Monday, February 6th, 2023 – Safeway
What a difference a week makes, 168 little hours.
Okay, one day versus a week, but wow, what a voice.
Last Monday it was 22°F (-5.6°C) and today it was 42°F (+5.6°C). Hey, what’s plus or minus 5.6 degrees Celsius among friends? Well, a lot to a TrashWalker.
Today someone was just toying with us.
The left two were found outside the KinderCare facility. The one on the left had been beheaded and obviously fought bravely. The one in the center obviously ran away from the battle, probably headed for Canada. We held a summary court marshal and tossed him back over the fence. The small bulldozer was nowhere near the KinderCare and ended up in our toy collection.
A really boring start to the week.
Tuesday, February 7th, 2023 – Park-and-Ride
Whoa. The banana belt. Today was a lofty 47°F (8.3°C) and made for a very comfortable walk. No money and no roadkill. But we did find a sign of unrequited love.
Thanks, Frank. The candy was good but hit the road. Literally.
A lost Ford emblem.
It was a bit scuffed up, but now resides in our TrashWalking museum, Auto Wing.
Finally, in the park-and-ride, a sign.
First, why put up a remodeling sign in the park-and-ride? Then, would you select someone to remodel your home by referring to a five-dollar sign?
Wednesday, February 8th, 2023 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE
Another warm morning walk, and today we found the banana belt banana.
It was unopened unlike the banana-flavored condoms from last week, but we shouldn’t revisit that.
But we also found money today.
Eleven cents, a dime mined by Janet and a penny in the gutter.
At the KinderCare, there were a bunch of paper cups strewn about the grounds.
Is KinderCare so progressive that they have KinderKeggers?
A lost children’s book.
“Pups on the Go.” We read it. The characters were amusing but the plot was weak. Spoiler alert: The Afghan Hound was fooling around with the German Shepard pool boy when her husband, the Australian Shepard walked in and said “G’Day mate.” We’re paraphrasing.
We found a lost dog collar.
After charging, it lighted up in multicolors. Chuck tried to get Janet to wear it as an extra safety precaution. She growled at him, and he backed off.
We found a CD cover, but no CD.
We had not heard of this artist, but we found some of his recordings online. We liked them, unlike most CDs we find. Unfortunately, the CD was missing.
Thursday, February 9th, 2023 – 160th to 124th Street
We found no money today but did remove a roadkill rabbit. It was in the travel lane of Juanita-Woodinville way and was well pulverized. It took four trips to remove most of the carcass.
At the park-and-ride, someone lost their keychain.
It was a Catholic Rosary. Hope they got their car started.
The street that parallels the freeway offramp was relatively clean.
There were only two 14Hands Wine cans and no bottles. Guess the guy’s date didn’t show up.
We found a Toyota hubcap.
We’ve found many Toyota wheel covers, mostly smashed. This is one of the few hub caps in good condition we’ve found. We need to open an eBay site.
“Fragile Do Not Drop.”
And of course, they did.
Friday, February 10th, 2023 – 100th Ave NE
Today was another warmish day with no roadkill but we did find some money.
Yes, one penny, but we’ll take it.
It’s true, we did not find any roadkill, but we did find a pizzakill.
Someone dumped their pizza on the street including the pizza box. We tossed most of it, but we left the crust. We learned this from our grandkids.
This is the closest thing we found for a tool today.
It’s a strap for a tie-down cinch, except the cinch part is gone. So, we really can’t count it. It’s in the bylaws somewhere.
A lost light.
This is an LED light that has fallen on hard times. Literally.
And speaking of literally, Janet passed the covered bus stop with a guy waiting.
They struck up a conversation and Janet said she was picking up trash and the guy responded “Literally.” Get it? “Litter-ally”? Clever guy. Perhaps we should bring him onto our TrashWalking writing staff. It certainly couldn’t hurt.
This is the day we venture up Simonds Road. We planned to go the extra distance to pick up a pizza box but were waylaid by a bunch of trash at our normal turn-around point.
