NOLA Interlude

Monday, June 12^th, 2023 – Safeway

The weather has changed for the better with clear skies. We removed a rat, a squirrel and two rabbits from the road, but we did find money.

Well, we should say that Janet found money at her favorite gas station. But still, eleven cents for four roadkill?

Someone else went radio silent.

Another broken CB antenna. This one was so beat-up that we didn’t even add it to our broken antenna collection. Of course, we have a collection with six antennas, but we haven’t heard anything from them. “Breaker, breaker, I can’t hear you. Did something break?”

We found a full bottle of Jim Beam Whiskey.

Okay, it was only a 50 ml mini bottle, but still, it was unopened. Unlike these Fireball bottles.

We didn’t know Starbucks sold Fireball. Customer: “Hi, I’d like to order a Triple Espresso Fruity Pebbles Latte with Whipped Cream and Gummy Bears on top.” Barista: “Sure, got it. Do you want Fireball chasers with that?”

We’re not going to do the old fork-in-the-road joke.

We would, but who would find a three-tined fork funny? A four-tined fork, now that would be funny.

We picked up a brush in the ditch.

It’s an IKEA dish washing brush, sixteen dollars for four on Amazon. Okay, that’s fine, but who washes their dishes in a ditch?

Tuesday, June 13^th, 2023 – Park-and-Ride

Today started out sunny but by the end of our walk, the marine layer rolled in. The rollercoaster weather continues. We removed a large raccoon and a baby crow from the road. But did find more money.

A penny early in our walk, a quarter at the freeway onramp and another penny on NE 160 St. Okay, the quarter was Canadian, so it is really three-quarters of a quarter, or three-sixteenths of a dollar, or about nineteen cents. But we are calling it a quarter for accounting purposes. Hope we don’t get audited.

But that wasn’t all. Along Juanita-Woodinville Way, some weeds had been freshly mown and we saw some trash over the guardrail. Climbing over the guardrail, we spotted a half dollar.

Okay, more like a third of a dollar. Then, about twenty feet further, we found the rest.

A little ironing, some tape, and it’ll be as good as new. We have found several torn dollar bills, but this is the first time we’ve found a matching half. Or third.

Not only did we toss roadkill and find money, we picked up some tools also.

Kind of. A bungee cord that was run-over and did not have much elasticity left, and a one-quarter-inch socket drill bit. They both went into our found tool collection even though it was a small bit of a stretch. [Insert groan here.]

Near a service station, we found some color samples.

They are color samples for grout. We found this sample pack on eBay, for seventeen bucks. Now that’s worth something. But then, we found that on the Laticrete website, you can get it for free. That sucks.

This is getting bad.

More people are using the park-and-ride as a dump. On the left was a blue tarp with what appears to be cement in it. In the middle is a bunch of tree limbs and trimmings plus a bunch of switch and outlet faceplates. Also, a urine bottle next to a large tree. Really? They use a water bottle rather than going behind a tree?

Someone got blind drunk.

Or perhaps just blind. They tossed their eyeglasses out with their beer cans.

Someone’s car got broken into.

Broken glass, a hair clip, lipstick, masks, and a pin. “You are safe with me.” We obviously can’t wear this pin. We walk in the middle of streets and intersections and up freeway ramps. There’s no way you would be safe hanging out with us.

Wednesday, June 14^th, 2023 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE

Yet another grey day for our walk and we removed another roadkill rabbit. Janet walked across the road and said the rabbit was not yet deceased. However, when Chuck went to pick it up, there was no sign of life. So, Chuck thinks after surviving being hit by a car, the rabbit looked up, saw Janet, and gave up the ghost. Janet has that effect on things.

We did find more money, though.

At the bus stop on Juanita-Woodinville Way, a nice shiny quarter. This one was a real quarter, not one of those Canadian kinds. Then a dime and two pennies at Janet’s favorite drive-through, and another dime along 100^th Ave NE. Good money week so far.

But the walk started out on a low note.

Yes, yet another urine bottle, the second this week, so far.

We picked up three wheel bolts.

Similar bolts are used for Mercedes and BMW vehicles, though we don’t know which these belong to. Either way, they are probably fairly expensive. We should open an eBay store.

A Bell bicycle lock.

It was heavy to carry and cost about twelve dollars at Walmart which sounds a bit expensive. Oh, but it comes with a free key. So, how much without the key?

Finally, is this an oxymoron?

Thursday, June 15^th,through Monday, June 19^th, 2023 – New Orleans

Warning, travelogue follows. We travelled to New Orleans for a few days for our granddaughter’s team to attend the National Gymnastics Association National Championships. It was extremely hot, starting at about 80°F (27°C) in the morning to a high of about 96°F (36°C) in the afternoon. Our phone apps helpfully notified us that it felt like 105°F (40°C). Thanks, that is good to know. We quickly found ways to wend our way around downtown by walking through the air-conditioned convention center and malls.

