Monday, August 16th, 2021 – Safeway
This is not a spectacular start of the week. In fact, it was downright boring. But at least we found some money
Yes, only a penny, but it is better than nothing and we will not be shut out this week. Unless we lose it, of course.
We came across a very bad accident.
A truck from the KinderCare ended up colliding with another vehicle. It was a hit-and-run as the other vehicle did not report the incident. We did not have the heart to toss the truck back over the fence into the KinderCare. It could be traumatic to the kids. Unless the kids smashed it with a rock on purpose. And, yes, Chuck may have done that in his youth.
We found a plywood pencil.
It did not look like plywood to us, but we are not plywood or pencil experts. We have been pencil-pushers, but we are not the sharpest pencils in the box.
We started to pick up an arrow but thought better of it.
It was pointless.
Tuesday, August 17th, 2021 – Park-and-Ride
Today the temperature had dropped a full ten degrees from yesterday making it our ideal temperature for walking of 55°F (12.8°C). So, we should have enjoyed our walk, but again, it was boring. And no money was to be found.
We found yet another ‘New Driver’ sign.
Frankly, we are losing our patience. The driver probably scraped a tree and lost the sign. And perhaps they tossed their beverage at the same time:
Nice. Learning nondistracted-driving littering. Or perhaps that’s when they hit the tree.
Along our walk on Simonds Road, there is always water running into the drain.
Today, we walked up the bank and saw a house with what appeared to be excess water running down an unused driveway. Also, what looked to be a water catch basin. So, we don’t really know where the water is coming from. We contacted the water district, concerned that there was a leak but have not heard back.
Here is the hole that most of the water is issuing from.
Okay, possibly our most exciting find today.
Yes, another golf ball. Still boring. But wait, it is labeled ‘Tiger Woods!’ Now this is interesting. No, never mind. It is a Titlist One golf ball, about the most used golf ball out there.
Yes, today was just boring.
Wednesday, August 18th, 2021 – Safeway
Today, we were running ahead of schedule, so one of us suggested we extend our walk down 100th St NE to a bus stop. We won’t mention which of us she was, but we did as she suggested. This was a totally new area for us and put us far behind schedule. It was a mess. We are talking about four hundred feet of fresh trash.
On the plus side, we did find a dime.
So, we are now up to eleven cents this week.
Among the trash, behind the bushes, were some camping chairs.
We were tempted, but we decided to keep moving. Once you stop, it is difficult to start moving again.
We also found this fellow behind some bushes. It is supposed to be Donald Duck, but it does not look like him to us.
At first, he seemed a bit down, but lightened up, probably because we washed him.
We picked up several cards that seemed to produce a character, a setting and a plot. This is a set of cards to trigger story lines.
Very unexciting. How about a serial killer has very bad luck in a clothing store full of manikins?
Well, this is taking panhandling to a whole new level.
Level of laziness, we mean. Doesn’t this guy need a computer or smartphone to access his proceeds?
Thursday, August 19th, 2021 – 160th to 124th Street
Today was another comfortable day to walk, but we were out for almost three-and-a-half hours, primarily because we are slowly cleaning up a new part of our route, one of the messiest we have attacked.
We keep biting off more than we should chew, so to speak, but we will eventually get there. For the most part, when we clean up these messes, people seem to respect that they are clean and do not re-litter… much.
We did get rewarded.
Another dime! We are so easily pleased.
Along NE 160th Street, we found yet another floor mat.
Last week, we found two matching nondescript mats. This one was a genuine Mazda. All of them are headed for Goodwill.
Near Northshore Middle School, we picked up a piece of paper with a QR code.
It had explicit instructions on how to use the QR code to answer a form before accessing the school. Well, okay, we gave it a try. “The form COVID QR Code is no longer accepting responses.” Great! All we wanted to do is empty our trash bags into their dumpsters. What now? We ignored the warning and dumped our recycling anyway.
Some girl’s underwear.
They must not have fit very well because she lost them in the middle of the street. Goodwill.
Another reason we were out a long time today is Janet spotted a couple of cans down a hill and sent Chuck down to retrieve them.
After descending into the abyss, Chuck kept finding more items that had been tossed over the years and hidden by the flora.
This is only a fraction of the litter Chuck tossed up to the road. Janet’s eyesight is too good.
Okay, since we have been walking, we have found pretty much everything but the kitchen sink.
Well, today we did not find the kitchen sink, but we did find the faucet. In very good condition too. Yes, we recycled it.
Friday, August 20th, 2021 – 100th Ave NE
This extended a fairly uneventful week. No money and we needed to remove a rat from the roadway. We could supply a photo, but it would not be pretty.
We came across a large cardboard box that once contained a central air conditioner.