Between this mess and some other refuse in the area, we turned back. Perhaps the pizza box will be there next week. Like who’s going to pick it up, anyway?
It’s time to check out what Chuck’s vest pocket collected this week.
At the upper-right, some toys. Building blocks, Nerf bullets and the back of a doll’s head. And yes, it has blond hair. No comment.
Somebody at 7-Eleven got red-carded. These are issued by an organization that sends people into a store to buy cigarettes or alcohol. If the clerk asks for the person’s ID, they get a green card. If not, they get a red card and get reported to the store management. Given that the card was ripped in half, the employee probably was not happy.
A very small butane torch lighter, an even smaller kid’s participation plaque for a Home Depot kids workshop, and another metal straw used for smoking dope.
A Sharpie pen, an unopened cellophane bag with some cardboard in it. We opened it and it contained a soggy piece of cardboard. Go figure. A lock cylinder that had been drilled out and another lost key card.
A tract in Spanish: “Heaven or Hell. What will be your decision?” What, it’s that easy? We just choose? That takes all the pressure off.
Finally, a student’s attaboy. “You demonstrated the Life Skill of Respect and Perseverance when you were a great example today on how to listen and follow directions.” Implying that the student normally isn’t. When we were in grade school, we never got pieces of paper, we got swatted with a ruler. Yep, Chuck still remembers Mrs. Ford in the fourth grade.
Finally, as we were passing the KinderCare, we were approached by a lady from the parking lot.
She said that she had a present for us. She is one of the bus drivers that we wave to on our walks. She and her coworkers put together a gift bag for us to thank us for picking up trash. We told her how much we appreciated it, and we really do. She also mentioned that she will be retiring in two weeks. We told her that it’s good and said she could come pick up trash with us. She laughed and thanked us again. We don’t think TrashWalking is in her retirement plans.
When we got home, we sorted out the items.
Rubber gloves, two King County Metro hats, a Metro cup, some masks, hand warmers and two flashlights. We sometimes receive gift cards, and we appreciate them too, but this is something that someone took the effort to put together for us. This made our week and will be one of the best memories we will keep from our TrashWalking days.
Saturday, February 11th, 2023 – Riverside Drive
We didn’t find any more money today and removed another roadkill rabbit from the street. We are entering the season of high rabbit activity.
We found some utensils.
Another spoon. This one had been run over, so it was difficult to tell which way it was pointing. Then we picked up a matching pair of spoons that appeared undamaged until we realized they were a pair of tongs. Maybe a guy went after someone with a spoon and tongs. And perhaps the other guy had a hammer and tongs. It could explain the damage.
Articles of clothing.
A camouflage hoodie and a cat pump. The guy probably realizes by now that these are not a good choice to wear hunting.
We found an unscratched scratch-and-lose card.
When we got home, we scratched it and, yes, it was a scratch-and-lose card, but it wasn’t our five dollars, so we felt okay about it. But still…
The Mercedes along 112th Ave. NE that had its wheels stolen got fixed.
And it’s looking good. We didn’t check if it has locking lug nuts.
As we headed up Brickyard Road, we heard a bunch of sirens and saw some smoke billowing up in the distance. Later, through the Bothell Fire Department page, we found it was in a manufactured home park on Riverside drive.
Their statement said engines were dispatched at 7 am. We walked past this park at about 6:15 am. No, we had nothing to do with it. Really.
That wraps up the week. The highlights and lowlights,
- 12 Cents.
- 12 Mike’s Hard Lemonade cans.
- 3 Balls.
- 2 14Hands wine cans.
- 2 Roadkill rabbits.
- 2 Dolls, one beheaded.
- 1 Banana, unopened.
- 1 Dog collar, multicolor, unworn.
- 1 Mismatched hunting outfit.
- 1 Great memory.
Have a great week and remember, you can lead a person to a dog collar, but you can’t make her wear it, litter-ally.
Trash Walking 