying. My friend has 5 acres of flat prime and rich land. He has a large garden and sells produce right out on the street. Problem is that even though his produce is really nice and his prices are half of what the local stores sell, not enough buyers stop by. I told him not to be discouraged and that that he may be a bit early and that in the coming years he may have a goldmine when folks will be wanting his organic produce and better prices. I feel the same way about a couple of acres I have that also have a seasonal stream that could be used to store and feed water as the produce matures. Just a possible option for the future. It is said that you see your doctor once a year but you see your farmer three times a day !


    Anyhoo, here is the Saturday booty :

    4 DVDs free (one was a bluray)

    4 DVDs $4

    Stihl weedwhacker (trimmer) $2 (all there but needs carb work. Hey, Don’t they all ?)

    6 vinyl records $8 (I thought a Bill Haley and the Comets LP from the 50s would be worth more than $20 but was wrong. Oh well, it’ll still make some dough or trading material.

    New heavy duty car battery $5 Crazy, huh ?

    2 pair firefighter boots $2

    Vaughn framing hammer nice condition $3

    8’ grinding wheel $1

    Aluminum diamond plate storage box for pickup truck $1 another crazy price, huh ?

    3 chimney brushes with 4 extension rods for $5

    GE 22’ flat screen TV with remote for $3

    Penn Senator reel with Fenwick rod for $20. I got this when I saw a buyer leaving with it and noticed the price sticker of $15. He said that he bargained for it and paid $10. I asked him if he would sell it and how much. He said How about $20 . Not a fantastic deal but I have been looking at fishing gear for years at sales and this rig would be selling for about $60-70 used. Can’t always score a ten bagger but I would rather have good items than paper fiat currency.

    Have you seen the prices of gold and silver today (10/4/2016 ? Of course, that is the PAPER price of gold and silver. When this happens, premiums on physical go up, availability goes down and waiting time lengthens until we can have the precious metal in our hands. I don’t like the idea of waiting 4-6 weeks for physical metal to arrive; lots can happen in that time interval.

    A friend had been trying to buy a house on acreage but three times he has either been outbid or a lawyer has gotten in on the deal. I told him that it may be a blessing in disguise in that real estate is overdue for a collapse, maybe not in our area for location reasons but nationally I believe that we will soon see falls in the RE market. When the banks start going in the dumper they won’t be anxious to lend. I have even invited him to stay at my place if he wants but apparently he is set up on a friend’s acreage. Always wise to have a plan behind the plan behind the plan.

    This friend is in a position to acquire all kinds of surplus merchandise but had no place to store it. So it is being stacked out back of my barn. He and his lady are so generous that I had to tell him that if there was ever a disagreement on any deals with me that we need to communicate and straighten things out immediately. Our friendship is way more important than any deals. I want only happiness and security for my friends.

    This friend knew that I have been anxious to finish leveling a drive around circle and graveling before the winter rains and mud pie landscape. My problem is that I didn’t have any money for such a large project and I had told him so (guess I bought too many GEM sale items). Last week he had a backhoe tractor come in and straighten out the road and parking circle. Next he had two loads of gravel brought in and spread out. These were the biggest trucks I had seen of this type with double axles and a third drop down axle for extra weight. He told me to not worry about it since I had helped him with a huge storage problem; we would trade out later for any difference. Now I’m not used to dealing this way and I try to give more than I receive; generosity has its own kind of power.

    Note : The above is all that I had written as of Sept 25,2016. Much had happened in my life since that time that took all my energy to hold together. Ponce died in early October and I ended up being the only one to see to his estate settlement. As time passed I was able to find his ex wife and set things on course. It was fraught with many twists and turns and still is not finished; perhaps in a couple of months. Also there have been some serious family problems to address. The loss of Ponce hit me more that I could have ever anticipated.

    I will continue with posting on bartering and horsetrading as soon as time permits. Last Friday I attended the first sale in months; it was a good one and I guess kicked off the coming sale season.

    Thanks for all who contribute to this thread, especially in my absence.

