Chickens Eat Rocks!?

Monday, May 26^th, 2025 – Safeway

We started the new week with a light mist, no money, and some roadkill. Two rats and a squirrel. Not a promising start. We found a tool, though.

A used paint brush. Still not a promising start.

Last week, at the 7-Eleven intersection, we found two credit cards belonging to Kimberly, which were close together.

Today, we found a third. Perhaps she tried to purchase a Big Gulp coffee and got all three cards rejected. We shredded them.

We found an object that looks like a key of some sort.

Google thought it was a guitar pick, but we don’t know, it just didn’t strike a right chord with us.

We picked up a total of six balls today and tossed all but one back over fences, though we don’t know if they were the right fences. The one we didn’t see a home for was this.

It is about the size of a golf ball, made of plastic, and has a seam that looks to be openable, but we could not readily get it open. ChatGPT thinks it could be a kind of golf training aid designed to split apart on impact, but we’re doubtful. We may try to crack open the mystery by cracking open the ball and reporting back. Unless it’s an alien egg as in “Alien.”

In that case, we will most likely not report back.

Today is Memorial Day, and as usual, the traffic was almost nonexistent.

There is an annual charity event, the Seven Hills of Kirland bicycle ride, which is hosted by the local Kiwanis Club and other sponsors. We normally see two or three bicyclists during our walk who have started early. However, we did not see any today. The race starts at about 7:30 am, which is about the time we got home on our walk. The route passes by our house, so for a couple of hours, we saw groups of bicyclists travelling up Norway Hill.

Someone left a mirror by a dumpster. What the heck,

Selfie time!

At the bottom of Norway Hill, some patriots planted two flags.

Today is not about roadkill, lost balls, or litter. It’s about honoring the courageous men and women who gave everything for our country, our freedom, and the values we hold dear. Please take a moment to remember their sacrifice.

Tuesday, May 27^th, 2025 – Park-and-Ride

What a turnaround. Today was warm with clear skies, which made for a pleasant walk. We have a bit of a rivalry between us. Janet seems to find the most money, but the drive-thru is on her side of the road, so she has an advantage. But today, Chuck found a dollar bill in the gutter, yes, that is where his mind is.

Then a little later, Janet found a quarter in the street, but Chuck was still ahead by seventy-five cents. As we were nearing home, Janet spotted some change in the gravel near some mailboxes. She scooped it up and carried it the rest of the way home, where she counted it. Seventy-six cents. And, yes, Chuck did a recount.

The hazards of TrashWalking. We found this toy figurine.

<RabbitHole> We had no idea what it was, but with the help of Google, we learned way more than we wanted. We haven’t seen the movie, but this is a character from the Disney movie, “Moana.” According to the Internet, “The chicken in Moana is named Heihei, a pet rooster that belongs to the main character, Moana. He’s known for being dim-witted and often gets into trouble, but he’s also a loyal companion and often appears alongside Moana throughout her journey.”

Then, evidently, sometime in the movie, the rooster is seen eating a rock, eliciting a villager to say, “I’m curious about that chicken, eating the rock. I mean, he seems to lack the basic intelligence required for pretty much… everything.”

At one time in Chuck’s dim past, he lived on a farm in Mississippi that had chickens, and they do eat rocks. Again, from the Internet, “Chickens eat gravel, small stones, and even sand. They do this to help them digest their food, as they don’t have teeth to chew. They swallow these materials, which then sit in their gizzard, a muscular organ, and help grind down food.” And sadly, Chuck has actually eaten gizzards.<\RabbitHole>

At the park-and-ride, we picked up some food.

No, not for breakfast. We found two boxes of Safeway Hot Chicken Pot Pie. One was half-eaten and the other was unopened. Not a great endorsement for Safeway’s ready-to-eat food.

Someone lost a light. A very annoying light.

It’s only about two inches high and glows in seven assorted colors. We found it on Amazon. It is being sold as lights for car interiors and other places one might want some mood lighting. It has some positive features: it’s inexpensive, has seven color variations, and has both a solid-on mode and a cycle through all colors mode. Great features, no documentation.

And the bad features: it has one touch-sensitive button. Pick it up, and the light goes on. Move it, and the light color changes. We found it is also sound-sensitive. If it’s off and it hears a noise, the lights go on and off, changing color each time. If you carry it in your pocket, it will randomly cycle on, wearing down the battery. Very annoying. We are going to pick someone who irritates us and give it to them.

Then we found this item.

At first, we were confused by it, but we used Google to look it up. It’s called a map. We’ve seen these things in malls, but this one didn’t have a “You Are Here arrow.” Anyway, we tried to fold it up, but it became a 3-D topographic sculpture.

Wednesday, May 28^th, 2025 – Safeway & 100th

Another nice morning walk with a clear sky and warm temperature. We picked up more money.

A dime at the food truck and a quarter at an intersection. All Janet, of course.

A meat stick.

It could’ve been bait for a trap. Chuck went for it, but Janet held him back. She pictured him tied up in a nondescript white van, nursing a salami hangover. Then she thought, why not?—and let him go. It wasn’t a trap after all.

