Penniless Near Seattle

Monday, October 26th, 2020 – Safeway

Today was a chilly 34°F with a light mist consisting of ice. The precipitation either bounced off our jackets or hit and melted immediately. Does that count as walking in a hailstorm? “The hail was 100 microns in diameter!” Like the start of last week, we found no money and no roadkill. The week is young.

Also, like last week, we found another vodka bottle with some vodka left.

Last week, they left us about two inches of vodka. Today there was only about a half inch. Their drinking problem seems to be getting worse.

As we reached the 7-Eleven, we were walking on opposite sides of Juanita-Woodinville Way. A Metro bus pulled over and stopped next to Janet.

The driver told her that we inspired him to start picking up “shit” around the bus terminal. We pick that up too, but it’s mostly from tossed dog poop bags.

We found a tool.

A 10 mm socket. Okay, stop with the eye-rolls, it’s a tool, damn it.

We found shoes today. A pair of kid’s Nikes left behind at the Tolt Pipeline.

They looked like nice shoes, but they didn’t fit us so will be delivered to Goodwill.

At Safeway, we found another.

It looked like the ones we wear and about Chuck’s size, but we only found one and he can’t hop far on one leg anymore. Maybe one hop. Okay, two if he doesn’t need to remain standing.

At the Safeway bus stop was a garage sale sign with a bag attached.

Free garage sale samples? No, it turned out to be a Safeway Cafe bag a bus rider stuck to the sign. The label read, “2 Fried Chicken Drumsticks, Hot.” But it was “2 Fried Chicken Drumstick Bones, Cold.” At least he didn’t litter it.

At an intersection, we found a damaged car wheel rim.

We’ve found several wheels, wheels with tires and no tires, but no wheels this damaged.

Then we saw the reason.

A vehicle took out a sign on the median and destroyed its wheel. We’ve never seen accident tire tracks cross each other. It looks like the driver took two shots at the sign. From an earlier walk, the sign was a “Keep Right” sign which the driver obviously didn’t.

Tuesday, October 27th, 2020 – Park-and-Ride

Today was ten degrees warmer than yesterday at 44°F and dry. A nice walk.

We found another pair of iPhone earphones.

Rather artfully arranged but smashed. Useless as earphones, but we can provide 8×10 photos suitable for framing. Only five dollars each.

We found another dropped tool.

Ok, it’s a used Sawzall blade, but it’s a tool, damn it.

Someone lost track of their activity tracker.

Not that they would want to track it anymore in this condition.

We found a red, insulated DoorDash tote bag.

Eight dollars on the DoorDash website. These are meant to be reused by the delivery person to keep the food warm. This delivery guy must be a litterer and accidently tossed it out. His net profits are going to be less than ours.

The DoorDash bag came in handy for the clothes we found today. At the park-and-ride, a pair of socks.

Headed for Goodwill. Or we could make sock puppets out of them.

Complete with COVID-19 face covering.

And, someone is planning a clothing line.

Put us down for a cowl-neck dress and an A-Symetric [sic] skirt. For Janet, of course. Chuck would go for the Bomaki Blouse. Is a Bomaki an animal? We are against the senseless killing of animals for trophies or clothing unless they taste good.

In the middle of 100th Avenue, we picked up a sweatshirt.

Bandit Chippers. We thought this was a local chipper shredder company.

But it’s a shirt from a company that makes some major chipper-shredder equipment.

We’re talking whole tree eaters called the “Beast.” Hey, if you want your sweatshirt back, let us know. No questions asked.

Wednesday, October 28th, 2020 – Safeway

Today the weather was the same as yesterday which is fine with us. No money and we removed a roadkill raccoon which is rare. Since we’ve been keeping track, this is only the tenth dead raccoon we have come across. We have seen about as many live ones, but we let them be.

We found another Sawzall blade near where we found one yesterday.

Wait. It is the same blade. Chuck’s recycle bag has a hole in it. We ended up recycling his recycle bag.

We found a small, foam-rubber soccer ball.

