Monday, August 8th, 2022 – Safeway
We started a new week with good weather and more crows.
We have seen crows gather in the morning before heading out to their assigned duties, but never repeatedly at the same location. These crows seem to have selected this as their favorite breakfast tree.
We didn’t find any roadkill but did find a couple of coins.
The one on the left is obviously a penny, although very scraped up. The one on the right was slightly smaller than a U.S. penny, but obviously a coin. We first tried using Google Lens to determine what it was, but it came up with a coin from the Ottoman Empire. We knew that was wrong because there were no furniture stores nearby.
After some cleaning and more Googling, we determined it was a euro one-cent coin.
All the euro coins have a common side and a country-unique side. The top images show the common side of the coin. The slanted lines and the earth are plainly visible as well as the top serif of the ‘1’. The obverse side on the bottom is a bit iffy, but it may be from Germany. But it is a euro coin which makes sense because it was found in the parking lot of a European Auto Repair Shop. And yes, we spent entirely too much time investigating this.
The temperature is comfortable in the mornings but reaches the low nineties in the afternoon.
At a location frequently visited by homeless folks, we found a bag of ice. So next time you see a person begging at a stoplight, toss them a bag of ice.
Someone left us some refreshments this morning.
It was opened but almost full. “Blue Razzberry.” Eleven percent alcohol by volume. It was tempting, but it smelled like overly-sweetened Kool-Aid so we dumped it. It was too early for us anyway. We don’t imbibe before 9:00 AM at the earliest. Okay, maybe 8:30.
Yet again, we found this outside the KinderCare.
We tossed it back for the second time. Janet did the tossing very well and again, avoided hitting herself in the face with it. Chuck was proud of her. If we find it again, it will end up at the Goodwill.
Tuesday, August 9th, 2022 – Park-and-Ride
Today we found no money, no roadkill, but the crows were back again.
Just weird.
But we picked up some tools.
A food bag opener, a smashed putty knife and a screwdriver. Only the food bag opener was not runover. We have never seen the bag opener which has a blade in the hook to open the bag and a slot to squeeze the food out of the bag if needed. It may work better than teeth to open a bag of chips.
We found a cheap necklace in the gutter.
It was very tangled, and we spent a half hour getting it unraveled. We’ll watch social media just in case, but similar necklaces on the Internet are about twenty bucks, so we won’t hold our breath.
It’s been three months since this moth hotel opened.
Still empty. We keep telling them, if they want to attract moths, don’t advertise it as a moth trap.
Lowering the bar a lot, another water bottle with yellow liquid in it.
It’s urine, okay. There is a lot of press out there about delivery drivers using water bottles to relieve themselves. Well, if they didn’t drink the water to empty the water bottles, there wouldn’t be a problem, right?
Wednesday, August 10th, 2022 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE
Another day with no money and no roadkill but the crows did show up.
We stopped to watch the crows and take a picture. But could it be that the crows are coming here to watch us? We know they are looking for food. This is getting a bit eerie.
At the KinderCare, we tossed several toys back over the fence including four balls. The kids are getting a bit out-of-hand.
It appears they were placed in time-out. They deserve it.
Also, near the KinderCare, a kid’s Camelback water bottle.
It was filled with trash. This is probably training for when he starts smoking and placing the cigarette butts in a water bottle. We would rather he pee in the bottle. You can’t recycle cigarette butt bottles.
Yet another whipped cream can.
We find these a lot, mostly full. It seems like something kinky is going on, but perhaps someone is just very fond of ice cream sundaes and whipped cream. We’ll go with the kinky theory. It’s more plausible.
At a bus stop, someone lost their keychain.
“Sport climbing girls.” This is a cartoon series about a nerd puzzle solver who joins a high school competitive climbing team. Yeah, we would probably toss it too. We find a lot of carabiners, mostly stamped with “Not for climbing.” This one was not, so it must be certified for sport climbing. But the key chain may get in the way.
Thursday, August 11th, 2022 – 160th to 124th Street
We got out of the house a bit early today and evidently beat the crows, because the crow tree was empty.
At the park-and-ride, someone left a bunch of unopened food.
There were ants crawling all over it, so it got dumped in the bus stop trash bin. We don’t need any more ants near our house.
Along our problem child street, 116 Ave NE, we found this.
A bin of random trash, a helmet, a three-foot-tall plastic tank and a plastic hose. Upon a closer look.
The helmet was a full-size, Transformer helmet by Hasbro with prices on the Internet ranging from $50 to $125. We probably should have taken the helmet, but the plastic tank had a warning on it that the contents were corrosive and showed a hand being eaten by the contents. We wear rubber gloves, but they are not a match for whatever was in the tank. We let it be. If it does not disappear, we will notify the city. Again.
Also, along 116th Ave. NE we found more wine bottles and cans.
