Mop Wig

Monday, July 10^th, 2023 – Safeway

Starting a new TrashWalking week with another cool morning which suits us fine. We found no money and no roadkill. In fact, the walk was uneventful except that Janet lost her flashlight. She was on the opposite side of the street from Chuck, and as she approached a downed sign that need to be cut up, she turned the flashlight off and put it in her pocket. After attending to the sign, she discovered the flashlight was missing. We searched for it for about ten minutes, but it was nowhere to be found.

Later, on her way back from an errand, Janet stopped by the side of the road and did a daylight search. She found the flashlight, which is a good thing because at her rate of pay, it would take a long time deducting it from her paycheck.

We found a cap on the sidewalk.

The label stated, “Perfecting the Art of Fresh.” After some research, we found that this is the slogan of Star Markets in Massachusetts. So, whoever lost this was probably making a long-distance delivery.

Nearby we found an unopened food bag.

So, if this was related to the hat, are powdered eggs perfecting fresh? And what about the eggs? They are “cage-free whole eggs,” and “Extra Large” at that. These are powdered eggs. Does it matter what size they are? Chuck still has nightmares about his experience with powdered eggs in the army. But maybe they were just too small.

After a few blocks, we found more unopened foods.

Quinoa & Brown Rice with Garlic and Shells & Real Aged Cheddar. Still not really projecting the “Fresh” image, though.

We found a red balloon.

Okay, probably not one of those.

Honk if You’re Hairy.

“Get your licks on Snoot 66.”

Well, this dog had too many kicks.

Don’t kick a dog while it’s down.

Behind some bushes, we found a piece of wood that was part of a Hawaiian souvenir.

Ten bucks for the set plus eleven for shipping. A little to steep for us, but we need to look for the bottle and cork openers. It has Vintage in it’s description, after all.

Tuesday, July 11^th, 2023 – Park-and-Ride

Okay, Alexa let us down this morning. We have been relying on her to wake us up at 4:45 am each morning. However, today she was silent, and we awoke at 5:15 am, a half hour late. Later in the day, we determined she has developed selective memory.

She reported excellent WiFi signal but couldn’t establish connection. We tried several times including a factory reset to revive her, but alas, she appears to be a lost cause. During the diagnoses, when we tried to ask her to troubleshoot the issue, a distant Amazon device would pipe up to help, but this obstinate one continued to tell us she was having trouble connecting. They should have a way to tell a nearby device to take over the diagnostics and if necessary, order a replacement. Yeah, she would probably charge our Amazon account.

We are sorry to say that the Alexa failure was the high point of our morning. We removed two rabbits from the road but found money.

On the sidewalk, one thin dime, one-tenth of a dollar.

Yes, we’ve used this before, but it’s still good.

But that’s not all. We found a tool.

A very nice Phillips screwdriver in excellent condition.

And that’s about all the interesting stuff we found. Okay, Janet did manage to not lose her flashlight, but it was a late start, so it was already light. But there’s always tomorrow.

Wednesday, July 12^th, 2023 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE

We got up on time this morning, thanks to Siri as Alexa has lost her mind. We removed a rat from the roadway and found no money for our trouble. But we did find a nice tool.

Yet another 10 mm socket, and this one was in great shape. We added it to the jar of sockets in our TrashWalking museum.

Another free item.

And this one is not bad. A Generac 5 KW portable generator with a 10 HP Tecumseh engine. It probably needs some work, but it should spark someone’s interest.

At the bus stop, we found this.

An unopened condom. “Hey, Babe. We have a while before the bus arrives, how about… Damn, here’s the bus.”

Someone lost their soul to the devil.

Oh, wait, they lost their sole to the devil. Not that bad as long as you don’t need to walk on hot coals for eternity.

Some streets along our route got new striping.

Okay, this is probably a boring job, but falling asleep at the wheel? Or were you texting?

Thursday, July 13^th, 2023 – 160th to 124th Street

Another nice walking day and we removed a small squirrel from the road and found money.

First, we picked up a Canadian nickel.

Then a real dime. The Canadian nickel is currently worth 3.8 US cents, but we will call it a nickel for accounting purposes although it is primarily steel whereas the US nickel is primarily copper. So why do we still call them nickels? And don’t get us started on pennies that cost twice as much to make than they are worth.

As we started our walk, we encountered this at the bottom of the Tolt Pipeline.

Some landscapers dumped a large pile of refuse. This is getting to be a common occurrence. The city should set up “No Dumping” signs. It would help because it would provide cover for the snipers. Just kidding. Or wishful thinking? We will report it to the City of Bothell.