We picked up a wheel cover from a murdered-out car.

We learned a while back that a murdered-out car has been converted to all black.

So, if you see one of these driving around with one shiny wheel, let them know we have their wheel cover.

At the Safeway entrance, someone lost a couple of ditty bags.

A quick look showed they contained some clothing, food, and other odds and ends. When we got home, we found that both bags contained the same items.

Hat, socks, neck gaiter, combs, etc. So, these were bags filled to give to homeless people. They were found where beggars stand at the Safeway entrance, so someone was begging, and a good Samaritan gave them the two bags filled with clothing, toiletries, and food. Obviously not what the beggars were after.

Thursday, May 29^th, 2025 – 160th to 124th Street

Yesterday we had a high of 86°F (30.0°C) and today, it’s fifteen degrees cooler. Welcome to Spring in Seattle. We had some moderate rain this morning when a weather front ran over us, but it was still a warm morning.

We each found one penny. At least Chuck tied Janet today.

We really dislike these Clothes-and-Shoes drop off bins.

People pretend not to read the signs and leave all kinds of junk. Or they think the collection agency will want the item.

“I’m sure little girl will love this doll coffin.”

We found the required urine container.

It’s always a tense week until we find one.

It finally died.

A late 1950s Hotpoint refrigerator set out for pick-up. This refrigerator ran for seventy-five years. We’ve purchased three refrigerators in the last twenty-five years. Such progress. Of course, the new one has filtered air and water, crushed, cubed, and spherical ice, and is connected to WiFi. This old one just kept the food cold.

This weekend, we were looking for something to watch on Netflix and saw a listing for “Barbie.” We hadn’t seen it, but it had good reviews, so we gave it a try. It was a clever and entertaining movie. Coincidentally, we found her tutu today.

Ken’s Dreamhouse date went better than expected.

Someone lost their company badge and needed a temporary one.

Then they lost the loaner. This is not going well. But perhaps we are misinterpreting this. This could be a badge for an antisocial employee.

Friday, May 30^th, 2025 – 100th Ave NE

Right. Back to nice weather. We removed a messy roadkill rabbit from the street. It required three trips. But we also picked up a quarter at the drive-thru.

Janet found it, of course.

Across from the 7-Eleven, we came across another Safeway shopping cart.

It contained some food wrappers and a couple of unopened energy bars, as well as a pair of new sunglasses. Twenty bucks at Walgreens. This cart has a warning tag that it is equipped with a lock-up wheel to keep the cart from leaving the parking lot. This one had two locking wheels, and neither worked. They need a different method, tasers or pepper spray come to mind. We pulled it a mile back to Safeway.

The crew of a fast-food restaurant forgot to empty the bin.

But the crows helped them out.

No.

Someone left us a land mine.

If it had exploded, it would have sent confetti everywhere. We carefully squeezed it by the stem, stretched it out, and with sweat running into our eyes, cut its neck and let the air out slowly, disarming it.

It was a tense moment.

Someone lost control and ran into the ditch.

He didn’t replace the divot.

Saturday, May 31^st, 2025 – Riverside Drive

Another nice day for a walk this morning, with no roadkill and found money. At a bus stop located at the top of Brickyard Road, there was no trash receptacle, so we began tying a large plastic bag to a nearby fence post. Each week, we empty the bag. Today, when we looked into the bag, we saw a cup with a lid on it.

On the lid was a dime. We pulled out the cup and captured the dime. We carefully emptied the rest of the bag and found another dime and a penny. Then, when we were picking up some cigarette butts, we spotted a very corroded penny in the dirt. We found twenty-two cents, AND IT WAS ALL CHUCK, not a single penny from Janet. Janet still found thirty-nine cents more than Chuck for the week. But Chuck ended the week a winner and will gloat until Monday.

We found two more urine bottles today.

If we ever find more urine bottles than money, we’ll quit.

We made an eggs-traordinary discovery.

To make an omelet, you need to break a half-dozen eggs.

With that, we wrap up another TrashWalking week. The inventory:

• $2.85, mostly found by Janet.
• 12 Unopened food packages.
• 10 Balls, including an alien’s golf ball.
• 9 Items of apparel.
• 6 Eggs mostly uncracked.
• 4 Roadkill, including a messy rabbit
• 3 Pairs of sunglasses, two usable.
• 3 Urine containers.
• 2 Ungrateful beggars.
• 1 Tool. A measly, dried-up paintbrush.
• 1 Credit card, Kimberly’s third.
• 1 Selfie.
• 1 Rock-eating chicken.
• 1 Annoying light.
• 1 Unfoldable map.
• 1 Murdered wheel cover.
• 1 Doll coffin.
• 1 Seventy-five-year-old refrigerator.
• 1 Tutu, Barbie-sized.
• 1 Lost, Lost Badge badge.
• 1 Disarmed balloon.
• 1 Giant divot.

Have a great week, and don’t feed your pet rocks to your pet chickens.