Monday, May 15th, 2023 – Safeway
Today was again clear, but uncomfortably warm for TrashWalking at 64°F (17.8°C). Yes, in the dead of Winter, or even the dead of Spring this year, we would have welcomed this. We were in full Summer-walking wear, and it was still uncomfortable. We removed two rabbits and a crow from the roads. And, no, the crow was nowhere near the rabbits. But we did find some money that made up for the roadkill.
Well, not really. It was only a penny. Pound-for-pound, we are way behind.
Across from the 7Eleven, a shatter-scatter occurred between plastic cars.
Okay, one could have been a ’57 Buick, but at least one was plastic.
If this car was involved, you might find a few shards of plastic in the grill.
We found a couple of toys outside the KinderCare.
A racer attempting to escape the brutal little imps. We tossed it back over the fence. We are mercenaries. As long as the toddlers keep tossing their milk money to us over the fence, we will keep returning their escapees.
Also at the KinderCare, a Rubik’s Cube.
Yes, this is exactly the way those Toddlers would solve a Rubik’s Cube. They are unscrupulous. They may even have connections to the Columbian Rubik Cartels.
In the middle of Juanita-Woodinville Way, we found a pair of runover and ripped-up jeans.
Janet decided they were trash and we tossed them. Chuck thought “People pay good money for ripped-up jeans,” but what does he know and who is he to argue with Janet on style questions anyway?
Tuesday, May 16th, 2023 – Park-and-Ride
There must have been some very light scattered showers last night because some of the cars were wet and some streets looked like they were not really dry, but certainly not wet either. Anyway, no need to wear our rain gear. It was a few degrees cooler this morning which made our walk very pleasant.
We did not come across any roadkill and found more money.
In fact, five times more than yesterday. If this trend continues, we will find twenty-five cents on Wednesday, and so on until we find $31.25 on Saturday which would be a total of $37.50 for the week. Heck, if this kept up, we would definitely walk on Sunday for a Grand total of $156.25. Okay, that will never happen, but we can dream, can’t we?
The story at the park-and-ride: A used condom.
A guy. Or a girl. Or, oh never mind. One participant: “Wow, that was easy. The wine worked.”
“Guess I can save the margaritas for another time, but the limes won’t keep.”
Wednesday, May 17th, 2023 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE
This morning was almost a perfect walk. The temperature was 57°F (13.9°C), a perfect temperature for us with no rain. There is a bit of smoke in the air from some fires in Alberta, Canada, but nothing too bothersome. We saw a lot of rabbits, but no roadkill and we found money.
A penny and a dime in the 7Eleven parking lot. The money keeps rolling in this week.
At a strip mall near Safeway, we ventured into the parking lot to dump some heavy items in the dumpster. As we entered the lot, we saw a dumped bag that looked to be full of beer cans.
And it was. Some were opened and consumed, some were unopened and runover. But one was unopened and unharmed. Okay, another Coors Light to add to the others we’ve found. After we emptied the cans into the dumpster, we removed a Safeway receipt and under it was…
Yes, a quarter. If all litterers left us a tip, we would be much happier.
At the Safeway bus stop, we found some trash on the lawn.
It was receipts for three prescriptions and a bag of dry crackers. The prescriptions were to treat symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, gout, smoking cessation, and antidepressant. After all that, the dry crackers won’t be much help. Either way, the person shouldn’t toss the receipts with their name and address. We could dump it in their yard, but t sounds like they have enough problems.
A while back, we became aware of the infestation of the noxious weed, poison hemlock. In accordance with the King County website, we notified the County. Ultimately, they told us that it was a bother for them to address the problem and asked if we would pull them up and do their job. So much for our property taxes. Well, sure, if we get the same pay, benefits, and pension, like that would happen. Anyway we spotted a large patch of poison hemlock and went down the bank to pull them up.
Okay, by “we”, we mean Chuck. Of course, we also found a beer can or two. But Chuck pulled up several plants while Janet worked as the spotter. We are a good team that way. By the way, Socrates was poisoned by hemlock, or so Plato said, but some scholars have come to other conclusions. Some scholars have too much time on their hands.
Some weeks ago, outside the KinderCare, we found some plastic boots but we didn’t know what they were for. We assumed they were some sortof short stilts for the kids, but we didn’t know how they could be used. Today there was another outside the fence and we took a detailed photo. Google Lens found it immediately.
It’s a caterpillar boot, and if you are really interested, here is a product review. And, yes, she crawls through it. It doesn’t move or anything. If the Vikings had built this, there would be benches and “oars” to propel the device. And, of course, pillaging of ice cream at the end of the journey.
Thursday, May 18th, 2023 – 160th to 124th Street
Today was not too warm, but it was humid. Not a bad walk but could have been better. It could have been more interesting. We had no roadkill and no money. We did find a tool, though.
It is a “Mini 90° Bent Pick – Hi-Vis Green.” Okay, this one is not really Hi-Vis Green anymore and the 90° bend is more like 135°, but it is a tool. We don’t know exactly what it is used for, though. Perhaps cracking ice blocks into 90° cubes? Probably not.
We found another lost lug nut to add to our collection.
Nice and shiny, and not runover at all. But it went into the same jar with the all the other beat-up lug nuts. Yes, we are equal-opportunity lugs.
