A Bucket O’ Gloves

December 9th, 2019 – Safeway Route.

We got off to a late start this morning when we discovered a leak under our dishwasher.  We shut off the water to the dishwasher, did some mopping up and finally embarked on our walk.  When we returned, we pulled the dishwasher out and found something had chewed into the water supply tube.  We purchased a new supply tube, and some mouse traps.  After fixing the leak, we set a trap.  By the end of the day we caught at least one culprit.

Today was again below 40F but dry.  Traffic seemed heavy, but we were later than normal.  We removed two rabbits from Juanita-Woodinville Way and got an enthusiastic honk from a passing pickup truck.  We did find more money, keeping the streak alive.  Ok, one penny, but still money.

As we were leaving, we found an unbroken egg among some rocks in front of a neighbor’s house.  Later, up the hill, we found random egg shells and a cracked whole raw egg.  We were literally walking on eggs.

After finding zero poop bags last week, we found two today.  Hopefully not a trend for the week.

At the location of the accident a few weeks ago that left a pile of parts, someone removed the heavy items.  But left several smaller, lighter items.  Go figure.  We picked them up and deposited them in the 7-Eleven dumpster.  Thank you, 7-Eleven.

Someone tossed their comb out the window.  We have no idea why.  Ok, it’s no longer a fine-toothed comb, but it still had a few teeth left.  In Arkansas, it would fit right in.

We found a couple of really bulky items on our walk.  A Weber barbecue cover.  It probably flew off a vehicle, but is in good condition.  Headed for Goodwill.

The other bulky thing we found was a t-shirt.  It was a size 3XL.  It’s probably bigger than the barbecue cover.  We may make a tent out of it.

Near the Safeway, we found another of the throwing chalk balls.  The last time we found these, Chuck ended up with a pink spot on his vest.  Fortunately, this time Janet showed more constraint.

Another Vodka bottle with some vodka in it.  Good, we didn’t quite get through the Book of Mormon we found last week.

On Norway Hill, we found a single, empty McDonalds bag. But we won’t count that as a violation of the truce between Taco Time and McDonalds since it was empty and anyone can fight their way out of a wet paper bag.

However, we also found an unhappy Happy Meal. It looks pretty aggressive.  This MAY be a violation but we’ll let the judges decide.

 

December 10th, 2019 – Park-and-Ride Route.

Well, the mouse activity continued.  After the previous entry, we proceeded to trap three more mice for a quartet.  We were using peanut butter for bait and each time we got a mouse, the peanut butter was gone.  We imagine the mouse that got to the trap first met his maker.  The second mouse showed up.  “Oh no! Ernie! …Peanut butter?”

Today we got a honk from a sports car, perhaps a Miata, and waved to Salinas Construction.

And, we found more money!  Another shiny new penny by the bus stop.  Ok, we appreciate the coins, but that’s pretty penny ante of you guys.  Some folding money would be good once in a while.

Well, along with the good, we also got the bad.   Two more dog poop bags.

By the apartments on 112th, we found a golf club sock.  It looks like a King F9 Fairway Headcover.  $18 on the site.  Maybe we can get more for this from a pawnbroker than that penny we found.

Close by, we found a set of armrests still in the wrappers.  Also $18 on Amazon.  The video on Amazon is fun.  The actor is typing with the armrests sitting on her desk.  She painfully bumps her elbow on the chair and suddenly notices the arm rests.  She lovingly caresses the armrest.  But by the end of the video, she is using them as wrist pads.

Somehow a construction pylon ended up on the lawn.  We’re not aware of any construction nearby and it was more than we could handle, so we left it there.  We’ll see if it moves on.  However, we’re not sure anyone would want it.  It’s seen better days.

Near the apartments, we found three cars that had their passenger window shattered.  The low-lifes probably spotted something in these cars they wanted and smashed the windows.  We are surprised this didn’t set of the alarms.

Later on in our walk, we finally put two and two together.  The stuff we found near the apartments was probably from the cars.  Well, maybe not the construction pylon.  The perps took the good stuff and left us with their refuse.  We’ll contact the police.

