Sunday-Monday, July 3rd – 4th, 2022 – Poulsbo
We celebrated Independence Day by visiting family in Poulsbo, Washington. Although the distance to Poulsbo is only about thirty miles, it can take ninety minutes or more because there is a 5.6-mile ferry ride which involves waiting for the ferry, loading, travel time, and offloading. Fortunately, our timing was very good, and we avoided much of the wait time. And we enjoy the ferry rides. On the way to Poulsbo, it was raining.
Arriving at the Kingston Ferry Terminal in the rain.
On our return voyage, the weather was fair and partly cloudy.
Heading toward the Edmonds Ferry Terminal.
The ferry was partly full and not crowded at all.
The empty sun deck.
We were on the Ferry MV Spokane which holds a maximum of 188 vehicles and 2,000 passengers.
Halfway across we passed the MV Issaquah which holds a maximum of 124 vehicles and 1,200 passengers.
When we got home, we took a short walk to a local school to play catch with our grandkids. We found several car parts left over from a wreck. We picked up some of the smaller parts to recycle.
We are not sure what kind of car it is. A Hudson Hornet, perhaps?
When we got home, a burglar was casing our house.
He was cleverly disguised as some tree moss, but we spotted him anyway.
Tuesday, July 5th, 2022 – Park-and-Ride
Okay, back to our regularly scheduled walk. The weather today was overcast, foggy but without rain. We did remove a very fresh roadkill rabbit but found some money.
Fifty-six cents. All in different places. A nice start to the week.
We did find some more money. Kinda.
Five-hundred Gina Bucks. Hmm. This could be read a couple of ways. Think about it.
Near the park-and-ride, we found someone had dumped some trash on an island in the middle of the street.
It was still bagged so we took it to the park-and-ride intending to leave it near where the Metro guys park when they pick up trash. However, the Metro guy was there, saw us and came toward us with a bag.
We hauled it to his truck, rebagged it into his bigger bag and put it in his truck. Nice timing.
At the 7-Eleven intersection, we found a real mess.
It appears someone lost a binder with some training materials in it, and it was scattered through the intersection and down the street. It took a few minutes, but we were able to collect all the papers and stuff them back into the binder. It got left in the 7-Eleven dumpster.
Another lug nut to add to our collection.
More refreshments for us.
An opened quart of Pina Colada juice. We opened it but vapor flowed out like a beaker of acid in a horror movie. We poured it out. Then we found an unopened bottle of 5-hour Energy. After the bottle of acid, we were afraid to open five hours of pure energy.
“Hey, Zeke. Bet you can’t make it to that rock over there and back in less than an hour.”
“Oh, yeah? Watch me!”
We are now at week seven of our vigil.
Still no gypsies at the inn.
Usually on the day after July 4th, we are overloaded picking up blown-up bits of paper and cardboard. We were pleasantly surprised that, since fireworks have been banned, there was very little fireworks trash. But there was this.
One small unlit firework. We figure that the person bought it to litter because he thinks the holiday is all about the litter.
Happy Independence Day, folks.
Wednesday, July 6th, 2022 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE
Today was a pleasant walk except we removed two roadkill squirrels from the road and found no money. So, it was a moderately pleasant walk.
We removed an abandoned bicycle from the bushes.
Now someone else can toss it back.
In the middle of the street next to Safeway, an empty carton for Luxury Collection Platinum personal lubricant.
They must have been a big hurry. Just saying.
The blade of a run over knife.
We’ll keep a lookout for the rest of the knife, but we doubt we’ll get a handle on it.
Someone purchases sixty garbage bags then litters the box.
Simple human indeed.
A homemade sign.
He meant “Homeless Not Heartless.” Instead, it reads “Homeless? No, Heartless.” It’s all in the punctuation.
A stash was abandoned behind a bus stop on Juanita-Woodinville Way.
A pair of shoes, a District 9 shirt, a Coin t-shirt, a mug, a “Play Monopoly” mask and a C-SPAN Student Cam 2022 case. The District 9 shirt was tattered and we dumped it along with the mask. The rest will be washed and sent to Good Will. The Student Cam case is from a C-Span sponsored documentary competition. Not sure what was in the case, but none of the winners appear to be from this area. If you’ve ever watched C-Span, you can understand why they are looking for more interesting subject matter.
Finally, we stumbled upon a roll of toilet paper.
It was probably stashed by someone early in the pandemic and they forgot where they hid it. Anyway, we are ready for the next pandemic du jour.
Thursday, July 7th, 2022 – 160th to 124th Street
Okay, we are at Thursday and at our 14 Hands wine route. The weeds in the ditch along 116th Ave NE along the freeway offramp are out of control. We stomp down those along our route, but the trash is difficult to see. However, we did pick up nine 14 Hands wine cans and a bottle. 14 Hands needs to set up a concession stand here.
Near one of the stashes of wine cans was a garter.
Guess it only takes a little wine to get disgarterd. It is unknown what else got removed.
We removed a large rat from the road. Or it could have been a very small opossum, we really couldn’t tell and really doesn’t matter. But we did find more money.
Forty-five cents the hard way. Two random pennies. A quarter leaning up against the curb near a gas station. A dime and two pennies on the I405 North onramp, probably left over from the jackpot last week, and another nickel and penny on the freeway overpass. Keep it coming, we grovel for change. We are not proud.