    Best wishes,
    Agnut

    "To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    You don’t have a soul. You ARE a soul. You have a body. C.S.Lewis

  4. The Following User Says Thank You to agnut For This Useful Post:

    ximmy (17th April 2017)

  5. #373
    Unobtanium
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    11,248
    Thanks
    1,955
    Thanked 3,790 Times in 2,128 Posts

    Re: Bartering And Horse Trading (Part Duh)

    Quote Originally Posted by Jewboo View Post
    One who regularly boasts of paying pennies on the dollar must understand why.

    It usually tends to even out. You work to save in some areas to have funds for unforeseen things.

  6. The Following User Says Thank You to ximmy For This Useful Post:

    agnut (21st April 2017)

  7. #374
    Palladium agnut's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    388
    Thanks
    2,414
    Thanked 606 Times in 195 Posts

    Re: Bartering And Horse Trading (Part Duh)

    Hi all; here are the results from the April 14 estate sale I attended. As I said earlier, this was the first sale of the season which will stretch out until sometime in the coming October. .After that, it tapers off due to the weather here in the Pacific Northwest. The estate sales do continue to some extent but there are only a couple a week in my area. Besides, the fall and winter slowness give me time to organize what I have bought (not fully true because I am a bit disorganized, lazy and busy with firewood, the cold and tend to settle in with Netflix and the over 4,000 DVDs in my collection. I don’t even have time for the thousands of vinyl records that I have accumulated over the past decades.

    I’m making a point here that we all need to be continually aware of. Our time and how we spend it. Most folks work at their jobs and either relax on the weekends or do some activity such as boating or any number of interests. Me ? I’m scouring the papers and internet for coming sales. So while most are making zilch or spending money on the weekends, I’m out there making and saving money. And bartering and horsetrading is such fun that I don’t consider it work. This reminds me of some advice I recently read somewhere on the internet. It is to find what you really love doing and make it a career. This way, you will be anxious to get up in the morning and go to “work”. I realized that this I what I had done for my own career; automotive repair. I began auto work in the early 1970s and retired a couple of years ago now that I am 70 years old. My greatest pleasure was helping customers with their auto problems, both mechanical and financial. Their relief and gratitude was my payoff. I did make good money which allowed me to restore many cars as well as to own cars that I could only dream about when I was a boy. Fifteen Jaguars, ten or twelve Mercedes, Porsches, an Alfa Romeo, a Ferrari, hundreds of Volkswagens and many American cars as well as a race sand buggy, quads, motorcycles and a greyhound that a friend and I converted into a motorhome over a couple of years. You might say that my life has been one helluva ride.

    Life has been really good to me and I feel that I want to somehow return the favor, though the enormity of the gift of life is beyond full comprehension. I got to pick up about a ton of fruits and veggies from a local supermarket per week for my cattle but most of it was still in good condition. I ended up distributing most of it to about 50 people. I did this a few years until the deal with the supermarket ended. Next I went to a retirement home. I had met the owner in a checkout line at the local dollar store. She invited me to drop by. Funny how things pop out of the blue at just the right time. This happened about 6 months ago and I have been going there each week to see what they need. I asked one of the residents what they needed most and was surprised at her answer. It was tobacco ! I then learned that this retirement home is subsidized by the government and the residents are only allowed to keep about $60 per month of their retirement income. And then it made sense; these people didn’t have enough money for the one thing that was not good for them. But I saw that it was important to them and putting aside my personal feelings I knew that there was more to this than meets the eye (or ear). I was right; they were holed up without any things to keep them occupied. There were only a few who had a TV or a DVD player. I later found out that they also needed clothing and bedspreads. In the beginning I supplied pounds of tobacco and tubes which I recently told them that I would not provide any more. I have a plan to get the residents to contribute a small amount to bulk buy and share according to their contribution. What is important to me is to get to them the things that will help their mental state. The tobacco thing just got my foot in the door.

    Now I am finding and supplying TVs and DVD/VCR machines and setting them up. I have also been finding bedspreads and clothing which they seem to greatly appreciate. This is all new to me but my bartering and horsetrading skills tie in perfectly with their needs. I’ll write more in the next post since this post is about what I found two weeks ago.

