Monday, 25th, 2021 – Safeway
This morning seemed a little off-kilter. The temperature was alright and the traffic and trash was normal, but the walk seemed to be an uninteresting effort. And, we found no money. And nothing of interest.
Well, okay, this was a bit interesting.
A rusty saw blade on a mandrel. It looks like a movie prop from a bad slasher movie. But there are no movies being shot around here that we know of. We left it near some construction trash and left no fingerprints. Rubber gloves.
We usually find cigarette-butt bottles, plastic bottles with water and cigarette butts tossed by the side of the road.
This is a first. A cup with a pack of cigarettes in it. Maybe you should stick to water bottles. On this subject, we passed a guy and his dog smoking a cigarette. The guy, not the dog. We have found several cigarette butts in the gutter there. We told him we hope he didn’t toss his cigarette butts in the street. He replied, “No, in fact, I have a water bottle in my car.” Right, he then tosses it out the window when it’s full.
On the way up Norway Hill, we found a couple of McDonalds tea cups that the McLitterers seem to prefer. Then we found the mess.
This was a typical McLitterers‘ bag that had been disassembled. We don’t know if it had been spread by passing traffic or by a critter. However everything was there except the five or six unopened butters. Keep an eye out for a squirrel with high cholesterol.
As we were approaching home, Janet motioned for Chuck to her side of the road. She pointed to a piece of cellophane that had been down a hillside for a few weeks.
Chuck retrieved it, but then stepped on something that sounded like a buried can.
Make that buried cans.
We fished a disintegrated bag of nineteen beer cans and bottles out of the dirt. They had to be over five years old and they smelled like it.
Tuesday, 26th, 2021 – Park-and-Ride
This morning was cold, near our walking limit so we suited up in full cold-weather gear and were relatively comfortable. And we did find some money.
Only a penny, but we have had worse. Hmm, is it our imagination, but does Abe look like Elvis? Whoa! There are some on eBay.
We found a nice sweater in relatively good condition.
We’ll wash it and put it in the Goodwill pile.
Near the sweater, we found an unopened can of soup.
Campbell’s Chunky Chicken Pot Pie soup. What makes soup “Pub-Style?” It sounds good, but we’ll drop it off at the food bank.
At the park-and-ride, we found an inexpensive pair of dropped sunglasses.
There is not a big need for sunglasses this time of year, but they are in good condition and the price is right. Perhaps we’ll start wearing them during our walks. They will certainly cut down on the trash we find.
Last week, we found this guy happily waiting to cross the street.
Today, he was still patiently waiting and we realized he could not carry a flag to cross the street. So, we helped him out.
He seemed happier, but not one word of thanks, the ingrate.
Wednesday, 27th, 2021 – Safeway
Today was 41°F (5°C), much warmer than yesterday with a light rain for most of our walk. For some reason, there was very little traffic today maybe because a slight chance of snow was forecasted, but at forty-one degrees, fat chance. We did find some more money.
We saw something in an intersection that turned out to be a leaf.
But near the leaf we spotted a nickel. A very beat up nickel but we were able to make out the image of Monticello. We had to squint, but we could see it. But it could have been Elvis.
At the KinderCare, we found a very large ball.
It was fifteen or sixteen inches in diameter. We tossed it back over the fence. Then, inside the fence, we spotted signs of dinosaur abuse.
We should have kept the ball.
Well, someone didn’t finish the job.
Remember, it’s a poor workman who blames his tools. Part of a box-end wrench. We’ll call it an ox-end wrench.
We found this fancy liquor bottle.
After some research, we found it was a D’Usse French Cognac bottle. Cognac is not something we typically find tossed by the side of the road. This costs about $16 at Total Wine.
Another sloppy McLitterers bag.
This is the second week in a row. This one had been run over and one of the syrups was bleeding. It could have been counted as roadkill and we would toss it into the bushes. But then it would be litter and we would need to retrieve it. We bagged it and took it home.
Let’s see, a $16 bottle of cognac and $14 for McDonalds for two. A cheap date at $30. The only thing missing was the condom.