We are happy to see this.
It is a route marker for the 7 Hills of Kirkland bicycle ride that happens every year on Memorial Day. Except it did not occur during the Pandemic. Of the 7 Hills, five are in Kirkland. One is in Woodinville and one, Norway Hill, is in Bothell. Approximately three thousand riders participate and ride past our house. The symbol above is a marker telling riders there is a right turn ahead. And yes, we are tempted to get some paint and redirect the route, but we never have. Just fun to think about.
Friday, May 19th, 2023 – 100th Ave NE
It was again a bit cooler, but still within the enjoyable range. We removed a squirrel and a rabbit from the road. Removing the rabbit made a couple of crows vocally unhappy. Sorry guys, you have your job and we have ours. But we found some more money.
Two dimes, one at Janet’s favorite drive-thru and one in the gutter.
Janet had a grandmother “aww” moment when she found a lost tennis shoe.
We left it in case the parents happen by. If it is still there on Monday, it’s toast.
We cleaned up a mess at the Safeway bus stop.
There were a couple of bags with some random items not worth keeping and some empty seltzer cans. The Tapitio Hot Sauce would be worth taking, but the bottle was broken and obviously leaking.
This was another boring walk and Chuck’s vest pocket didn’t fare much better.
The cards did not include any gift or credit cards, only a house cleaning company, a landscaping company, and a HVAC service technician. At the bottom of the cards is a Washington State Lottery scratch-and-lose coin. No losing lottery cards, though.
We picked up a lot of Bothell Police giveaway papers about staying safe and visible. Finally, we found one with the item still attached. That is kind of small compared to our vests, but what the heck, we’ll wear it. In the broken spectacles category, we only have a single lens, and it is only for readers. But we also collected a small piece of acetate with an image of glasses. That should count for something. Or not.
In the Jewelry department, a silver necklace with some leather laces. By “silver”, we are referring to the color and weight. We have no Idea whether it is really silver. Then a hand-made bracelet, a metal ring with some rhinestones in it. At least we are assuming they are not real diamonds. Then a crumpled piece of metal that looks like it could have been a piece of jewelry. Or perhaps it was a beer bottle cap.
In the entertainment department, a single earphone labeled “right”. So, if anyone out there has only a right ear, we have a deal for you. Four Nerf bullets, a small toy hat, we think. But it could be an alien or an eyeball.
Finally, a round piece of paper with “Every Thread Has a Story.” It took a bit of Googling, but we found a FaceBook page for someone who sells used clothing at the Fremont Sunday Market, a neighborhood of Seattle. If they are going to the trouble of printing these up, you’d think they would put something about what they do? As it is, you might think the “Thread” is the name of a storytelling, talking dog.
Saturday, May 20th, 2023 – Riverside Drive
We had some showers last night, but this morning was near-perfect weather for walking. We removed a roadkill rabbit from Riverside Drive and found more money.
One penny by the dumpsters in the Bothell parking lot and two separate quarters at the park-and-ride.
We found a tool.
A very nice GearWrench 12mm Deep Socket, twelve bucks on Amazon. Too bad it will end up in the same jar as all the rusty, scraped-up sockets.
On the way down the hill into Bothell, we found a McLitterers mess.
It had the standard two clean platters, tea bags, and a bag of unopened butters and syrups. The only things missing were the tea cups and unopened plastic utensils.
At the Bothell parking lot, some parents lost it.
No, not the kids but some of the kids’ things. A teething bib and a pair of “Toy Story” undies. We hope they didn’t belong to the same kid.
As we approached the Sammamish River Park, a truck pulled half-way out in front of us.
We stopped and it started backing up. It backed into the center of the parking lot until we were halfway across the Bothell Bridge. Through the trees we could see the headlights as the truck spun in circles about six or seven times. Then they left. They didn’t have to wait until we were out of sight, we would have watched.
On Riverside Drive near the Senior Center, a truck fender.
Not just any truck fender, this looked like a very old truck fender. We could tell it was old because it was made of steel, not plastic. Wonder if the Senior Center is running a car restoration activity for seniors?
Another sign there is a Nerf war brewing. Not only did we find a bunch of Nerf bullets this week, we found this today.
The box for a Fury 4 Xshot Nerf gun. The gun was gone, but we found one of the Nerf targets. The target was split in half. These Nerf guns are getting serious.
Most of our route this morning was relatively clean. The exception was the park-and-ride. The back lot had a bunch of water bottles and soda cans. It also had a couple of dumped items.
A headboard that looked to be in good condition. And a toilet with beer cans in it.
We thought the Little Trees air freshener was a nice touch.
That wraps up our work week. Our inventory this week:
- $1.13. A relatively good week.
- 9 Balls.
- 6 Roadkill.
- 5 Mike’s Hard Lemonade cans. The weeds are making finding them difficult.
- 4 Lime wedges, unopened.
- 4 Nerf bullets.
- 1 Rubik’s Cube, badly solved.
- 1 Coors can, full.
- 1 Caterpillar foot.
- 1 Bottle of hot sauce, broken.
- 1 Earpiece, right only.
- 1 Truck, spinning.
- 1 Toilet, with a new-car fresh.
Have a great week and remember to tip your local TrashWalker.
Trash Walking 