Raccoons Up Thirty Percent

November 18th, 2019 – Safeway Route.

Today was a comfortable walk, warmer and dry.  We didn’t find any money, but did remove a very large roadkill-raccoon from the Juanita-Woodinville Way.  It must have weighed 20 pounds.

One of the first things we picked up was another Taco Time Tokus bag.  The receipt in the bag was for a Taco Time in Kenmore.  Two other receipts we’ve found are also from the same location.  We’re not above staking it out.  Or is that called stalking?

One of us thought it would be interesting to take a picture of this.  A brussel sprout stalk.  Maybe she thought it would help in “stalking” the Taco Time Tokus.

Since cold weather set in, we’ve found fewer dog poop bags.  Today we found all of these at the same location.  Some people use the excuse they just left it here and pick it up later.  Yeah, like, next April?

Well, it looks like the last week’s Battle of Hampton Roads is over.  The Merrimack on the left has lost all its cigarettes, er, cannons and the last two lifeboats have left the Monitor and it is leaking badly.  The high-tech propeller was no help and has collapsed.  The battle ended in a draw.  Thus ends your history lesson of “The Battle of the Hamptons”, courtesy of TrashWalking.blog.  Be sure to watch for future specials such as the upcoming “History of Beer Cans”  and “The Evolution of Cigarette Butts.”

Someone lost their center wheel cap. Yeow!  $99 each.  Hope you get a free tire with it.

This sign popped up.  We had no idea what this was.  So we went to the website  to try to figure out what they are doing.  According to their FAQs, the purpose is “To put smiles on faces!”  No, we weren’t suspicious.  We found this link that found they are purchasing diabetic testing strips from people who have too many to sell to folks that don’t have enough.  We are certain these are benevolent, nonprofit organizations.  By the way, we have a bridge in Brooklyn that’s for sale…

Now this is interesting.  Yaktrax.  We were not aware of these.  This is a line of traction cleats for walkers and runners in ice and snow.  We may need to look into these.  We do not walk if,

1. It is less than 32F
2. Too windy due to the risk of falling trees or branches.
3. Too slippery.

These could remove reason three.  But, we only found one.  Maybe if there is a midwinter three-legged race…

We found a wet, but unopened hair curler. $53 on Amazon.  This is something neither of us can use, nor could the Porch Pirate who probably tossed it out.  You’re welcome, Goodwill.

 

November 19th, 2019 – Park-and-Ride Route.

Today was about as warm as yesterday, but raining.  Traffic seemed much heavier than normal, but we’ve noticed that the city has installed several traffic counters across the roads in the area, so perhaps everyone wants to get counted.  The traffic counters worry us.  They indicate the city might be trying to “fix” something.

We didn’t find any roadkill, but waved to Salinas Construction who gave us our vests.  We did find some money. A 1984 quarter at the park-and-ride bus stop.  It’s 35 years old, and in today’s dollars, it’s worth exactly twenty-five cents.

The first thing we found this morning was an empty bottle of Clear Eyes drops.  We find these often and is a favorite for pot smokers when their eyes get irritated from the smoke.  If it’s doing that to their eyes, what’s it doing to their lungs.  No, we’re not suggesting they should inhale Clear Eyes.

Another Taco Time Tokus.  This one’s from the Woodinville Taco Time.  No pattern has emerged yet, but one day they’ll slip up.

It’s been a couple of weeks since the local elections and this sign is still at the park-and-ride.  We notified her election committee but there has been no action.  Not a good start for a new Bothell City Council member.

Near the sign is the park-and-ride party corner.   We found a total of five empty Coors cans and the plastic six-pack holder.  Maybe the driver took one for the road.

Someone had a birthday.  And celebrated by tossing their balloon out the window.  It went over like a lead balloon with us.

Yesterday there was a significant accident on Juanita-Woodinville Way.  We picked a few flares and several pieces of car.  There were a few big parts that were too heavy for us to haul on foot.  We could just let it lay, but, being our territory, we may come back with the car to clean these up.  There are a lot more smaller pieces that we left to be slowly picked up over the next several walks.  We call this grooming an area.

We do know the makes of the cars involved.  A Cadillac Escalade and a Toyota.  The fancy Cadillac hubcap is $81 online.  We didn’t find any information on the Toyota cap, but since it is black, plastic and imported, it is probably worth closer to $200.

Epilog: The Battle of Hampton Roads.  The ships have been towed away and a Single-Rose Memorial left behind.  A single rose.  This site explains the significance of a single red rose.

A single red rose promises life long devotion and love. The red rose speaks of a love that is unchanging and does not wither away. “I will always love you and all my affections are concentrated in you alone”, the single red rose says. Love, Beauty, Courage and Respect, Romantic Love, Congratulations, “I Love You”, “Job Well Done”, Sincere Love, Respect, Courage & Passion.

Touching.  And all for only thirty bucks.

 

November 20th, 2019 – Safeway Route.

Today was cooler and dry, still comfortable.  The traffic seemed very light and we found no roadkill and no money.  It was a very boring walk.

The first things we found near our house were two pieces of stolen mail.   One was junk mail but the other was a package of shampoo from the UK.  It cost $10 from the UK.  But it’s available from Walmart for $9.80.  Go figure.

