Free Masks!

Sunday, May 3rd, 2020 – New Route, Third Time

This new route is getting a bit easier as the grooming continues.  We are still finding hidden patches of long ago-dumped trash in the bushes.

The week is starting out right.  We found a quarter.  It was in exceptionally good shape for a road quarter.  This site discusses the grading of coins, “Good, Very Good, Fine, Very Fine, Extremely Fine, Uncirculated and Mint.”  In this system, this would probably be a “Good” rating.    But in the Coin Road Rating system, it is a “Road Extremely Fine” rating.  The next rating up is  “Road Uncirculated”, but we can’t guarantee that it wasn’t run over and tossed before it came to rest here.   Truly a fine specimen.

These days, roadkill is rare, but today we removed an even rarer roadkill opossum from 100th Ave NE.  With the light traffic on Sunday, this was one unlucky critter.  We also found this roadkill.

Actually, it may have been a dog-kill, but we removed it anyway.

We found these notes under a bush along Juanita-Woodinville Way in Kirkland.    “Imagine Bothell…” and litter in Kirkland.  Good job!  Yes, we picked it up.

“Take time for joy today!”By tossing this out your window, does it bring you joy?  Well, picking up after you certainly doesn’t bring us joy.  We get some satisfaction that we are cleaning up after you, but we are not your mother.  She must be very proud of you.

Speaking of motherhood, at the hidden parking space near Safeway, we found this mess.  The remains of a two-person Chinese take-out complete with containers and plastic utensils.  Also with the trash was a “Plan B One-Step Emergency Contraceptive Tablet.”  Dessert?  We sure hope the tablet worked.  We would hate for her to procreate.

Bee Condominiums?   This is interesting.  Evidently you can rent bee condominiums and somehow support them with holes in the ground?  Thanks, we’ll buy our honey at Fred Meyer, every twenty years or so.

Someone tossed a Seahawks virus mask. These are like $10 to $30 apiece.  You can’t just use them once and discard them out the window.  Never mind, you did.  Did the NFL get their cut?

We passed a male mallard duck a short ways away.  After we took the photo, we saw his mate fly across the street to the median and almost get hit by a car.  He didn’t even yell, “Look out!”  We didn’t either.

We passed a tree with a tag.  This is tree 1669.  We found that many governmental entities do tree inventories and mark the trees.  However, we could not find online databases for this one.  If anyone wants to know where tree 1669 is, contact us and we’ll inform you.  For a price.

Liquid Ass! We do KNOW why they tossed this out the window.  We opened it up and took a sniff.  We would have tossed it too.  And, yes, we would have picked it up again.  Is this like a Twilight Zone episode?

A biodegradable dog poop bag.   Is this for irresponsible pet owners who toss the poop bags in the bushes?

A naked G.I. Joe.  Not quite naked.  He has boots on.  But they don’t match.

 

Monday, May 4th, 2020 – Safeway Route

It was 35°F this morning but sunny.  Not a bad walk.  Washington State is starting to slowly open up but traffic was still very light.  People are probably calling in sick.

We walked a good part of this route yesterday, even so there was a lot of random trash such as cigarette buts, candy wrappers and the like.  However, we are finding old trash that the mowers uncovered so we did arrive home with a full load.

This Nerf Gang violence is getting out of hand.  We may need to arm ourselves.

Great, how long are these going to stick around.  We are really tired of seeing stuff like this.

We found a game disc.  Jurassic Park III from 2001.  Damaged, of course.  But it was built for “Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me and Windows 95,” so it probably wouldn’t run on Windows 10 anyway.  Windows Me?  Did anybody buy that?

The game is still sold as used on Amazon.  $13 in “very good” condition and $6 in “acceptable” condition.  No price for one in “unreadable” condition.

 

Tuesday, May 5th, 2020 – Park-and-Ride Route

This morning was calm and 50°F, fifteen degrees warmer than yesterday.  During the winter, we wear rain jackets for both rain and warmth.  For the first time this season Chuck walked without his, but Janet chickened out.  She claimed she was comfortable.

Again, there was a lot of cigarette butts and random trash.  However, we did find things a bit more interesting.

Well, not this.  Another Nerf bullet.  We are totally out of Nerf jokes.  We did find some NERF acronyms.