We are hoping it accidently flew off a delivery truck instead of being tossed. Anyway, it was bulky but lightweight. We carried it for about a half mile to a recycle dumpster. Lug the box, put it down to pick up a cigarette butt… lug the box, put it down to pick up a cigarette butt… Annoying.
Another lost piece of clothing.
We hung the sweatshirt on a nearby tree for the owner to see. If it is still there next week, it will go to Goodwill.
We picked up a Fischer-Price toy cell phone.
Our grandchildren had similar toys, mainly noise makers. We understand why someone may have tossed it out the window. When we got it home, we replaced the batteries with new ones and tested it. It was dead from being run over. If it had still been alive, we would probably have tossed it out also.
Trap update.
The Gypsy Moth trap still only had dead flies on the floor. We really don’t know how the state of Washington can afford to keep these insect inns open.
On Simonds Road, we picked up a Safeway basket and a steel construction stake.
We left them in a church parking lot and picked them up later with the car.
We found a Slug-in-a-Cup.
We hope this is not a new Slurpee from the 7-Eleven. It was a sealed cup with a very large slug. He posed, so we took his photo. Then we opened the cup and let it go.
For some unknown reason, over the last five or so years, we started picking up tire weights and have made many jokes about unbalanced folks out there.
Today, we weighed them, 20.4 pounds of tire weights. We provided them to one our friends who will redeem and recycle them. We will start a new jar. And yes, we are unbalanced.
On one of our errands, we spotted a large mess of garbage dropped along our Saturday route. Instead of dealing with it on our Saturday walk, we preempted it by gathering it with our car. It was more than garbage, it had what appeared to be homemade sex toys. [Images deleted.] There was also a note written in Spanish on a mattress warranty.
According to Google translator, it appears to translate to,
Te amo como si fuego azul al max y nal al
I love you like blue fire to the max and to the end
And,
Un mundo multidimensional expansivo y cuayfice y paralete
An expansive multidimensional world, quadrupled and paralyzed
We don’t know Spanish, but we are trying to figure out where the handmade sex toys fit in? Or perhaps that is a bad choice of words…
Saturday, August 21st, 2021 – Riverside Drive & Brickyard Road
Today was a marathon walk. We were out four-and-a-half hours and covered nine-and-a-half miles, a new record for us. The reason was that we had two false starts where we made it halfway down the hill to Riverside Drive and needed to return home.
We removed a rat and a rabbit from the road, but we found significant money.
Three dimes, two nickels and two pennies, all in separate locations. Forty-two cents! That makes a total of sixty-three cents this week. Woof! Not as good as last week, but we are happy with that.
We also found another lost tool.
No, not another socket, a Philips drill bit with a long shank. We have several of the short-shank bits, but we think this is the first long shank we’ve found.
A few weeks ago, at the Sammamish River access road under the freeway on Woodinville Drive, someone dumped an old mattress. Today, some bags of garbage were added.
We left them and will notify the county to take care of them. It the past, we might get the car and carry the bags back home for sorting, but then we realized that we are paying government workers to do things like this, and we are only getting paid twelve cents an hour. For both of us. And we need to pick up the money ourselves.
We picked up a tire weight today.
Normally, we do not report on these, but having given away our twenty pounds of weights yesterday, this is the feeder weight for our next twenty pounds. We only have 639 more of these to find.
Well, this isn’t good.
A USB cable hanging out the driver’s door of a parked car. We should have tried to charge our phone to see if it still worked.
Other random stuff today:
An ice scraper. Yes, it is warm now, but winter is coming. It could get you out of a scrape. Pun intended.
A Revlon Essentials Frizz Tamer All Purpose Brush. It didn’t excite either of us, but definitely not Chuck, and the copy with the brush did not help.
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All Purpose Hair Brush for Sleek Styles. Packaging may Vary
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Ionic Technology – Frizz Tamer
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Stylish Black & Chrome Finish
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Lock in Moisture & Shine
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Revlon. Love Your Hair
Chuck was still not amused, but the Ionic Technology was curious. Is it related to an Ion Cannon? That would interest him.
Finally, an emoji bracelet. Janet did not find it picture-worthy, but Chuck was mildly amused, so here it is.
The Bothell City Limits sign that was run over was resurrected.
And there is an addition. “The We City.” Or is it the “We’ll City?” But the apostrophe is in the wrong place. Okay, it could be the “Well City,” but there shouldn’t be an apostrophe at all. We may need to bring some tools with us next week and remove this sign.
We don’t know what to think about this.
A Nerf bullet, “Property of Jesus.” We are going to church tomorrow. Promise!
Under the freeway, Janet found a perfectly good balloon.
Instead of picking it up, she started nudging it along with her picker. In the center frame, the balloon popped, half there and half not. Third frame, Janet: “What the…”
As penance, Chuck made her pick up the remains. And, yes, the cigarette butt too.
Trash Walking 