McDonalds Extra Happy Meal

Monday, May 23^rd, 2022 – Safeway

Starting a new week was again a beautiful day. In fact, it was a warm 54°F (12°C) and for the first time this season, we did not wear our rain jackets and did not carry our flashlights. We wear our rain jackets for, well yes, rain, but also for warmth. Today we didn’t need them for either. We felt very unburdened.

Until this.

Someone tossed a perfectly fine umbrella in the bushes. So, we were again burdened with the feeling of rain.

And this didn’t help.

An unopened bag of paving sand. No, we did not carry it home, we cut it open and, “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives,” and our litter. We did carry the empty bag home since it would not fit through the hourglass.

We found no money and needed to remove a roadkill rabbit, but we did find another tool.

A rare, unscathed bungie cord. A nice addition to our collection.

On our way back from Safeway, we found a ball.

We almost tossed it back into the nearest neighbor’s yard until we saw the logo. “KinderCare.” It was evidently tossed from across the street. Some three-year-old has quite an arm. We tossed it back into the KinderCare yard.

We reported this last year and the county immediately removed it.

The noxious weed, Poison Hemlock along Juanita-Woodinville Way. Last year it was only one plant and this year there are three. We reported it on the county website today, but they have a notice that they are working from home. Good luck removing plants from there.

We found a dog’s “Frisco” in the middle of the street.

It was well runover. People should not play frisbee with their dog on Juanita-Woodinville Way. Yes, we picked it up but, fortunately, there were no animal remains under it.

Along NE 145^th St. we came upon what appeared to be a sacrificial basin.

We think that is dried goat blood in the bowl.

Wait, no, not a goat.

We passed this goat on our way home. It was doing a terrible job mowing the grass.

We cannot resist a good Gary Larson cartoon.

Tuesday, May 24^th, 2022 – Park-and-Ride

Yet another nice day. We are getting spoiled. No flashlights and no rain jackets. And we found more money!

Eleven cents at the park-and-ride. Hey, do you think anyone would notice if we put up some fake parking meters? We wouldn’t charge much.

Also, at the park-and-ride, a kid’s book.

It was clean and in good condition, but it was made of cloth, so we washed it in our washing machine and found it a good home with some friends.

We found another lug nut.

But it was only a hollow shell of itself. Drugs will do that.

Now this is just plain silly.

Someone tried to lift a brick with a balloon, but this idea will never fly.

Wednesday, May 25^th, 2022 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE

Okay, for our midweek walk, we checked our three Weather Apps. Overcast with no rain. Great, another day without our rain jackets. But it did rain and we got wet. Not soaked, mind you, but wet. We will start calling our apps Whether Apps as in whether we believe them or not.

Okay, even though we got a bit wet, we were rewarded with more money.

Two pennies and a nickel all in separate locations. Yes, they were wet. Did we say we got wet today?

At the KinderCare, more toys outside the fence that needed tossing back.

We get the balls, but why is the scoop over the fence. And across the street, another KinderCare ball. Okay, we tossed it back over the fence again, but if we find it again, it will be placed in our ball collection.

We haven’t found these in a while.

A plastic baggie with masks inside. We found these regularly during the height of the pandemic, usually with a partially-consumed lunch. This may be an unrelated random occurrence.

On the sidewalk across from Safeway, an empty condom wrapper.

This couple must not have been able to wait. Yes, we checked the bushes, but did not find anybody.

We found a half full tube of body lotion that someone dropped.

Yes, we checked the bushes, but did not find anybody.

Okay, it is this time of the year again.

For the past several years, the county puts out moth traps trying to see how many Gypsy Moths they catch. We regularly check them and have never seen a moth in them. We reported before, if you want to catch moths, do not label the container “Invasive Moth Detection Trap.” Would you stay in a hotel called the “Invasive Human Trap by Marriot?”

Thursday, May 26^th, 2022 – 160th to 124th Street

Today was dry again. We removed a bird from the street and found money.

Ten cents the hard way. All pennies. Nine were within ten feet of each other. The tenth was a little farther down the street and in worse shape, shape as in condition. It was still round.

We almost found a tool on the freeway onramp.

But it was only part of a screwdriver handle. We won’t even ask the Trashwalking Judges about it.

We found a couple of clothing items.

A knit cap and a men’s undershirt. Both are in bad condition and may not make it to Goodwill. Either way, it’s no shirt off our backs.