    Here goes; it ain’t braggin’ if its true :

    3 bedspreads $1 each
    Computer screen, keyboard, camera and speakers for $5
    2 DVD players $2.50 each
    175 mason canning jars for 0 cents each
    Sears 5000 degree welding torch set with 4 cans solid ox pellets $2
    Reciprocating floor fan $5
    Huge Sears wet/dry vacuum $3
    Allied 80 amp charger $1
    Craftsman Rout-A-Sign maker $5
    Electric fillet knife with 2 blades new for $1
    4 outdoor extension cords $1 each
    2 lengths of steel chain $1 each
    2 tile cutters, one is electric for $5 each
    Craftsman Advance timing light $1
    4 pieces, pipe wrench, 3 pliers 50 cents each
    Panasonic DMC F28 digital camera in box for $2

    Best wishes,

    Agnut

    "To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    You don’t have a soul. You ARE a soul. You have a body.
    C.S.Lewis

  8. The Following User Says Thank You to agnut For This Useful Post:

    woodman (24th April 2017)

  9. #375
    Palladium agnut's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    388
    Thanks
    2,414
    Thanked 606 Times in 195 Posts

    Re: Bartering And Horse Trading (Part Duh)

    Okay, here’s what I got last Friday at an estate sale :

    2 DVD/VCR players with remotes for $5 each
    Flat screen 21” TV with remote for $5
    Flat screen 31” TV with remote for $10
    Toaster 4 slice for $3
    Popcorn air popper for $3
    2 old cast iron frypans for $1 each
    3 Pyrex casserole rectangular dishes for $1 each
    15 old vinyl LP records for $2 total
    Electric herb grinder $2
    Atari Flashback 5 game console w/92 built in games in the box for $5
    5 DVDs for $1 total
    16 VCR tapes for $2 total
    31 Star Trek VCR tapes for $5 total
    2 12 x 16 cookie baking trays. The kind used in a bakery. for $1 each

    I wrote in my last post that these DVD players and TVs will go to the retirement home. Funny that I had been lamenting just last week to someone that it was almost impossible to find flat screen TVs and here two show up at the next sale. As Voltaire said, “God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh”.

    Another thing is that finding combination DVD/VCR players that work and have remote controls are almost impossible to find. Yeah, and I found two at the same sale that I found the two flat screen TVs; what are the odds of that ? More like a prayer answered. One of the reasons that I need them so desperately is that I had recently made a deal with the manager of a local thrift store to buy a package deal for a couple hundred VCR tapes for this retirement home. She let me pick them out (the best ones among well over a thousand) for a total of $30 ! I had delivered them a month ago, not realizing that few in the retirement home had DVD/VCR players in their rooms but only in the media room that had seating for about 12 people.

    Many of the residents are in wheelchairs and some are near the end of their lives and some have Alzheimer’s disease. If I were a resident there and in such a condition I would want some private time to enjoy some good entertainment too. I have seen that many times a resident will have a fellow resident in their room to share movies together. It is this time to be together in friendship that is so important to the well being to these folks.

    For the last couple of months I’ve been taking 20-25 DVDs from my collection every week and picking up last week’s DVDs. It’s working very well so far. Right now I have 9 DVD players and two flat screen TVs that have to be checked out before delivery. I don’t have to provide flat screen TVs but it seems that everyone is throwing away their older CRT TVs rather than recycling them. I’m still seeking a source like a thrift store that will take them if I will buy them. They need to work AND they need a remote. I hope that I can solve this with a few contacts.

    There is an overview here that could go nationwide. Just suppose if churches would each have a group that would provide similar services to local retirement homes and even to those in need living in their homes. The youth in the churches being involved would show them a part of society that desperately needs help. A real life’s lesson that will guide many of them for a lifetime. Sitting in a pew once a week only helps those taking the message to heart but getting out there and doing God’s work is spiritually uplifting. As the Bible says, “Let your light so shine that other men may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven”. In other words, you are doing this for your faith, not for your personal praise.

