We Get Flashed Again

Sunday, March 29th, 2020 – Park-and-Ride Route Plus

Today, the weather was warm, rainy and blustery.  For our “Pandemic Sunday Extra”, we did the Park-and-Ride route, but extended to across the freeway.  On our Saturday walks, we’ve been seeing a bag hanging on the freeway over-pass fence on the opposite side of Juanita-Woodinville Way.  We decided to cross the street and come back on the opposite side to get the bag.   Of course, along the way, we picked up a lot of long-neglected trash in the area, mainly the large pieces.  We will work on this area over the next lock-down Sundays.  We call this “grooming.”  We learned early on to not attempt to clean up everything at once, rather do it little by little.  The bag was filled with pieces of Styrofoam.  Why it was there, we don’t know, but we are very thankful that whoever left it didn’t just dump it in the street.  Styrofoam can make a major mess.

Along our way, we saw a lot of earthworms who’ve had their fill, literally, of rain and were migrating across the street.  We we tried not to step on them, but we can’t be sure.  On a normal day, their chance of making it across the street would be nil.  However these days on Sunday and with the lock-down, they might have a chance.  And they could say “Hi” to their buddies coming from the other side of the street.

We found an exceptionally nice tool today.  It was a seven-and-a-half inch, stainless steel Titan Pry Bar Scraper.  Most tools we find have been run over and damaged.  This one was in pristine condition.  Well it did have scratches from normal use, but no tire marks.  A welcome addition to our Found Tool Collection.

Just because we’re short of material today.  We may have stepped on him on a previous walk.

More folks not practicing Social Distancing.  We saw a web article that, due to the pandemic, the world may be running short of condoms.  This one’s a bit rough, but perhaps we need a condom recycle center.  We give blood regularly and the blood bank gives us a sticker, “I Gave Blood Today.”  The new recycle center could have stickers “I Helped People F*** Today.”  Just a thought.

 

Monday, March 30th, 2020 – Safeway Route

This morning was warm and blustery like yesterday.  The traffic was very light and the lock-down seems to be taking a toll on the trash.  We seem to be finding much less now, including cigarette butts.  A good thing.  We did come across a roadkill-squirrel and removed it from the road.  We squirreled it away in some bushes.

This happened once before, when we started our walk, a sheriff’s cruiser passed by us and flashed his overhead lights. He flashed Chuck first.  Janet was ahead of Chuck so she got flashed farther down the street.  Janet enjoyed getting flashed by a deputy.

We found Toucans!

Okay, no, not that kind.  TwoCans.  Pay attention, folks.  Oh, give us a break.  Pickings are very slim these days.

We found a small, green, cloth bag with something in it.    It was sewn shut and we didn’t open it up.  It may have been an meticulous dog walker’s dog poop bag.

Things were so sparse today that we actually took a photo of the Coors Litterers leavings.  We often find a six-pack carton and some number of bottles scattered along our route.  Today it was three bottles.  So there are three more out there we didn’t find.  It keeps us awake at night.

This was new.  Did someone test positive for Coronavirus and get exiled outside the fence?  Ok, where is he?  We stayed six feet from the chair, but he’s on the loose.

Now we get it. Last week this couple was giving away two sets of golf clubs.  This must have contained their golfing scores.

 

Tuesday, March 31st, 2020 – Park-and-Ride Route

Today was cooler with a little rain, but not bad.  There was scant trash and very light traffic.

A can was next to our driveway this morning.  It was about a third full.  Checking our security camera, a car parked in front of our house at about 2:15 am, sat there for twenty minutes and drove off.  This is all he left on the street.  Well, and the cigarette butt, of course.  A very neat litterer.

A dog ball on Juanita-Woodinville Way.  With traffic this light, you could play fetch with your dog in the street.

At the park-and-ride we found a rock with a Mariner’s logo painted on it.  It had something written on the back, but it was too scuffed up to read.  Probably “Hide me.”  We’ve had a run on painted rocks lately.  If people that are sheltered-in-place are painting these to keep busy, they’ve hit rock bottom.

