Monday, September 27th, 2021 – Safeway
We have a new fan on Norway Hill. A few days ago, a lady slowed down and asked us if we picked up garbage every day. We told her we did it six days a week but walked different routes. She thanked us. Today, she slowed and said “My favorite people on the planet. I came this way to see you.” We have never been anybody’s favorite people on the planet. She must have very low standards.
Autumn had come and along with it are the leaves that cover up litter. Also, the money. We found none today. But the 7-Eleven parking lot was absent of leaves.
In it, we found a pair of biking glasses. We hope the biker fared better than the glasses.
We picked up a cap in the Safeway driveway.
By the colors, we thought it might be a Seahawks football or Sounders soccer hat, but it appears to be a generic Gortex Windstopper cap. It is headed for Goodwill.
As we were ascending Norway Hill on the south side of the hill, we came upon a bunch of illegally-dumped trash.
It included, on the left, a carpet, a minifridge, part of a broken chair, and other items of refuse. Then, on the way down the hill, the same sociopaths dumped the rest of the chair and a cheap TV stand. It appears the TV stand had been tossed in the road because pieces were scattered along both sides. We collected the pieces and piled them near the broken chair.
We submitted a service form to the City of Bothell. The next day everything was picked up. We cannot say more about how responsive Bothell is to our requests, unlike some other agencies which we will report on later.
Tuesday, September 28th, 2021 – Park-and-Ride
Even with all the leaves, we found a penny in the 7-Eleven parking lot today.
Janet argued that, since it was in the parking lot and not on the street that it should go into her personal collection. It was a weak argument and the judges ruled it should be counted. Chuck is sure Janet will appeal. She can be so penny ante.
On the way to the park-and-ride, we found two waterlogged books.
One was “Wings of Fire.” According to Wikipedia, this is children’s fantasy book series. It is published by the Scholastic Corporation. It doesn’t sound very scholarly to us.
We did find a couple of tools today.
A long Philips screwdriver bit and a gauge to measure nut and bolt sizes. It’s good to be able to measure your nuts.
On 100th Ave NE, another Toyota wheel cover.
We had already picked up a downed sign and this made the remaining half of our walk very cumbersome. We met some walkers who knew we have now found two cars. We assured them we only found a hubcap.
Wednesday, September 29th, 2021 – Safeway
This morning was cooler, overcast, and dry making for a comfortable walk. During this time of year, our walks start out in the dark. We still wave to the oncoming cars, but generally cannot see if they are responding. A few folks turn their dome lights on, some flash their high beams and some tap their horns, but the vast majority are just bright headlights passing by.
But we are sure most are still waving to us.
This is the new extension to a bus stop that we are grooming on our route along 100th Ave NE. It is cleaning up nicely, but there is still a weekly accumulation of beer cans at the bus stop.
Only six new cans this time. The rider must have had a day off this week.
In the same area, we found a soccer jersey behind some bushes.
It was wet, so when we got it home, we hung it out to dry. The next day, we noticed that it had an odor about it that smelled of sweat. Maybe that is why the person tossed it. We assumed it was wet from the rain, but maybe not. It will remain outside until it is time to be washed and sent to Goodwill.
In the parking lot of the Sound Sleep Health center, an empty vodka bottle.
Someone preparing for their final exam.
Thursday, September 30th, 2021 – 160th to 124th Street
On to Thursday. This is another grooming extension. We have been slowly extending and cleaning our way down 116th Ave NE to the Tolt Pipeline trail. Today we reached our goal.
It looks amazingly like the start and end of the pipeline on Norway Hill. We have made our first pass through the area, but it will take several more weeks until it is up to our standards.
On our way back out, we found another knit cap.
Like the cap we found earlier this week, it was green, but due to the moss growth. This one will definitely not make it to Goodwill.
Well, these are new from last week.
Two condoms under a bush. No, don’t go there. You must admire the guy’s endurance. Or, it could have been a double date?
Friday, October 1st, 2021 – 100th Ave NE
Happy new month. It has been a very frugal money week, but we doubled our take today.
And that’s our two-cents worth. [Sorry, we couldn’t help it. We haven’t used the line in a while.]
For a span of about two-hundred feet along 100th Ave NE, we picked up a lot of random trash from food wrappers to coke cans. All were well run over. Then we found the motherlode.
A large, white garbage bag was dropped and run over spreading it’s contents along the street. We presume it was an innocent accident, but given our past experience, we are a bit skeptical.
We found a weird combination near a bus stop.
A black bag with a mango and dog biscuit in it. Evidently the dog is a picky eater and would not eat either one. Hey! Here’s a suggestion. Why not try bacon? Of course, unless the pet is a pig.
As we were approaching home, we found another vodka bottle.
They left about two shots in it. Perfect! Bloody Marys for breakfast! We can live with that.
Saturday, October 2nd, 2021 – Riverside Drive & Brickyard Road
Today we had patches of light fog, but the walk ended well with partly-cloudy skies. And we did find more money.
A dime along Riverside Drive. That brings this week’s total to twelve cents. Meager but better than nothing.
On the way down Norway Hill, we found a pair of half-buried scissors.
Scotch Titanium scissors. They look like they will clean up nicely. These are about $15 on Amazon which we thought was cheap for titanium-bladed scissors. And it was. The blades are actually stainless steel, not titanium.
It seems like every year the city surveys the road down the hill providing false hope that they will fix the multi-patched road. These guys must be getting paid by the marker.
At most of the survey locations, they had three markers, one tied to the guardrail, one on a stake and the other on a spike in the ground.
They are being paid by the marker!
A random piece of wood with a marker on it.
At the Sammamish River Park, we found a land shark.
We left it alone. It could have been a shark in wolf’s clothing. Or something like that.
At our Bothell parking lot turnaround point, several cars parked near the condos.
Probably neither customers nor employees at 6:20 on a Saturday morning.
We found food this morning.
Starting at the upper left,
Under the freeway, a burrito, probably tossed from the freeway above. We can imagine the headlines: “Walkers Injured by Flying Burrito.”
A hard-boiled egg, already peeled for us. It must not have been a tough egg to crack.
A full bag of shelled sunflower seeds… no, wait, they claim to be kernels.
A baggie of apples, well on their way to cider.
That’s a lot of food for thought.
Alcohol Prep Pads.
Do you use these to wipe down your glass before making a Martini?
On the freeway offramp, we came upon a twelve-foot strip of shipping pillows.
We spread it out, stomped on each pillow, and rolled it into a manageable size. Wonder how many 911 calls of shots fired on the freeway were made from the nearby apartments?
Finally, at the park-and-ride while pulling some beer cans from the bushes, we spotted another cell phone.
When we got it home, we found it was a Samsung Galaxy S8. The screen was cracked, and it looked like it had been in the bushes for some time. After cleaning it up, we tried to charge it, but it remained at zero percent. After setting it near the fireplace for ten minutes to dry out, it started charging.
We were able to reunite it with the owner. It wasn’t difficult. The phone was not password-protected, and the last message sent to the phone was “If you found this phone call 206-795-xxxx.” The message was dated June 18th, almost four months ago. Of the fifteen phones we have found about half were working, but this is only the third that we have been able to personally reunite with owner. A good way to end the week.
Trash Walking 