Author: Chuckb

Monday, April 22^nd, 2024 – Safeway

After our walk on Saturday the weather turned beautiful, warm, dry and sunny. Then at 2 pm, within about ten minutes the temperature dropped ten degrees and the gusty winds started. This morning, the weather was dry and warmer again, but there was a lot of evidence of the wind aftermath along our walk with a lot of downed branches and a few downed small trees. We cleared what we could, but some were too big for us to move.

We didn’t find any roadkill today, but did find money.

At the service station, eleven cents and in a parking lot another dime. A moderately nice start to the week.

Along with the nice weather on Saturday followed by the high winds, there was a lot of random trash, but little of interest. We did find a crumpled pack of cigarettes.

“Okay, I’m done. I quit smoking… Again!”

A Wiffle ball did not make it over the fence… Again.

Tuesday, April 23^rd, 2024 – Park-and-Ride

It was an even better walk today with the weather still dry and a bit warmer, and later today, the temperature got within half a degree of 70°F (21.1°C).

We removed a roadkill rabbit from Juanita-Woodinville Way, and it marked a sort of milestone. We have been tracking our roadkill removals since July 2017, and this marks the 320^th rabbit. But it also marks the one-thousandth roadkill. Our statistics are here. We feel like we should buy it a beer, or carrot juice, or something. Posthumously, of course.

Not nearly as momentous, we also found money.

A single penny centered on a white line in the park-and-ride. Even though it was sitting on the white line, Chuck totally missed it, but Janet spotted it. Yeah, Janet finds the money and Chuck finds roadkill. It just doesn’t seem fair to Chuck.

We did find a tool that’s not a tool.

It is part of a pair of run-over pliers. We found another part of them last week. that we couldn’t count either. Perhaps if we find more pieces, the TrashWalking judges will relent.

Let’s check what has accumulated in Chuck’s vest pocket.

Starting on the left are the cards. We found a total of five credit cards that all except one were all run-over and broken up. Two were complete but broken in half. Of the ones we could read, none had expired. We shredded them.

There is a Marriot Bonvoy rewards card that, evidently was not extremely rewarding, then the card for Driver Steps to Save the Sale.

On the reverse side are the same instructions in Spanish. We couldn’t find anything on the Internet about this, so it’s another TrashWalking mystery.

At the top is a large Save the Date card for the wedding of Allara and Craig in Lake Tahoe. Well, hopefully not in Lake Tahoe but nearby. It didn’t take much to locate their wedding site to RSVP. Maybe we will. But there is also a registry. It would be fun to purchase a twenty-dollar gift and let them try to figure out who the hell to send the thank-you note to.

Then there is what looks like the daily tally for an establishment that sells lottery pull tabs.

From what we can tell, they sold $3.80 of Draw Game Net and paid out $10.00 in winnings for a net loss of $6.20. Somehow, we don’t think the State of Washington expected to pay for this activity. The negative receipt set off alarms that triggered a congressional investigation that contracted a consulting firm for $320,000 to determine the cause. But the cost to the taxpayers was only a total of $319,993.80 thus recovering the $6.20.

Below is a tree cookie cutter and some more Nerf bullets. Back to the top was a pen and a cigar.

The pen states, Do Great Things, but we doubt they meant smoking the cigar, but a good friend might disagree.

In the upper-right is a tag.

It was found along 100^th Ave NE where the construction is in progress and several trees have been removed. A while back along here we saw one of these tags on a tree and found that it was part of a Kirkland tree inventory. It looks like Kirkland’s inventory dropped by at least one tree.

At the bottom is another folded note.

Okay, funny, but not original.

Wednesday, April 24^th, 2024 – Safeway & 100^th Ave NE

It was a bit cooler and cloudier than yesterday, but still dry. We didn’t find any roadkill and found more money.

A quarter on the sidewalk, plus we found a tool.

And it is real tool, a 3/8^th inch, 4-inch socket extension.

Thursday, April 25^th, 2024 – 160^th to 124^th Street

Summer’s over in Seattle. Today was still warm, but wet. We had a constant heavy mist throughout our walk which counts as heavy rain in Seattle.

We removed another rabbit from the street but found more money.

Another quarter near a bus stop. It was hidden under some leaves, \nd we almost missed it.

At the park-and-ride, our first urine bottle of the week.

Costco Kirkland Urine for when you need a clean sample for your physical, procured from Buddhist monks in Tibet.

<Rant> At a 20-mph school zone on NE 160^th St, the city recently installed automated ticketing cameras that we consider speed traps. Yes, one of us recently had a run-in with one of them. They monitor the speed immediately after the 20-mph sign when folks are slowing down for the zone. And yes, we know the speed limit changes at the sign, but, in our view, this is the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. Or is it a measure of how much income the city can get?

Anyway, today we noticed a new camera watching a nearby intersection.