    If we are to, as President Trump says, “Make America Great Again”, we need to do our part if we want to be part of the transformation. President Trump can’t do this alone; he needs our involvement. Maybe, “We All Need To Help Make America Great Again” would be appropriate for the populace. Greatness has to come from the people; it won’t come from those believing that wealth is measured in dollars and possessions. However, we may be able to enlist some of them to contribute.

    Best wishes,
    Agnut

    "To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    You don’t have a soul. You ARE a soul. You have a body.
    C.S.Lewis

  10. The Following User Says Thank You to agnut For This Useful Post:

    madfranks (24th April 2017)

  11. #376
    Moderator madfranks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    11,761
    Thanks
    7,376
    Thanked 8,034 Times in 4,008 Posts

    Re: Bartering And Horse Trading (Part Duh)

    You got multiple flat screen TVs for $5 and $10?? Unelievable!
    "Liberty is so creative, and the government is so stupid, that I’m very optimistic about the future"
    - Lew Rockwell

  12. #377
    Palladium agnut's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    388
    Thanks
    2,414
    Thanked 606 Times in 195 Posts

    Re: Bartering And Horse Trading (Part Duh)

    Quote Originally Posted by madfranks View Post
    You got multiple flat screen TVs for $5 and $10?? Unelievable!
    Hi madfranks; yeah I did and both have remotes. I also got at the same estate sale two of the combination DVD/VCR players with remotes as I wrote above. I sure hope they all check out; there will be some happy people.

    I'm running out of money for sales and may have to dip into my change hoard for the next deals. I haven't sold anything for a long time and an hesitant to sell on eBay with their sellers' policy.

    Best wishes,
    agnut

    "To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    You don’t have a soul. You ARE a soul. You have a body.
    C.S.Lewis

  13. #378
    Palladium agnut's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    388
    Thanks
    2,414
    Thanked 606 Times in 195 Posts

    Re: Bartering And Horse Trading (Part Duh)

    Hi, it’s been a long time and life has gotten crazy busy. I thought I was retired and here I am finding out that there are so many things to be done. In a few months I’ll be 71 . Not that I’m counting the days but it seems as though that the days are flying by so fast that they are a blur. All I can ask is how did I get here so fast ?

    Held a garage sale a while back. I called it The Huge Pre Estate Garage Sale. Then I led the header with :
    “It’s been a lot of fun collecting all the “stuff” but the money from sales will find a higher and better purpose now. Besides, what will relatives do with it all someday? Yep !”
    Then a list of items and a dozen photos.

    We ran the sale only on Friday from9-3; six hours to see who showed up and learn what they were interested in. Next week we will be open Friday and Saturday from 9-3. Should be interesting.
    With both the words estate AND garage sale I was attempting to get their attention. We sold a fair amount of items; over half of my sales were from selling a couple of antique forge air pumps, a 220 welder and a surfacing machine. They all went to a young man with a dream of learning a trade at home. Now that’s a young man who is going somewhere. I would like to sell him my Foley Belsaw planer – molder. I bought it with the thought in mind to find old broken furniture and planing the good parts in order to save the hardwoods such as oak, cherry and walnut. Probably some other good wood types out there too. Could be an opportunity for the young man. I have his business card and might contact him if I get the chance. I’d need to talk to his dad first so that he understood the dangers of the equipment. One could get hurt on many trades; heck, look at all the paper legislation shuffling going on in Washington. All those millions of papers just waiting for one slipup and then….a PAPER CUT ! Those things can really hurt. Well, I guess there should be some compensation for hazard pay like in the military. Don’tcha think ?

    And now thinking of Washington, shouldn’t we get to see what these pedophiles are doing with our kids ? Yeah, they are ALL our kids, not somebody else’s problem. We as a society should be protective toward ALL of the kids in our neighborhood as well as extend our protection to ALL children. Because if ALL children aren’t safe, our own kids aren’t safe either. Additionally, after these kids grow up and we adults have not done anything about it, what should we expect these new grownups to think of us if we had done nothing to protect them when they were helpless and vulnerable ?

