Monday, September 25th, 2023 – Safeway
This morning we woke up to rain and relatively warm temperatures. Because it was raining and getting darker, we used our flashlights for the entire walk. We didn’t find much trash and little else of interest. For money, both Janet’s favorite drive-thru and the gas station came up dry. The only thing of any utility we found was another bandana.
As we crested Norway Hill at the Tolt Pipeline trail, we rued the fact that we had not found any money. Janet said, “We’re not home yet,” trying to give Chuck some hope, but it didn’t work.
Chuck was slightly ahead of Janet as we arrived at home and Janet gave Chuck a plastic egg she’d found under a bush.
When we opened it, there was a five-dollar bill inside. It was a left-over easter egg that no one found. We do the same thing with our grandkids, but we leave one-dollar bills. Next year, we’ll just send our kids up the hill for the Easter egg hunt. Heck, we’ll join them.
Tuesday, September 26th, 2023 – Park-and-Ride
This morning was clear and cool as we begin our descent into the Puget Sound’s Big Dark. July is our sunniest month before winter. We did find some money in a parking lot.
A quarter. Two weeks ago, we found money every day for thirteen walking days in a row, and then a week with hit and miss money for a total twenty-four cents. In the first two days this week, we found five dollars and twenty-five cents. Can we get some consistency here?
We did find a tool.
With the help of Google Lens, we were able to quickly determine that it was an LG washer leg adjusting wrench. Twelve bucks at Walmart. So, if you bought a new washer from LG and lost the wrench that came with it, we’ll let this one go for a cheap three bucks. But it’s not run over at all, so make it five bucks.
For a few days last week there was a large motorhome parked on 116th Ave that parallels the freeway offramp.
Today it was gone, and the area looked pretty clean. Until we got close.
They didn’t leave any normal trash but did leave a baking pan, a couple of grills and other items including a magnetic utility light, eighteen bucks for a two-pack on Amazon. We’ll be generous and call this another tool, but when we got it home, we found that it uses three AAA batteries. We have trouble calling that a tool.
We found pieces of broken CDs, yesterday and today.
A pirated copy of a Meryl Haggard, Cat Stevans and one labeled “…el, Jacob and David. Cassette Tapes, 1979 – 1985.” We are not sure what the last one was, but we don’t recall a singing group with that name. Later we found a disc-shaped piece of plastic that is part of a CD/DVD case that can hold 22 CDs. So, there may be more pieces of CDs awaiting our discovery, hopefully with a hint to the last CD.
We found a worrisome item on the freeway onramp.
A very large lug nut with the stud sheared off. The nut was probably over-tightened and the extra stress of the turn onto the onramp caused it to snap. If the other nuts were also over-tightened, the loss of the first one could have caused a chain reaction, but we only found this one.
At the park-and-ride, someone dumped a bag of cloths.
The was also a pair of wheels and some cardboard shipping padding. It was too much the carry, so we returned later with the car.
The bag contained a mixture of men’s and women’s clothes that will be washed and sent to Goodwill. It also had an empty plastic bag used to store hospital patients’ belongings and another small plastic bag.
It contained an unopen packet of silk sutures. “What? You don’t have any insurance? Here, stitch your own self up.”
Also, at the park-and-ride,
a couple parked and rode.
Wednesday, September 27th, 2023 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE
Today was a comfortable walk with no rain. We removed a roadkill rat from the street and found a dime.
In the 1950s when the Five and Dime stores, were around, this would be worth something, but today not so much. A dime in 1950 would be worth $1.27 in today’s money. It turns out the Dollar Tree stores of today are like the dime stores of the fifties, but they are no longer a dollar store. The are moving to $1.25. But that is right in line with inflation of the 1950 dime. Now we need to find something at the Dollar Tree that we want.
This morning we passed some mailboxes that look to have been broken into.
However, we didn’t find any littered mail. When mail thieves operate, they normally grab all the contents and sort and toss it out later rather than spend the time to go through the contents at the mailboxes. Maybe these are kinder, gentler mail thieves.
Thursday, September 28th, 2023 – 160th to 124th Street
The Puget Sound area had been experiencing an “atmospheric river” that has brought off-and-on heavy rains to the area. Before we left today, we checked our weather app and it said to expect light rain around 7:00 am. That would be near the end of our walk, so we left without our rain jackets. But the app neglected to tell us to expect heavy rain in fifteen minutes. We got soaked. We need to start getting a second opinion.
We didn’t find any money or roadkill today. In fact, the only things we saw of interest were some signs.
We saw some new signs promoting mattress sales to support a local school’s fundraising program. In total we saw eleven signs along a two-block stretch of road. These signs look familiar and are probably from CFS, a company that promotes and runs fundraising programs for organizations. However, do some research before doing a good deed by purchasing a mattress at one of these fundraisers.
We are in the middle of the local election season and found a sign that came loose from one of the election signs.
We didn’t know which one the sign fell from, so we attached it to a random one. That should help clarify the situation.
