Got my usual for Christmas...

[Okie Sawbones, SASS #77381]

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

We fired with coal when I still put my feet under dear old Dad's table.
One year the coal mines went on strike.

Our supply was getting low.

I approached Mom and told her quietly I could probably persuade my brother to misbehave -- with both of us being naughty, we were sure to get some coal!

My dear patient Mama gave me The Look, and any thoughts of acquiring coal thereby, sailed out the nearest window! 

[Texas Maverick]

38 minutes ago, Okie Sawbones, SASS #77381 said:

I get coal every year and love it. My daughter wraps all my ammo and reloading components in black paper and calls it my coal. So I told her I was always trying to be bad all year so I get more coal. She said the coal was getting more expensive than regular presents any more. Instead of bricks of primers I now get 100 piece sleeves. LOL

 

TM

[Rye Miles #13621]

I didn’t even get coal! I guess I was so naughty that I didn’t even deserve a hunk of coal. 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

If one is dyslexic, that spells cola.  I like cola. 

[Doc Shapiro]

1 hour ago, Okie Sawbones, SASS #77381 said:

This is likely worth more than the gift card I got.  Coal would have been more useful...

[Pat Riot]

That’s a nice bag! How lucky you are. 

[J-BAR #18287]

Grandpa and Grandma had a coal furnace in their basement.  Delivered once a week down a chute that opened in the foundation.  I helped Grandpa shovel coal into the furnace.  We were never cold.  Good stuff.

[Dirty Dan Dawkins]

I got some thoughtful gifts. Step kids hate me. I dislike them, so that was one way gift giving

Wife an artist do a piece of artwork of the front our house with 4 out of 5 kids. Wife wasn’t in it. Admit a little disappointed at that. But one of the most thoughtful presents ever

[bgavin]

I got the bill.

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

I got a pile of bills to be paid 

 

  good part , is , I did NOT need bail $$$$ and I ain't gotta bury anyone 

 

  

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

19 hours ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

Grandpa and Grandma had a coal furnace in their basement.  Delivered once a week down a chute that opened in the foundation.  I helped Grandpa shovel coal into the furnace.  We were never cold.  Good stuff.

A house where I lived in St. Louis had that arrangement. The furnace had been converted to burn oil, but otherwise was old school. Hot water radiators, and the curb to contain the coal below the chute was still there. There were also remnants of an ash pit in the backyard at the alley. My dad always referred to trash cans as ash cans. His dad shoveled coal during the Depression to make ends meet. 

[watab kid]

my first house [built in the very early 20s]  had a coal room with the chute - that was stuffed with old newspapers as insulation , they were all war years 41-43 when i removed them to put in a new electric service , i turned the room into my darkroom with an 8' sink , by the time i got it in 1975 it had a oil burning furnace converted to natural gas , 

my grandparents home had coal burner that was converted to oil when i was about 6 , my folks had oil burner growing up till they built their new home and went to LP , i was again about 6 at that time , but we never forgot about coal - my brother got a lump of coal for christmas one year , i dont recall exactly why just new i was glad i wasnt him , 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

There’s a former coal strip mine in Pittsburgh, KS with bits of coal still lying on open ground. I brought a few pieces home and to see if they’d burn. I put them the outdoor grill and they lit with nothing but a match. They burned just like a tire with thick, oily smoke. Really sooty. 

 

As I recall, the mine shut down when cleaner burning coal was mandated. 
 

The location contains the world’s largest electric shovel:

 

https://bigbrutus.org/

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

On 12/25/2023 at 1:13 PM, Okie Sawbones, SASS #77381 said:

 

Your rich uncle likes you!

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

One year I found some little cams, about like shoe polish came in marked "Naughty" and "Nice" and gave them to my employees with their Christmas bonus.They got the check a fished a can out of a box.

 

One girl's mother came in the day after Christmas and with a huge grin asked me: Just how naughty was she?"  She then handed me a huge bag of cookies.  

[DocWard]

I didn't get what I had asked for or hoped for, and what I ended up spending money I had put back for on other things (because it was in part and because it was strongly implied I would be getting what I was hoping for in part). What I got instead was a Traeger Tailgater. Now I have expectations and a new skill set to learn. Not complaining, exactly. I'm definitely excited by it. I just feel that to learn to get it right, it is going to take some time to learn. Time which I don't have much of.

[watab kid]

wife and i decided to redo one of the bathrooms this year as a joint christmas gift , last year we replaced the last couple windows that were original to the house , 

[Texas Maverick]

On 12/26/2023 at 9:47 PM, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

There’s a former coal strip mine in Pittsburgh, KS with bits of coal still lying on open ground. I brought a few pieces home and to see if they’d burn. I put them the outdoor grill and they lit with nothing but a match. They burned just like a tire with thick, oily smoke. Really sooty. 

 

As I recall, the mine shut down when cleaner burning coal was mandated. 
 

The location contains the world’s largest electric shovel:

 

https://bigbrutus.org/

 

I worked for AMAX Coal in Indianapolis until the company was bought out and moved to Denver. I was the Data Security Director and got to visit most of the mines. Even the underground ones in Gillette, WY. The tour was great but I wouldn't want to have to work underground every day like the miners had to. I have a lot of respect for them to do what they did. We had one large bucket at one of the mines west of Indianapolis and when it had to cross over the highway they had to schedule it with the highway dept because all traffic had to be stopped for about 5 hours because it only moved inches at a time and was so heavy they had to put down reinforced panels to keep it from digging up the highway itself while going over it. At that time it was considered the largest in the world so not sure about how it compared with this one but it was one large piece of equipment. AMAX was well known for its restoring the land back to a natural environment after the mining. The one west of Indianapolis looked like normal pasture land and they even put in small lakes on the property which was great for the employees because we were allowed to fish them and I caught one of the largest bass in my life in one of the ponds. It was a little over 7 pounds and catching it while floating around in a small 2 man plastic boat was a challenge.

 

TM