    ‘Nuff said (or is it ? ). It just boils my blood to think that this could all just be swept under the rug.

    I once had a camphor wood chest that was not repairable but several carved panels were in good shape. Some of these panels ended up on the walls of peoples’ homes. Nice smelling art; a two for one.
    Point is, there are often more uses for an item that we have not thought of. How about a generator tied to a bicycle which powered a battery and inverter that ran a video game and the kids would have to cycle enough to make the game run. That should teach the little buggers just what it takes to run their toys. A little respect here for the incredible technology at our beck and call.

    The world shouldn’t be run by parasite control; real honest work has to be done. We don’t need politicians but real statesmen instead. There is a world of difference, one in which we are living today (much to our detriment). Politicians live under the carrot of wealth and power and the stick of blackmail while true statesmen should be motivated by their service to the will of the people they represent. It is supposed to be a heavy responsibility in which the payoff is one of honor and respect for a job well done.

    Bartering and horsetrading is a lifestyle of pushing back against the propaganda of attaining all the things we have been told that we have to have. Maybe a garage sale where only barter is allowed. No cash accepted here. Wouldn’t that be a hoot ?

    In past times we used to barter a lot more than today. Actually, before there was money, there was nothing but bartering and horsetrading. Reminds me of the Federal Reserve beginning in 1913 and that is all living people know. However, this is only a bit over a 100 year time span within a 6,000 year history of real money, aka gold and silver. It is a matter of perspective in which we are all living within a 100 year bubble experiment. Any machinations which force citizens to accept valuations by fiat is an abomination. I have called fiat currency the Rosemary’s Baby of money and my views have not changed since I began studying money and currency some 20 years ago.

    So what does all this have to do with bartering and horsetrading, you may ask ? Everything ! We still use fiat currency in almost all of our trading for the goods we need and want. The regularity of the boom-bust cycle is but a consequence of our using fiat currency. So we live within this cycle, having goods and services whose value against fiat currency has been dictated by the powers that be. Admittedly, pure bartering without using any money or fiat currency is almost impossible in our modern world. This would not be a problem with gold and silver as the intermediary of exchange since the stability of gold and silver has stood the test of time through thousands of years of history. Can you now see that bartering and horsetrading is not workable in a world of fiat currency, a paper debt instrument valued by those who make profit from its manipulation as well as the incredibly huge power we as citizens confer to the bankers ?

    I have read that two thirds of the world’s population live on two dollars a day. That is equivalent to a tenth of an ounce of silver and it has been that way in ancient Roman times, Chinese times as well as throughout thousands years of human history. Even back in the 1700s and 1800s it was that way. I remember my father telling me that when he was a young man during the depression that he operated a mule team plowing a field 12 hours a day that he got paid either a quarter or a half dollar. Note that a quarter contained .1808 of an ounce of pure silver and a half dollar contained .3617 of an ounce of pure silver. So my father’s experience was not too far off from historical reality, especially when you factor in that he was working 12 hour days rather than the 8 hours of today.

    Eleven years ago I wrote an observation that discretionary income had largely disappeared. I believe that things have gotten worse but have been masked by deeper debt in order to maintain lifestyles. I feel that we are at the end game now in that the general debt burden, even with historic low interest rates, has reached the point where even paying for the interest has become too large, much less ever paying down the principal. I have two economy cars and a rebuilt transmission advertised for sale and have not received even one call ! I had even dropped the price on them considerably but still no calls.

    What I am trying to warn is that fiat currency is now so scarce that almost everything is selling for less. Buyers are becoming scarce as hen’s teeth or rocking horse droppings of you prefer. And to put things into perspective, fiat currency has been tried many hundreds of times throughout history and every time it has devolved to being worthless. So what makes us think that it will be different this time ?

    I believe that things are going to become unraveled in the very near future and it won’t be pretty, to put it mildly. I just got off the phone with an old friend who makes great money and I strongly advised him to accumulate more silver and watch his expenditures closely from now on. There is a distinct potential for a currency reset in the near future as we lose the dollar reserve currency status. Saving in fiat dollars, stocks, bonds (which, by the way, is twice as large as the stock markets), real estate, retirement funds, art, and luxury items will be the downfall of multitudes of people. Don’t be one of them.

