Stinking Emblems

Monday, April 7^th, 2025 – Safeway

We started the week with mild temperatures and moderate rain throughout the walk. It was fine, after all, you can only get so wet, and we did. Given that we had some warm weather over the weekend, we assumed we might collect some change at the drive-thru, but no dice, and no money either. We removed two roadkill frogs that couldn’t take the rain and headed for the higher ground off the roadways. There were a lot of earthworms heading that way too, but they couldn’t keep up with the frogs and barely made their way to the fog line. We may have stepped on a few, but not on purpose, and we did not count them as roadkill. No, we did not step on the frogs either.

We came across a tool, though.

It was a battery-operated Makita saw complete with case, battery and charger laying by a dumpster. It was a bit much for us to carry, and it was probably left by the dumpster for a reason. Even though we left it, it still counts as a tool find.

We saw some new tagging this morning.

And the littered spray paint can.

This fine citizen broke two laws in less than fifteen minutes, and for what? To emblazon his unreadable moniker on someone’s fence. He must be enormously proud to achieve his goal in life. Such stories he can tell his grandchildren, but we really hope he does not procreate.

We found a bat, the flying type, not the swinging type.

It is a “TY Puffies Beanie Balls Plush – HASTIE the Purple Halloween Bat” toy, eight bucks at Walmart. We’ll wash it and send it fluttering to Goodwill.

And, our first urine container of the week,

A McDonalds McUrine cup, the Minecraft edition. Funny, we thought it should look like this:

Tuesday, April 8^th, 2025 – Park-and-Ride

Today’s weather was cooler than yesterday and dry. It was one of the days we clean up the park-and-ride and we each have our assigned areas. Janet visited an area that she does not normally clean, and she found a lot of stuff.

First, she found money.

A dime and three pennies for thirteen cents. Then in the same area, two tools and another penny.

A screwdriver and a socket. Janet needs to visit this area more often.

We almost picked up two roadkill, except they were never alive.

They were more toys. A stuffed rabbit and a rubber pig. When the pig is squeezed, it produces a very realistic pig sound. Chuck may need to hang onto this one.

At the freeway on-ramp, a lost video monitor, about a 20-inch model.

It was not in good condition, and we carried it to a point where we can pick it up by car on Saturday unless someone else disposes of it for us. We’ll monitor the situation.

And finally, another urine container.

Just a standard issue, Model AMZ105 Water Bottle. Do Amazon drivers get these bottles issued to them as part of their equipment or do they need to purchase them? Do they get an employee discount?

Wednesday, April 9^th, 2025 – Safeway & 100th

Today was cooler, but still dry. We removed a roadkill rabbit from the street and found money.

This shows how desperate we are to find coins. The coin was in a crack at a bus stop. It has been there a long time, perhaps ten or twenty years. If this had been invested in the stock market twenty years ago, it would be worth almost a nickel today. Well, maybe not this today, but soon. We also picked up a tool.

A very nice Husky knife that we added to our collection in our TrashWalking Museum. The TrashWalking knives we’ve found now number eight. This does not count working utility knives, and knives we found that have been run over and nearly destroyed. We give the destroyed knives to a friend, a knife afectionado, who claims he can fix them. We have yet to see any evidence of a fixed knife.

Another McDonalds McUrine cup.

They need to move on to another flavor.

Thursday, April 10^th, 2025 – 160th to 124th Street

Today was a very quiet day, nothing to write home about, and very little for the blog. We came across no roadkill but at the Park-and-Ride, Janet picked up more change.

A dime and a nickel. We need to work on Janet’s picture-taking ability.

We picked up a Honda emblem.

There was no other car shatter-scatter around, so it does not seem to be from an altercation with another car. The guy’s Honda is now just an ‘Onda.’ Or he’s saying, “Where the ‘H’ is my emblem?” And the car is saying, “Emblem? Emblem? We don’t need no stinking emblems!”

Uh oh. Another car went over Dead Man’s Curve.

‘Dead Man’s Curve’ is just a nickname for a sharp curve about a block up Norway Hill from our house. As far as we know, at least for the last twenty-five years, nobody has died here. However, we now know of five cars that have gone over the the bank at this corner, and we reported three of them to the police, but not this one. All we have here are the tracks from where the vehicle was pulled out.

Friday, April 11^th, 2025 – 100th Ave NE

It had rained overnight, but this morning was dry. We removed two roadkill rabbits from the street, one in three parts, so should probably be counted as three, but we’ll let that go as one. We also picked up some money at the drive-thru.

A penny and a quarter. The money this week is stacking up to be a relatively good one, and “relatively” is a relative word.

We did find a tool of sorts.

Nothing exciting, only a tie-down strap.

Today was our once-per week-trek down 100th Ave NE and includes a leg up Simonds Road that Chuck normally traverses alone. Today, the schools are out for spring break, so we decided to mosey up the hill together and go farther than Chuck normally does. We picked up a lot of trash, including an old food container with some meat that, once opened, reeked to high heaven.

Being well aware of Janet’s proclivity toward leftovers, Chuck discreetly emptied the contents behind a bush. We’ll let you know if the bush survived.

At “Dead Man’s Curve,” we looked more closely at the scene.

It appears that the vehicle was a Honda. Or Onda.

Saturday, April 12^th, 2025 – Riverside Drive

This morning was cool and partly cloudy with a full moon. This was the view from the Bothell bridge over the Sammamish River.

We found no money and removed two roadkill rats. But we did find a tool.

A brand-new pair of gloves still tacked together. We almost had two tools, a pair of scissors.

But it was only a scissor.

On our way down to Riverside Drive, we picked up a badly battered Twisted Tea can.

It was full of twisted and, now badly addled tea. We emptied it and recycled the can.

This guy is at it again.

At a trailer park on Brickyard Road, someone likes shrimp which is ok. What is not ok is tossing the shells over fence onto the sidewalk and street. Next time we will gather them up and give them back to him over the fence.

Born 2 Win.

Yeah? If you were born to win, how come you lost your shirt at the park-and-ride?

We picked up a plastic card with “Natalie” on it. After some research, we found it was a clipboard from the VTech Play and Heal Deluxe Medical Kit, forty-five dollars on Amazon.

“Intended for ages 1.5-4 years.” Kids are learning to play doctor a lot younger than Chuck did when he was a kid.

That wraps up another week of TrashWalking. Our Inventory for the week,

• 52 Cents.  Money flowed all week, just not much of it.
• 7 Balls including four in one day.
• 7 Roadkill including a rabbit in three part “hare-mony“.
• 6 Tools, including our first ever power saw.
• 3 Toys, including a grunting pig.
• 3 Urine containers, including a Minecraft variety.
• 1 Tagging paint can.
• 1 Onda emblem.
• 1 Over-the-hill Onda missing a wheel.
• 1 Reeking box of left leftovers left over a bush.
• 1 Scissor.
• 1 Can of upset tea.
• 1 Winning tee shirt lost by a loser.
• 1 Natalie playing doctor.

Have a great week and remember, you don’t need no stinking badges.