Follow the Old Brick Road

July 29th, 2019 – Safeway Route.

Today was a beautiful day for a walk in the neighborhood.  Are we sounding like Mr. Rogers?  It was cool and clear.  We didn’t find any money or roadkill and didn’t see any of our regulars.  We did get several waves, though.

Plus someone left us some pot.  This is probably about $20 from the store, so we got probably three cents worth.  Not very much, but it’s the thought that counts.

We found a Wiffle ball buried in some blackberry bushes.  It was obviously from a back yard, so we threw it back.  There was another buried deeper, but they can deal with it.

Gloves.  While running an errand later in the day, we found a match to the glove on the left.  We picked it up and now both are headed to Goodwill.  The one on the right was not found near the Proctologist’s bus stop.

Someone neatly wrapped some napkins in a Ziploc bag.  It’s good to keep the napkins you toss out the window sanitary.  Not only do you keep the napkins clean, but you get to litter some plastic in the bargain.  Small minds are so easily entertained.

At the Tolt Pipeline, a dog poop bag.  People, it’s about being a responsible citizen.

We saw a large Budweiser can down a hill.  When we got down there, we found another can.  And another.  We ended up picking up six cans.  Next time we see a can, we’ll close our eyes while we retrieve it.

Speaking of Budweiser,  We pick up a wide variety of cans including Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Icehouse, Bud Light and Budweiser Regular.  We find that slugs are very often in the Budweiser Regular cans.  One day, we shook five slugs out of one can.  We think they were staggering, but it’s hard to tell with a slug.  We do find slugs in other cans, but not the rate we find them in the Budweisers.  We’ll contact Anheuser-Busch Marketing.  This could be a big ad campaign for them.  “Four out of five slugs prefer Budweiser.”

Sweet Bourbon Double Shot.  This is glass and we took it to be a test tube.  Then we thought this was an alcoholic quick beverage.  But it’s a tube for a cigar.  We’ll need to ask our cigar-smoking friends, but probably the more elaborate the packaging the less quality for the money.

On Norway Hill, we found two Safeway bags with empty vodka bottles in them.  Tito’s and Smirnoff.  They were probably doing a taste test.  We don’t know which one won, probably because they were too plastered to record it.  But not too plastered to drive, of course.

We checked the Gypsy Moth trap.  Still no guests.  This isn’t our expertise, but it looks to be a one-star trap.

We did find a tool.  It looks like someone was trying to square up the lines.  They are freshly painted and, judging by the square, they did a bad job.

At the top of Norway Hill, we found an empty pot package and a full dried cranberry package.  This seems like another taste test.  Evidently they preferred smoking the pot to smoking the cranberries.

At the Safeway bus stop, we saw some trash.  It was a bra and a UPS shipping bag.  We figure she (we assume it was a she) received a new bra in the UPS bag and was so excited that she changed bras at the bus stop.  We imagined that the bus driver got excited also.

 

July 30th, 2019 – Park-and-Ride Route.

Today was overcast and a bit cooler, but still fine.  Our timing this morning was off and we missed crossing with the bus.  However, someone on the park-and-ride side hit the crossing button so we got a free walk across the street.  We got a honk from the jeep again and removed a roadkill opossum.  We also removed a squirrel, but it didn’t look like it had been hit by a car.  Maybe it died of natural causes.  Or perhaps it was a clumsy squirrel and fell out of a tree to its death.

We collected a bunch of gloves today, all along Juanita Woodinville Way NE.   Two gardening gloves about 200 feet apart, one heavy leather work glove, and two rubber gloves.  The rubber glove in the center was at the Proctologist’s bus stop.

Another condom in really bad shape.  This must be where the rubber meets the road.

Free energy drink.  Only nine more and they get a Red Bull to toss out their car window.  Oops, tossed the card by mistake.

As we approached the Park-and-Ride where the water-collection pond is, we saw a hawk surveying its domain.  And the trash that King County left after they mowed for a SECOND YEAR!  The hawk doesn’t appear to be as upset about this as we are, but maybe it’s just better at hiding its emotions.

We found a fuel cap. It’s a Kenworth diesel cap.  $84 plus shipping on ebay.

We found food.  Two popsicles and a sausage stick.  One popsicle was opened and only the stick was left.  The other was still sealed, but was not frozen. We could have taken it home and frozen it again, but we didn’t.  The sausage stick was not frozen either.  It was tempting, but it also went into the thrash.

