Monday, December 30th, 2024 – Safeway
We started out the new week without any rain and picked up neither money nor roadkill, so pretty much a middle-of-road walk. And for the most part, it was a middle fo the road walk since there was so little traffic.
But we accidentally picked up a half bottle of cough syrup and a tool.
We spotted a beer can down a ravine and retrieved it. On the way back up we saw the orange label of more cough medicine. We keep finding empty bottles of this, but this is the first one that was half full. We think it’s probably kids trying to get a buzz off the alcohol in the cough syrup, but it doesn’t make sense because it clearly states it is “Alcohol Free” on the label. But these kids are a product of our public school system, so they read it as “Alcohol, Free.” And please don’t tell us you don’t get this joke.
Anyway, to make a long story longer, when we picked up the bottle, we spotted the very nice rachet combination 3/8th inch wrench.
Sheesh!
What a dip stick!
Okay, you may want to skip this and move on to tomorrow’s entry.
It looked like a couple of napkins and a kid’s disposable juice container. We picked up the napkins with our picker then picked up the bottle. There was no label, but there was a hard-to-read embossed lettering: “Saline Laxative.” Welcome to our Mondays.
Tuesday, December 31st, 2024 – Park-and-Ride
As we approached the new year, we had a nice walk this morning with cool weather, no rain and low traffic. As one motorist turned onto the freeway on-ramp, she yelled something out the window at us. We couldn’t quite make out what she said, but it was either “Happy New Year” or “Get off the #%$& road!” But she was smiling, so it was probably the former.
More lost credit cards.
We used to try to return these to the owner or contact the bank, but that proved to be a waste of time. Now we just shred them. At least give us credit for that.
At the freeway off-ramp, a vehicle dropped parts of a garage door opener installation.
The box had some brackets, wire, and packing material. The other items were coil springs used for some roll-up doors. They were heavy and we carried them across the street to the park-and-ride. It was a very uplifting experience for us.
Behind the bus stop, we found these items stuck together.
It appears there was an EKG used at the bus stop, probably by some EMTs helping a potential heart-attack patient. It’s good that we have EMTs available to help. It would have been better if they hadn’t tossed these behind the bus stop.
Well, some couple rang in the new year early.
A pair of women’s underwear at the park-and-ride.
Wednesday, January 1st, 2025 – Safeway & 100th
We wish you a happy and prosperous 2025. And ours started out happy and prosperous. There was little traffic and trash, but we did pick up some money.
A shiny quarter. And yes, we picked up the bottle cap too.
An empty Pepto Bismal bottle.
Someone celebrated a bit too much last night. Happy New Year!
Thursday, January 2nd, 2025 – 160th to 124th Street
We didn’t find more money today, so the prosperous part of the year may be over. But we may have the happy part to look forward to.
Someone tossed a dog ball out the window, and we know why.
It has the most annoying whistle in it. If you have an annoying acquaintance with a dog, we’ll give it to you so you can give it to them to get their new year off to a good start.
We also picked up a small, 0.11 oz bottle of Nest New York Perfume Oil.
Ten dollars on eBay. That’s only ninety dollars per ounce, but the shipping is free. Sounds like a deal to us.
Friday, January 3rd, 2025 – 100th Ave NE
Today was a bit chilly and breezy, but not bad, and we found some more money.
It’s only a penny but remember that a penny saved is not worth much. But then we thought we had found a dime.
But it was a token that stated, “A token of my appreciation,” and on the other, “Thank you for everything.” We are very touched, but we really would have appreciated the dime more.
But we also found a tool.
A 1/4-inch drill socket. We would still have appreciated the dime.
We found another small bottle of eye drops.
Lotemax Sm, 0.38 % Eye Gel used for post eye surgery pain. On Amazon, a five-ounce bottle is $265. This bottle is only 0.5 ounces. It must have been an economy surgery from the James B. Johnson LASIK and Veterinarian Clinic. But it is still cheaper than the Nest New York Perfume Oil.
We found two items of clothing today.
A woman dropped her Old Navy Sports Action Bra Top, and an eight-inch tall Serbian Soccer player left his jersey. Who knows? Maybe they hooked up.
So, someone rang in the new year with black balloons.
We hope it is not their view of 2025.
Saturday, January 4th, 2025 – Riverside Drive
Today there was light rain for the entire walk, but it was a relatively warm 40°F (4.4°C) so we were comfortable. We removed two roadkill rabbits but picked up a tool.
A drill extension, a bit rusty but serviceable.
Aww. Isn’t this adorable.
A key chain minus the chain. And the key.
We found a couple of drug-related items.
A discarded needle without a cap and a homemade bong using some gum, a straw and a water bottle. Now that’s smart.
On Brickyard Road, a bag of lentils.
At least we think they are lentils, they were not in the original packaging. We put them in a nearby trash can, so the bag will remain a mystery.
On the freeway off-ramp, we found another mystery bag.
We could tell there were some cans and a bottle, but we didn’t bother opening it, we put the hole bag in our recycle bag to be sorted at home.
Guess you could call this another mystery “bag.”
At the park-and-ride, a knotted condom with some liquid in it. No, we did not open it. We were not interested enough to solve this mystery.
Also, at the park-and-ride, we came across a pressure washer and what looks like a gearbox of some type.
The gearbox was greasy, so we assume a guy brought it to the parking lot to wash it off with the pressure washer so he didn’t mess up his own driveway. It’s a good plan. On Saturday, there is very little activity, he doesn’t need to clean anything up, plus they have free 120v outlets to charge electric cars. What else do you need? Uh, water?
Finally, also at the park-and-ride,
Two condoms and a bag from a weed shop. It was a real multitasking joint effort last night.
That wraps up another week, and year of TrashWalking. Our take,
- 26 Cents
- 4 Tools.
- 3 Mystery bags including a condom.
- 3 Articles of clothing including a bra and pair of panties.
- 2.5 Credit cards., approx.
- 2 Roadkill rabbits.
- 2 Balls, one annoying.
- 2 EKG sensors.
- 2 Expensive small bottles.
- 2 Multitasking condoms.
- 2 Drug tools.
- 1 Adorable key chain.
- 1 Dipstick, not the human type.
- 1 Saline laxative kit, used.
- 1 Garage door opener kit, minus garage door opener.
- 1 Token of appreciation.
Wrap-up of TrashWalking in 2024
As we start a new year of TrashWalking it’s time to look at some of the statistics we keep on our finds.
Garmin watch, walking statistics:
It also shows we took 5,024,695 steps. The ascent is mostly walking over Norway Hill five times per week.
As you may know, we collect the pop tabs from the beverage cans we collect, and we tend to fill a jar of them about every six months.
This is the pop tab jar we counted today. Washed and weighed, we have 1.44 lbs. of pop tabs or about 2300 pop tabs in the last six months, bringing our total for since we started collecting them in 2018 to 29,546 pop tabs. Check out the full details on our pop tab page.
Also, we count the money collected in our tip jar where we put the money we’ve found over the year. This year’s total is $73.54, not a great year. Our total since we started keeping count is $735.53. We don’t count things like gift cards we are given or that we find. The details of our money finds are on our money page. The sad part is, if you look at the number of hours we walked this year based on the Garmin activities, our hourly wage is about 8.6 cents an hour for the two of us. The minimum wage in Seattle is now $20.76. We should start flipping burgers at McDonalds.
Trash Walking 