It would have fit nicely in our Found Ball Collection, but it was across the street from the KinderCare so we tossed it back. We didn’t want to be a ball hog.

Also near the KinderCare, we found some problem-solving homework from the Art of Problem Solving website.

Wow, KinderCare is really pushing their students.

Some lady lost her panties.

They must have been loose-fitting for her to not notice. Or was she just loose?

Someone made a note to bring a thermometer.

Then forgot the note.

Thursday, October 29th, 2020 – Park-and-Ride

The temperature this morning was a high 52°F, almost twenty degrees warmer than three days ago and a perfect walking temperature for us. We picked up a moderate amount of trash, but few things of interest. Especially not interesting money. Or any money at all for that matter.

We did find another tool, kind of.

Yes, we’re stretching the definition, but it’s a tool, damn it. A garden spray nozzle, $13 at Home Depot. It was in the middle of a busy intersection and had been run over a few times, but it still looks serviceable. Ok, we’ll let it go for $4. As is. No returns or refunds.

We found a nice aluminum travel cup from the Seaside Surf Shop.

Seaside Oregon, not Seaside California. We couldn’t find it on their website, but it’s got to be worth ten bucks. Ten bucks or best offer.

We picked up a can of breath mints about half full.

Their website states, “Myntz! are powerful and will cure even the worst breath.” We have a friend whose dog has really bad breath. Wonder if these would work on him?

We checked the price of these mints on Amazon. A pack of twelve is $34.97 or $1.67 per ounce. But wait, you can buy multiple packs.

Sets of two, three and four are only $4.67 per ounce. Okay, here’s the deal. If you want two or more packs, let us know. We will sell them for only $3.67 per ounce. We’ll be losing money on each set, but we’ll make it up in volume. And we’ll throw in prime shipping for free!

Friday, October 30th, 2020 – Safeway

Okay, folks. Things are looking bleak this week on the money front. We have found no money this week with only tomorrow to go. Come on, guys, let’s give it up.

We found a piece of foam-rubber.

Our best guess is this is a microphone wind noise suppressor. But it could be a finger warmer. Given how close the election is, we wouldn’t presume which finger it was for.

A red bell pepper with a serial number.

Someone bought and tossed the very nice red bell pepper at Safeway. It’s a buck-fifty according to the Safeway site. We considered keeping it for a meal of stuffed bell peppers, but we decided it was too risky. It looked so good, it could have been made of wax, in which case it wouldn’t have tasted good.

T-Mobile Tues-Days.

T-Mobile has a standing “T-Mobile Tuesdays” for customers to get “free stuff from brands you love.” This guy got an unbranded box made in China.

Saturday, October 31st, 2020 – Riverside Drive

Today was a cool 40°F but dry. We didn’t find any money and didn’t come across any roadkill.

Half way down the hill, someone had tossed one of Bothell’s road barriers down a bank.

This makes no sense to us. We know people toss litter out of their cars, but when someone drags a road barrier across the road and dumps it down the hill, it takes littering to a whole new level. We’ll notify the city.

We found an unopened bag of zucchini.

Now we wish we’d kept the bell pepper from yesterday.

Hotel toiletries on Riverside Drive.

Shampoo and bath soap. We know people who take the toiletries from hotel stays to donate to homeless shelters and such. This guy took them for littering.

Another Chuckit! dog ball.

There were no homes nearby so we carried it home for our ball collection. If Chuck hears his name used as a verb again, he’s going to hurl. Bet you thought we were going to say “upchuck.”

Another lug bolt on the freeway off-ramp.

This one’s from a large vehicle. Good thing it was on the off-ramp and not the on-ramp.

Great. More people screwing around on Riverside Drive.

And, nearby was a bed in the bushes.

At least they could have made the bed when they were done.

Someone lost the wig to their costume.

And on Halloween morning, too. At least we think it’s part of a costume. If not, we apologize.

We found a foam-rubber paddle.

Does Nerf have a line of bondage toys?

After a good money week last week, we get shut out this week. We need to find a rich neighborhood to pick up trash. Hey, we do know where Bill Gates lives.