New tagging on a bike locker at the Park-and-Ride.  This article in Wikipedia discusses graffiti in general and tagging specifically.  It discusses different forms of tagging including Pissing, Throw-up, and Blockbuster.  We would like to do all three on this perp.  We may be too judgmental here.  King County may have given him permission.

We went into some bushes to retrieve a beer can and also found a golf ball. Really? In Seattle?  This should be a Flying Person ball.  We are very offended.  We need to find our Safe Place.

We feel much better now.

Yesterday we discussed the penchant for slugs to prefer Budweiser.  Today we found a Mike’s Harder Lemonade can.  We shook eight beetles out of it.  We’ll call them the Fab Eight.  We will also contact Mike’s Marketing on this.

 

July 31st, 2019 – Safeway Route.

Another nice Western Washington morning, cool and clear.  We did notice it is getting darker already such that we need to use our flashlights for a good part of the walk.  Last summer, we remember walking without flashlights for a longer time span.

We didn’t find any money and we removed a large, roadkill rat and two rabbits from the roadway.  We didn’t meet any of our regular honkers but did get a nice “Thank You” from a VanPool driver.

The VanPool driver was exiting the KinderCare facility where we found more items outside the fence.  This looks bad.  A couple of the kids must have tunneled out.  Wonder if they’ve been discovered missing yet.  They probably used their teddy bears as decoys in their cribs.

Then this.  We have tossed this spoon back at least ten times.  One more time and we will be spoon-feeding a recycle bin.

More gloves.  The one on the right is from the Proctologist’s bus stop.  His curbside service must be good.  Wait, “good” is not right in this context, how about “going well.”

More dropped dog poop bags. People, it’s about being a responsible citizen.

At an intersection on Juanita Woodinville way, King County repainted the lines on the road.  They set up construction cones along the line while it dried.  On one walk, we set one up that had been knocked over.  Today, another was mangled. The paint is long dry so we moved the cones to the island.  We’ll see how long they stay there.  Maybe we should toss them into the storm water catch basin with the other trash.

“Driving to work with my coffee to keep me company.  Coffee is gone.”  “Don’t need this cup anymore.”  Well, Goodwill will take it.

Nope.  No moths yet.  Perhaps if they replaced the words “Insect Trap” with “Bed and Breakfast.”  It has a nicer ring to it.

Months ago at a crosswalk between two intersections on NE 145th St, someone placed some crosswalk flags on the ground for people to use when crossing.  We were thinking the city would take a hint.  When nothing happened, the citizen took action.  A $1 hose clamp and a $2 Value Village kitchen utensil cup.  Three dollars.  Great job.  Wonder what the City of Bothell pays for them?  Of course, theirs have a fancy “Safe Streets” sticker, not cut-out spatulas.

“Mind, Time, Power, Space, Reality, Soul.” Some new-age, self-help program?  No, Infinity Gems from Marvel Comics.  We saw the movie, Infinity Wars with, our grandkids.  It had a pretty good plot, but the run time was two-and-a-half hours, of which a half hour was plot.  The rest was a lot of superheros bashing each other.  Only our opinion.  The worrying thing is this note appears to be a shopping list.  [You needed to see the movie]

“C” is for “Cat.”  Wait, what about “Chuck?”  Actually, this was found in the median of Juanita Woodinville Way.  So, this is really a “Middle C”.

And we have a winner!  Just kidding, another loser.  “Each Game Played Separately.”  What does that mean?

At the top of the Tolt Pipeline, we found a can perched atop a large thicket of blackberry bushes.  We tried to approach it from a couple of sides, but couldn’t reach it without our far stick.  We think it could be a trap set up by one of the Irresponsible Pet Owners (IPOs).  We may be paranoid, but we’ve picked up hundreds of the poop bags, so we may have offended.

 

August 1st, 2019 – Park-and-Ride Route.

This morning was a bit warm for walking at 65 F.  We overheated on Norway Hill, but it gives us something to remember during the cold days of winter.  Overall, this was a pretty boring walk.  We even crossed over the freeway and found a lot of random trash, but nothing interesting.

We are going to start counting the Jeep as a regular, he didn’t honk today but did wave enthusiastically.  We also got a couple of random honks and a thumbs up out a window.  At least we think it was the thumb.

Today, approaching the top of the Tolt Pipeline, we found a suitable stick to retrieve the can in the middle of the blackberry thicket.  In the end, we got it.

But, once again, this opens the discussion about whether Chuck is smarter than crows.

 

Okay, another rubber glove.  At the One-Armed Proctologist’s bus stop.  We need to find out what’s going on here.  Or at least what he charges.

