Monday, January 3rd through Wednesday, January 5th, 2022.
We did not walk due to inclement weather. Or perhaps we felt like sleeping in. Either way, we did not venture out. However, we did take the opportunity to count the money in our “tip jar” into which we put the money we find.
The tip jar is a Hofbräuhaus beer mug that we found a few years ago. We count it about every six months.
We are giving you a rare glimpse into our money-laundering operation.
For the last six months, our take was $90.56, and yes, that includes the three folded pennies, but neither the pop tab nor the euro penny. Our total take since we started keeping track is $412.35. No, we have given up calculating our hourly pay. Too depressing.
Thursday, January 6th, 2022 – Juanita Woodinville Way NE to the 100th NE Bus Stop.
Finally, we went on our first walk in a while and were rewarded with some money.
Yes, twenty-five cents. With a nice start like this to the new walking year, we may be looking to retire. Happy New Year!
We did find a tool of sorts.
A bungee cord in perfect condition. What, you say? A bungee cord is a tool? Yep, check the official TrashWalking rule book: tool.
Someone lost their earmuffs.
It’s kind of hard to do in cold weather. “Hey, my ears are suddenly cold. I wonder why?”
Near Safeway, we found an abandoned pair of boots.
They were in very nice condition but waterlogged. We picked them up later and are letting them dry out in front of our fireplace. Macy’s has them listed for $40. “Hey, my feet are suddenly getting cold. I wonder why?”
Another wheel cover.
We do not recognize the brand and neither does Google. But it was destroyed. Fortunately, because of the snow, the garbage/recycle trucks are running behind and we were able to find a wheel cover-sized space in a nearby bin. Wheel covers are a pain to carry with a garbage bag and a recycle bag.
An abandoned coffee mug.
Unless one of our local teams is doing well, we are not huge sports fans. We didn’t recognize the TC logo. The C looks like Chicago and the T could mean Tennessee or Texas. However, it is the Minnesota Twins logo and CT stands for the Twin Cities, Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Another fact we didn’t need to know.
Since our routes were out of order this week and there was plenty of trash everywhere, we decided to do the Safeway route including the bus stop on 100th Ave NE. This turned out to be a big mistake. The beer-drinking bus rider outdid himself during our absence.
We found a total of seventeen cans. We went past the bus stop at first because there was there was a bus rider waiting for the bus, no beer in hand. When we came back to the bus stop the bus rider was still there. She patiently ignored us while we de-tabbed and crushed the cans, which took a while. She was probably on her phone researching the value of beer can pop tabs. She will be disappointed, trust us.
On Norway Hill, we picked up thirty-four Mike’s Hard Lemonade cans and returned home with a total of 62 pop tabs.
Friday, January 7th, 2022 – 100th Ave NE
Today was raining hard and we got totally soaked even though we wore our rain jackets. We were back on our scheduled route for Friday, parts of which were covered on yesterday’s walk. However, on Norway Hill, we found an additional ten Mike’s Hard Lemonade cans. Some we missed yesterday, but at least five were newly dropped.
Another cargo tie-down strap.
We picked one of these up a while ago near the end of a walk and carried it home. It was relatively heavy, but manageable. This one was waterlogged, and we were not near home. It was on a church’s property, so we left it. It disappeared the next day.
A water-butt bottle.
These guys take the time to stash their cigarette butts in the bottle then toss it when it is full. They get a twofer. They litter the butts and the bottle and make the bottle unrecyclable. Good job. They probably start with only the best purified water, too.
On to Norway Hill. Some miscreant raided mailboxes last night.
The uninteresting mail was spread out over the entire hill almost to our house. The mail was waterlogged and, when we filled a plastic grocery bag, we dumped it in a recycle bin. We kept anything that was not junk mail. We later delivered the mail back to the three homes it had come from.
We have been deluged with rain and have been watching a ditch on top of Norway Hill slowly fill, which it seems to do every year.
We’ve dubbed it Lago di Norway Hill. This is the worst we’ve seen it. It had overflowed across the street and down a driveway on the other side of the road. We are sure the homeowner was not pleased.
We found an egg by the side of the road.
It didn’t feel quite right and when we got it home, we discovered a question mark on it. We decided to open it to see what was in it. It was a hard-boiled egg, a very old, hard-boiled egg. We figure the Easter Bunny must have dropped it and it sat there through the hot summer. And no, we have no idea what the question mark means. It’s eggsasperating.
It’s that time of the week to find out what’s in Chuck’s vest pocket.
Yet another discarded hotel key, but not just any key, this one is “Your key to a wonderful stay.” Or not. A dog poop bag (unused), a small screwdriver, a bag of two plastic parts that got recycled and a photo of a girl forming a heart with her hands. The photo is badly under exposed except for her top which was well exposed.
Saturday, January 8th, 2022 – Riverside Drive & Brickyard Road
Our end of the week walk was mostly dry and icy in some spots, but not bad. However, due to the amount of trash, we were out almost five hours and came home exhausted. However, it was rewarding. We found fifty-one cents.
That brings our total this first week of January to seventy-six cents. Happy New Year!
On our way down to Riverside Drive, we passed a small landslide.
This one barely got across the ditch. There have been a few of these over the years, some that have closed the road. We didn’t loiter. Except to snap the photo.
We picked up a bunch of trash where a camper was parked for several days.
It included beer bottles and cans, food containers and other trash. It also included another bottle with yellow liquid in it.
Such fine citizens.
We found an expended shell casing.
We have probably found a dozen or so of these on our walks. These are somewhat unsettling, but we were not shellshocked about it.
We found what we think is someone’s key ring.
Can you imagine having a set of keys on this thing? It would be a tangled mess. Oh, maybe they tossed it on purpose.
We found three spoons to add to our utensil collection.
Probably folks sitting around in the snow eating ice cream. “Dang. I dropped my spoon. Did anyone see where it went?”
We came across a sign at the freeway entrance by the park-and-ride.
We are not sure what it means. Obviously, a disagreement about the shortest day of the year that someone tried to smooth over. It must have been a heated conversation.
Trash Walking 