Monday, August 21st, 2023 – Safeway
Starting out our week, we found no roadkill and found a little money.
Six cents at Janet’s favorite drive-thru. Not a lot, but not a bad start to the week.
There was a lot of smoke in the air.
It made for an interesting image of the sun, and probably an interesting image of our lungs, but we don’t want to see that. There’s an applicable song, “When the smoke gets in your eyes like a big pizza pie that’s amore,” or something like that.
We found three painted rocks today.
We turned the yellow one over, so it was frowning. It shouldn’t be so happy with today’s air quality. The bottom two pics are two sides of the same rock. We left Rockwall staring into space. Usually, these stones have instructions on them to take them, keep, or hide them again. But there was nothing, so we were left between a rock and a hard spot, which in this case could have been another rock.
We found a fifty-dollar VISA gift card.
Okay, it was only the wrapper. You’d think for a gift of fifty bucks, they wouldn’t litter. But we still haven’t figured out why “citizens” litter in the first place.
We found some Pat Benatar music.
A discarded tape from 1980. What’s the story here? Good music, though.
>>>>>>>>>>>> fix
https://youtu.be/rXs9MXrHxVE?si=5ZqnHmtnx-bAbIki
We found a brand-new tennis ball near a very long receipt.
Curiously, there were no entries for a tennis ball, but one item caught our eye, “Sun Bum Spray.” That’s a very targeted sunscreen lotion. We can’t bare butt see it.
Tuesday, August 22nd, 2023 – Park-and-Ride
Tuesday is typically our quickest walk of the week and today was no exception. We found neither roadkill nor money but found some food.
Someone left us two packages of Crunchy California Rolls at the park-and-ride.
We were hungry but didn’t partake. Who knows, the California Rolls may not have been crunchy to start with.
As usual, someone forgot they are moving-sale sign,
and no forwarding address to send it.
Wednesday, August 23rd – 27th, 2023 – Oroville, Washington
One of Chuck’s closest cousins, Jon, recently passed away. He was a long-time resident of the small town of Oroville, Washington where he was well liked. A memorial was held this week at the American Legend where he worked as a bartender. We took the time to reminisce and enjoy the company of family and new-found friends.
Jon had a life-long passion for sailing and Volkswagens and was an expert mechanic. He was also an expert collector of all things Volkswagen, and we spent a good amount of time sorting out car parts to be sold or shipped to the scrap yard. However, we also found some money in the shop.
A few random pennies then the motherlode in an old desk drawer. Twenty cents in all.
Below are a few photos of Oroville. These are views from the house that we shared on the banks of the Okanogan River.
Jon’s homestead.
The Mary Ellen.
The boat is named after Jon’s mother and Chuck’s aunt.
Jon was known and loved for his witticisms and one-liners. He had several jobs during his life and at one point, he worked making pizzas. One night as he was coming out of the restroom a lady sitting at the bar kiddingly asked, “Did you wash your hands?” Jon came back with “Of course I did. I didn’t want to get flour in my pecker.”
Monday, August 28th, 2023 – Safeway
Back to our TrashWalking reality. The smoke had cleared, and the weather was fine. We removed a roadkill rabbit from the street and found a lot of money, relatively speaking.
We found a dime on Juanita-Woodinville Way, and another dime and three pennies at Janet’s favorite drive-true. Then a nickel at the service station and a quarter near Safeway. A total of fifty-three cents, not a bad start to the week.
Someone left a nice beverage bottle at a bus stop on 100th Ave NE.
Why would anybody leave a perfectly good water bottle? Okay, it was empty, but still.
Some biology class notes.
They had us until the last step with the red blood cell. We’d give the student a solid “C+” for effort, but really, a green red blood cell?
Tuesday, August 29th, 2023 – Park-and-Ride
Today we got misted/rained on during most of our walk which was good. We needed the rain, and it was refreshing. We found no money and removed a roadkill mole, but we found a tool.
A rat-tail file. We suppose that we could call this another roadkill, but the TrashWalking Judges would reject it.
On Norway Hill, there is a steep embankment that we periodically clean up.
Fourteen cans and a bottle. In the past, Bud Light cans have dominated this location but recently it seems to be all hands on deck. Or down the hill. And it seems to get harder to clean up the bank as we seem to go downhill.
