Monday, November 6th, 2023 – Safeway
We are starting a new TrashWalking week, and it began poorly. Soon after our start, the skies opened up to give us yet another soaking rain. We found no money, no roadkill, and the normal amount of Monday random trash. We found little of interest because everything was wet and shiny and covered with leaves.
Near the 7Eleven, we came upon an owl on the ground making a meal of some rodent.
We tried to skirt around it, but it decided to take its breakfast elsewhere. As it flew away, we think we heard it grumbling about being disturbed. Well, if you hadn’t killed the rodent, we might have scored a roadkill. It goes both ways. And owls are supposed to be wise.
On our way back, someone left us some unopened food.
They probably read the ingredients:
“COOKED WHITE RICE (WATER, NATURAL VINEGAR [SUGAR, WATER, GRAIN VINEGAR, RICE VINEGAR, SALT AND BROWN SUGAR]), IMITATION CRAB [SURIMI (THREADFIN BREAM AND/OR BIG EYE (DIPHOSPHATE, TRIPHOSPHATE, POLYPHOSPHATE)), WATER, MODIFIED TAPIOCA STARCH, SUGAR, SALT, CRAB EXTRACT, FISH EXTRACT, SOY SAUCE, (WATER, SOYBEAN, SALT, SUGAR, ALCOHOL), ARTIFICIAL CRAB EXTRACT, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL CRAB FLAVOR, FLAVOR ENHANCER, COCHINEAL EXTRACT AND PAPRIKA COLOR], AVOCADO, CUCUMBER, PICKLED GINGER (GINGER, WATER, SUGAR, SALT, ACETIC ACID, CITRIC ACID, FRUCTOSE, MALIC ACID, POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVE)), WASABI (HORSERADISH, MUSTARD, CORN FLOUR, CITRIC ACID, FD&C YELLOW NO. 5, BLUE NO. 1), SEAWEED, SESAME SEEDS.”
Imitation crab, crab extract, fish extract, artificial crab flavor, and some other stuff we haven’t heard of. But what is cochineal extract? According to this site,
“Cochineal extract is obtained from the dried bodies of female Dactylopius coccus Costa insects (cochineal).”
It just keeps getting better. And, no, we don’t want to know what a Dactylopius coccus Costa insect is.
We think we know why they tossed it. We passed also, but we did pick it up. Chuck will need to keep eye on Janet’s cooking. She hates to waste any edible substances, and Chuck does not always agree with what is edible.
Tuesday, November 7th, 2023 – Park-and-Ride
We had a little mist to start with, but the weather was comfortable. Again, no money and no roadkill, but we did find a tool.
Okay, it’s a cheap little screwdriver, but we’ll take anything at this point.
As we started our walk, we found a key fob with no keys near the apartments on 112th Avenue.
It is about a quarter of an inch thick, a half inch wide and two inches long and seems to be gold plated. It is relatively heavy and is made of some metal that can be die cast and gold plated, but we don’t know what. Okay, we’re pretty sure it isn’t gold. Or perhaps this is a way to smuggle gold out of New York.
As we turned onto the freeway offramp, we saw a stopped car with a couple of people in it.
As we approached, they pulled out and left. Yes, and left a large water bottle on the ramp. The bottle smelled of gasoline, so evidently, they ran out of gas, walked to the Jackson’s Shell station, purchased a large bottle of water, dumped the water out, filled the bottle with gas and filled their car. We’re guessing here, but if they are running that close to the economic edge, it’s a good thing that we didn’t point out their burned-out headlight.
On the other side of the ramp, we spotted a bear.
We thought it was a balloon because it was caught in a small bush, but no, it was a stuffed animal. By now, we had picked up a car part, a gasoline jug and a large stuffed bear. We walked it over to a nearby parking lot and came back later and picked it up with the car.
Whew! We missed finding a urine bottle last week.
In case you did not realize it, we are creatures of habit. We expect to find money, roadkill, tools and yes, even urine bottles. So far this week, this is the only checkbox we’ve filled. Kind of pathetic, if you think about it, which we obviously don’t.
At the bus stop at the park-and-ride, not in it, mind you, we found two used pregnancy tests.
When we got home, we found that both tests were negative. We are happy when women who test for pregnancy at bus stops do not procreate.