And we did a lot of walking, much of it going to stores like Lululemon which the girls couldn’t seem to pass up even though we went past them several times in our air-conditioned corridor. This one also caught their attention.

Not for the health conscious. It would probably not go over well in Seattle.

By our nature, we are always scanning the sidewalks and gutters and it paid off. We found money.

A dime and a beat-up penny. It was gratifying but didn’t make a dent in our expenses. We would need to stage a bank heist for that. We saw a lot of litter but since we were on vacation and New Orleans is not our territory, we did not disturb it. Here is a sampling of what we found.

A pair of fur-lined boots. At these temperatures, we understand why they were abandoned. An unsmoked cigar and a needle. We did pick up the needle and put it in a nearby trash receptacle. A “Lounge Life” ribbon which must be a local award and, of course, a urine bottle. The bottle was near a dumpster and while we were getting ready to take the photo, two ladies walked by and asked if we were taking a picture of the dumpster. “Of course not,” we replied, “we are taking a picture of this urine bottle.” They kept walking and didn’t reply. Why would we take a picture of a dumpster anyway?

We went on a few tours during our stay. The first was the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum that was preorganized with the gymnastics team. We thought it would be ho-hum, but it was very interesting, and the “tour” was in the single room of the first pharmacy in New Orleans and consisted of the tour guide explaining the history of medicines and tools that were used.

We also went on the Creole Queen River Boat tour.

It was primarily a historical tour about the history of Louisiana, the Mississippi River, and the Battle of New Orleans. The adults enjoyed it, but it was pretty much lost on the girls.

During some free time on Sunday afternoon, the two of us visited the National World War II Museum. The surface outside and inside the museum are paved with thousands of bricks engraved with the names of some of the service members who gave their life for their country. It was very sobering.

Inside the museum were major exhibits for the battle in Europe and the battle of the Pacific plus another for D-Day. Boeing had a large section devoted to the vehicles and aircraft. All the aircraft were suspended in a large room with catwalks.

B-24 Liberator.

B-17 Flying Fortress. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and could not experience the entire museum.

On Saturday night, we had a team dinner at the Crescent City Brewery where a strange lady joined us at our table.

She didn’t say anything and just sat there smiling. There was a Voodoo Tour scheduled for later, so she may have been part of that. After dinner there was a mix-up on the Voodoo Tour, and we could not join. So, we walked back to the hotel via Bourbon Street. Here are some random photos of the walk.

We did score some beads.

No, Janet did not need to do anything special for them, they were broken and sitting in the gutter. Chuck rescued them. So, okay, Chuck “earned” the beads.

Continuing to the hotel we saw a couple of three-wheeled vehicles that were Polaris Slingshot “motorcycles.” They were lit up and blaring music through built-in speakers.

When we arrived at our hotel, there were five of these vehicles in front. Fortunately, they left before we turned in.

And wait, why were we here? The Gymnastics Championships, of course. And we were not disappointed. After winning Washington State and the regionals in Salt Lake City, the Seattle team won the Nationals here in New Orleans. And our granddaughter took sixth in the bars and thirteenth all around. You might say we are proud of her.

Tuesday, June 20^th, 2023 – Park-and-Ride

Now back to our normal programming. So, we spent four days in sweltering heat only to return to freezing rain. Okay, not really freezing, but compared to New Orleans it seemed so. Anyway, we started our walk, but were still suffering from teenage shopping syndrome and cut our walk short.

We found neither money nor roadkill but did find some socks.

They will be washed and sent to Goodwill.

Another sign down.

A vehicle hit the cement barrier and guard rail leaving a few car parts and taking down the sign. We’re sure the vehicle damage was much more than the sign damage cost.

Welcome back to the park-and-ride. There was the normal random trash, but disgustingly,

more human excrement. Not saying it doesn’t exist, but we didn’t see anything like this in New Orleans.

Wednesday, June 21^st, 2023 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE

A student got expelled from the KinderCare this morning.

She looked like a good upstanding student even though she was lying down in the street. We decided to give her a second chance and tossed her back over the fence.

We found a tool of sorts.

A DeWalt High Carbon Steel oscillating blade. But it was run over and broken in half, so we tossed it. We don’t have one of these devices anyway.

Some girl lost her shirt.

She shouldn’t be playing that kind of poker anyway. It cleaned up nicely and is headed for Goodwill.

Well, someone was busy at the top of the Tolt Pipeline while we were away.

Three used condoms and wrappers. “We’re going to keep doing this until you get it right.” “Uh, okay!”

Thursday, June 22^nd, 2023 – 160th to 124th Street

We encountered some wildlife today, living for once.

It’s true. The early bird does get the worm.

