Monday, December 6th, 2021 – Safeway
We had a cool, but dry walk this morning with plenty of trash but not much of interest. No money and no roadkill.
We did find a car air freshener.
We find a lot of these, but normally discarded after they have been used. This one was unopened. This could be useful for the garbage bags we carry to keep them smelling fresh. Wait, what? “Seaside Coconut”? No thanks. We prefer the tried-and-true “cigarette-butt beer” scent, thank you.
Outside the Sleep Clinic near Safeway, someone had quite a party.
A 24-can pack of Rainier Beer, twenty bucks and two empty bottles of Hornitos Lime Shot Tequila, thirty-two bucks each. This party cost eighty-four dollars and change for the booze. Of course, they might be cramming for their final exam at the Sleep Clinic. It is probably one of the few final exams where alcohol helps. “Okay, class, head’s down. I don’t want to see you move for eight hours.”
We found Hunter’s lost Visa debit card.
No, not that Hunter. So, we have the card, the number, and the “security” code. We could order something with it on Amazon. Okay, maybe not Amazon, but some low-tech, small Mom-and-Pop shop trying to make it on the Internet. No, we wouldn’t do that. At least as far as you know.
Tuesday, December 7th, 2021 – Park-and-Ride
We did not walk today because we had an errand to run that included a free breakfast. Let’s see, walking in the cold and rain, picking up trash or having a nice, free breakfast. Was there a choice here?
Wednesday, December 8th, 2021 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE
This morning was cool and very wet. We would have preferred another free breakfast. Oh well. We found no money and didn’t come upon any roadkill.
At the bus stop we pass on this route, the beer-drinking bus rider didn’t let us down.
Five more beer cans. We really can’t condone this behavior. Rainier and Bud Light? Really? Georgetown Lucille or Bodhizafa we can understand, but Bud Light?
We found a pair of cheap safety glasses.
They were in very good condition but wet. Then again, so were we.
Someone left us some goodies, though.
Along Juanita-Woodinville Way, we found another unopened King Size Reese’s Fast Break bar like we found a few weeks ago. We took the photo and put it in our bag. As we started to continue or our way, we noticed something in the grass and found five more unopened candy bars. This was great! It was like taking candy from a baby… or road.
Then we found someone trying to trick us.
Eight sticks of unopened gum. We didn’t take the bait and chew some. Yes, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We’re just not giving them the satisfaction to see us try. Really. Besides, we may need some practice.
Thursday, December 9th, 2021 – 160th to 124th Street
Today was a moderately cool and dry walk. No money again and a barely recognizable rabbit needed to be removed from the road. This walk is where we traverse our newly adopted stretch of road along 116th Ave NE. This strip was a mess and took several weeks to groom, but now it is relatively clean. We still have the new litter and the trash that magically resurrects itself from the depths. But each week, it is generally easier. Today we found a balloon that had been tossed.
Later, after some discussion, we determined that that it was a stretched-out condom. “Woof”.
On Norway Hill, someone left us a little vodka.
Dang! We are out of orange juice for a screwdriver. We could have taken a shot at it, but we dumped it out.
Friday, December 10th, 100th Ave NE
Today was another cool, dry day. We did not find any roadkill, but we did find some money.
Twenty-one cents. First, Chuck found the penny and was elated that we would not be shut out this week. Then, Janet found a dime in a parking lot then another dime when she was traversing part of the route that Chuck had earlier walked. Chuck was depressed, but at least the photo of the dime was overexposed.
We also found a couple of tools.
A drill screwdriver bit and a pocketknife. The pocketknife had been run-over several times but was still in reasonable condition. Two tools counted.
We found someone’s income calculations.
Whoa! $65 to produce one-hundred bracelets with a net profit of $435. We are in! But wait, a second. What about labor, taxes, insurance, FICA, family medical leave and a city business license. So, their net profits will be about $75.23.
There were more car parts today.
A lug nut, which always scares us. We don’t have a photo, but on an errand, we saw a Prius on the side of the freeway with a missing wheel and its disc brake on the pavement. It happens. We picked up a wheel cover in good condition. We carried it home and will send it to Goodwill. Finally, on the way up Norway Hill, we found an unscathed license plate by the side of the road. We placed it on a nearby fire hydrant so perhaps the owner might see it. We’ll check on our next trip.
We came across some food.
On the sidewalk, Chuck picked up a slice of cheese. It was still sealed and looked to be in good condition, but he tossed it. If Janet got ahold of it, it would end up on his sandwich.
Also, in a bush across from Safeway was a bag. It was heavy and contained some unopened steaks.
Looking at the labels, it was $118 worth of meat. What a waste! What were they thinking? The bag is reusable.
This may be a new weekly feature. “What’s in Chuck’s Vest Pocket?” On walks, Chuck picks up random items he considers not photo worthy and puts them in his pocket. We checked it today.
A dull orange pencil, a lost Uno card, a purple marker, an Arganese Cigar wrapper and a “Love button.” If anyone wants to try to guess next week’s items the lucky winner will receive the highest-valued item we find next week, not including any money. Please do not flood our (unpublished) telephone hotline with entries.
Saturday, December 11th, 2021 – Riverside Drive & Brickyard Road
Our end-of-the-week walk was cool, wet, and windy, but tolerable. We removed two roadkill rabbits from the road but found more money.
Near the Bothell parking lot, Chuck found a nickel. Then near the bus stop at the top of Brickyard Road, Janet found a quarter. Chuck was outdone by Janet again. That makes it a total of fifty-one cents this week. Things are looking up.
At the entrance to the Sammamish River Park, we found what looked to be a stretchy skirt.
But we were wrong. When we researched it, we found it was a 7-in-1 multi-use baby item. Car seat cover, stroller cover, breastfeeding cover, etc. They even said it could be used as a fashionable scarf. Well, we think it could be used as a skirt also. That would make it an 8-in-1 item.
In the Sammamish River parking lot, we found two pumpkins.
The big pumpkin was broken, and we decided to carry them to some trashcans on the other side of the lot. On the way, we found a bag with several empty beer bottles in it. It had handles so we didn’t empty it into our bags. We picked it up and proceeded toward the cans. About halfway there, the handles on the waterlogged bag broke. Again, we picked up everything and juggled pumpkins and beer bottles to the trash cans.
In the Bothell parking lot, a set of keys.
One was stamped with “Do Not Duplicate,” so it must be important. Stores like Home Depot sell key blanks that are stamped with this phrase. How does that work? You can buy them, but not use them?
We found a coat in the street in downtown Bothell.
It was where the bus would routinely run over it, and it was a mess. It was soaked and weighed about ten pounds. We left it on a post so maybe the owner will recognize it. But given what it looks like, probably not.
Another pair of glasses making a spectacle of themselves.
As we neared the apartments, we came across a mess.
There were a couple of paper plates, plastic utensils and an empty Haagen-Dazs ice cream carton. There also was a pair of women’s underwear. We’ve all heard about candy and liquor. Guess we can add Haagen-Dazs to the list.
We stopped vehicles twice today.
First, at the city limits where we consolidate our garbage into one bag to be dumped in the apartment dumpster, an aid car pulled over. The passenger asked if things were okay and thought we had dropped our groceries. We told him it was trash and assured him that everything was fine. Good of them to stop, though.
Later, on the way up Brickyard Road, Chuck heard a bus coming from behind and turned to wave good morning to the driver. The bus pulled over. Then Chuck realized he happened to be at a bus stop at the time. Oops.
Trash Walking 