Wednesday, November 8th, 2023 – Safeway and 100th Ave NE
This morning was comfortable with no rain, and we found some money.
A nickel at the service station, the first money this week. Last week we complained about being nickel and dimed. This week we would appreciate it.
U.C. Irvine Dad.
He probably lost the shirt off his back paying for the tuition.
And that’s it for today, except for Chuck’s vest pocket.
It wasn’t much better. We found a card worth one free beverage at a local church trying to compete with Starbucks. We may drop in sometime and redeem it and share the one coffee. We picked up some trash at the park-and-ride where someone cleaned out their car. It included his address on some junk mail. We would dump it back on his lawn except the address is for an apartment, so he would just complain about the management not picking up the litter.
A couple of writing instruments, half a pencil with “BlossomMontessori.com.” We couldn’t find that website, but from the phone number, it is the Little Blossom Montessori School in Aurora Illinois. The pencil is a long way from home, and we spent way too long researching it. Another TrashWalking rabbit hole.
A single bead, part of some viewing toy with cartoon pictures on it, and a cheap spider ring left over from Halloween.
Another brandless Chapstick-like lip balm. When we find these they are empty, so of no use to us. And finally, the smallest container of Play-Doh we have seen. “Hey Mom, look what I made.” “That’s nice, Ralphie, a full-scale model of an amoeba. We’ll buy you another one so you can move up to multicell organisms.”
Thursday, November 9th, 2023 – 160th to 124th Street
This morning was dry and colder, but not heated-gloves cold. We removed a roadkill squirrel from the street but found no money. But we did find this.
Score! A roll of toilet paper, and unlike most we find, it was unused. Don’t roll your eyes at us. Remember the start of the pandemic?
Another urine bottle.
The second this week and this one was full. Hope the guy had another bottle of water. It’s a never-ending cycle.
On the freeway off-ramp, another lug nut with a sheared-off stud.
At least it was the off-ramp and not the on-ramp.
Friday, November 10th, 2023 – 100th Ave NE
Today we did not see any roadkill but did find more money.
Two pennies, one at the gas station and the other at Janet’s favorite drive thru. This week’s money take is looking slim, but we are ahead of last week by a nickel, so the trend is in the right direction.
Near the 7Eleven on 100th Ave NE, someone dumped a large bag of trash in the bushes.
We dragged it out into the corner of the parking lot. Hopefully the 7Eleven staff will take care of it, but we are not holding our breath.
Another lost sole out on the streets.
Saturday, November 11th, 2023 – Riverside Drive
Our walk today was a trek for us. It was blustery with constant rain and gusty winds. Like Monday, we arrived home soaking wet. We do wear rain jackets, but they have been washed several times and seem to have lost their waterproof quality. On top of that, we found no money.
The wind was gusting to forty mph and much of our route was covered with wet leaves.
We found plenty of random trash including this.
Someone stuffed a Safeway basket full of trash and left it on the curb by the apartments on Woodinville Drive. When we dissected it at home, we found a shirt inside.
We have no idea what “baton” means on the shirt. It could be that the person participates in relay races, or they march in front of a band. Another Trashwalking mystery.
Also along Woodinville drive, we picked up a pair of shorts.
They look a lot like these on Amazon, twenty-three bucks. More stuff for Goodwill.
At a bus stop on Brickyard Road, hair clippers.
The Cut Buddy beginner’s clipper, forty bucks on their website. They have several images and videos showing men giving themselves a haircut. Uh, right. Does anyone remember the Flowbee commercials? And why would anyone be cutting their hair while waiting for the bus anyway?
Finally, we found a nice little lock.
It’s so small you might call it a lockette. And no key, of course.
That wraps up a rather boring week, our take:
- 7 Cents, a nickel better than last week.
- 7 Balls, almost one every day.
- 5 Mike’s Hard Lemonade cans. The Mike’s guy must be on vacation.
- 3 Articles of clothing for Goodwill.
- 2 Urine bottles.
- 2 Pregnancy tests, used.
- 1 Roll of toilet paper, unused.
- 1 Roadkill squirrel.
- 1 Disgruntled owl that took off with a roadkill.
- 1 Tool.
- 1 Small container of Play-Doh.
- 1 Hair clipper, portable.
Have a great week and remember to keep your powder dry.
Trash Walking 