Great.  More overpriced free stuff at the “free” corner.  The price will need to drop a lot more to interest us.  What’s the price of firewood these days?

Outside the fence of the KinderCare facility, we found a toy.  

At least we think it’s a toy.  It’s been there a while (our fault) but we returned it over the fence.

Nearby, we found a loofah.  So, is KinderCare a spa?  We may need to check this out.

Under a bench at the bus stop across from the 7-Eleven, we found a ball.  It’s in very good condition compared to most balls we find.  It will significantly increase value of our ball collection.

On Juanita-Woodinville Way, we found two syringes about fifty feet apart.  Neither had caps over the needles.  We really need to find a place to unload needles we’ve collected.

In the gutter was a lemon.  It was in very good condition and we considered putting it in the fridge for lemonade.  But then we remembered the needles and thought about what may have been injected in it.  No, it didn’t go to Goodwill, we put in in our yard waste.

On our way home, we were thinking about the date, November 20th. Wait, we got married on this date in 1969.  Do the math.

 

November 21st, 2019 – Park-and-Ride Route.

It was cold and dry this morning at 33F.  It was below our Comfort Zone but still above our “No-Fly Zone.”  We waved to Salinas construction but found no money.  We did remove another raccoon from the road.  The raccoon roadkill rate is at an all-time high for us.  This one was not as heavy as the last, but to put it delicately, was very extended.  We placed it in the wetlands to the left to decompose in peace, but will probably take a coon’s age.

Before this week, in two-and-a-half years of keeping track, we have only removed seven raccoons.  Now, two in one week.

Not far beyond the raccoon, we found a mess.  It appears someone cleaned out their car.  There were three broken hard cider bottles and a Bacardi rum bottle.  The bag was full of miscellaneous trash including McDonalds, plastic bags and batteries.  We didn’t do a detailed inventory because of the cold weather and moved on. 

Because of the weight of the glass, one of our several-week-old McDonald’s recycle bag handles failed.  So, we left most of the recyclables and bag in the park-and-ride refuse can.  

The rest of the walk was cold and fairly quiet.  We found an automobile oil cap, Recycled.

Another socket for our tool collection. But, overall, we kept moving to keep warm and shorten our walk.  Don’t worry.  Anything we missed will turn up eventually.  It always does.

 

November 22nd, 2019 – Safeway Route.

This morning was cold and foggy with no money, no roadkill and no honks.  We should have slept in.  Even the “Free Corner” was unchanged.  Say, there’s some free wood.  We could have built a fire…

We did find a ball. But it was outside the KinderCare fence so we tossed it back.

Then, there was an s-carabiner. But the wire gates were bent making it useless.

Now we’re talking.  A pair of socks.  Um, not our color.  Off to Goodwill.

Another balloon up an embankment. It was deflated, as usual.  But it didn’t even have any markings so we don’t know what it was celebrating.

We found a Samsung TV control.  We have plenty of these so we weren’t remotely interested.  It did have some batteries, but they were dead.

Things started to look up.  An empty travel duffel bag by a bus stop.  But it turned out to be torn.  Not even good for Goodwill.

We should have slept in.  If we had found a twenty-dollar bill this morning, it would have been counterfeit.

 

November 23rd, 2019 – Riverside Route.

This morning started out like yesterday.  Cold and foggy with no honks, no roadkill and no money.  We did, however, find some baubles, bangles and beads.   

 

However, we also found 8 dog poop bags today.  That is a record of sorts.  But please do not notify Guinness World Records.  It’s not like we want this widely-known.

Also, eight gloves.  This is for the whole week.  We only found one today.

The city regraveled the parking lot of the Sammamish River Park.  It looks like they missed a few potholes, though.

We found some toys for our collections. Both in good condition.

Another bungee cord.  We have over thirty bungee cords we’ve found on our walks.  Probably time to send some of the off to Goodwill.

Someone dumped a load of wood.  Since the county blocked the river access road, a favorite place for people to dump stuff, we’ve found more debris dumped along this stretch.  The river access road is where the two campers are parked in the background.  The campers are two of the five we pass on our Saturday walk that people are living in.  The one we saw last week whose car was hit has moved on and has been replaced by the one on the left.

The weird trailer on our route has a matching truck! Like the trailer, the truck has the rear fender removed to provide more tie-down points.  This guy needs some more yellow ratchet straps.  Hey, wonder if he would be interested in some bungee cords?

Someone went on a bender.  This is probably the same guy as last week when we found eleven of the R&R mini-bottles.  It looks like he is escalating.  He certainly isn’t keeping things bottled up.

Random pot wrappers.  The smoking kind, not the cooking kind.  We used to find a lot of vaping paraphernalia, but that seems to have died out in a puff of smoke.

Then there’s this bag of bags.    A ZipLock bag stuffed with smaller bags.  Most were empty with a powdery residue while others had some powder in them and smelled like tea.   After some research (a.k.a Googling) we’re pretty sure it’s, Kratom, an herbal drug that we’ve never heard of.  Really.  In low doses, it acts as a stimulant and in high doses, as a sedative.  We figured out that G. means green.  So the Green Maylay bag of 100g is approximately $55.

In powdered form, it is often used to make tea.  We may keep it and set up an iced tea stand next summer.  “Cold Iced Tea.  $10 a cup.”