Chuck Wants One

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Monday, June 3^rd, 2024 – Safeway

Last night, the predicted storm finally roared through the area. There was heavy rain and wind but as we left for our walk at about 4:45am, the rain had stopped. It was still a little breezy, but the sun was starting to break through the clouds. We found neither money nor roadkill, but we removed a lot of branches from the road.

We did our normal Monday route toward Safeway and stopped at one point on a bridge to extract some cans and cups that had been tossed over the rail on the ledge on the other side.

We then continued to the end of Juanita-Woodinville Way, then came back on the other side of the street. When we reached the bridge, we saw that a small tree had fallen near the location where we were collecting the cans twenty minutes earlier.

Our theory is that one of the cans we removed was somehow holding up the tree, so it was our fault that it fell. We contacted 911 Emergency and reported that the tree was in the travel lane and cars were driving around it. We did not mention that it was our fault.

Today was not all gloom and doom, we did find a tool amongst the debris.

A drill bit. Not much, but it does count.

As we predicted, the canopies placed by the new food truck would have issues with the wind. The last big wind we had required duct tape to repair.

It wasn’t enough, sorry, MacGyver. We’ll see what’s next.

We found what looks to be a heart-shaped hot water bottle.

So, a bit of TrashWalking advice. Giving your significant other a heart-shaped water bottle for Valantine’s day is not recommended. Take it from Chuck.

We arrived home ready for a hot shower and breakfast only to find our power had failed at 5:30am. Our home electrical power, not personally ours. We have a generator, but it is an effort to remove it from the garage, hook it into the electrical system, fuel, etc. So, we waited. Finally, at about 6:30pm, we fired it up. Of course, a half-hour later, the power came on. Go figure.

Tuesday, June 4^th, 2024 – Park-and-Ride

This was supposed to be the second wave of the overused term, atmospheric river. This was not so much like a river but two tidal waves. In our area, this second wave was not as bad as yesterday by a long shot. And we did not lose power.

We picked up two dimes today, both in the travel lanes of a busy intersection.

The first one was nestled in a crevasse in the pavement and the second was flat on the pavement. Obviously, it is better safe than sorry.

We also found a nice tool.

A 9/16^th inch combination wrench, hardly run over at all.

At the park-and-ride, we found a knee brace.

These usually come in pairs, so we will keep an eye out for someone who is limping on one leg. We walk a lot and we limp on both legs which just makes us look like we are walking slowly, but we are walking at full speed, so our speed is just an optical illusion.

We picked up a piece of metal in the gutter along Juanita-Woodinville Way and put it in our pocket. When we got home and took a closer look and it appeared to be a crumpled ring.

We worked on it a bit and formed it back to its close-to-original condition. We found one that looked like this on the Internet for $138, but as you know, you can ask for any price on the internet, especially if you use terms like vintage.”

We pick up a lot of abandoned signs, but we seldom take any that are still up. Today we picked up a downed missing cat sign that had a notice on the back.

Okay, that is good to know. But where do the people who put up signs and leave them forever until they fall go? We are talking about the lost cat, lost dog, real estate for sale, gutter cleaning, we buy houses, we buy diabetic supplies, roof repair, garage sale, etc. folks. Where is their place in hell?

Wednesday, June 5^th, 2024 – Safeway & 100^th Ave NE

There was no weather drama today, just a calm, cool, and overcast morning. It was also a morning with neither money nor roadkill. But we did find a tool.

A Japanese knife with the old Japanese brand, Old Homestead Stainless. Okay, it was probably made when “Made in Japan” meant cheap. It has also been run over resulting in a missing handle and the tip. Okay, even we have a tough time calling this a tool. So, we will forgo the humiliation of asking the TrashWalking judges to accept it. It wasn’t cutting-edge technology anyway.

Last week we showed a photo of a patched-up fence that a tree had fallen on.

The owner must have given up on it because a new fence is under construction.

The rowdy kids at the KinderCare again tossed a few toys and six balls over the fence. One of them was this:

A demented T-Rex hand puppet. So that’s how they get the kids to behave.

After the winds on Monday destroyed one of their tents, the staff of the food truck regrouped.

Only one canopy now. We’re accepting bets on how long it will last.

At the bus stop in front of Safeway, a urine bottle.

The bus must have been very late.

We picked up another rubber ducky.

It was just sitting there like, well, a sitting duck. This is the thirteenth one we’ve found for our collection. We should get a group photo, but then we would need to get our ducks in a row which could prove difficult. But we could use some duck tape. We’ll stop now. You’re welcome.

We did find a pair of cheap sunglasses in very good condition.

A pair of Prada SPR29L sunglasses, discontinued but sold for between $300 and $400 when new. Okay, they are an expensive cheap pair of sunglasses.

Thursday, June 6^th, 2024 – 160^th to 124^th Street

The weather today was near perfect for walking. 50°F (10.0°C) with clear skies and a slight breeze. We found no money, no roadkill and no tools. At the park-and-ride, we picked up a Starbucks beverage container.

