August 12th, 2019 – Park-and-Ride Route.
For the next three days, we will be on a short road trip. We wanted to get an early start, so we walked the shorter Park-and-Ride Route. We didn’t see any roadkill, but did wave to Mr. Salinas, plus a few others.
The walk was worth it as we found some money. 
Well, a penny, anyway.
On the other hand, it was offset by a dog poop bag. 
Come on, people, it’s about being a responsible citizen.
Someone tossed some pineapple confetti out the window. 
It was scattered over a long distance. Maybe someone was celebrating the start of a road trip to Hawaii? We weren’t aware of it, but the pineapple is a symbol of infertility. So, exactly what were they celebrating? At least they won’t procreate more litterers.
We found a toothbrush. 
Our friend Steve points out that the toothbrush was invented in Arkansas. Otherwise it would be called a teethbrush. He can say it, he’s from Arkansas.
We found another seashell. 
Someone may be selling seashells far from the seashore.
This bottle’s been buried for a while. 
It’s an old Ancient Age bourbon bottle. These are for sale on eBay and other places for $5 to $35, but the sellers will get in trouble. The bottle expressly states “FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS SALE OR RE-USE OF THIS BOTTLE.”
A homemade bong made from a water bottle. 
You pay $200 an ounce for marijuana and you can’t afford $20 for a decent bong?
On our trip, we had an enjoyable visit with an Aunt and Uncle in Spokane, WA. We then continued to Sagle, Idaho to visit friends, Ernie and Linda whom we have not seen in many years. We had a great time catching up and seeing the area.
We did some walking. This is an old bridge from Sagle, Idaho to Sandpoint, or vice versa. 
It runs next to the current bridge. This two-mile bridge is the third bridge across the Pend Oreille River. The first was a wooden bridge started in 1908 and finished in 1910 and was billed as the longest wooden bridge in the world. The second bridge, also made of wood, was a WPA project and dedicated in 1934. The third bridge pictured above was was built in 1956 and is now used for bicycle and foot traffic. The current bridge on the left was built in 1981. That’s four bridges in just over a hundred years.
In Europe, we crossed a bridge built by the Romans nearly two thousand years ago. But we don’t want to be too critical. We don’t want to burn any bridges.
The walking bridge was relatively free of litter, but we did find some. 
We were not prepared to pick up litter, but used the resources we found along the way. Thank you, Subway.
The next day, we went on another walk and started picking up litter. 
We really can’t help it. A VooDoo Ranger beer bottle and a pair of socks among other things.
Being close to Canada, we found some Canadian litter. 
Guess they don’t want to litter their home land. Or maybe it’s just payback.
This has got to be one of the weirdest things we have found in our four and a half years of trash walking. 
A Happy Birthday balloon attached to a deer’s leg. What the heck? We can think of several stories here, but none turn out well.
- Happy Birthday, Bambi. Let me tie this balloon on your ankle so everyone will know. Oh, no! She tripped on the balloon while crossing the highway.
- Billy, I know I said I would take you deer hunting on your 13th birthday, but money’s tight this year. I hope this will make up for it.
- When Stag Parties go bad.
Feel free to submit your own story.
August 16th, 2019 – Safeway Route.
The morning was uncharacteristically cool for August. After being away for a few days, our work piled up, including the roadkill. We removed a menagerie of animals: a crow, a rabbit, a squirrel and a weasel. This probably ties the record for a single day.
The morning started out promising with money. 
At a bus stop, went after the Bic Pen cap and found a dime.
But then, to temper our elation, a dog poop bag. 
People, it’s about being a responsible citizen. Is this getting repetitive? We certainly hope so.
Near the KinderCare along Juanita Woodinville Way, we found these. 
Nine empty minibottles of Fireball whiskey. A special treat for the KinderCare kids? A victory celebration for a baseball team? A commuter who had a really bad day at the office? We’ll never know.
We found some fruit. 
Orange you glad we did? [My spouse made me say that.]
Someone tossed out a perfectly good Safeway shopping basket. 
We carried it back to Safeway. It is not very comfortable to carry, which is probably why someone tossed it in the first place.
We picked up a broken Toyota hubcap. 
It was very near the 7-Eleven, so we tossed it in their recycle bin.
A new garage sale sign. 
It’s really amateurish. They didn’t even stay inside the lines.
Yet another seashell. 
Perhaps the owners of these are moving inland in preparation for the rise in sea level.
More gloves. 
The two rubber gloves were found near the Proctologist’s bus stop. We only found the one work glove so it went into the trash.
A child’s shoe was attempting to escape down the storm drain. 
We didn’t find the other one. It’s probably getting close to the Puget Sound by now.
Someone lost their hair brush. 
It allowed us to brush up on our litter gathering capabilities.
More evidence of drugs. 
A piece of burnt foil folded up in a napkin. Fastidious druggies.
Near the 7-Eleven, we found a small, empty duffel bag along with a large zip-lock bag of cereal.
It wasn’t in good shape, so we left it in the 7-Eleven dumpster.
Kids, learn to play the bagpipes. 
You can annoy your parents while doing your homework.
More educational opportunities. 
What’s the symbolism here? “We’ll pull the cobwebs from your kid’s brain?” We don’t get it.
