Monday, October 2nd, 2023 – Safeway
The week started out cool and we layered up with a light windbreaker. We found no money and no roadkill. Well, you could call this roadkill.
In the gutter along Juanita-Woodinville Way was a tablet and it was unresponsive. When we got home, we determined it was a Hyundai model HT8LA. It had been runover, but not badly and was in a protective case. But because of the rain, it was waterlogged. We let it dry in front of the fireplace for a few days, but it never showed any sign of life. It had a slot for a SIM card which would have allowed us to track the owner, but there was no card.
The whole thing would be worthless to us except for two things. First, there seemed to be an antenna that turned out to be a security device.
It’s an audio plug that emulates a headphone and a microphone. So theoretically, any sound input or output for this tablet would try to use the audio plug and be cancelled. That might be worth twelve bucks, but we can’t think of anything we would say that would be worth that much money. Okay, perhaps if Chuck was singing to himself while walking, that might be worth the money to block.
Second, there was a memory card in it.
We have never seen a 1TB memory card and it appeared to be about a quarter full of data, but it was well encrypted, and provided no way to track the owner. Anyway, the card goes for a hundred bucks on Amazon. So overall, we could call this find worth $112, but the TrashWalking judges would not allow us to count it as money.
We found what we thought was a baby’s teething ring.
But it was a fidget device that was missing the center spindle. So, it was an adult teething ring.
A condom was found in the parking lot of a local bar-and-grill.
There are so many stories we could weave from this. “Dang, I don’t have enough money for your tip. Can we work something out?”
Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023 – Park-and-Ride
At one point this morning, we had a very light mist, but it only lasted about five minutes. Otherwise, it was cool and clear. Again, we found no money, but we did remove another roadkill rat from the street.
Last week, we found a big lug nut with a sheared stud on the northbound freeway onramp and discussed how one failure could lead to another.
Today we found a matching lug nut and sheared stud in the same area. We looked around but didn’t see any more.
Someone tossed some wrapped Oreo cookies.
This distracted Janet, but she agreed not to eat any until after breakfast.
On the southbound freeway onramp, a steering wheel cover.
We thought these had gone out of style, but evidently not.
We think this is an official Mercedes accessory.
This time of year, we see these popping up like mushrooms.
We found this at the intersection by the 7Eleven.
A steel plate about twelve by six inches and we carried it the two miles to home. It weighed 4.25 pounds. The going rate for scrap steel is about four cents per pound so this is worth about seventeen cents. It would be nice to count as money, but those judges…
Wednesday, October 4th, 2023 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE
Today we didn’t find any roadkill but did find some money, our first this week.
At least we won’t be penniless this week.
We found Snow White’s pajamas.
A top and a bottom, which is probably part of a stolen Amazon package. The shorts had been opened but the cami was still sealed. They were marked down to twenty-two bucks on the Nordstrom site. More items for Goodwill. So when someone steals Snow White’s pajamas, is it a panty raid?
Have we come full circle?
A mailed Amazon Catalog.
Richard Sears must be rolling over in his grave.
Let’s check out Chuck’s vest pocket.
A couple of discarded Orca bus passes. Whoever tossed them must work from home now and no longer rides the bus. The busses are still very empty compared to prepandemic times. Then two pieces of two credit cards and two hair bands with no hair.
The usual glasses parts, a key tag for a 2009 Toyota Prius and the letters LAA. We don’t know what the letters are supposed to mean. There are only three ways to arrange them. LAA, ALA like in pie à la mode, or AAL like someone trying to get Al’s attention. Or maybe we didn’t find all the letters and are a few letters short of a word.
Three utensils, two for writing and one for cutting. The carpentry pencil is painted red and black and is aptly-named “Red and Black“, but it only has black lead. A wrist band from a private university in Oregon and a dozen hockey baseball cards. We know, but it sounds better than “hockey cards.”
An expired fishing license and a small pack of Loacker Minis. “Crispy wafers with vanilla cream filling,” but probably not anymore. The package had been runover several times, so we doubt they are still either crispy or cream filled.
We noticed at the bottom of the fishing license were some phone numbers.
