Actually, since Schatzi the Crusty Old Cat[sup]TM[/sup] (who is currently poised, reading over my shoulder, making sure I protray him accurately) has moved in, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of the mouse. Not a turd to be found (which is what originally tipped me off). Now, I don’t actually think that Schatzi caught the mouse, as his former owner, who had him for 18 years has indicated that he’s just not that kind of cat, and she would know, having had him for 18 years. However, one of the vets at work figured that just the smell of cat would send the mouse packing, so I’m sort of hoping that is the case, and the mouse packed his little mouse bag, and his piece of cheese, and wedged his fat little mouse body out the way he came.
after my grandfather died, way back long ago in the 1980s, my grandmother opened his “do not open” box and discovered that it contained lots and lots of nothing but crappy tire money; almost $700 of the stuff.
we assume he had been collecting it since, well, it was introduced. or damn close to that. nobody, afaik, ever came up with a credible idea of what he might have been saving for…
i know it bought a new lawnmower, but i’m not sure what else. lots of various crap, i bet.
anyway, i currently have {…counting…} $9.15 in ctm.
In London? Really? I wouldn’t have thought that was allowed.
Real letter; I find I get better results with them. (Got a free trip to the local pizza place for the whole office that way after we went there and their ‘buffet’ remained pathetically empty for almost the whole lunch hour).
I’d quote you some but I seem to have lost it.
Yup, I brought in my stack and bought me a router. Saved for years because I wanted to buy a power tool and watch the poor cashier count it out in Canadian tire money…
“…5 cents, 5 cents, 5 cents, 5 cents, 5 cents = 25 cents… Plus, 5 cents and 5 cents and 5 cents…”
If the bills are in really good shape, you can sometimes sell the oldest ones to collectors. Especially the ones that have the old guy with the tartan beret on his head.
OMG, people will collect anything.
Any idea on how much collectors actually pay above face value?
Heh - you’re assuming that they DO pay above face value. 
No really sure. I remember seeing one “vintage” bill in a protective sleeve at a flea market going for $7. Don’t remember the denomination of the bill though. But I don’t think they make them higher than $2, do they? I have a few $1s in my stash, but most are coin denominations.
Flea markets usually have them somewehre near the coin collector people.
Once was that banks printed their own money, thus the term “bank note”.
What goes round comes round, for in 2003 Canadian Tire started a chartered bank - the Canadian Tire Bank.
Heh. True, but I’m pretty sure they don’t actually use Canadian Tire money in their day to day dealings. Right?
RIGHT?
Apparently there are about 400 of the of these folks, who while obviously alien, appear to be harmless. A pair of consecutive 25 cent bills had a reserve of $70, but it seems that most go for three or five bucks. http://www.ctccc.ca/january2006.pdf
Well, they do have a Canadian Tire Money Rewards Program tied in with their Mastercard: http://www.ctfs.com/english/ctm_rewards.html
I searched e-bay.ca and found no less than 28 items for Canadian Tire Money.
Some were asking over $200 for “vintage” ones. 
OMG! That is just priceless. A 20 page newsletter?
Apparently you can get denominations up to $5! Who knew?
And there appears to be at least 639 members.
Doug Adams
Member #639
London Ontario
Hey, I think I have one of them fancy 3 cent oldies! I’m rich! I’m rich!
Well, 3 cents rich, anyway.
No problem, sounds like the problem is taken care of.
I must admit though that I’m curious as to what one of ours–Fiona–would do with a mouse. She loves to play with a ball; she bats it around and pounces on it, and bats it again, and the game continues. Of course, the ball only moves when she (or us) makes it move. I’ve often wondered what she’d do with something that was capable of running away on its own.
I used to frequent a place that did that. One night a week–IIRC, it was Tuesdays–they’d take Canadian Tire money. You could only use it on your food tab, owing to liquor regulations, but it did bring people in on what was usually a slow night for the place.
I think we’ve got about 40 bucks in our stack.
The husband insists on saving it “to get something cool”
I have no idea what that could possibly be.
You don’t want to know. Trust me.
It will probably be loud, dangerous, involve moving parts or open flame or both, and have at least six warning labels.