N2O: It’s a Real Gas

Monday, February 24^th, 2025 – Safeway

We started the week with a rainy and blustery walk, but it was comfortable, and we found some money.

In a parking lot, we picked up a quarter and Janet found a penny at her favorite drive-thru. This is a nice start of the week, equaling the total from last week on our first walk.

We found a discarded Christmas bag with a note on it in Portugese: “Welcome to America.”

After spending a couple of months in America, he tosses the bag thinking, “This isn’t right!” and heads back to Rio.

At a dumpster near 100^th Ave NE, we found a box with two wine glasses and a table.

It looked like some guy is preparing for a hot date at the dumpster. We think the odds of him getting lucky are long, like from here to New York.

Tuesday, February 25^th, 2025 – Park-and-Ride

The weather again got in the way of our walking; this time due to wind. We live in an area of large trees that routinely lose branches or even fall in high winds. Today, the wind was gusting to 47 mph, so we canceled our walk.

Wednesday, February 26^th, 2025 – Safeway & 100th

The weather was much nicer today, warmer and no rain. We didn’t find any money, but did find a tool.

Okay, it’s a cake icing spatula, but it was used as a tool. Either that, or you do not want to eat the cake it iced.

At the construction project on 112^th Ave NE., a pile of construction material was being protected from the elements.

We think they need a bigger umbrella.

Yes, someone went radio-silent, losing his two-way radio.

The radio could be radio silent because it is out of range, but it could also be due to it being run over and crushed. We think the latter.

This is ominous, a carton for another 4.4-liter N₂O tank.

Last week we found four of these tanks including one in a box. This is not a part of that litter because it is strawberry flavored and the ones from last week were grape and watermelon. That means there is probably another loose canister out there.

We found a discarded five-dollar Lotto ticket.

We checked and it was a winner of three dollars. We don’t normally play the lottery, but, what the heck, we reinvested the winnings and, what do you know? We lost.

Thursday, February 27^th, 2025 – 160th to 124th Street

Today’s walk was comfortable, but longer than normal. We removed a roadkill rabbit from the street very near our house, and no, we were not the ones that hit it.

We picked up a pair of glasses making a spectacle of themselves.

They were readers, that looked relatively expensive and run over.

Another Junk Removal sign.

Perhaps we’ll contact them and offer to pay then $99 to remove all their signs.

One reason our walk this morning was long is we spotted a backpack that had been tossed over the freeway off-ramp barrier.

It was barely within reach of our picker and it took a while to haul it over the barrier. It was heavy, but we carried it about a block to a place where we could see what was in it. It was full of trash and some very old food, and most of the weight was due two large water bottles. About the only thing that didn’t qualify as garbage was a t-shirt and pair of underwear.

Given that they have probably been in the backpack with rotting food for several weeks or months, they were not salvageable. We left the backpack where it is partially-hidden and will pick it up with the car. We’ll definitely bring a garbage bag to seal it in.

Well, the the gayety continues. Another empty canister of laughing gas.

It might not be completely empty, there might be a chuckle or two left for us.

Near a clothing drop-off, people have been dumping nonclothing items, everything but the kitchen sink.

Oh, wait, there is a kitchen sink.

Thus ends our TrashWalking week. We needed to travel to Spokane, WA for a family visit. We always keep our eyes open for trash, but the only thing we saw was a spoon in a parking lot while walking to a restaurant for dinner.

We didn’t know if it belonged to the restaurant, but we left it on the table. Perhaps we’ll see it again.

Given that we missed a day due to the wind, and two days for travel, it was another short week. The inventory:

• 26 Cents, the same as last week.
• 3 Missed walks.
• 2 Items of apparel well past their expiration date.
• 1 Roadkill rabbit.
• 1 Spatula.
• 1 Remnants of a Dumpster Date.
• 1 Ball.
• 1 Silent walkie-talkie.
• 1 Laughing gas canister box.
• 1 Winning, then losing lottery ticket.
• 1 Unremoved junk removal sign.
• 1 Laughing gas canister without even a chuckle
• 1 Kitchen sink.

Have a great week and remember, N₂O is no laughing matter.