What do you suppose a fishing hotline is? “Hello, fishing hotline? Hi, what lure should I use for salmon?”
Thursday, October 5th, 2023 – 160th to 124th Street
Today we found no money but did remove a roadkill rat. And that’s about it. We didn’t take one picture which is telling about how boring the walk was. At one point, Chuck started to hum a Frank Sinatra tune and Janet handed him the audio blocking device.
Friday, October 6th, 2023 – 100th Ave NE
Today was more interesting. No roadkill, but we did find more money.
A very shiny penny and a very dirty dime. This helps this week’s bottom line, but we’re still below where we should be, but we still have tomorrow to go.
Early in our walk, we found a discarded backpack.
It is a Granite Gear Nimbus Meridian, a discontinued model but sold for around a hundred dollars. Every pocket was opened like some had ransacked it, so we assume it was stolen and pilfered.
Another student driver sign.
The student must have successfully passed the littering tests.
And another lug nut.
This one was not found on the freeway onramp, though.
At the construction on 100th Ave NE, they filled in another ditch.
Wonder how much trash they buried?
Good Vibes.
This windbreaker was found on the stretch of road under construction. Maybe it belonged to the guy driving the vibrating roller?
The construction crew keeps uncovering stuff. Today it was a headless doll on 100th Ave NE and then, on Simonds Road, we found a head.
When we got home, we reunited the body and head. It was not a pretty sight. Where’s Igor when you need him?
Saturday, October 7th, 2023 – Riverside Drive
This morning arrived cool and clear, perfect for walking. We did find some more money, but not the score we were looking for.
Another penny, and this one was beat up to a point it was almost not recognizable. Our total score this week was a whopping thirteen cents. But accounting for inflation since 2020, that’s only worth eleven cents. We walk about sixteen hours a week and you give us eleven cents? Do you want us to go public with this? Think about your reputation.
Well, this is a bit embarrassing. We removed some roadkill today, a rabbit and a squirrel. It was still dark when we came across the squirrel. Chuck was shining the flashlight into the bushes while walking along the road and stumbled on the squirrel. Fortunately, it was not a messy roadkill. It is still considered a roadkill find even though we found it accidently.
Walking down the hill we found a bag in the ditch.
It contained some empty food and beverage containers, a hand towel, and a shirt. The shirt was in good condition and ended up in our Goodwill box. This was a bad money week, but nobody needs to give us the shirt off their back.
Yet another lug nut, the third this week.
At least this one was smaller and not that difficult to lug around.
A nearly-full package of American Spirit cigarettes.
This brand must not be very good because we have found other partially-smoked packages in the past:
The guy probably tossed the American Spirit cigarettes out the window because he was in low spirits because they taste so bad. Then he was literally low on Spirits.
This was in the middle of Brickyard Road.
Why did the chicken cross the road? To get a leg-up on the competition, of course.
There was an altercation on the freeway onramp.
We were able to pick up most of it and carry it back to the bus stop. And yes, that’s another Toyota wheel cover. We have found over twenty Toyota wheel covers on our walks and as far as we can tell this is the only one with a valid excuse for leaving the car.
In the park-and-ride someone lost their lunch, literally.
Chuck is always leery of these when Janet finds them because we often have sandwiches for lunch. He will need to keep a lookout for any stray bits of vegetation on his sandwich for the next few days.
Also in the park-and-ride, a pair of dice.
A lucky seven. We purchased a lottery ticket later in the day.
That wraps up another TrashWalking week, and a weak week it was. Our take:
- 13 Cents. This is the worst showing since the 12 cents in early February.
- 21 Mike’s Hard Lemonade cans, about average for a week.
- 7 Oreos.
- 5 Articles of clothing, including Snow White’s sleepwear, stolen.
- 5 Balls.
- 4 Roadkill including an accidental squirrel.
- 3 Lug nuts.
- 2 Lucky dice.
- 1 Condom, used.
- 1 Tablet, electronic, waterlogged.
- 1 Backpack, ransacked.
- 1 Chicken foot.
- 1 Doll, beheaded.
Have a great week and remember, more politicians should use an audio-blocking device.
Trash Walking 