Monday, October 25th, 2021 – No Walk
This was a no-walking day for us. We were hit by a large storm on Sunday and lost power about 3:30 pm and it did not come back on until 7:15 am on Monday. Conversation on Monday Morning at 7:15 am after missing our 5:00 alarm: “We should go for a walk.” “What about the winds?” “The winds have calmed down.” “Our clothes are still in the dryer.” “Okay, I’ll go make the coffee.” From the narrative, you should be able to tell who is who. Chuck does not do laundry.
Tuesday, October 26th, 2021 – Park-and-Ride
We did walk today, but no money and no roadkill and very little trash. One of the problems was the amount of the debris we found:
There is probably a lot of trash and money beneath the debris, but it will need to wait until the leaves subside.
You have heard us kvetch about the number of signs on corners. Someone got disgusted.
Across from the 7-Eleven, they pulled all the signs and left them in a pile. Okay, you made your statement, now who’s going to pick them up? We can feel them looking at us.
“Dang! I installed the garage door opener, but it doesn’t open my garage door.”
“And it fell off my car.” Yes, we know, another miscreant tossing their trash in the ditch.
Someone left a rocking footstool at the hairpin curve of Norway Hill.
It was close to home, so Chuck carried it home and we will take it to Goodwill. “All I need is this bag, a picker, a remote control and this chair.”
Wednesday, October 27th, 2021 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE
We had no rain today which was good, and we found no money which is bad, but we removed two road-kill rabbits which is bad, so that made today a net-negative walk.
Across from Safeway we pulled out an overly happy balloon from the blackberry bushes.
Unfortunately, during the extraction, he received some mortal wounds and became very deflated. At least it died happy. No, we did not try mouth-to-mouth.
This is our day to extend our walk down to the bus stop on 100th Ave NE. It started out a mess, but after several weeks we have it cleaned up.
Except, of course the guy who leaves four to seven new cans at the bus stop each week. We really do hope it’s not the bus driver.
At a few locations along Juanita-Woodinville Way NE, we found some big piles of leaves.
So tempting.
Happiness is a pile of leaves.
Last week, we bemoaned the fact that people were leaving wheels/tires all over our routes, three to be exact. Today we came across these.
We hope we didn’t encourage this. The piece of paper says “Free.” Fat chance, though there is an empty gap in the tire stacks.
Thursday, October 28th, 2021 – 160th to 124th Street
Today, there was a strong mist, so we wore our rain jackets, which was good since the rain continued to worsen during our walk.
This was also a day of equipment failures. Chuck’s trusty five-year-old flashlight kept cutting out and needed to be shaken to be revived. Then his vest light continued to turn itself off every five minutes or so. Eventually, both Janet’s and Chuck’s vest light batteries died, but it was getting light by then. Finally, Chuck was climbing into a ditch when he slipped and put too much weight on his picker and broke its wrist.
It was on its last legs because the cable in it was fraying. In fact, before we started the walk, Janet suggested using a backup picker and retiring this one, but we took it out anyway. It worked fine up to the point of the break.
And what was Chuck going after when he slipped?
An unused condom. Geeze, if Chuck is going to fall in public, at least make it something exciting, like a used condom and details. Well, that never happens. We continued in the rain.
We found a Fox Racing cap.
Fox Racing sells racing wear like helmets, jerseys and, yes caps.
Janet found a wheel cover and started hauling toward the 7-Eleven dumpster.
Gallantly, Chuck took the wheel cover and continued down the road.
Then, we came upon a four-inch wide, 30-foot-long web belting.
We rolled it up. It was waterlogged and very heavy. Chuck gave the wheel cover back to Janet and carried the belt to the 7-Eleven. So much for Chuck’s chivalry.
Friday, October 29th, – 100th Ave NE
More rain this morning but not as bad as yesterday. At the beginning of our walk, we spotted an owl. A barred owl, not a spotted owl and took a photo.
The first one was overexposed and washed out, so we took another and didn’t notice until we looked at it later that the owl twisted his head backwards. Camera shy.
We never expected this.
The four sets of used tires set out for free earlier this week are almost gone. Only four left, which is good. We are getting tired of reporting on them. [get it?]
This looked interesting.
An empty Alpha Being’s ditty bag. We have never heard of an Alpha Being, but we know what an Alpha Wolf is. So, we expected an Alpha Being to be a leader, a person of action, and a trailblazer. But we would be wrong.
Evidently, an Alpha Being is someone who lolls around in an inflatable lounger all day soaking up the rays including x-rays and gamma rays. Certainly not Alpha Rays because there is no such animal. The sun does cause the earth to be bombarded with alpha particles that are easily blocked by skin. However, internally they can be harmful. So, while you are lolling in the lounger, keep your mouth closed.
Saturday, October 30th, 2021 – Riverside Drive & Brickyard Road
After a windy and rainy week, today was clear and the coldest morning of the season so far at 34°F (1°C). We suited up in our cold-weather gear and ventured out. We covered seven-and-a-half miles in three hours and twenty-five minutes. And what did we get for it? We removed a roadkill rabbit and found no money. This is the first time we have been skunked since March 27th of this year. To be fair, it is now dark for most of our walk, leaves are falling, and it rained a lot this week. So, we will let you folks off the hook, but we expect better from you next week.
At the Bothell parking lot, we found a key.
It looked important but we probably won’t be able to track down the owner. Guess it’s not something to get keyed up over.
More car parts.
The items on the left were in front of our favorite trailer park and look like parts of a dashboard. They were too large for us to carry. Later we found a wheel cover that we were able to place in a nearby recycle bin. Yes, another Toyota wheel cover. We should keep track of the brands. We seem to pick up a lot of Toyota covers.
Got a match?
We do, an unopened box of forty, eleven-inch matches. On one side of the box, it states they are “Fireplace Matches” and on the other side, “Barbeque Matches.” Okay, which is it?
A pair of shoes and an empty pot jar.
Marijuana is supposed to affect the user’s memory. “Hey, man. Where are my shoes? What the… now my weed’s gone.”
At the park-and-ride, someone tossed a half-eaten burrito.
It was wrapped in cellophane and a couple of crows were trying to open it. As we approached, the crows backed away and squawked at us. We shook the burrito out of the wrapper and left it for the crows. We continued but heard more commotion. Turning around we saw a bunch of crows with more flying in.
A free-for-all ensued and within 10 seconds the burrito was gone along with most of the crows. Say, this could make our job much easier. Do they make crow-calls? To our surprise, they do. We need to get one of these.
As we approached the end of our walk, the sun cleared the mountains.
We got to walk in the sun for about 100 feet. After the weather this week, it felt good.
Trash Walking 