Anonymous Traffic Study Equipment. It probably calculates the rate-of-return on installing an automated red-light camera. </Rant>

At the 7Eleven, we were approached by a Sanitation Truck driver.

Unfortunately, the camera did not get the best shots. She said she sees us often on the way to work and thanked us for cleaning up. We should really be thanking her for the important job she does. We had vests, so she asked if we wanted a yellow shirt like hers. Well, why not? We appreciate all the gifts that folks give us. But then, we need to use them too.

Friday, April 26^th, 2024 – 100^th Ave NE

This morning was warm and misty again. We removed a rat and a frog from the roads, but Janet mined money from her favorite drive-thru.

A very beat-up dime. We seem to be on a roll this week with a current total of eighty-two cents. Still looking to break a dollar this week. We’ll see.

One of the first things we found was a switch of some sort.

It appears to be a new brake light switch for a Toyota, so if you see a Toyota with the brake lights not working, let us know.

This looks like a cigar, but it is made of iron or steel.

It could be a tool of some kind and we are tempted to call it a punch, but the TrashWalking judges would have dismissed it. You need to choose your battles.

A set of trailer keys.

At least we assume they are trailer keys. We recognize the cylinder as part of a trailer hitch lock and the wrench is stamped with Trimax that produces trailer hitch parts. Not sure we would want this much stuff on our keyring, though.

And speaking of keyrings, we found this today.

On the left is a latch with a reel in it so you can easily extend your keys or what have you, without losing them. The guy with the trailer keys could use this. However, it did not help whoever lost these either. Attached to the reel is a keychain flashlight. We’ve found a lot of these mini-flashlights, typically giveaways, and they are worthless. They typically have AAAA or button batteries that don’t last long, and even with new batteries the light is very weak.

But this one has a USB-C charging port. After some research it is a Nitecore Tip SE keychain flashlight, thirty dollars on Amazon. After we charged it up, the output was fantastic for a light of this size. A review of it is here. This is definitely a keeper. Sorry Goodwill.

We walked by a book bush and a new book had bloomed.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid – No Brainer. We found the book on Amazon for eight bucks. Don’t they know these just grow on trees?

A sad story. We have been walking along 100^th Ave NE construction zone and have been watching a small windmill in front of a daycare center slowly deteriorate.

So much for tilting at windmills.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. There is a Landscaping company on our route that has a hedge along the street next to it. We routinely pull beer bottles and other trash out of the hedge.

We are certain that the landscaper employees are hanging around after work for a beer and tossing the empties into the hedge. We need to have a talk with the owners. We’ll let you know how that works out.

Saturday, April 27^th, 2024 – Riverside Drive

Today was a warm 50°F (10.0°C) but rainy and blustery on the entire walk. But it was worthwhile because, yes, we found more money.

A quarter and two pennies, all in different areas. That makes our total for the week one dollar and nine cents. We also found money every walking day this week which seldom happens.

We found that there had been more recreating at the Sammamish River Park.

And more swearing off smoking in the Bothell parking lot.

Now, if they would only swear off littering.

Someone did some mowing and uncovered a sign.

We’ve seen the sign before. It is advertising a Christmas tree lighting on Friday, December 10^th. The last time Friday was on the tenth was in 2021, so the sign has been laying here for two-and-a-half years. We had sent an email to the church but did not receive a response. The next time the date will be correct is in 2027, so perhaps they plan to come back then and prop the sign up.

We found a flip without a flop.

It is left footed, and most people start walking by stepping out with their left foot, so this is a flip. If it had been right footed, it would have been the flop. You’re welcome.

Under the trees where we have found new blue jeans and underwear for the past few weeks, we found more clothes.

Two Longjohns and a shirt. They were tied around some of the tree branches. We don’t know why. Another mystery.

At the park-and-ride, another urine bottle.

Costco must have them on sale.

On the freeway on-ramp, a pair of sunglasses.

They are Oakley sunglasses in exceptionally good condition. They are out of production, but one site shows them out of stock, but still had the price at about $145. Woof!

That wraps up our walking week. Our take this week,

• $1.09
• 11 Balls, mostly returned back over fences.
• 4 Roadkill, surpassing 1,000.
• 3 Items of clothing all tied to a tree.
• 3 Half-smoked pack of cigarettes.
• 2 Urine bottles.
• 1 Tool, a bad week for tools.
• 1  Mikes Hard Lemonade can.  The weeds are getting higher.
• 1 Set of trailer keys.
• 1 Pair of expensive sunglasses.
• 1 Failed ball toss.
• 1 Save the Sale card.
• 1 Save the Date card.
• 1 Tree tag.
• 1 Cool flashlight.
• 1 Wimpy kid.
• 1 Flip, but no flop.

Have a great week, and remember Costco has a sale on urine.