Last Tuesday (garbage night) one of my neighbors had put out a clear plastic trash bag filled with McDonalds Happy Meal toys. I was walking my dog with my mom when I saw it.
My first thought was “omg! omg! Free toys!” but then I remembered…
It’s uncouth to pick through your neighbor’s trash and carry it home on foot in broad daylight.
Our family eschews clutter.
I’m 30 so I probably wouldn’t want the toys, but I could share them with the babies in the family. But they are babies and these are small toys. And my mom would make me wash each one.
So I’m out walking yesterday and I’m sure I became the only person in the history of people ever who will walk home with her left arm in a purple cast and sling while her right arm is carrying a four foot high stuffed Tweety Bird she rescued from a trash can
Well it was last year, but my son found a bowling bowl when we were out on the local greenway. Closest bowling alley was miles away, so someone went through some trouble to move that thing.
I haven’t seen anything really noteworthy this week, but last week I was out wandering around in the desert. There’s always neat stuff to be found out there. The “weirdest” thing, I guess, was this bit of litter I came across in Barstow. The “best” thing? Hmm, maybe a pair of beetles mating alongside the trail at Carrizo Plain National Monument (the wildflower bloom there was pretty decent, too!)
An entire car. It was very surreal. About an hour into a little hike I came up on an old 50s-ish station wagon, half buried in leaves and sediment. I poked around a little and saw lots of whiskey bottles and stuff. Like all pieces of larger litter in the Western Carolina woods, it had its fair share of bullet holes.
I walk our two dogs twice+ a day, and we’ve seen some interesting urban wildlife… several skunks and possums, and a raccoon. Also, we’ve twice recently encountered a very fun and interesting cat. It doesn’t seem to realize it’s supposed to be afraid of our dogs (they’re Basenjis, so they’re maybe 25% larger than it, plus there’s two of them). So it sits there and arches its back a little, but doesn’t either run away or go into crazy aggressive scared mode. Instead it just waits until they get close, then sticks out its paw a bit, at which point my dogs (who don’t realize they’re supposed to be bigger and stronger than it) flinch like crazy. Repeat this until I get bored and wander off. And then, the cat FOLLOWS US! So I walk a half block away and then a quarter block back and the entire performance is repeated. This whole cycle happens 4 or 5 times. Very entertaining.
Well it wasnt walking but was driving and saw a dead fox by the side of the road. Stop’d and cut off the tail beacuse … well you know… wait for it … you can never get enough tail!
yeah i kill myself…
There’s a pair of black jeans in the ditch along my daily walking route. It’s been there for about 2 weeks. Not in bad shape for clothing found by the side of the road, and just laid out lengthwise, the way you might toss your jeans across the bed or something.
My friend and I found a cordless phone in the middle of the street. The battery cover had come off and was lying nearby. We put it on the sidewalk. Maybe somebody got mad and threw it?
A dead freshwater baby turtle.
He probably hatched, began crawling, and either went in the wrong direction (not toward the water) or got snatched up by a bird, then dropped.
I also found a humungous beigy-gray bird feather (vulture? pelican? not sure.)
It’s as long as my arm.
I was walking from the train station to my office on Friday, which involves a short jaunt through the woods, when I spotted some money lying under a tree. And not just money - a bill! And not just a bill - a $20! Sweet. I glanced around the area, but didn’t see any more.
I was walking home from work when, upon turning into the small courtyard at the entrance to my apartment building, I noticed that there were two severed pig feet laying in the road. Now, many Chinese people like to eat them some pig feet, but those are hairless and cooked and glazed with some sauce and hanging in a grocery store window. I thought at first that these hooves were a couple of small pieces of wood or something, but on closer inspection I saw that they were hairy, rotting pig feet. When I kicked them over I noticed that they were covered in ants, too. How did they get there? Obviously they weren’t prepared for eating…but who would just carry a couple of dismembered pig hooves around and then throw them out in a residential area? Drunk farmer? Satanic cult? Swine fetishist?
Also, yesterday, I passed by the downstairs dog restaurant (I’ve mentioned it before on here) while the delivery was being made: several skinless, bloody dog carcasses stacked in the back of a van. It used to shock me 10 years ago, now I just feel nothing. I asked if I could take a picture with my cell phone, but the guys told me to get lost.
I almost always come home with at least a few cents. Every year I total it up, usually find about $15/year. 