A tree root caused the sidewalk on 112th Ave NE to buckle and is being fixed.
They must be paid per construction cone.
Wednesday, August 30th, 2023 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE
This is turning into a boring week. We found no money and no roadkill and little else of interest.
We did find a broken mirror.
“Mirror, mirror on the hydrant, who’s the fairest dog to flaunt it?” Janet did her best to get a selfie. Nice vest, though.
It’s time to check out Chuck’s vest pocket.
Starting on the left with the cards, two of Kaylee’s unexpired credit cards found on the freeway onramp. We shredded them. A business card for a Lake Washington School District Family Support Specialist. In our day the closest thing we had to this was the Dean notifying the family that Chuck got sent to the Principal’s Office. Again.
A Washington State Scratch-and-Lose card, “Corgi Cash.” So, if you win, does the dog get a cut? This appears to be a case of animal exploitation. We should get the Family Support Specialist on that.
Someone finally gave up gambling, good for him. A fragment of a casino membership card. Of course, it’s from the Turning Stone Casino in New York. He probably kept his Washington Tulalip Casino card.
An envelop opener and part of a smashed key. A couple of baubles, bangles, and beads. Writing utensils for every occasion, a hair clip and hair band with no hair attached and a Range Rover hubcap.
A monster looking like it lost a major battle recuperating in a hammock. The hammock is from the Sylvanian Log Cabin.
There is not enough left of the monster to know where it came from.
A small bubble maker, three Magic Minigame cards and two Panda Express fortunes.
As usual, you should always add “in bed” to the ends of fortune cookie fortunes.
Thursday, August 31st, 2023 – 160th to 124th Street
This morning was warm and dry and a bit more interesting than yesterday. We found no roadkill but did find some money.
A quarter on the freeway northbound on-ramp and a penny on the southbound off-ramp. We have two more days, but so far, this is shaping up to be a meager take for a two-week period.
We also found a tool this morning.
A 13/16th socket dropped on the southbound freeway on-ramp. Perhaps we should just hang out by the freeway.
An unopened pack of Beef Sticks.
Well, it was opened, but only by being runover by the traffic, but it was uneaten. Well, that’s not quite true, ants were all over it, but they took very small bites. We emptied the beef sticks into the weeds for the ants and took the wrapper. We may have ended up with a few ants in our bag, but it’s every ant for itself.
At the park-and-ride, someone left a fishing leader.
There has been some rain lately and some of the ditches have some running water, but we’ve never seen any fish in them. It’s said there’s plenty of fish in the sea. He should try there.
We found a strap on the road.
It was a TDU, Tactical Dress Uniform belt without the buckle. That’s probably why they lost the belt. And no, we didn’t find any pants either.
At the Tolt Pipeline, more amorous activities.
A tree fell in Bothell.
A huge branch broke off a tree yesterday on Juanita-Woodinville Way at about 10:00 am. There was no wind to speak of, it just fell. We walked by this spot about 5:40 am. So, if a tree falls on Chuck and Janet and nobody else is around, does it make a sound? We don’t know, but we sure would.
We often walk when the wind is blowing and wonder about the trees, but you never know when one will decide to fall. On a calm Sunday in November of 2016, a couple in a lone Audi A3 was taking a leisurely drive over Norway Hill. Outside our house, a tree decided it was its time to fall.
Amazingly, neither the driver nor the passenger was seriously injured.
Friday, September 1st, 2023 – 100th Ave NE
On our Friday route, we picked up a lot of trash, mainly along 100th Ave NE where construction is taking place. The weather was good, and we removed a roadkill crow. But we also found some money.
On Juanita-Woodinville Way, a single penny and the gas station yielded a dime. At Janet’s favorite drive-thru she found two more pennies and mined another nickel. So, eighteen cents. That’s a lot of work for eighteen cents. We should go on strike.
We did find a tool.
We thought it was part of a broken valve, but Google Lens found it for us. It’s a Gracco 310 Paint Spray Nozzle, which is useless to us since we don’t have a paint spray gun. However, we did find it on Amazon for $43. So, if you are into tagging or wall art, let us know. We’ll let it go for a cool twenty or so. Buyer pays shipping and handling.