We climbed down into Gatorade Gully for the first time in a while.  We used to find bunches of Gatorade butt-bottles in the gully.  Whoever was tossing them started using Monster bottles and eventually the population became mostly Bud Light cans.  Now, it appears to be a fully-integrated gully.

Loaded.  Nope, it was unloaded.

At the Tolt Pipeline at the top of Norway Hill.   A good citizen dumped some furniture.

 

Wednesday, April 1st, 2020 – Safeway Route

It was a cold and rainy walk.  If we had a choice, would we select the end to the Coronavirus or warm weather.  Well, both, but the CV wins hands down.   With both traffic and trash dwindling, it continues to be slim pickings out there.  Are we complaining over the lack of trash?

The sofa at the top of the Tolt Pipeline kept us awake last night thinking we should have gone through the cushions for change.  We eagerly arrived at the top of the hill and, the sofa was gone.   Damn.  Some city employee got the change.  So why do folks dump the furniture by the roadside?  This may be the problem from the King County FAQs.

Can I take furniture to the transfer station [dump]?
Furniture in good condition can be donated or sold for reuse. If the furniture is in poor condition, it may be disposed of at King County transfer stations. No items with lengths greater than 8 feet; no heavy objects with dimensions over 2 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet and more than 200 pounds.

So, what to do with the old sofa?  Dump it on top of Norway Hill, of course.  And where did it end up?  At the transfer station.

The trash is so light, we only took three pictures today and this was one of them.  We got a picture of an empty cigarette package.  We know, pathetic, right?

Gummy Bears! No, Multivitamin Gummies for women.  It was about one-third full and it’s sold at the Safeway about a half mile from where we found it.  Is there an Internet rumor that these protect against the Coronavirus?  Two-thirds of a bottle within a third of a mile seems excessive to us.

Hey, toilet paper!!  Damn!  Someone beat us to it.  Guess we need to set the alarm for 4:30 am.

 

Thursday, April 2nd, 2020 – Park-and-Ride Route

It was colder this morning at 34°F with very light trash and traffic.  There are so few cars on the road, we are now waving hello to everybody and sometimes, when the light is right, we can see them wave back.

At the park-and-ride, again, no people were waiting for the bus.  In the parking lot party corner, we found only two Coors cans still in their plastic six-pack holders. Across the down-sloped parking lot, we found four more cans.  So with no cars in the parking lot, they let their cans roll a hundred feet to the other side of the lot.  But there were only six cans when we should have found a total of twelve.   More sleepless nights.

We did find someone’s tank top.  Apparel, not a turret.  It was dirty, but in good condition.  We’ll wash it and send it to Goodwill.  “What category of a top was this?”  “Tanks.”  Wait for it…. “You’re welcome.”  [A groan in memory of a dear relative.]

A very unlucky USB charging cable.  Someone tossed it out the window and even in this light traffic, it got run over.

We find a lot of marijuana-based products and normally pay it no mind.  But one caught our attention.  Because it is a tincture.  Okay, and yes, it’s a slow trash day.  Green Revolution Indica Tincture.  From their website,

“Our tinctures are water-based and water-soluble, so they dissolve instantly into any beverage or can be consumed sublingually.  Make your own Cannabis Beverage, add it to Tea, Coffee, or Water.”

Add it to your beer at night, your tea for breakfast in the morning or your coffee while working.

This sign has been irritating us for months.    Its been laying by the park-and-riding for about a year.  We set  it up to make it more noticeable.  We did try the number on the sign, but it is a robo-router that is aimed at locating your towed car and never letting you reach a human.

Now addressing this may be something we can do while “Incarcerated-in-Place.”  Well, maybe.  We are dealing with the King County Government.

Friday, April 3rd, 2020 – Safeway Route

Today warmed a few degrees and was not unpleasant.  For some reason, there was a lot of minor trash, cigarette butts, candy wrappers and the like.  We did find the usual bunch of tossed wet wipes that Safeway provides for their customers.  Their very thoughtful customers.  During our walk, four buses passed us.  We didn’t think to check the first bus, but the other three were empty.