• Neuro-Electronics Research Flanders (academic research initiative; Belgium)
• New Economy Research Fund (New Zealand)
• North East Reconstruction Fund (World Bank; Sri Lanka)
• Non-Exclusive, Royalty-Free (licensing)
• Non-Expanding Recreational Foam
• Naval Emitter Reference File
• Naval Electromagnetic Radiation Facility

We don’t see any of these facilities using Nerf guns, either because they do not need weapons or because they do.

We sometimes find locks and add them to our lock collection.  This one didn’t make the cut.

We found another dog toy. We don’t know what it’s supposed to be, though.  Donut with chocolate chips?  Flying saucer.  Mysteries.  We left it leaning against a telephone pole so the owner might find it if he wants it.

We found a syringe. We thought it could be a medicine dosage syringe for kids?  Or perhaps its a training syringe for druggies with kids?  Nope, it was part of a Fischer-Price toy medical kit. 

That explains why we couldn’t remove the cap.  

There are a lot of woodpeckers out this year.  Unlike the one a week or so ago that was pecking on a metal sign looking for a date, this one was after food.  He brought along a ladder, too.  Smart fellow.

At the park-and-ride, we found a moderate amount of trash, and a trash can.  It was empty.

At the top of Norway Hill, someone left a mess.  They were sanitary, though, they also left a pair of rubber gloves.

We picked up their trash, and they did leave us a tip.  Doubell [sic} Platinum cigar wraps.  They make several flavors, this one is “Pipe Tobacco.”  They also have apple, berry, peach and several others including martini.  Now we’re talking.  My grandfather smoked a pipe and it smelled good to me when I was a kid.  “Here, Pop, try this Mellow Mango tobacco”.  Don’t think it would have gone over well.

 

Wednesday, May 6th, 2020 – Safeway Route

Today was cooler and blustery which made for a more uncomfortable walk.  Again, there was a lot of small trash, especially down 112th Avenue for some reason.  Later on our walk, we came across a roadkill squirrel and removed it.

For the past few weeks a car has been honking to us a couple of times a week.  Today he pulled into the median and stopped. He searched through is trunk for a few seconds then came over and gave us two face masks.  He said he didn’t know if we used masks but a friend of his makes them.  They were sealed in plastic and very well made.  We wear masks whenever we go to the store.  We thanked him for the masks and for the honks.  Very nice.

We found another ball.  But it was ratty and ended in our trash can, instead of our ball collection.  You win some and lose some, but that’s the way the ball bounces.

A runner’s headband with the Nike Swoosh.  Fifteen dollars for a pack of six on Amazon.  Good thing they have extras.

Another cigarette-butt bottle.  We don’t understand this.  Why do smokers put the butts in a bottle of water then toss them out the window.  Like we’ve said before, this gives them a twofer.  They get to litter a bunch of cigarette butts and make a recyclable bottle unrecyclable.  And yes, twofer is a real word.  Another real word that applies to this person is doofus.

For a moment, we thought the McLitterers were back.  

The utensils were still wrapped in their bags, but the condiments were used.   The McLitterers  trash consisted of a tied-up white plastic McDonalds bag with two platters and covers in it.  The platters were very clean.  The bag also contained two used tea bags and a smaller paper bag with two sets of plastic utensils, four packets of syrup, and several pats of  butter, all unopened.  If these are the McLitterers, they have gotten sloppy.

We picked up these two cans together.  Whenever we pick up a can, we pull the pop-tab off and put it on our pocket.  With most cans like this AriZona, Bud, Coors, and Coke, the pop-tabs break loose in a couple of seconds.  We find a lot of Mike’s Harder Lemonade cans and they are, well, harder.  Red Bull, however, is a real bear to get off.  It can take ten to fifteen seconds to remove the tab.  We hate Red Bull cans.

 

 

Thursday, May 7th, 2020 – Park-and-Ride Route

Today was cool but clear.  A beautiful walk.  Again, lots of new random trash and old trash uncovered by the mowers.

At the park-and-ride, another party.  A total of nine beer cans.  This can’t be one person.  What about social distancing?  Maybe we should turn these people into the Governor.

A little way down the street, we found a used condom.  If this is from the park-and-ride, they’re definitely not social distancing.

Another mess on Norway Hill.  Jack-in-the-Box, this time.  Whoever is doing this is spreading the wealth.