Another lost license plate.  According to the Internet, it belongs to a 2012 Ford F-150.  We’ll donate it to the recycle bin.  In the past, we tried to return them to the DMV, but they told us they recycled them too.

In the spy movies, the agent is given a note and told to memorize the information and eat the note.  This one looks like the agent regurgitated it.  It was difficult to decipher in the available light, so we pocketed it and proceeded with our walk.  When we got home, the note was gone.  Either it fell out or the digestive juices disintegrated it.

We found some dumped food.  It was unidentifiable to us, but the bread-like objects seemed to have an imprint on them.  In the end we decided they were tire tracks.

We found a pair of socks.  They looked very similar.  Looking closely, the one on the left was cotton and the one on the right had more wool.

An A&W Shatterproof ruler.  It appears it has been run over several times and is still in one piece, so their claim seems to be valid.  However, it may have elongated, so we may have to stretch the rules.

We spotted two cans down a steep ravine and came back with five as expected.  Bud Lights, of course.

We found this object in a ditch. It was in a plastic bag, squishy and aromatic.  After some discussion we decided it was part of a car air freshener.  We put it in our trash bag and throughout the rest of our walk, we kept getting flowery scents.  Our garbage man will be impressed.

 

December 11th, 2019 – Safeway Route.

Today was cool and dry.  We did get a honk from a pickup truck, but no money.  And we thought we were on a roll.

By the apartments the owners of the cars with the broken windows did what they could to protect them.  A Smith and Wesson might do a better job.

Today we noticed a fourth car that had been vandalized.  An SUV.  According to this site, the cost to replace a side window is between $200 and $450.  So the druggie did $800 to $1800 in damage, probably for far less than $100 worth of  stolen goods.  The Smith and Wesson’s starting to look pretty good.

Now here’s a way the druggie should should make money.  Oops.  Maybe not.

We found a tool for our tool collection.  A tire pressure gauge.  We haven’t tested it yet and we’re not under any pressure to do so.

We found three unused poop bags today, two of which are shown below.  We’re beginning to think some dog walkers are more into the poop bags instead of their dogs.  They carry bags and when the dog does its business, they use the bag and drop it somewhere observers are not.  If the dog fails to do their business, the walker still needs to drop the bag.  Kind of like cigarette smokers flicking butts.

Someone lost their UW Husky boat pass.  The season’s should be close to the end, but the person might need this.  So if anyone knows someone with the 22 ft. boat named the ‘No Name’, let us know and we’ll get it back to them.

 

December 12th, 2019 – Park-and-Ride Route.

This morning started cool and clear with a full moon.  Well, technically a ‘waning gibbous‘.  Who names these things?  How about “Fly Me to the Waning Gibbous”    

Not quite the same effect.

We did find another dog poop bag, this one was used.  At least we assume, no, make that hope it was a dog poop bag.

Back in August, we found a bicycle locked to the park-and-ride fence and assumed it was abandoned, but it eventually disappeared.  

Today, we thought it was back.  But it was a different brand and the bike lock is different.  Same color, though.  Perhaps King County Metro should invest in some bike racks.

We picked up a needle cap.  No needle, though.  They probably wanted to dump the needle closer to where a kid might find it.

Ah, another vodka bottle. But, this one was empty.  It’s going to take a bit longer to get through that Book of Mormon we found.

At top of the Tolt Pipeline, more trash.  We didn’t know what Kelso Kreeper was, though we had a pretty good idea,  what the package was.  After some Googling, we found that this was pot from Longview WA.

From their website,

Working Man’s Weed.  Hi Guys, is weed made for the everyday, trucker-hat-wearing, domesticated working class.

Great, semi truck drivers and factory workers smoking pot.

Walking down NE 145th Street, ahead a pickup turned down a side street and did a u-turn.  We slowed down unsure if he was just getting us in his crosshairs, but we decided to proceed.