    IF YOU DON’T HOLD IT, YOU DON’T OWN IT. Ponce first told me that some 12 years ago and it has become a wise byword to live by, especially since we are at the end game right now. Every day I scour the internet in order to get a pulse on where we are and where we are going. All the financial advisors I read seem to be on the same page the last several months, warning that we are about to experience something catastrophic. Could be war, could be a market meltdown, could be bonds crashing, could be banks going belly up, could be a derivatives blowup and could be things getting worse on a much faster timeframe. It is all an illusion, a house of cards. Their advice is sound and I’m not ready as much as I would like to be. Heck, nobody is fully ready. Our future comfort and security will be in direct proportion to how well we have prepared.

    I apologize for not having written for a long time; my life has been crazy busy, both wonderful and challenging.

    Best wishes,
    agnut

    "To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    You don’t have a soul. You ARE a soul. You have a body.
    C.S.Lewis

  14. #379
    Palladium agnut's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    388
    Thanks
    2,414
    Thanked 606 Times in 195 Posts

    Re: Bartering And Horse Trading (Part Duh)

    Hi everyone; I haven’t written since last November although I have wanted to many, many times. My life has taken me in several different directions within the last couple of years. It seems that as time passes I am becoming more involved in helping with the retirement home I have written about in a past post. This along with new friends, family problems, neighbor issues, developing the 10 acres I live on and health issues. My cup overruneth.

    For most folks it seems that they expect to retire with the time to sleep in, goof off, play golf, travel and live better than they did when they were in their productive decades. So what is wrong with my life ?

    Heck, right now I have three old diesel Volkswagens in front of my garage that are being dismantled for the engines, transmissions and body parts in case someone needs them in the future. And I sold another three unrestored Volkswagens in the last couple of weeks. In addition, there are four other Volkswagens and a three cylinder Chevy Sprint that need to be processed. After all that being done, I still have to finish cosmetics on my personal VW Scirocco that I have converted to diesel power and a special ratio transmission that should get about 65 MPG on the freeway. Now that Scirocco motivates me to get all of the aforementioned “stuff” out of the way first. I can’t wait to drive it on the freeway to find out just how many miles per gallon it gets. Imagine a license plate that says, 65MPGFWY ! Yep, that is my crazy goal.

    We all need something that drives us to get off the couch and pursue a dream. I’m fortunate to have more than one something. This retirement home motivates me to see how much can be accomplished with the little social security money I receive (eight hundred and some dollars plus food stamps). The first day I went there a couple of years ago I opened the door and walked down the hall amidst folks some who were in wheelchairs missing a leg, some had Alzheimer’s, some were on their last precious years and some had their wits and somewhat content with their situation. Their clothing was all too often worn out, with holes. Most of them were depressed and their body language needed no words to express their sadness. For some reason I was not depressed but became angry. Yes, angry that all these were meted out $2 per day by the government subsidized program. Hell, almost half of the world population lives on $2 per day; is THIS how we treat our retired citizens in what is supposed to be the richest nation on earth ?

    Here is where my bartering and horsetrading skills kick in. The folks in my rest home were practically in rags when I first arrived. I got their clothing sizes and began to hit the local estate and garage sales and found loads of perfectly nice clothing and shoes; also winter coats and blankets. Each time I had a load I took it to the retirement home where we went through the clothes and they got to pick out what they liked. I also took different kinds of candy and some of my hand rolled cigarettes. We would sit around outside discussing many different topics and have a few laughs. Now I even take a joke book and a quote book along.

    Something unusual happened a couple of months ago. One of the first residents who became close to me (and her roommate) wanted a Bible, one with large print. I had already given away about 40 Bibles but they were small print. The next day I was in my favorite thrift store asking for a large print Bible. The people there knew me as “veggie Dave”; I had been delivering fruits and vegetables three or four times a week for the past few years. They were always so anxious to help me that it was almost embarrassing. HaHa I looked through the large book section and couldn’t find what I needed so I went in the back of the store where the loading dock was and talked to the manager who told me that he had recently received some bibles but they were still in boxes and hadn’t yet been put on the shelves. I looked through about 10 boxes of books and found nothing. A stranger came out of nowhere and said that there were more boxes of books around the corner. I looked there and found two Bibles. The personal one had large print as well as was a King James early version with red lettering in the New Testament (you know, what Jesus said). Mission accomplished !

