McGee: It just cost a dollar

It's been a pretty good "Yard Sale-ing Season." It's something The Lady of the House and I like to do; rise and shine early on a Saturday and hit the streets looking for nifty stuff. What is nifty stuff? We don't know, we just know it when we see it.

For instance, I couldn't say no to a videotape player for one dollar.

Yes, we still watch videotapes. There's a wide selection of them out there and they're cheap.

This VHS machine was truly nifty stuff. It's ancient, it was a dollar and the woman hosting the yard sale assured me it worked. Of course I trusted her, besides it was just a dollar.

I brought the treasure home and plugged it in.

It flashed "12:00" over and over and over again.

"How much was this little gem?" asked The Lady of the House.

"Just a buck," I said. "Neat hunh? Look, it has tracking. When was the last time you saw a VCR with manual tracking? And look at the shiny knobs and stuff."

"Does it work?" she asked.

"Umm, did I show you the clock," I asked. Then I mumbled, "If I could just figure out how to set it."

"But does it work?" repeated The Lady of the House.

"You see this neat eject button?" I said. "You just push it and it pops up, none of this electric button stuff."

"That's great dear," she said. "But does the thing work?"

"Look at these knobs! There's one for UHF and VHF and switches and, hey, the most important thing of all is it's a Curtis-Mathes, you know, the good stuff."

"Does it work?" repeated The Lady of the House.

"It only cost a dollar," I said.

"I see," said The Lady of the House.

"It'll make a great clock," I said. "If I could just figure out

how to set it."

Grant McGee is a long-time broadcaster and former truck driver who rides bicycles and likes to talk about his many adventures on the road of life. Contact him at: [email protected].