We found some tools today.

Kind of. The item on the left is some sort of drill bit, but obviously run over. The saw blade on the right was also runover and useless. So they say that “a poor workman blames his tools.” In this case, they would be correct.

We found two balls today including a bald one.

No comments, please.

And another urine bottle.

It is Amazon Day, after all.

And yet another unopened beverage.

We have picked up several empty cans of this brand of energy drink but have never paid attention to them. But now that we have a full one, we were curious and visited their website.

This is their description:

First, 160 MG of Caffeine. Okay, a cup of coffee. Then CMPLX 6. Obviously a secret codeword. We’re pretty good at crossword puzzles, but this is too COMPLEX for us. More Caffeine, vitamins B6 and B12 and some other things we’ve not heard of and have no information of what they’re for. Finally, “High Performance Energy” for Enhanced Mental Focus. No more details here, but we’re thinking sugar. Okay, it will probably take up space in our beer fridge for months to come.

Then we found this.

Janet was sure it was a mop, though Chuck was thinking wig. Google Lens agreed with Janet, but when pushed grudgingly agreed it could be a wig.

Don’t shake your head like that, it could be.

Friday, July 14^th, 2023 – 100th Ave NE

Today was a warm day and we removed two roadkill, a messy rabbit that a crow was chowing down on, and another crow that wasn’t chowing down on anything. The first crow didn’t seem to mind us removing it’s rabbit breakfast. And the other crow didn’t seem to mind either.

This being Friday, Janet gets to visit both of her favorite money-finding spots, the Shell Station and her secret drive-thru, and it paid off.

Along NE 100^th Ave, she picked up a shiny quarter, then at the secret drive-thru, three pennies, two dimes and a nickel. And a little farther on 100th, she found another penny. Chuck found a penny on 145^th Ave NE. Chuck hates it when Janet gloats.

We found six balls today. Two came home with us and were tossed into our ball collection, two were tossed back into the KinderCare, and these two were tossed into the garbage.

Okay, we shouldn’t take credit for finding these. They were found and deflated by the Bothell City mowers and left for us.

Well, this is a first for us. One thing that irritates us is the random construction cones and pylons that are left from construction projects. If you pay attention, they are everywhere. Today we found another by the side of the road.

A DisposaCone, a disposable construction cone. The steps are:

1. Peel off wax paper. The wax paper covered four blobs of a tar-like substance to make it stick to the road.
2. Stick DisposaCone to surface. This was an obvious step.
3. “Crimp” center outwards in case of rain. It doesn’t look like they did this step, but we didn’t expect any rain anyway.
4. When finished, just throw it away. They failed miserably on this step and left it by the side of the road.

Even though we needed to dispose of it, it beats watching these things sit and decompose. Perhaps next week we should take pictures of all the left-over construction debris we find on our walks.

We found some food today.

First, some “Meat Sticks.” The package was open and there were two sticks left inside. From the nutrition facts, the serving size is two sticks and there are three servings per container. Using our superior reasoning, there were originally six “Meat Sticks” in the bag. If it were “Beef Sticks” or “Pork Sticks,” they might have had us, but “Meat Sticks” is a bit vague. We’ll pass. We’ve hears about Rocky Mountain Oysters, after all.

Also, a bag of Garden Salsa Sun Chips, and we can handle that, except the crows got to it first and tore a hole in them. They ate very few of them. Pass.

This was a strange thing.

Sitting in the middle of the sidewalk was a pottery planter with some plants growing in it. We placed it in the entryway of a nearby business. Hopefully they will find a good home for it.

Then we found some Stranger Things.

Someone tossed all four seasons near Safeway. Tossed as in all four seasons, not tossed as in tossed your cookies. We started watching the series but gave up after four or five episodes. And no, we did not toss our cookies.

Okay, it’s Friday, time to check the leftovers in Chuck’s vest pocket.

At the top, a cheap Bic Pen that worked and another object that looked like a pen but was a discarded vaping device that did not work.

A photograph of a guy standing on one hand. It looks like a break-dancing competition, but it made us just feel tired. Next to it is a “Wow” shopping list. Let’s see, “Milk, Sour Cream, Bagel, Yogurt, Granola Bar, Rice Cakes, Apples, Grapes, Bananas, Chili, Carrot.” Way too healthy for us. What about the potato chips and beer?

Two “Thank You” notes, neither for us. One purchased with nothing inside and a personal one to Mike. Which do you think would be the most appreciated? Alexander’s lost AAA membership card and a “Time is Money.” Yeah, well we are retired, and we have plenty of time, but money?