We did pick up another tool across the freeway.  It was a drill bit that was, unfortunately very rusted, so it did not end up in our tool collection.

We have been passing a bicycle at the park-and-ride that is locked to the fence.   It has a flat front tire and has not moved for several weeks.  It’s probably abandoned, but we’ll let it be for a while.

Hey, a 31-inch tie-down strap.  OK, we’ve found several of these bungee cords, with and without hooks.  This is the first time we found the strap tag without a cord or hooks.  Not much we can do with this, so into the recycling.

As we returned home, we spotted the tip of a bag in the dirt.  It contained a badly-deteriorated pair of men’s underwear. Bugle Boy undies.  Well, at least the waistband.  Sorry, this was the most interesting thing we found today. 

 

August 2nd, 2019 – Safeway Route.

This morning was 64F with a light rain that stopped just as we started our walk.  It made for an uncomfortable, muggy walk.  The overcast darkened the morning so we used our flashlights for a good part of it.  We removed three rabbits from the roads.  Traffic was very light and got several waves, but no honks.

We had a ball.  Two, actually.  One was a golf ball that is in our ball collection.  The other was a dog’s toy that we tossed back into the owner’s yard.  It was buried deep in some blackberry bushes.

A cherry-flavored cigar.  Cherry-flavored?  What would Winston Churchill have thunk? 

From his expression in this photo, he’s probably smoking a grapefruit-flavored cigar.      

We found a baggie with some coins in it.  We got excited because we haven’t found any money in a while.  The coins turned out to be four $1 tokens for a car wash.  Our car doesn’t need washing.  Wonder if they serve beer?

We found a large refrigerator magnet.  Okay, the Crunch Bar is probably good, but not good enough for us to stick this on our refrigerator.  Pass.  

Still no boarders.  Perhaps they need some bait?  Maybe a female Gypsy Moth?

We found a drill bit for our tool collection.  Okay, it was broken, but we took it anyway.

And another pair of underwear.  They were soiled in two definitions of the word.  Straight into the garbage.

At the bottom of the Tolt Pipeline, we found four unused dog poop bags. We figure that an irresponsible pet owner went for a walk without his dog and dropped these out of principle.

 

August 3rd, 2019 – Riverside Drive.

This was a nice morning for a walk, cool and clear.  We picked up a lot of small trash, but there were several well-placed trash bins along the way, so we didn’t get overloaded.  We removed a bird and a snake.  The snake was in good condition.  Not sure what it died from.

A penny for your thoughts. Rather, a penny for our change jar.

We found two balls on our walk.  The one on the left is now in our ball collection, the plastic golf ball was smashed and is not.

Five empty vodka bottles in a bag.   About $75 worth at $15 a pop.  That’s an expensive lunch.

We found a bungee cord under the freeway.  One end was run over and painted white by the road paint stripers.  But, we’re not picky, it’s in our bungee cord collection.

We’ve been watching some construction under the freeway for the last few weeks and they were making quite a mess including equipment, water bottles and food wrappers. This morning it was all cleaned up.  Well, except for four construction cones they forgot.  

Part of NE Woodinville Drive is being resurfaced and there is no parking allowed across from the apartments where at least three vehicles are being lived in.  They were forced to move across the city limits into Woodinville.  

We didn’t see the utility trailer with the bird house.  But the person left the birdhouse. 

We found three gloves. Two of them were courtesy of the road work crew.  Only one of each, though.

They grooved the pavement in preparation for the resurfacing and uncovered some bricks.  This is near the intersection of Woodinville Drive and Brickyard Road.  Brickyards existed in the area in the early 1900s so, this road probably dates to that period.

Another dog poop bag near the apartments.  People, it’s about being a responsible citizen.

We found an unlit firework. And a lighter nearby.  We were tempted, but no, we didn’t.  The warning stated “Shoots Flaming Balls.”  Maybe we’ll save it in case we meet an irresponsible pet owner.

Another lost lock.  We agreed to carry it with us so, we were in lock step. [groan]

We finally pulled the bicycle out of the bushes next to the trailer park.  We left it on the other side of the road.  We assume it was stolen and dumped in the bushes, we’ll see how long it remains before someone else steals it.

Jacob went to Cedar Springs Day Camp. Nerf battles!  “We’ll be playing games like Capture the Flag, POW Rescue and VIP Escort!”  This doesn’t sound like a good idea to us.  How about Nerf Tag, it’s less violent.