This was not the typical paper container; it was made of heavy plastic and sold for about thirty-five dollars. We also found a ball that could be opened and was held shut with magnets.

After some Googling, we determined that this was a reusable water balloon.

We came across another Safeway shopping cart over a mile away from Safeway.

We decided to pull it toward Safeway for a few blocks, leave it and continue to Safeway tomorrow. However, one of the wheels was locked up as an antitheft device.

So, how did the thief get the cart this far? And how is it going to get back to Safeway? Well, this video shows how to unlock it.

We could bring some tools down and pull the wheel off. Or we could just ignore the cart and let someone else worry about it.

Friday, June 7^th, 2024 – 100^th Ave NE

Today was another nice TrashWalking day, even better than yesterday. We did remove a roadkill squirrel, but we found money in three separate places.

We picked up the dime on the sidewalk on 100^th Ave NE and the quarter in the grass near the McDonalds drive thru. The last eleven cents was at Janet’s favorite drive thru.

On Juanita-Woodinville Way, we picked up four flattened U-Haul moving boxes and some random trash,

including some Day Timer day planners.

We remember when Day Timers were extremely popular, but with the advent of smartphones, their popularity has waned. Obviously, they are still producing paper planners, but we don’t know if folks just use them for making paper airplanes.

This was confusing, and heavy.

POMEGRANATE HONEY DEW WHIP. We found these in several flavors such as watermelon, bubblegum, and blueberry. It took us a while to figure out that these were large nitrous oxide (N₂O) containers and the flavors referred only to the color of the tank. We find a lot of small N₂O cartridges that people use to get themselves high. Those typically contain eight grams. This canister contains 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) or the equivalent of 250 small cartridges. At about ninety dollars apiece, you wouldn’t think anybody is buying these tanks to get high. Think again, they sell them at smoke shops.

We picked up another lost cell phone.

An iPhone at a busy intersection where there are a lot of left turns that could cause a forgotten, loose cell phone to skid off a vehicle. It was in good condition, but the battery was dead. We charged it and, of course it was locked, so we waited for any calls to come in, but nothing. It had T-Mobile service, so we dropped it by a store where they could use the SIM card serial number to determine the owner and get the owner’s telephone number. But, if they try to call the number, wouldn’t the phone they had ring? Not our problem.

Saturday, June 8^th, 2024 – Riverside Drive

Today was clear and even warmer and there was surprisingly little trash. We removed a roadkill rat and found more money.

Eleven cents across from the apartments on Woodinville Drive. That brings our total for the week to a weak seventy-seven cents.

We did pick up some tools, though.

A tape measure on the freeway onramp, a Smart Bit drill bit for predrilling and countersinking holes, a square drill bit, and two pairs of run over tongs. And yes, the TrashWalking judges rejected the tongs. We pointed out that they were kitchen tools, but they claimed they were utensils, not tools. Don’t they know people work in kitchens?

Someone dumped a bunch of miscellaneous items in the Bothell parking lot.

They included a moving blanket, a couple of work lights, a putty knife, a tie down strap, and a caulking gun. Most of it went into the dumpsters, but we kept the tools.

Two articles of clothing.

A shirt in the Bothell parking lot and a pair of Victoria’s Secret underwear in the park-and-ride. Gee, wonder how they ended up there?

We’ve probably walked by this key a hundred times without seeing it.

This morning the sun glinted off it at the key moment and we spotted it. Good light was the key to finding this key.

We found another pepper spray bottle.

This one was almost empty, but it squirted a stream about 10 feet. Who or what are they using this stuff on anyway? Maybe we should start carrying it.

Following up on last week’s needle find, we guessed at a couple-hundred needles. Over the last week, we collected plastic containers and filled them with needles, wearing heavy gloves, of course.

We counted as we went and ended up with four-hundred-and-fifty-nine needles.

Now, this is just nuts!

And bolts, screws, and nails. They were dumped in the dirt by the freeway on ramp.

At the construction site under the freeways, we saw a new machine and wondered what it was.

We found a YouTube video of it in action.

Chuck wants one, but we checked the price, and it is around $900,000, depending on options. That’s a bit steep. But we found this one.

It is a smaller, remote-controlled version, and is priced at only $43,000. We are going to set up a Gofundme page.

That wraps up another TrashWalking week. Our take:

• 77 Cents.
• Many downed tree limbs and a tree.
• 9 Balls.
• 8 Tools.
• 2 Roadkill, a squirrel and a mouse.
• 2 Kg of nitrous oxide.
• 2 Articles of clothing.
• 1 Chat with the 911 operator.
• 1 Unraveled silver ring.
• 1 Go-to-hell notice.
• 1 Rubber Ducky .
• 1 Urine bottle.
• 1 Expensive, cheap pair of sunglasses.
• 1 Expensive, cheap Starbucks cup.
• 1 Silent iPhone.
• 1 Cool destruction machine.

Have a great week and don’t forget to leave money scattered along our routes.