Trapped!

Monday, October 21^st, 2024 – Safeway

Well, our week started not-so-exciting with no roadkill and no money. On the brighter side, there was no rain either, though it was not that bright outside. We only came across two items of interest, and even then, not that interesting.

A lapel pin with a person’s height listed on it. It’s only 5/8th of an inch across. You would think if it was pinned that high above the rest of us, it would need to be much bigger, especially to read the website, www.standtallsteve.com. He appears to be a motivational speaker for teachers to help get through to students. Sounds good, but it helps if you are six-foot-seven.

The second thing was a trap.

We were startled by this. Someone set up a small animal trap with tarp over it. No animal was in the trap and the door was open. There was also wire leading to a small solar panel.

We’re not sure what the power was for, but we left it alone. We may examine it further on another walk.

Tuesday, October 22^nd, 2024 – Park-and-Ride

This morning was supposed to be cool and rainy, but it was cool and dry, but we’re not complaining. As we passed yesterday’s trap, it was undisturbed, so we left it undisturbed.

Early in our walk, we picked up a water bottle.

A 40-ounce bottle that sells for $37 on Amazon. So, it will be for sale in the next few weeks at Goodwill for about six bucks in case you are interested.

At the Tolt Pipeline Trail, someone tossed a bong.

It was a small one as far as bongs go and it was a little chipped up, but it was complete, including the bowl, which is rare. We’ll wash it and add it to our bong collection. Yes, we have a bong collection, and never used one.

A kid’s pirate trinket.

Probably a toy from a McDonalds Happy Meal. But what?

Ten Bucks?? It sounds more like Pirate Booty to us.

It was a dark morning, and we are going through a lot right now.

But then Janet had a bright idea, and we headed happily home.

Wednesday, October 23^rd, 2024 – Safeway & 100th

We are halfway through the TrashWalking week, and we have good news and bad news. The good news is, we have not encountered any roadkill so far. The bad news is, we have not encountered any money either. But we found a tool.

A comb to sift through our trash. No, we’ve tried this before and the judges will not allow it. So, we have not encountered any tools this week either.

It wasn’t raining, so we found an umbrella we didn’t need.

The umbrella had the initials RTC on it, but we didn’t know what that meant until we arrived home and opened it. “Redmond Town Center,” a large indoor/outdoor mall in Redmond, Washington. The umbrella is meant to be borrowed and used while shopping, not while walking home. So, a shopper was walking home, then, after walking seven miles, realized he had nabbed the umbrella and makes the decision to toss it in the bushes for us to find. It’s now in the Goodwill pile. Let them deal with it.

Some kind soul left us some spaghetti for breakfast.

We really appreciate this, but Chuck really prefers white sauce.

Today, we took a closer look at the trap we found earlier.

We took a photo of the inside. It had some rags, a saucer of water, and on the other side, a camera! After some research, we tracked it down to this model. A solar-powered trail camera with cellular access. So, we probably got caught on Candid Camera. For you young folks,

Enjoy.

Thursday, October 24^th, 2024 – 160th to 124th Street

For finding no money and no roadkill, today was an interesting walk. Okay, we gave away our opening line, but we did find a tool.

But a real tool this time, yet another socket. This is called a spline socket, which, we think, is the first one we’ve found, and frankly did not know what one was. We are familiar with 6- and 12-point sockets, but the spline is new to us. This video goes into great detail about the pros and cons of each.

And yes, we spent way too much time on this. We tossed it on our socket jar.

We found another wallet.

We found it at the edge of a parking lot and it was stripped of its contents, so it could be either stolen or tossed. It was in relatively good condition considering the dirt and moss, but it will not make it to Goodwill. This was the eighteenth wallet we have found on our walks.

We found this.

It put a spring in our step.

Last week, we awakened some guy sleeping in his car and got accused of being car prowlers. Today, his car was parked in the same general area.

We’re not sure if he was in the car, sleeping or hiding in wait, but we kept our flashlights low and continued to pick up the trash. The SWAT team still hasn’t shown up.

At the park-and-ride, we picked up two cylinders of cream chargers.

They are large and very heavy, one weighing in at eight pounds. They sure must ice a lot of cupcakes at the park-and-ride.

We picked up a condom near the freeway off-ramp.

We are still amazed at the agility people possess while driving on the freeway.

We picked up two urine bottles.

One was near the car prowler accuser’s car and another on the freeway off-ramp. Sorry to end today with bodily fluids.

Friday, October 25^th, 2024 – 100th Ave NE

We knew this was coming. The temperature today dropped into the high thirties at 39°F (3.9°C) and we added another layer of clothing. We kept moving and were mostly quite comfortable. We removed two roadkill from the streets, a squirrel and a large rat. But we also found our first money of the week.

A single penny. It’s not looking good this week unless we strike it big tomorrow. But we did find a tool.

A tie-down strap. Not very interesting, but a tool all the same.

A sidewalk rug.

It was very dirty. We’ll report it to the city to have it cleaned. We have enough to deal with all the trash, we shouldn’t have dirty sidewalk rugs.

Yet another urine bottle.

This one was on Simonds Road.

Saturday, October 26^th, 2024 – Riverside Drive

Today was warmer than yesterday with a slight rain that stopped an hour or so into our walk. We removed a large frog from the road and found no more money, making this a miserable money finding week.

We came across two chairs at separate locations.

There were no “Free” signs on them, but we assume they were set out for the taking. At least we have not heard of any Halloween parades occurring here this year.

We often find pieces of credit cards that have been lost and run over. And every once in a while, we find two pieces of the same card and try to fit them together.

It doesn’t quite look right. Maybe with a little tape…

At the park-and-ride, we found a nice piece of jewelry.

It’s an inch-and-a-half tall and seems well made. But there is no pin or chain hole. Perhaps that’s why it got lost. It will go into our found jewelry collection.

Also, at the park-and-ride, we picked up a rolled-up blanket.

Inside were three empty bags and an anti-glare visor for a car.

The visor is broken but it seems like a good idea. There are

several of them available online at a reasonable price. It might be worth a try for bright, sunny days. We would order one, but since we are in the Seattle area, we won’t be able to test it now until Spring.

What the… another bodily fluid.

Someone couldn’t hold it any longer. Four in one week may be a record.

That wraps up another TrashWalking week. Our take:

• 1 Penny.  Almost being as bad as being shut out.  Almost.
• 4 Urine bottles.
• 3 Roadkill including a large frog and a fat rat.
• 2 Tools.
• 2 balls, both returned to their respective playgrounds.
• 2 Very large bottles of Nitrous Oxide.
• 1 Not-very-motivational pin.
• 1 Online trap.  Say “Cheese!”
• 1 Expensive pirate.
• 1 Bright idea.
• 1 Bag-o’-Spaghetti.
• 1 Wallet with complimentary moss.
• 1 Piece of pineapple jewelry.
• 1 Large water bottle.
• 1 Broken water bong.

Have a great week and remember to keep your trap shut and online.