    But that’s not all; the other Bible was a bicentennial edition, also with red lettering and large print. Additionally, there was a humongous quantity of reading material and color pictures of famous Christian paintings. I guess these Bibles would be called heritage Bibles to be passed down through the generations. There were even pages for the owner to fill in their lives and four of their childrens’ lives. I got goosebumps ! I felt as though the Lord was smiling upon me.

    I couldn’t wait to get home and review the contents of this six and a half pound Bible. As I leafed through the pages I became more excited as I realized that this Bible had everything I could have asked for. I have thousands of books but compared to this Bible nothing could hold a candle (duh). Imagine the word of God put into a Bible that could touch the very soul of anyone who possessed it. Yeah, that is how I feel when handling one of these Bibles. This is the kind of large Bible that would be perfectly happy sitting open on a pedestal (or in a lap).

    Next I got on the internet and began buying these bicentennial Bibles, as many as I could afford at the time. They began coming in from all over the country. My mailman even asked what they were so I opened one and offered it to him but he politely refused. A few weeks ago I had bought one Bible that was brand new and the seller said that he had more new Bibles. I contacted him and he said that he had three more new Bibles. I bought them all and they will be here in a few days.

    I must also add that when I gave the first smaller large print Bible that the lady was very happy. A couple of weeks when I delivered the large Bible, the lady was the most joyfully excited I have ever seen her. This is the key reason that I am so driven to get as many of these Bibles into the hands of those who will read and cherish them.

    Today one Bible arrived; so far so good. But there was a letter containing a check from an annuity; it was thousands of dollars. I hadn’t received a windfall like this for over a decade. It seems that the door has been opened for me.

    So now you know a bit of what I have been doing for the last couple of years. If I did not have the skills of bartering and horsetrading I would not have been led to the blessings I am now enjoying.

    At my age and health and the uncertainty in the world I have only so much time left to do what I dream of, spreading the word of God and the forgiveness of Christ. One Bible at a time and each time has a story behind it.
    If any of you find it in your heart to do the same I will be happy to help you find what you need. If you go to a subsidized retirement home like mine and feel the need to help, your bartering and horsetrading skills will be instrumental. I should also mention that it is deeply satisfying and outright fun to help others.

    When President Trump stated that he would Make America Great Again (MAGA), I took it to mean that we ALL should do our part to Make America Great Again. My example is just a small way of doing my part but if millions and millions of Americans together do what we can, the world movement would flourish in a hope for a world of faith, hope and the greatest of these, charity. And by the way, charity means love, not a handout.

    I’m just a grain of sand on the beach but together the multitudes make up the beach. Come join me at the beach and we’ll play together while making America (and the world) Great like it should be.

    Best wishes,
    Agnut

    P.S. Has anyone connected that an ounce of silver in the hands of Venezuelan citizens will provide six months of food ? Can you imagine that if we were to each donate even one ounce from our “blessing” to these desperate people; it would also send a message to the world concerning the difference between worthless fiat currency and real money. I have been trying to figure how this could be accomplished without governmental interference. Wouldn’t that be a hoot ? A win-win ? Millions of one ounce silver “grains of sand” would make up a spectacular beachhead that would stun the world.

    "To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    You don’t have a soul. You ARE a soul. You have a body.
    C.S.Lewis

  15. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to agnut For This Useful Post:

    Bottom Feeder (2nd July 2022),Camp Bassfish (9th July 2018),midnight rambler (8th July 2018),monty (8th July 2018),woodman (8th July 2018)

  16. #380
    Palladium agnut's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    388
    Thanks
    2,414
    Thanked 606 Times in 195 Posts

    Re: Bartering And Horse Trading (Part Duh)

    Hi all; some of you probably figured I'd keeled over. Well, I had gotten so crazy busy with family and friends (some of whom live with me now; and it's a great way to go if you are fortunate to be compatible). Legal hassles, financial struggles, the China virus and other stupidities in the nuttiest election year yet add up to being like a full time job. Losing Ponce knocked the stuffings out of me and I know I grieved too long. I'm now 73 and not able to do many of the things I used to do without giving it a second thought.

