Three Rabbits and a Hawk

Monday, September 16^th, 2024 – Safeway

This morining’s walk was dry and cool. Due to last week’s excursion to Bend Oregon, we missed three days of picking up trash and we paid for it today. Half way through our walk, we had accumulated a cup stack of eleven cups.

We discarded them in a recycle bin. By the time we got home, we had acquired another six cups. There wasn’t anything big to deal with, just a lot of random trash and we needed to empty our bags at four locations along the route.

However, we finally had a significant money find.

At the top of the Tolt Pipeline someone dropped some change. Two quarters, three dimes, and two nickels for a total of ninety cents. And we also found a tool.

Okay, only a bungee cord, nothing to bungee-jump about, but it counts as a tool.

We found an apple ball.

But it was orange.

A hypodermic needle.

It was left without a cap by some miscreant. Fortunately, we had picked up a juice bottle to put it in until we got home where we put it in our sharps container.

We picked up another piece of jewelry.

It was a run-over metal ring, probably costume jewelry since it’s a one-size fits all ring. Yes, it didn’t have a nice ring to it at all.

Someone tried to give us the brush-off.

But we got the scoop anyway.

This was found next to a food truck. It’s melting fast, so they’re going to need more ice for today. And they should have a better place to keep it on ice.

Tuesday, September 17^th, 2024 – Park-and-Ride

This morning was warmer then yesterday. It was predicted that the aurora borealis might be seen, but the clouds refused to cooperate.

We did see the moon, though, so there is that.

Defying all odds, we found more money today.

At the island by the park-and-ride we spotted another quarter bring our total to over a dollar after only the second walking day.

We almost found a tool today.

We don’t know where the pliers are, but we have the rubber liners. We wouldn’t even try to get this past the TrashWalking judges. We couldn’t handle the humiliation.

We got the brush-off again today.

But we didn’t get the scoop, but on the freeway on-ramp, some jerk left us half a bag of jerky.

Being curious, we wondered how jerky got it’s name:

The name “beef jerky” comes from the word “charqui,” which is derived from the Quechua word ch’arki, meaning dried, salted meat. Indigenous peoples of the Andes, such as the Quechua, were among the first to make this type of preserved meat, drying and curing it to last longer. When Spanish explorers encountered this method, they adopted the practice and the name evolved into “jerky.” The English term stuck when beef became the primary meat used in this preservation process.

Other civilizations used salt to preserve meat, but the Quechua were the only ones smart enough to call it jerky.

Wednesday, September 18^th, 2024 – Safeway & 100th

We are halfway through the week and found more money.

Only eleven cents at Janet’s favorite drive-thru, but we’ll take it. On the downside, we removed a roadkill rabbit from the street.

We almost found a tool.

Another partial bungee cord like we found last week.

These could be two halves of the same bungee cord. Unfortunately, we tossed the one from last week. We could have taped them together and passed it off as a tool. We wouldn’t recommend it for bungee jumping or anything, but still.

We picked up another Toyota wheel cover.

It was in bad shape and got recycled. Actually, even good wheel covers get recycled. We used to keep the good ones, but we didn’t know where to take them.

Another discarded half-pack of Marlboro cigarettes.

For the past few weeks, we have been finding a lot of partially-smoked packs of cigarettes, always Marlboros. Someone really wants to quit smoking but can’t get over the hump.

Thursday, September 19^th, 2024 – 160th to 124th Street

Okay, we were getting a bit worried about the money trend this week. The first three days, we found $0.90, $0.25, and $0.11, headed into negative finds, and we do not like to give money back. Fortunately, we found more money today.

A very beat-up penny near the freeway. Exactly the same amount as yesterday. So it appears we pulled out of the nosedive.

We did find a tool, also.

A Husky fifteen-in-one screw and nut driver. But we did not find five of the eight parts, the handle two sockets, so a four-in-one, but the handle was missing a part making everything useless. So, we have a zero-in-fifteen tool on our hands.

At the park-and-ride, we picked up an article of clothing.

A nice knit hat, just in time for fall, also. In fact it did fall.

Also at the park-and-ride, another pack of Marlboro’s.

However it only had one unsmoked cigarette in it. Still, that’s like fifty cents worth.

We found a hubcap today.

This was a true hubcap, not a wheel cover, probably off of a truck. We recycled it.

We found a lost key fob and a key that went with it.

Both destroyed. So what happens when you are driving along and lose your key fob? Does the car keep driving? If it’s one of the smart cars, would it stop itself, back up and tell you to pick up the damned keys?

In the ditch along 116^th Ave NE, Chuck picked up another urine bottle.

After emptying it and dispatching the bottle into his recycle bag, Chuck was confronted with a spider web with a big spider in the center blocking his path. Chuck could have used his picker to remove the web and spider, but after some consideration about how much time the spider spent weaving the web, he climbed out of the ditch around the spider web and then went back into the ditch. After moving on, he realized he should have taken a photo and went back.

Unfortunately, the spider was no longer in the center but was heading out to the edge of the web to make sure it was secure after that big oaf disturbed it.

Friday, September 20^th, 2024 – 100th Ave NE

This wasn’t a zero-money day, but it was the next thing to it.

A single penny. And the week started so well.

We did find some tools, though. Kinda.

A caulking gun, run over and smashed, a tube of caulk, dried, run over and smashed, and a heavy plastic square, run over and smashed. They had a lot in common. They also went into nearby garbage and recycle bins.

Another tool we found was a knife.

It was not run over or smashed, but was severely abused. It’s supposed to look like this. We have a friend who is a knife afechinado. We’ll see if he can repair it for us.

We could call this another tool, but we won’t.

A pair of safety glasses. They are broken which kind of defeats their goal. But perhaps that is judgmental. Perhaps their goal is to provide a bad example to other safety glasses.

On the turnout on Simonds Road, someone dumped a bicycle.

We noticed that it was in bad condition. But when we dragged it out of the bushes and propped it up on some construction pylons, we found we were wrong. It was in really bad condition.

These signs have been popping up on Norway Hill.

This one was in a wooded area, “Drive like your kids live here.” We would drive like that, but we don’t have an ATV. And do your kids live in the trees?

We came to a fork in the road but we didn’t trust it.

It was at the very sharp corner on the road over Norway Hill. It was pointing over the bank into the ravine. Yes, we are sorry to report that this utensil spoke with, [are you ready for this?], a forked tongue. Hey, don’t blame us, we can only report our findings.

Saturday, September 21^st, 2024 – Riverside Drive

Well, the week started out great then faltered. We didn’t find any money today and we removed three roadkill, two rabbits and a hawk, only the third since we’ve kept records. We did find a tool, though.

A leather hole punch tool. A set of six goes for five bucks on Amazon.

We picked up two pairs of glasses.

A pair of safety glasses and a pair of readers, both in good condition.

Someone was planning for an early Christmas.

A 1980’s Reed & Barton Christmas tree ornament left at a bus stop. It’s probably an expensive family keepsake. Or not, twelve bucks on eBay.

We picked up a small thermos.

A Thermos 10-Ounce Funtainer, 28 bucks on Amazon. In it we found what it was about one-third filled with melted vanilla ice cream. We’ll let it go for ten bucks. Including the ice cream.

At the park-and-ride, someone left us some wine.

Barefoot Pink Moscato, $6.84 at Walmart. We’ll pass, but thank you.

Also at the park-and-ride another partial pack of Marlboros.

The third pack this week. Also, we found something we can really use.

A wristband. We get so tired of everybody asking to check our IDs when we purchase beer.

At the bottom of the Tolt Pipeline Trail on 112^th Ave NE, we found some condom wrappers but no condom.

He probably took it home to show his parents. “Ma! Dad! Guess what happened to me last night.”

As we left the house this morning, we found two balloons on 112^th Ave NE. Then, on the way back home, six more balloons.

Wait, they could have been condoms. The guy at the Tolt Pipeline must have really been happy.

That’s it for this week, our take,

• $1.38. A banner week with a weak finish
• 8 Celebratory “balloons.”
• 7 Balls including an apple and a pumpkin.
• 6 Mikes hard Lemonade cans.
• 5 Tools, mostly smashed.
• 4 Roadkill including a hawk.
• 3 Partial packs of Marlboros, a total of twelve on our recent count.
• 3 Pairs of glasses.
• 2 Hubcaps.
• 2 Brush-offs.
• 1 Scoop.
• 1 Cheap ring, smashed.
• 1 Article of clothing.
• 1 Urine bottle.
• 1 Disgruntled spider.
• 1 Lying fork.
• 1/2 cup of melted ice cream.

Have a great week and if you want to emulate the Marlboro Man, check out your local park-and-ride for some free cigarettes. “Smoke ’em if you got ’em”, and “field strip the butts!” [Sorry, for the veteran inside jokes.]