Thursday, 28th, 2021 – 160th to 124th Street
Today was still warm for winter, but it rained on us the entire walk and stopped just as we arrived home.
The first thing we found on our walk was a used condom stuffed back in the wrapper. It was in the road next to our house. We’ll check our security cameras.
Then as we continued down 112th Ave NE, we found another condom and another wrapper. Busy couple.
Near the park-and-ride, we came across a large black bag full of garbage.
It was quite heavy, so we hauled it across the street and left it in the park-and-ride parking lot. We routinely walk through the lot three times a week picking up trash. Early in the Pandemic, we met a Metro employee who asked us to not pick up trash in the lot because he feared for his job. So, we figure leaving the bag in the lot will make him happy. We aim to please.
About the most interesting thing we found this morning was a pair of goggles.
Unfortunately, the lens was missing. They were on the freeway onramp near a bus stop so we dumped them in the trashcan.
Then, a half block later, we found the lens. Doh!
Friday, 29th, 2021 – 100th Ave NE
We got rained on again today. We really don’t mind the rain, the problem is the extra weight of waterlogged trash, pants and vests. On the up side, we found money.
We won’t say which of us took this photo, but she overexposed it, but it is a dime. No, really. If we were lying, we would call it a quarter or maybe a fifty-cent piece. But we’ve only found one fifty-cent piece in nearly six years of walking, so we will stick with lying about a quarter. Then again, we my be lying about the dime.
There has been a beat-up car on 112th Ave NE that has not moved in a long time, but there is plenty of parking so is not bothering anyone.
Or perhaps it has. Someone painted a question mark on the rear windows and today painted another on the windshield. The paint appears to be the chalk marking paint, so probably no harm done, but still. If you think it is abandoned, post the question to the City of Bothell website, not on the car’s windshield.
Oh, and yes, they are still at it.
Yet another condom. The rabbits could take lessons from this couple.
At the KinderCare, we typically find balls to toss back.
Today it was a hula hoop caught by a tree branch. We pulled it down and tossed it back. The dinosaurs ignored us.
Under a bush near Safeway, we found a book.
Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time”, updated and expanded edition. This makes no sense. They say the universe is expanding, but then it is subtitled “Universe in a Nutshell”. So are nutshells expanding? It was a very thick book for a title of “A Brief History of Time”. Due to the weight, we left it in a Safeway shopping cart. We trust the Universe will not suffer.
Near a Honey Bucket at a construction site, we found an abandoned set of suspenders.
The guy must have been in a hurry. Hope he had both “a belt and suspenders” when he entered.
A Taco Time bag filled with assorted trash.
“Hi, I’ll have two Crisp Tacos, extra sauce and a side of the Butt Cup Special with extra ash.”
Saturday, 30th, 2021 – Riverside Drive & Brickyard Road
Today was a pleasant seven-and-a-half-mile walk at 37°F (3°C) with intermittent rain and we both felt pretty good at the end, not like last Saturday’s walk. And, we found another penny.
Not bad for four hours work for the two of us. We hear President Biden is pushing for a $15 per hour minimum wage. We’ll take it. But why not make it a $1000 per hour minimum wage? Then everyone would be rich and could afford whatever they want. Why won’t anyone listen to us?
We came across some more stuff for sale on the curb.
The lid is free, but the other items were not priced. We’ve no use for the bird cage, but the crutches might be useful on some of our longer walks.
At the Sammamish River Park, a lost key.
The key to the 80/20 rule? Like 80% of the trash we pick up is dropped by 20% of the people?
We found some clothing today.
Another knit cap and a nice pair of gloves. The cap will be washed and sent to Goodwill. We may hang onto the gloves. It depends on how they fit. Nope, we’re not going to use that pun.
We also picked up some tools.
An 18-inch saw blade with no handle and a ratchet with no socket. We find lots of sockets but this is only the second ratchet we’ve found. This one is in much better condition. It still ratchets whereas the other ratchet doesn’t. It’s a ratchet in name only.
We be Jammin’
A souvenir shot glass. We found a similar one online from Barbados. The temperature in Barbados today is 84°F. Did we mention it was 37°F here?
Trash Walking 