    I feel bad to have dropped out of sight but needed time to recover from all the jostling around that should not have been happening at my age. Since last December I have been searching around for anything that would help with this China virus. I ordered enough for several people for about 6 months, vitamin C, vitamin D3, Zinc, tumeric (curcumin), Brazil nuts for selenium, pineapple extract in pill form called Bromelain tablets, colloidal silver, multivitamins, fish oil, and last but not least, elderberry syrup making kits.

    I recommend getting this elderberry kit from eBay and also buy some elderberries too. I just follow the directions and when I am through I add some elderberries and cook it all some more. This way it makes about twice as much as stated on the directions.

    A couple of months ago I got so sick and weak that I could hardly move. I sat in my recliner all day and into the evening. I went to bed early and woke the next morning as if I had never been so sick . To this day I don't know what it was that hit me but I believe that it would have killed a weaker person at my age. I was on all the aforementioned medicines and attribute the fast recovery to my being loaded with what I must have needed to recover so fast. Zinc is a funny mineral and it reputedly facilitates the efficiency of the other medicines. I have read that President Trump has been taking hydroxychloroquine with zinc to counter the China virus.

    I haven't been buying as much or as often as I had in the past; that's something for you young bucks to discover just how much fun it is as well as rewarding.

    Just the other day I was at an estate sale and spotted three 5 gallon cans of hydraulic fluid. I noticed that two were unopened and the third was only down about a gallon. I asked the seller how much for all three and he said "How about three dollars ?" I didn't even have to haggle; to do would have been bad karma at that price. Besides, my friend who lives with me has a John Deere 210 backhoe that needs hydraulic fluid. He uses the backhoe around my 10 acres, upgrading the landscape and dragging and cutting up trees for firewood. This would be something that I couldn't afford these days.

    I was at a moving sale several months ago and was looking for a powered push mower for my younger son who has a thriving lawn service. He needed a backup since his old one is...well, old. I asked the seller if he had a lawn mower for sale and he said "Follow me". We went around behind his barn and there was an almost new 26 HP Craftsman mower with a new cart attached. It wasn't what I was looking for my son but I could use one for my large lawn areas. I asked how much he was asking and he said $125 with the new cart. It was a steal but the only problem was that he needed it for the next month to take care of the lawn before he moved (going to Alaska). He wouldn't take a deposit but promised to hold it for me. I did get it about 5 weeks later and the wait was worth it.

    Since then I had been looking for this push power mower and found two identical Toro Recycler mowers from different sellers at different times. What are the odds ? I gave one to my son and he loves it. The other I plan to fix up and use to mow the orchard and other tight spots.

    One of my hobbies is finding large print Bibles for folks who have a hard time with the tiny print of most portable Bibles. The Jerry Fallwell Bicentennial Bibles made in 1975-6 are the perfect solution; they weigh about 6 pounds, have a large print and are red lettered in the new testament. I have been finding them on the internet all over the country. Problem is, most are offered at much higher prices than I can afford. I don't go to church any more but feel that this is my way to tithe. Besides, the pleasure of giving these bibles to Christians who really need them is really hard to describe. It is like a life changing event for many of these folks. I have 12 in inventory and another 9 on the way. I've given away over 30 Bibles so far.

    Best wishes,
    agnut

    "To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    You don’t have a soul. You ARE a soul. You have a body.
    C.S.Lewis

  17. The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to agnut For This Useful Post:

    Bottom Feeder (2nd July 2022),Hitch (18th August 2020),hoarder (18th August 2020),midnight rambler (18th August 2020),monty (18th August 2020),osoab (18th August 2020),woodman (18th August 2020)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •