How to Catch a Bus

Monday, September 30^th, 2024 – Safeway

Today the temperature was a chilly 41°F (5.0°C) with clear skies. As the temperature drops, we keep adding more layers. Today, it was two shirts, a neck gaiter, our rain jackets for warmth, a pair of cloth gloves and rubber gloves. As it gets colder toward freezing, we’ll add a vest for warmth and electrically-heated gloves.

We removed a roadkill squirrel and found money.

A single, lonely penny. It just doesn’t make cents to us.

We found a pair of safety glasses.

Unfortunately, they look like they were used at a Black Friday sale.

We found a kid’s mouthguard.

Right, so when he breathes in and out the spinner will spin. That way, his opponent will know when the kid is tired. Great design.

We picked up a couple of pieces of apparel.

On the sidewalk we picked up a headband from a runner who lost it from speeding and a vest for a dog. We found it on Amazon.

It looks interesting. Wonder if they have one in our size. The furry collar sounds particularly interesting.

Tuesday, October 1^st, 2024 – Park-and-Ride

Today was a couple of degrees warmer than yesterday and we found neither money nor roadkill, so those cancel each other out. When we crossed the freeway, we saw that there was a new mystery sign installed.

Under the plastic, we could see that it appeared to be orange, so it’s a construction sign of some sort. There is a lot of construction going on, and there are a lot of temporary signs that get set up and taken down during the construction phases. But this one is serious. It’s semi-permanent and about ten feet tall. When it is unveiled, we think it will read something like “Warning! Major Disruption Ahead. Expect to be late for everything.” But we’ll see.

We find a lot of dropped glasses in all sorts of condition, but today we found two pairs within a block of each other.

The first was a pair of sunglasses that was almost complete except for a missing rim on one eye. The second was a pair of readers complete except for the missing lenses. So, if we work at it, we may be able to piece together a pair of FrankenGlasses, but there is not much demand for horn-rimmed sunglasses. But if you are interested, let us know and we’ll give it a shot.

On the NE 160^th St approach to the freeway, we found a folded up and run-over card. When we unfolded it, it was a Starbucks gift card.

We didn’t expect much out of it, but we always check the amounts left on discarded gift cards. Sometimes it pays off. There were ten dollars on the card. When we rece1ve gift cards, they are often Starbucks. We rarely go to Starbucks except when we are travelling. So, when we receive or find a card, we add it to our primary card which is ten dollars richer today. Thank you.

Tuesdays are our shortest walks of the week, and we made good time. However, as we were cresting Norway Hill, Kurt, a guy who grew up on the Hill saw us and stopped to shoot the breeze.

For about twenty minutes, he and Janet got into a political argument. The weird thing is they were both on the same side. Go figure.

Wednesday, October 2^nd, 2024 – Safeway & 100th

Today we found no roadkill, but did pick up some money at the new food truck on Juanita-Woodinville Way.

We are up to three cents for three days of walking. Our finances are not looking good this week.

Also, near the food truck someone dumped a bag of trash and a nice tee shirt.

It’s a Nike shirt with “Jordan Air” on it, so it’s got to be expensive. Goodwill will be so happy.

We found a piece of plastic that fell off some vehicle.

We put it in our recycling bag and took it home. Upon researching it, we found it was an RV sewage release valve. Just great. We also found what looked like a pill bottle.

It turned out to be a numbing cream for anal itching. It just gets better and better.

Thursday, October 3^rd, 2024 – 160th to 124th Street

Okay, the money situation got a bit better today.

We picked up a dime at the park-and-ride and a quarter in the gutter at the corner of NE 160^th St and 124^th Ave NE, thirty-five cents. That brings our daily average this week to an astounding nine-and-a-half cents. And there was much rejoicing.

We did find another gift card, our second this week.

Actually, it was a rewards card with three dollars on it. So, we could drive the thirty miles round trip for a free three-dollar cup of coffee. No thanks.

Friday, October 4^th, 2024 – 100th Ave NE

This morning was a bit warmer than yesterday, but that came with a possibility of rain. The weather was dry for the first two-thirds of our walk, then suddenly came a heavy rain. Not Mississippi heavy, but not the normal Seattle mist, either. We returned home thoroughly soaked. We found no roadkill and no treasures, well except for some money.

We found the dime at the bus stop by Safeway and another penny at Janet’s favorite drive thru. Eleven cents, but it could have been more. The drive thru forgot to take in their tip jar.

There was over three dollars in it that we could see. It was tempting, but we left it. We like to work for our money finds, not pilfer tip jars.

We picked up a lost phone stylus.

It was made up as a doctor, complete with green hair and a stethoscope for a tie. At least they sell enough for someone to buy it and lose it.

This is frustrating. We found a lost lock.

It was unlocked with no keys. This happens when someone opens their trailer and hangs the open lock on the hasp. After their work is done, they close the doors and proceed to the new job assuming the lock will stay in place. A bad assumption. Like Hitler assuming attacking Russia would be a piece of cake. Or like Putin invading Ukraine. A piece of cake. A friend went to Vancouver B.C. this weekend and sent us this photo of the urinal in a men’s restroom.

Open wide.

We picked up a dropped wheel cover.

It was in very good condition as far as lost wheel covers go. So, we selected a very nice recycle bin to toss it in.

We picked up a couple of articles of clothing today. First, a women’s vest that fell off a vehicle.

It was in good condition, so we will wash it and send it to Goodwill. We also found these. A woman’s (we hope) thong at a bus stop on Juanita-Woodinville Way.

That’s one way to get the bus driver’s attention.

Saturday, October 5^th, 2024 – Riverside Drive

Unlike yesterday, today was mostly clear with mild temperatures and we were treated with a very nice sunrise.

We removed three roadkill, a rat, a rabbit, and an opossum, all along Riverside Drive. We also found some money in the Bothell parking lot.

A dime making our total this week a very unrespectable fifty-nine cents.

A pair of bicycler’s glasses.

And, unlike the others this week, these were in good condition. We could not find any brand on them, so they’re probably cheap. If they were expensive, they would have been smashed.

We came across six items of clothing today.

A pair of men’s underwear, an apron, and a bandana on Woodinville Drive and a hat and Nike sweatshirt on Brickyard Road. Then, a first for us, a hazmat suit lost on the freeway on-ramp. It appears to be unused, but you never know.

We picked up a Nissan wheel cover.

It was in bad condition and got recycled. Even if it were in good condition, we’d recycle it.

The trash along Woodinville Drive is very bad, mostly from the construction workers rebuilding the interchange.

We are collecting at least five times as much debris since before the construction began including food wrappers, cigarette butts, and lots of empty and half empty water bottles. Fortunately, the construction area is relatively free of alcohol containers. Past the construction is a different story. We keep pulling cans and bottles out of the bushes. At one point, we pulled out six Buzzballz, three Truly Hard Selzer cans and a large Modelo bottle.

This looked interesting.

It was some kind of a leather medallion with a gold-colored chain to hang around one’s neck. Upon closer inspection we found that it was from the Suit Yourself Costume Co. so, it was a part of a costume of some type. Not that interesting.

At the park-and-ride, a box of food, some unopened.

There were some eggs, half eaten sushi, a jar of salsa and a large Gladware container. The soup was dried up, though.

We picked up two urine bottles.

One on the way down the hill to Riverside Drive and one on the freeway off-ramp. We are amazed by the dexterity of some people while driving on the freeway.

On the freeway on-ramp, we picked up a cloth bag and several pieces of broken plastic scattered near it.

After some research, we determined it was a manual spreader for spreading things like seeds and, evidently, snow.

We also found two packages of mole bait that mimics earthworms as shown on their website.

The fool! It’s eating a fake, poison worm. Any blind fool can see that.

That does it for the week, our take,

• 59 Cents.
• 20 Poisonous earth worms.
• 11 Articles of clothing including a thong and a hazmat to wear over it.
• 6 Mikes hard Lemonade cans.
• 5 Balls.
• 4 Roadkill including an opossum.
• 4 Pairs of glasses, one in good condition.
• 2 Gift cards.
• 2 Wheel covers, one good, and one bad.
• 2 Urine bottles.
• 1 Sewage valve.
• 1 Tip jar with money, left on the wall.
• 1 Putin where he belongs.
• 1 Piece of costume jewelry, literally.
• 1 Box of food from dad.
• 1 Snow spreader.
• 0 Tools.

Have a great week and if you know of a better way to flag down a bus, let us know.