We found articles of clothing. 
A sock, but only one. Not much use except for a hand puppet, perhaps.
A Carhartt Men’s Acrylic Watch Hat. 
$13 on Amazon.
A pair of ladies undies. 
“Love your ASSETS.” Apt naming. Just needs a hyphen and another ‘S’.
And to round out the walk. 
Another present from the McLitterers. It had all the standard contents but added two coffee stirrers, unused, of course.
August 17th, 2019 – Riverside Drive.
We had good weather for our walk this morning. We removed two roadkill rabbits and one large rat. We did remove another roadkill rabbit from a lawn, but we won’t count that in our totals.
We did find more money. 
Twenty-five cents. It’s turning out to be a pretty good week.
One of our neighbors has a rock bed next to the road to act as a gutter. Among the rocks we found an egg. 
It was unbroken and appeared to be a raw chicken egg. No idea how it got there. Perhaps a leftover Easter egg? But it wasn’t dyed and we would have spotted it before. Perhaps a chicken laid it there? But there aren’t any chickens nearby. This is going to be a hard egg to crack.
We found a water bottle almost full. 
It’s the same brand as the bottle used for the homemade bong we found earlier this week. Guess we’ve got our project for this afternoon.
And more questions. We don’t know what this object is. 
It is about three-and-a-half inches long but it looks like it’s broken on the left end. It’s made of some kind of nonmagnetic metal and very light. It has a seam along the length, so may be hollow but does not float in water. Another mystery.
We don’t know what this is for either. 
But it looks serious.
Two more Fireball minibottles. 
That makes eleven in the last two days. Wait, Walmart sells 50 ml 10-packs for $8.47. That’s $16.94 per liter. They also carry 1.75 liter bottles for $29.97 or $17.13 per liter. Okay, we get it. It’s also easier for us to carry the minibottles versus one big bottle. It would be even easier for us if you didn’t litter at all, you ninnies.
We came upon a lot of plastic debris from a minor wreck. 
Then we saw tire tracks leading off the road over a flattened marker. We also know the make of the car. This was on a straight section of road. Perhaps it had something to do with the Fireball minibottles.
Something on our reading level. 
“I Am Superman.” No, you are litter.
More clothes. 
The jacket on the left is a Title Nine jacket but does not appear to be a current product. The shirt on the right is in pretty good shape but is faded. The brand is QuickReflex that does not appear to be in business anymore. We will give these to GoodWill, we just won’t give the the shirt off our back.
We also found a Copper Fit Compression Elbow Sleeve. 
Copper Fit only sells online and their products are copper-infused. Our thought was it was part of the copper healing power beliefs. However, their website only lists copper for its antibacterial properties. Then we found this. Copper Fit was sued in 2015 for the representation of their product. When we picked it up, we did feel better. But mainly because we removed some more litter.
We spotted a can down a bank. 
Of course, we found more than the can. Litter, the gift that keeps on giving.
We found a couple of bottles at the Sammamish River Park.
A nice Jensen water bottle.
We also found a wine bottle. 
We’ve found several of these small Sutter Home bottles at the park, occasionally near a used condom. During the summer months the frequency reduced, probably because people use the park much later. As it grows darker earlier, we’ll probably start seeing more of these bottles.
We found a necklace. 
It was made of wood and a little silver and was complete. Except whatever was attached to the string. This was probably not purchased from Tiffany’s. Really? A sterling silver and enamel “Mini Double Heart Tag Pendant” for $135? We’ll stick to wood, thank you.
Another trailer lock. 
The last one we found was complete with keys. This one was not. Recycle.
At the end of 112th Ave NE, a street crew sealed cracks in the road. 
We get it. It’s a boring job.
We spotted something partially-buried. 
It was a weight, probably used to counterbalance construction machinery. It weighed ten to fifteen pounds. We left it and will pick it up later with the car. Then we’ll consider purchasing a construction machine to go with it.
We found a cell phone. 
It’s a Nokia 5185i introduced in 2002, 17 years ago. Wonder if the battery’s still good? We tried the ‘power’ button, but it didn’t light up.
Uh oh. 
The guy living in the utility trailer with the bird feeder needed to move because of the road construction. On the left was last week when he requested the feeder not be removed. This week the feeder is gone. But the rack is still there, so he’s got that going for him.
“Hi Jeff, as the new Retail Associate Manager of T-Mobile, welcome to your orientation. The first, and most important thing to know is,”
“never lose your personalized badge.”
“All right, I’m going to get lucky tonight. Whoa, last condom, I need to buy more.” 
“Guess I don’t need this box anymore.” Out the window.
“Now to get the condom open. You just tear here, and, rats, out the window!” 
“Okay, not so lucky.”
We have another pet peeve. 
Construction Litter. We find cones, signs and other trash left by construction workers. Above, on the left is a tape measure that wouldn’t contract anymore. What to do? Toss it on the ground. The center picture is a bunch of ear plugs within ten feet of each other. One package was unopened. On the right was the worst. The guys marking wires, gas lines, etc. ran out of paint and tossed the can into the bushes. WE PAY YOUR DAMN SALARIES.
Trash Walking 