Someone got lucky near the freeway on 116^th Ave. NE.

We only found the wrapper and a bunch of tissue. Oh, and some 14 Hands wine cans.

We found a sterling silver ring that had been runover and smashed.

When we got home, Chuck was able to work the ring back into shape, shape as in geometry. It’s still in bad condition.

Friday, May 27^th, 2022 – 100th Ave NE

Another nice walking morning except we didn’t find any money and needed to remove some roadkill, a large rat. Or maybe a small opossum. It was hard to tell. We’ll call it an opossum.

The mowers are out and starting to uncover the trash that has been evading us.

This morning was a heavy Korbel sparkling wine bottle. Fortunately, it’s also trash day in this neighborhood, so we quickly found an accepting recycle bin for it.

As the weather warms, the kids at the KinderCare are becoming more boisterous. Today there were a bunch of toys outside the fence.

Wait. What? Is that a Fireball bottle? Oh, the teacher, perhaps?

We found this scrap of paper on the sidewalk.

“Philosophy. Things are Looking up. Free sample.” If that is a sample of their philosophy, we’re not buying it.

This looks like another McLitterer’s mess.

It has the platters and a tea bag plus a teacup nearby. They used to use plastic bags, but evidently when Washington State banned single-use plastic bags, the McLitterers started using paper, so everything gets scattered.

There is an area on Norway Hill where someone is tearing up the roadside land with a motorcycle and is uncovering a lot of trash. We have pulled several old bottles out and today we found an old milk delivery crate.

The tag says Carnation. We don’t know how old this is, but we have only seen one milk delivery truck in the area and it is not Carnation. It looks like it had been runover before being deposited in the woods. It’s too bad it wasn’t in better shape, but we shouldn’t cry over spilt milk. You saw that coming, didn’t you?

We found a wadded-up McDonalds bag.

Does McDonalds have a new Extra Happy Meal? Does it have a happy ending? Does it still come with a toy? Are batteries included? So many questions.

It’s Friday and time to check out Chuck’s vest pocket.

The normal array of hair bands including a barrette. An America the Beautiful annual recreation area pass. it was expired so toss it out the window. Half a credit card. A brown pen, and yes, the ink is brown also. A very small plastic jar. It smelled kind of sweet, so may have held pot at one time. A nice letter opener, a wristband, and a faded photograph.

The wristband was designed to only be readable when stretched.

The letters in the unstretched form were not crowded enough. Very unimpressive. If they want to change the world, they could have done a better job.

The photo looked like an alien. Or a man with a beard. Or an alien with a beard.

Then we cleaned it up and turned it over. Yes, it could still be an alien, but it is definitely female.

Saturday, May 28^th, 2022 – Riverside Drive

Today, no rain was predicted, but we got slightly wet anyway. Losing faith in our “Whether” apps. We found no money but did remove a small bird and a rabbit from the road. Normally the roadkill we find have been run over and picked over by the crows. Today the rabbit we disposed of was half devoured, but we will count it as a full rabbit anyway. Sorry, no photo, too gruesome.

The first thing we found as we left home was a Mariner’s baseball team hat.

At first, we thought perhaps it was tossed because the Mariners lost yesterday’s game. But checking the scores, we found they had won. Okay, perhaps it was because it was pink? Major League Baseball celebrated Mother’s Day with pink. Okay, we can see where a pink cap would wear off fast.

The City of Bothell mowed the weeds along the road down the hill to Riverside Drive. We found a bunch of cans, mostly whole, but some shredded by the mower.

Anyway, there were a lot of cans to pick up. As time goes on, more of these shredded cans will surface from the mowed weeds. We can’t wait.

We found a set of keys.

We recognized the logo as belonging to a local construction company and were found near their construction site. We are tempted to try starting some of their equipment. Driving a bulldozer would be fun until they caught us. Then there are the damages to consider. It probably wouldn’t be worth it.

Then there was the trash. A FedEx shipment cooler under the freeway.

The fine print states “Breaks down up to 92% in four years.” There are those “up to” words again. Up to 45 mpg. Up to 50 miles on a single charge.” We don’t know how long this has been out here, but we think we would have noticed it since last week. So, probably a week at most, and we didn’t notice any degradation. So, the “92% in four years” is probably in the Arizona desert, not under a freeway in Washington. Just a guess.

There is a truck that has not moved in months.