Another pair of bicyclist’s sunglasses for the Goodwill pile.
In the median along Juanita-Woodinville Way, we found a tray for thirty eggs.
But only one egg was found, and it was unbroken. We expected to find other egg remains along our route but found nothing. Perhaps someone who raises chickens, counted his eggs before they hatched, purchased the tray, and was disappointed. If so, we assume he invited his chickens to a nice southern-fried dinner, including a custard dessert for one.
Saturday, August 2nd, 2023 – Riverside Drive
Because of our trip to Oroville, it’s been two weeks since we ventured down to Riverside Drive, and it showed. We ended up with a total sixty-three pop tabs, meaning we picked up that many beverage cans including eight Mikes Hard Lemonade cans. Make that sixty-four cans.
We found a full, 16-ounce can of Bud Light at the Sammamish River parking lot.
We removed a roadkill snake and another crow but did find some money along the way.
A stack of seven pennies in the Bothell parking lot, one penny on Brickyard Road and a quarter on the freeway on-ramp, a total of thirty-three cents. Not too bad for four-and-a-half hours of work.
We also found some tools.
A spray nozzle of some type, a drill socket, and an HDX squeegee. All were in good condition. Now if we only knew what the nozzle is for. It does not fit a garden hose and Google Lens failed to find it. Yet another TrashWalking mystery.
There was a nice sky this morning.
It looked like giant contrails. And don’t get started with the Bill Gates Chemtrail conspiracies.
This appears to be a not-to-subtle reminder that the vehicle is parked illegally.
We picked up a lot of vehicle parts today.
A wheel cover in the ditch along Riverside Drive.
The remains of a motor scooter accident.
There were parts scattered for about thirty feet before we reached the cycle. We left the bulk of the parts until the scooter gets towed. Interestingly, there is some deodorant on top. The guy probably needed to freshen up after his fall. We didn’t see an extra change of underwear, though.
Finally, on Brickyard Road, a car hit a tree.
The bulk of the car is gone, but there are plenty of pieces left to last us three or four weeks.
Across from the apartments on Woodinville Drive there have been two RVs that have people living in them.
Last week, a third one joined. Then, the first one put a sign in the window. None have moved within the last 72 hours which is a clear parking violation. In fact, the first and last RVs have not moved in over a year. It also seems one cannot legally live in an RV on public roads in Bothell, but we have not been able to verify this.
We are now at nine weeks with no action from King County on this illegal dumping.
It’s getting kind of boring, but we can eventually show the time-lapse video of the decomposition of the trash. And it can also be billed as the time-lapse inaction of King County. It’ll be like a double feature.
We picked up another piece of clothing.
Boyz in the Hood. It’s in good condition but not our style. We’ll add it to our Goodwill pile.
According to Forbes, the highest average gas prices are in California.
However, today at a local gas station the price is $5.40 per gallon.
Okay, we rounded up to the nearest tenth of a cent. And what about the diesel at $5.60 per gallon? And diesel affects all our commodities, including gasoline. Okay, we have a Nissan Leaf that we use 99% of the time, so as far as gasoline, we are in good shape. But it does affect other prices.
Here is a map of the prices by state.
Do you see a pattern?
At the northbound freeway on-ramp, we saw that someone tossed a traffic cone atop the bus stop shelter.
The abandoned traffic cone had been in place for several years and we took photos of it each year with new flowers growing out of the top of it.
We have mixed feelings about this. In one way, someone took the initiative to toss the cone on top of the bus stop where someone might remove it. On the other hand, we will miss the yearly blooms. We’ll see how things pan out and let you know.
With that we wrap up another TrashWalking episode. Our take for the two weeks:
- $1.38 – Not bad for the week, but bad for the two weeks.
- 25 Mike’s Hard Lemonade cans.
- 6 Balls, mostly tossed back over fences.
- 6 Tools, mostly in good shape.
- 5 Road kills, mostly in bad shape.
- 3 Occupied vehicles.
- 3 Unopened food items including a beer to wash them down.
- 2 Credit cards, unexpired.
- 2 Fortunes, read in bed.
- 1 Condom, not used in bed.
Have a great week, and don’t let any trees sneak up on you.
Trash Walking 