Then, while walking in the ditch along 116^th Ave. NE, we spooked a rabbit and it took off. Looking closer, it was in a burrow with three baby rabbits or kits.

Guess rabbits are not like bears that defend their young from predators. At the first sight of us, the mother was out of here. We left the kits alone.

We found a discarded music CD.

It was the album, “The Way of the Fist” by the band, Five Finger Death Punch. It looked to be in good condition, and we would normally clean it up and listen to the music, but we inadvertently recycled it along the way. But we did find some of the music online. Recycling it was the right thing to do.

A crossing guard celebrated the last day of school by breaking his crossing flag in half.

He headed straight for the 7Eleven and purchased a six-pack of White Claw Seltzer, downing five and leaving a full one for us.

Then he proceeded to paint the town red,

awaking the next morning not remembering where he left his paint roller.

That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

Friday, June 23^rd, 2023 – 100th Ave NE

On our walk today, we removed a crow and a small bird from the road and found five cents.

Four pennies at Janet’s favorite drive-through and another along 100^th Ave. NE. This is the first money and roadkill we have found since we came back from New Orleans.

This was a croc.

At a busy intersection, we picked up pair of toddler’s shoes. We’ll clean them up and put them in the Goodwill pile.

We spotted some keys in the bushes near a construction site on 100^th Ave. NE.

We put them where someone is most likely to find them.

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

Starting with the cards on the left, Alexander’s VISA card with an expiration of 2023, a Euphoria business card in case we want to get some body piercings or tattoos. Gee, we would but the closest Euphoria is 175 miles away. A Hilton room key card that looks exactly like the one we had in New Orleans. Wait, we did turn ours in, didn’t we? And Hadley’s ID card for a local church.

Glasses frames and a lens that does not fit the frames, an Allen wrench, a slightly run over pencil and a note indicating which notebook to use for which class.

Wouldn’t you want a big one for physics for doing experiments like with gravity? The Art should be a dead giveaway. Here’s an idea. Why not write the subject on each notebook? Or do you need to finish English first?

A couple of kid’s pictures. One of a young kid in a cowboy outfit riding a pumpkin and one of an older boy evidently named Tommy Jeans. In the beauty section, a pair of false eyelashes. We’ll need to decide which of us gets to try them on. A couple of hair bands and an unbreakable polished metal mirror.

Another ceramic domino from a spilled set a few months ago. They just keep cropping up. Eve’s nameplate. It’s broken, so it could be Steven, or Everett or Evelyn, or… It’s not important.

Finally, we have the Little Mermaid and her loyal companion, Half-Fox.

Saturday, June 24^th, 2023 – Riverside Drive

Today, we removed five road kills: Two moles; two crows; and one small bird. It’s been a bad week for the birds. We also found fifteen cents.

On the freeway offramp was a single penny, then when we were almost home, we found fourteen cents within about twenty feet of each other. It does appear the money is somehow proportional to the roadkill.

Along Riverside Drive, we found an empty 12-pack condom carton.

However, we only found one used condom. The condom was at the entrance to a Mixed Martial Arts academy. Could it be…?

This is new.

George’s Wine Shoppe. We haven’t seen it open yet, though. We’ll check it out, but we don’t think wine will keep very well in a storage container.

We picked up some wheel adornments today.

Yet another Toyota wheel cover scratched up and broken. And a pristine Land Rover hub cap. It’s a keeper. The Toyota got recycled.

Today’s tools included a bungee cord and what looked like a key chain bottle opener.

The “bottle opener” turned out to be one of the no-touch, keychain, door openers that popped up at the beginning of the pandemic. Yeah, we don’t see a use for it anymore either. But maybe it will open a beer. We’ll check at the earliest opportunity.

Another lost, beginning driver magnetic sign.

We keep telling them not to accelerate so rapidly.

At the access to the Sammamish River on Woodinville Drive, someone dumped a bunch of trash including a sofa.

The Amazon box had an address on it but that does not mean it was left by that person. On the other hand, at the park-and-ride we found this.

It looks like someone cleaned out his car and left another Amazon box with a name on it. Okay, it could be a stolen package, but one of the Chick-Fil-A bags had a pick-up name on it. Both the box and the tag were for Chris. So, unless someone stole Chris’ Amazon package and his dinner, this mess had to be left by Chris. We are considering placing the whole mess in the box, taping it back up, and delivering it back to Chris.

There was a lot of stuff to pick up at the park-and-ride. A flower vase complete with flowers?

We find a lot of people who spend the night in the lot. Perhaps they are just trying to spiff the place up a bit.

A nice jacket.

But it had a large oil stain on it and got put in the garbage.

The park-and-ride is divided into two lots and prior to the pandemic, they were at near capacity on workdays. Since the pandemic, the lots are never more than ten percent full, and the back lot was often used for overnight stays and for dumping trash and human excrement. We wondered why they kept both lots open. Today there was this sign.