While on an errand today, we drove through the parking lot that we pick up on our Saturday walk.
The Independence Day celebration took its toll on the dumpsters and the crows and seagulls were having a field day. We just hope they leave us something for Saturday.
We found some articles of clothing.
A Nike shoe slip-on and a girl’s top slip-off. Not a foot or girl in sight, though.
We are getting on a construction trash rant. We see construction litter everywhere. Here is an example that we have noticed at the 160th I405 bus stop.
Last season’s crop was better.
Independence Day Leftovers.
The American flag will never be trash on our watch.
Friday, July 8th, 2022 – 100th Ave NE
We had another nice walk this morning with no roadkill and we found some money.
Eleven cents the hard way. Four pennies, then another penny then a nickel and finally another penny. We will never complain about finding money, only the lack of it.
Janet found some food.
It was sealed and looked untouched. Janet claimed she threw it away, but Chuck is not sure. Janet’s specialty is using leftovers. Chuck watches the roadkill very carefully.
We found a flip book.
On one side, “Cats Rule and Dogs Drool!” On the flip side, “Dogs Rule and Cats Drool!” The author claims to be impartial, but have you ever seen a cat drool? It should be “Dogs Rule and Cats are Fools!” But perhaps we are just showing our own prejudices.
We found some car parts.
Don’t we always? A very beat-up wheel cover and a lost lug nut. The wheel cover was left at a bus stop and the lug nut is in our lug nut collection. Of course, we have a lug nut collection. Doesn’t everyone? What? A wheel cover collection? Do you think we are weird?
We picked up two tools, both in great condition.
A twenty-five-foot tape measure and a large Allen wrench. The tape measure seems to be featured at O’Reilly Auto Parts. Not sure how relevant a tape measure is for auto parts.
We found a discarded bong.
Unfortunately, the top was broken off, but it appeared to be unused. Too bad at a cost of fifty-five dollars.
Yet another slightly-damaged cell phone.
Okay, it was a bit more than slightly damaged. The model number was A1661 which, according to this site, is an iPhone 7 Plus. We also found the protective case which appears to be relatively unharmed. So kudos for the case for surviving, but a one-star rating for not protecting the phone, which was its main purpose.
It is Friday, time to check out Chuck’s vest pocket.
Pretty boring, really. Lottery ticket picks which are pretty useless, even if the numbers were winners. We have found headless dolls, but today it was a doll-less head. Another hair band, a yellow foam ball and another fake cigarette vaping device.
Three partial pieces of jewelry, a hotel guest key card and a piece of hardware for which we have no idea what it’s for.
Finally, a “Mum” sticker in red, white, and blue, which is strange because “Mum” is British and red, white, and blue is American. Oh, wait.
The British flag is red, white, and blue. How unamerican!
Saturday, July 9th, 2022 – Riverside Drive
Another nice day for a walk. Has summer finally arrived? We removed a squirrel and a rabbit from the road but found twelve cents.
The dime was embedded in road tar and needed to be pried out. The penny on the right looks like a dime but is really a penny.
We found more car parts.
Another errant hubcap and a lug nut. The Ford hubcap was in bad shape and got recycled. The lug nut appears to be a GM truck lug nut, fourteen dollars on Amazon. And that is the price for one. This will be a nice addition to our collection, but we’ll let it go for seven dollars. Okay, it is a bit dirty. Five bucks, firm.
More tools.
Today it was three sockets in different areas. After not finding any in a few weeks, they really socketed it to us today.
A ball made it all the way down the Brickyard Road Hill.
It was up against the curb, so you could say it got there by going balls to the wall.
We thought we’d found another cell phone.
But it was only a discarded case.
We found a McDonalds Lightyear Toy.
Wait. A female pilot?
Some cryptic writing on the street.
We had to check it out. It points to a broken telephone guy wire tiedown that has been there for years. We have no idea what this means. More to come.
There was another fireworks mess on Brickyard Road.
Someone left a broom and dustpan hoping we would clean up the mess. We disappointed them and left the broom alone. Okay, we did pick up quite a bit of the mess, but not all. Afterall, we are on a tight timeline on our walks.
Then, on the freeway offramp, a box of condoms.
Complete with two used condoms. Yet more distracted driving.
As we crossed the overpass to head down the onramp, we saw a woman with a sign panhandling on the island.
We walked to the end of the onramp and back up on the other side. As we passed the park-and-ride, we saw a man who seemed to be watching the woman. We figure they were working together, and she had the better chance of scoring some dollars. We couldn’t read what the sign said.
Looks like someone is going on a major trip.
AirHeart is a travel planning site. Let’s see, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Quite a trip. Also, a list of things to take. Gloves, backpack, rain gear, tip money, and Wine Condoms. Wine Condoms? Yes, it turns out there is such a thing.
Well, safe travels.
That wraps up another week. Here is this week’s take.
- $1.24 in coins – a good week, just not as good as last week.
- 500 Gina Bucks – that is a lot of bucking.
- 1 Bong – $55, broken.
- 1 Expensive lug nut.
- 1 iPhone – folded.
- 1 Garter.
- 1 Roll of toilet paper – slightly damp.
- A newly-acquired knowledge of wine condoms.
Have a great week. May the trash be with you.
Trash Walking 