This is a cruel joke to play on us. Someone tricked us with a fake penny.  At least they could have left us a fake quarter.  

 

Friday, May 8th, 2020 – Safeway Route

Another nice walk similar to yesterday.  There was a moderate amount of light trash, except for, of course cigarette butts.  They are holding their own.

Ok, more fake money.  Eleven cents.  We may be dealing with a counterfeiting ring.  A very dumb counterfeiting ring.  You might want to move up to at least quarters, but folding money is where the big profit is.

Hah!  Who are we to talk?  We also found a real penny and we’re happy about it.

Someone lost a nice jacket.  $68 at Macy’s.  Goodwill will be very happy if they ever open up again.

A very boorish litterer.  A whole garbage bag full of, well garbage, dumped down a hill.  Absolutely zero creativity.  Total illitteracy.  And why?  This is garbage day with tons of cans along the road.

Cindy’s looking for a A in her online class. Hugs and Kisses?  Maybe an A+.  

We found some great news! Our social distancing worries are over.

 

Saturday, May 9th, 2020 – Riverside Drive

The weather was clear and 55°F today.  For the first time since the start of the cold season, we walked without a second clothing layer.  It would be nice if this weather was here to stay, but this is the Puget Sound.

The mowers had been out and fortunately across from the apartments there were only a few places where the mowers could get past the parked cars.  We spent a lot of time picking up long-overgrown trash.  At one point we thought that the city should set aside a no-parking day so the mower could do its job.  What the hell were we thinking?

The first thing of interest we came across was a Dollar Store shopping cart near the Senior Center.  But this is the Senior Center and the nearest Dollar Store two miles away.  That’s a long way to push a shopping cart.  Maybe they took the bus.  Our busses have bike racks, do they also have shopping cart racks?

Also, in the same area, someone lost their sweater.  Normally we would pick it up for Goodwill, but it was relatively heavy and we were early in our walk.  We hung it on a tree limb hoping the owner might see it.  If it doesn’t get claimed, we’ll retrieve it and send it to Goodwill.

We found a Gentle Leader dog harness.  Ten bucks worth.  The owner probably accidently lost it while tossing the poop bag into the bushes.

Speaking of which, this was not a banner week for gloves or poop bags.  Thirty-two gloves and eight poop bags.  Not even close to a record.  Notably, several the gloves were work gloves.  A good sign the economy is reopening, if finding littered gloves is a good sign.

A few weeks ago, we reported to King County a new bunch of dumped trash.  They ignored it, so guess what.  Others saw it and said, “Why Not?” Pile it on, folks, it’s the King County way.

Speaking of which, we found another druggie needle today to add to our collection. 

We place these in plastic mayonnaise jars and look to dispose of them when full.  Good Luck.  If you are in Seattle where most of the King County needle distribution occurs, when you find a needle, you can report it to the “Needle Squad” who will pick it up.  Well, we are not in Seattle.

In Bothell, it appears we need to go to a local recycling store to get a voucher (two per family per year) and then turn the needles in at a “Transfer Station.”  It sounds easier to just go to Seattle and scatter them around.

Someone forgot their pants.  They were a mess, but fortunately, they were near a park garbage can where we deposited them.

Last week, we saw a mole in the road and tried to coax it off, but it kept turning around and heading back.  We saw it again today.  R.I.P.

Along Riverside Drive, we pass two trailer parks.  One is always kept up and mostly trash free.  A quarter of a mile later is another story.   We always find trash along the road and in the bushes.

The mowers uncovered a dog’s ball.  Amazingly, it was unscathed by the mower.  We placed it in our ball collection.

When you receive a letter from these folks, it’s seldom good news.  They moved from Everett to Bothell, but fortunately for them, the U. S. Postal Service tracked them down.

Someone really wants Sarvani to call them. We were unfamiliar with the name, Sarvani, so we looked it up.  It’s a girls name with origins in Hindi and Sanskrit.  From the site:

“The meaning of Sarvani has more than one different etymologies. It has same or different meanings in other countries and languages. The different meanings of the name Sarvani are:

• Sanskrit meaning: The All
• Indian meaning: The All”

Yep, those are pretty different, all right.  If she is “The All,”  we understand why he wants her to call.