Also across from Safeway near the bus stop, someone just couldn’t wait to get home to have lunch, so they had it at the bus stop.  Sliced turkey breast, mayonnaise and all the wrappings.  The bus probably surprised him by arriving on time.  Dude, they are pretty much empty and there is no traffic, what do you expect?  Duh.

We found some litter at another bus stop.  Really?  Five feet from a trash can and you drop it on the ground?  Oh, but you need to get it into that tiny hole.  We didn’t check, but it could have been marijuana trash.  Perhaps that explains why they couldn’t get it in.  It’s just a theory that you could easily poke a hole in.

For weeks, the CDC has been saying wearing masks only helps if you are sick.  We get it, medical masks should be saved for the healthcare workers.  But, if you wear a mask and someone coughs or sneezes near you, it will help.  Just everyday logic.  There was even a doctor from Ohio stating that masks only protect patients from the doctor’s germs.  Well, it happened today, they are recommending wearing a home-made mask when you need to leave your nest.

We are in luck.  During the past five years of our walks, we have found a few masks and face coverings.  We are set!  But we didn’t get many waves today.

 

Saturday, April 4th, 2020 – Riverside Drive

The weather today was again cool without rain.  Traffic seemed a bit lighter than last week, but we were also a little earlier.

We must have new bus drivers on our route.  We waved to four different buses and all but one ignored us.  This one actually stopped to see what we wanted.  We get tired of training the new bus drivers.

We found a quarter today.  Not like finding five dollar bills like the last two weeks, but we’ll take it.

This is getting weird.  We found another painted rock.  We couldn’t make out what this one said.

Being Saturday, it’s time to review the week’s gloves and poop bags.  Twenty-one gloves and eleven dog poop bags.  The gloves beat last week by one glove, but the dog bags are lower, probably due to the worse weather this week.

More people not practicing social distancing.  The Governor had set up a website for reporting people not practicing social distancing.  Maybe we’ll send this to him so he can have his forensics team get some finger prints or DNA.

Along the lines, we found this kit.  A package of two condoms and “Liquid Personal Lubricant” provided by the King County.  Is King County encouraging people to get together?  Maybe we’ll report King County to the Governor’s website.

We scored some hand sanitizer.  At least we think it’s sanitizer, but there were no markings on the tube.  It could have been more “Liquid Personal Lubricant.”  It’s now in the trashcan.

It was a bad day for finding tools.  We found a bunch of unused utility knife blades.  But they were rusty and had been run over several times.

Also another bungee strap.  Rather, half of one.  Neither ended up in our Found Tool Collection.

We’re finding a lot of locks lately.  But few keys.  This one, like most we find was unlocked.  Of course, if it were locked chances are it wouldn’t have been lost by the owner.

We picked up a large poster advertising the Marysville Strawberry Festival.  Starting in June.  We ALL hope we can attend by that time.

Hmm.  Another rat skull.  Can rats catch the Coronavirus?

More people not practicing social distancing at the park-and-ride party corner.  Eight Kokanee beer cans, a brand we’ve never heard of, but according to Wikipedia, it’s the best-selling lager in British Columbia.  Two of the cans were unopened, but leaking, so we didn’t try it.  Too bad, last time we found an unopened beer there was just one and we had to share it.

Letters, SOI or IOS. We searched for “SOI” with Google and got 200 million hits.  When we searched for “IOS”, we got 3.5 billion hits.  We can guess that 3 billion of these are related to Apple, but we didn’t visit them to find out.

Finally, we found shoes today.  A flip-flop.  Well, only the flop.  We didn’t find the flip.  Yes, we can tell the difference, can’t you?

Then, on the off-ramp of I405, we found a nice pair if Nike shoes.  Nike Shark Football shoes… but patent leather?  We found some on eBay used for $15 + $10.50 shipping.  So if anybody’s interested, we’ll let them go for $14 + $9.50 shipping.  Or, in a few days and you can pick them up at Goodwill for about $10.