As we approached, the driver got out and handed us a white bucket and said, “Merry Christmas.”When we took the bucket, the backside was pointed toward us with no label.  We asked what it was and he responded that it was gloves.  We thanked him and carried the three-pound “Bucket of Gloves”  for the remainder of the walk.  We do appreciate being appreciated.

 

December 13th, 2019 – Safeway Route.

We started our walk on time and went for a long way without picking up any trash.  Except for cigarette butts, of course.  And candy wrappers.  And the odd beer or soda can.  No, we didn’t pick up much trash.

We did pick up an Underwood wine can.  Half of Chuck’s family are Underwoods on his mother’s side.  So we’re family.  According to this site, the name Underwood is ranked 488 out of 1000 most common surnames with about 60 thousand people.  Guess our cut would be pretty minimal.  For the record, Broadus is not even on the 1000 list.  The last name on the list is Vang.  We have never even known anyone with the last name of Vang.  However, we know several people with the last name of Broadus.  There is even a town, Broadus Montana.  We’ve never heard of a town called Vang.  We want a recount.

Another lost gas cap near the Safeway gas station. Ok, the one on the left may look happy, but it isn’t.  Trust us.

We also came across another car part.  Probably from another accident, but it wasn’t evident.  Fortunately, it was near one of our dumpster drop-off points, so we donated it there.

We thought we found another sex toy.  But it was a Rubber Finger,  We hope.

Really?  Coconut Berry Red Bull?  What’s next?  Mango Quiche?

We found a lock.  Well, not a lock anymore.  Just a weight in our recycle bag.

Okay, this is just plain wrong. The Norway Hill Litter War has taken on a new dimension.  We pick up debris.  They apparently fling it.  We may attend the next city council meeting.

 

December 14th, 2019 – Riverside Drive.

Today was a cool 40F, but was dry and comfortable.  We didn’t need to remove any roadkill and got a few waves.  Also, we found more money!  Ok, one penny probably didn’t deserve an exclamation mark.  But remember, a penny saved is a penny earned.  But is it?  Benjamin Franklin coined this phrase in the late 1700’s.  According to this site, a penny in 1776 would be worth $113 for food in today’s money.  So today,  the saying should be “A hundred buck saved is a hundred buck earned”, which makes more sense.  Then again, we’ve never found $100 at one time.

Today we did have a shot at it, though.  Someone tossed a wallet off the freeway. But there was no money in it.  Actually, there was nothing in it.  Picked clean.

McDonalds pulled off the gloves today.  This was at the beginning of our walk close to our home.  Later, near the Senior Center, we found another McMess.  These both look like the intent was to make the biggest mess possible.  No sign of Taco Time.

We didn’t find as many gloves this week.  But we did find a rare pair of gloves today.

i know i am awesome-lucy.  [Did we mention our granddaughter is helping with this?  And yes, she is.]

“Nope, Don’t lose Hope in Honduran Emerald Hummingbird” Ok, we admit, we don’t know what the Honduran Emerald Hummingbird is. According to this 2015 article, “The recent rediscovery of the species in the Santa Barbara Department marks the first time birds have been seen in western Honduras since 1935. This led to the species being downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered.”  It probably crossed the border into the U.S. and, after 80 years, thought better of it.  

Now here’s something we can hang our hat on.  Uh, make that coat.

We picked up two articles of clothing.  A baker’s skull cap.

Also a pair of Jockey underwear.  Hopefully they did not belong to the same person.  We don’t like the idea of someone baking our buns in a skull cap and jockey shorts.  Well, now even worse.  Without.

We found this handlebar plug. Every site we visited showed it as discontinued.  Probably because they keep falling out.

And, evidently so do these.  An AirPod.  They certainly don’t stay in our ears.  Starting at $159 for a pair, so this one should be worth about $80, but we’ll let it go for $20.

 

Hay!    Someone’s cow’s going hungry.  No milk for them.  There’s no use crying over spilled hay.

Someone was riding shotgun.  It must have backfired.

Some kid lost their unicorn hair band.   We’ll take good care if it.