Back to the top, two-thirds of a remote control, another patriotic flag, too late for Independence Day, and a steel tag from American Bolt & Screw Company, probably for some chain. Part of a laminated page in Spanish which, according to Google states “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for the transgression of Adam.”

A marble and a small ball, two bands to tie back locks of hair, note the small brass lock next to them and a Spanish astrology business card.

Lots of claims “The separated are reunited no matter the sex or the distance, I will make your partner return.” “Cure: Sterility of women, nerves, depression, headaches, unknown diseases. Sexual impotence.” “We offer spiritual cleansing for your house of personal business” Google may have mistranslated that last one. Next to the card is a drawing, probably to give the astrologer an idea of the partner who ran away. Yeah, good luck with the “sexual impotence” part.

And yes, we found the missing piece of the puzzle. But we’re still puzzled about what part of the puzzle it was. Hedbanz game card. We considered playing it, but it would be boring with only one card. Finally, a not-all-seeing eye, the letter U and a toy dragon from the movie, “How to Train your Dragon: Hidden World,” which we actually saw in a movie theater. Yes, we had to take a grandkid with us so we had an excuse.

Saturday, July 15^th, 2023 – Riverside Drive

This morning was very warm and was getting uncomfortable by the time we arrived back home. We removed a roadkill bird and a rabbit from the street but got more money.

Two pennies in the Bothell parking lot and a dime by the bus stop at the bottom of Brickyard Road. But on the freeway onramp, a twenty-dollar bill. That will help our hourly wage. A little. Microsoft photos sends us pictures taken by us on this day in years past. Today it sent us this picture.

It was from July 15^th, two years ago. We need to make a note to keep our eyes open on July 15^th.

As we came back across the bridge from Bothell, we stopped to enjoy the serene view of the Sammamish River.

But we couldn’t linger long, there was trash to pick up.

Under the freeway, someone tossed caution to the wind.

It’s more likely that it fell off a vehicle on the freeway. There was the required California warning on it. The warning should include being hit by falling objects.

Another full beverage for us.

An unopened Modelo beer can. It was dirty and beat up but was not leaking. We’ll clean it up and put it in our beer fridge. Someone will probably drink it.

We did find a tool today.

Another 3/8ths-inch socket to add to our jar of sockets.

Free King!

Who is he and why did they lock him up?

Then there was the Park-and-Ride.

These were by the bus parking spot.

Someone probably put them here to surprise a bus driver on his birthday. And he probably took the day off.

Last week someone left some rain boots.

We left them in case they came back for them. They were still there today, so we took them to send to Goodwill. The fools, the days are already getting shorter, the rains will start again and you’ll have no protection.

At least this couple had protection.

Some people come to the park-and-ride for the wrong type of ride.

Then we hit rock bottom.

Two half-eaten bowls of a rice dish, a pair of men’s underwear and a pizza box with human excrement in it. We dumped the food out into the bushes, put the dishes and underwear in the box and put it in a garbage can along with our gloves.

As we neared the end of our walk, we came upon the remnants of a shatter-scatter, better known as a fender bender except cars don’t seem to bend anymore.

We spent about ten minutes picking up most of the debris. We’re not sure, but we think a Honda was involved.

We had an experience on today’s walk that ranks up with the top five we’ve had since we started walking. As Chuck was walking down the freeway ramp, he saw a man walking out of the park-and-ride carrying two bags. Chuck’s first thought was that he was encroaching on our territory picking up trash. Chuck continued and a minute later, the guy caught up with Chuck and introduced himself as Lester.

Lester explained that he was walking 20,000 steps per day carrying two bags with twenty-four pounds of balls in them. He explained that he had lost a lot of weight and asked Chuck, “Do you know where I got that from?” and pointed to Chuck. He said he sees us out walking and doing something and it inspired him. It made our TrashWalking year.

With that, we close our walking week. Our inventory,

• $20.90 including a twenty-dollar bill.
• 11 Mike’s Hard Lemonade cans.
• 10 Balls, including two found by the mowers.
• 8 Roadkill.
• 5 Tools including two sockets.
• 2 Condoms, one unused.
• 2 Beverages, unopened.
• 1 Urine bottle, opened.
• 1 Egg, powdered.
• 1 Hawaii souvenir, cheesy, vintage.
• 1 Lost sole.
• 1 Mop wig.
• 1 Potted plant, lonely.

Have a great week and remember, even TrashWalkers can be an inspiration.