Fourteen 14 Hands cans, which is interesting and three bottles. Oh, and a jar of Three Flowers Brilliantine. We had no idea what this was, but it has a strong, floral smell. This turned out to be men’s hair gloss. The fool. Doesn’t he know the strong gloss smell will interfere with the enjoyment of the fine bouquet of the wine? Why are we kidding ourselves. We are talking 14 Hands wine here.
No money, but the day was not a total loss. We found a saw blade in perfect condition.
Well, not exactly perfect. It was bent from being runover too many times, but we saw how to fix it.
We found some clothing today.
A cap advertising Gallo Beer which we’ve never heard of. It turns out to be the most popular beer in Guatemala. How would a Guatemalan hat be lost in Bothell Washington. It’s a mystery. We also found a shoe that looked to be in fair condition. Then, about a hundred feed farther, we found it’s mate and saw why they were discarded. They were shoe-ins for the garbage bin. Get it? Shoe-in.
At the freeway offramp, another AK-47 shell casing.
This makes the thirteenth round in the past three weeks. We may remove our orange vests while walking near the freeway to be less conspicuous. Then again without our vests, they may mistake us for rabbits.
Friday, August 12th, 2022 – 100th Ave NE
Again, we got out before the crows, so we walked in relative silence, however, we were treated with a very nice full moon.
We removed a roadkill rabbit from the street and found money.
Twenty-one cents thanks to the Dairy Queen drive thru. It has been a very dry money week so far, so this was a welcome find.
We also found a tool.
Don’t get too excited, it was only another socket. A 7/16th inch this time. It’s now in our socket jar.
Under a bush, we found a Spanish version of a Jehovah’s Witness book.
Someone tossed it under a bush. We don’t adhere to their teachings and, since it was waterlogged from the sprinklers, we tossed it into the 7-11 dumpster.
We are thinking about changing our TrashWalking modus operandi.
A guy on a bicycle stopped to talk to Janet. He thought we were collecting aluminum and gave her a coke can. She told him we don’t do it to redeem the metal for money, we only recycle it. We didn’t mention the pop tabs we collect for the Ronald McDonald house. We may stop dumping and start diving.
He proceeded to tell Janet that he was a dumpster diver and started to describe some of his findings. Three, seven-hundred-dollar Seahawks tickets which he was able to sell at a reduced price and a one-hundred dollar bill. The best we’ve done is a fifty-dollar bill. Do dumpster divers have a union?
A coyote crossed the road in front of us on 100th Ave. NE.
It glanced at us but kept going. Guess we didn’t look too appetizing.
It’s Friday, time to check what’s collected in Chuck’s vest pocket.
A Costco business membership credit card. Still valid, but we do not look anything like Ms. Kim. Whoa, this is the third business card from Andrew, the Amazon Principal Security Engineer. He does not appear to be able to secure his stuff. A Nerf bullet, two key rings, one good and one bad, and an earphone, singular, not plural.
A golf pencil from Druids Glen Golf Course about thirty-five miles south of us. A silver Sharpie, a blue bandage, and a purple mountains’ majesty crayon. What’s wrong with purple? A very small purple dress. Wait, make that a shrinking violet dress.
Finally, a tailless pig, a headless man, and the dinosaur that ate them.
Saturday, August 13th, 2022 – Riverside Drive
This morning was warmer than it’s been all week. We picked up more money.
Another dime on the freeway onramp, and not runover at all.
On Riverside Drive, we came across a murder of crows.
There was something obviously of interest to them. As we approached, they abandoned the roadkill rabbit they had been working on. We picked up the rabbit, but instead of tossing it in the bushes which was our normal routine, we dropped it in the grass. As we walked away, the crows began returning to their breakfast.
Then we removed a snake.
It didn’t look runover, but it wasn’t alive either unless it was very good at playing possum.
We found another pair of scissors.
What is with people losing scissors lately. This is the fifth pair in the last two months. At this rate, we should buy some stock in the scissors industry.
A hen on Brickyard Road.
This was the first we’ve seen on Brickyard so it may be lost. As we approached, it took off into the bushes because, well, it was chicken.
A 40th Anniversary lottery card!
Wow, imagine making Washingtonians losers for forty years.
In addition to the dime on the freeway onramp, we found a nice pair of shoes.
Not our size, so are in the Goodwill pile. Then, a watch.
It is a smart watch of some sort but does not appear to be a major brand. We plugged it into a USB charger, and it seems to be charging, but has not come alive yet. We’ll see.
That wraps up the week. Here’s our take.
- 33 Cents. Well, 32 US cents and a Euro penny.
- 23 Mike’s Hard Lemonade cans on Norway Hill.
- 14 Cans of 14 Hands wine.
- 4 Balls, mostly returned.
- 1 Necklace, cheap.
- 1 Beer hat from Guatemala.
- 1 Pair of scissors.
- 1 Not-so-smart watch, so far.
- And a whole bunch of crows.
Have a good week and don’t trash anything, especially our routes.
Trash Walking 