Friday, September 29th, 2023 – 100th Ave NE
Today was the coldest morning since last winter and clear with no rain. Even our weather app was claiming there was no rain which worried us thinking a monsoon was on the way. But it was foggy and dry. We put on a light raincoat more for warmth than a threat of rain and were fine.
We found no money and inadvertently removed a roadkill rat from the road. Chuck saw something in the road that looked like a waterlogged rag or washcloth. He put it in his recycle bag and carried it home. When he sorted out the recycle bag and spent a few seconds trying to unfold it, he realized it was very runover rat. We put it in the garbage. It’s a good thing it’s garbage day today.
We did find some tools, though.
A pair of kitchen shears the had been run over so the handles were only partially there. They still work if you concentrate. In fact, we used them today to cut up a plastic six-pack can holder. It worked fine as long as we concentrated. We always cut these six-pack holders because birds seem to get tangled up in them.
Or perhaps they purchased the six-pack, drank too much, and tried to wear the holder as a hat for a stupid party trick. The duck couldn’t use the shears. No concentration. And no fingers, for that matter.
We also found a chisel in good condition with a complete handle.
A set of three costs forty-five bucks on Amazon, so this is worth fifteen bucks. It’s in good condition so we’ll let it go for five bucks. Hey, it’s a good deal, we wouldn’t try to chisel you out of your hard-earned money. Ducks need not apply.
The first Halloween decorations of the season.
The fog gave the display a nice effect.
Last week at the construction on 100th Ave NE, they merged two lanes to the far side of the road causing us to bail into the ditch whenever a vehicle approached.
Someone must have complained, because they filled in the ditch to give us a place to walk. It wasn’t us that complained, though, it was probably one of those party- ducks. We did cringe every time a car ran over the painted pedestrian, though. We would have felt better if it was a painting of a duck.
Saturday, September 30th, 2023 – Riverside Drive
Today was about like yesterday except that there was no fog and much less traffic, it being Saturday. We removed a roadkill squirrel but found no money, again. We only found money three out of six days this this week, but the Easter egg made it a good week.
We picked up two hubcaps.
Actually, a center cap and a wheel cover. The center cap is an XD Series cap by KMC Wheels, seventeen bucks on Amazon. The wheel cover is yet another Toyota. We find more Toyota wheel covers than any other brand, but that may be because there seems to be more Toyotas than other manufacturers.
On the subject of wheels, someone dumped a set of four at the Sammamish River access road.
We’ve reported illegal dumping here for a long time. Here is a photo of this area from August of 2021.
After several notifications to the county, they put up a cement barrier to keep people out of the access road, which kind of defeats the purpose of an axis road. But that didn’t stop the dumping. Here is a photo from around the time it got reported to the county three months ago.
The cement barrier is covered up with trash and now the four wheels have been added. Time to contact the county again.
Another lost lock to add to our collection.
And no key, of course. We could take it to a locksmith and have a key made, but it would cost more than just buying a new lock. Folks need to learn to lock up their locks.
Free chairs.
A whole bunch of free chairs. Perhaps they are getting ready for tomorrow’s big parade celebrating the International Day of Older Persons. Are they going to ask us to march in it? We hope not, we’d rather just grab a chair and watch. If it is made up of us older folks walking, it’s going to be a long parade.
We came across an abandoned bicycle.
Both tires were flat, and it had no seat. It must have been very uncomfortable to ride which is probably why it got abandoned. Of course, if you no longer have a bicycle, you can toss your cycling glasses.
We found a few things at the park-and-ride. First, a blanket.
It was in the southbound freeway onramp bus stop. The person using it put up a bit of an argument, but our vests looked official, and he gave it to us. No, it was abandoned, our vests do make us look official, though. We’ll wash it and put it into our Goodwill pile.
Then there was a t-shirt advertising Puma shoes.
It was in good condition, so we washed it and put it into our Goodwill pile.
Finally, there was another couple parking and riding.
A condom, a condom package and, aptly, a cigarette butt. We pick up lots of condom wrappers, but we are not familiar with this brand. Hexagonal condoms? How does that work? But it’s a twelve-pack and there was only one here, so it must work out somehow. The box says, “The Condom Re-Engineered.” We’re okay with that as long as it’s not “The Condom Re-Used.”
We almost got through the week without a urine bottle, but if you thought this was possible, u-r-in for a big surprise.
We found this as we were returning home within two-hundred feet of our house. It was probably an Amazon Prime delivery.
With that, we wrap up another TrashWalking week. Our take:
- $5.25 plus a free plastic egg.
- 19 Mike’s Hard Lemonade cans, about average for a week.
- 16 Articles of clothing, including the bag at the park-and-ride.
- 18 Chairs, sixteen stackable.
- 8 Balls.
- 2 Roadkill and no rabbits.
- 2 Condoms, one re-engineered and both used.
- 1 Suture, self-operations.
- 1 Urine bottle.
Have a great week and remember, don’t count your Easter eggs before they hatch.
Trash Walking 