Elle

Went looking for returnables again today, mainly because it was cool today. Kinda did my normal route backwards. But before I did that, I went down Ochoco, stopped by the Oregon liquor license place again, found like six beer cans in their trash. From there I tried to get this one beer can that eluded me last time because it's behind a fence in an industrial area. But even with the grabber, I couldn't get hold of it long enough to get it closer to the fence. I may need a long string with a hook at the end to grab hold of the pull tab or the opening, to finally get it. Not a sharp hook, just some kind of hook.

From there, I went over to the MAX stop, checked the trash cans there, went one stop over to Bybee. Walked from there to the can box by QFC, went down another block to two more of the can boxes and checked those. Then walked down Milwaukie Avenue checking can boxes along the way. Eventually turned right towards 13th and went along 13th checking those can boxes. Then turned left onto Tacoma, right onto 17th, and home from there.

Today was unusually lucrative, especially since I had gone can-boxing last night. When I counted them all, I found I had 42 of them! That's $4.20 worth! Not quite twice as many as last night! The almost-full green bag from yesterday is now entirely full and ready to drop off, and a new green bag is half full already.

I haven't been keeping count every time I go out, but every time I go out, I usually come back with at least three to seven returnables, even on days I'm going out for things other than looking for returnables. Today I went out can-boxing at 8:30 PM because I didn't want to go out when it was in the 80's, and by 8:30 it was down to 76 degrees. It was light enough to be going on with for most of that. I didn't quite finish my usual route, because I had a few bucks left to get some cereal and milk at QFC, so there's three on that street that didn't get checked tonight because I went into QFC instead.

Despite that, I still ended up with 23 returnables ($2.30) from tonight's search, and now the current green bag is almost entirely full. Planning to go out tomorrow morning to search for more returnables, when it's still decently cool.

One thing that happened back when I had my accident on the e-scooter was that I bled all over this white and pink sun hat that I have that I like to wear because grabbing the thing from flying off my head was what made me have the accident. And only a couple days ago did I finally get around to trying to get the blood out with hydrogen peroxide, but that didn't work; the blood stains are still there so I need ideas for what to do to get the blood stains out. Mostly it's on the ribbon and one of the flowers and part of the hat itself. I don't think that I could put this hat into a laundry machine for a number of reasons.

I went out for another returnables walk today because it was perfect summer weather at least at the beginning, being around 76 or 77 at first. I wore a red mesh shirt with its mesh holes being a large caliber, and my favorite black short skirt. I started out by checking can boxes along the way to dropping off another full green bag of returnables at New Seasons Market. Continued up the usual way (13th) this time to the bend in the road with another can box by it. Didn't find any returnables in that can box, but there was one on the ground not far from that one, by a picnic table. From there, I went along that road (Bybee, I think?) to Milwaukie Avenue and went south a couple blocks along that road for a few I knew about, then back the other way to get the three on the crossing of Milwaukie Ave and Bybee. Went to the one by QFC and the two a couple blocks past that.

Then, because a couple days ago I had earned a bus pass on my HOP card, I took the bus #19 over to the stop just before the MAX station on Bybee, checking a can box there. (Empty.) Walked up the hill to the MAX stop, checked garbage cans there and on the MAX train platform. There was a delay for the MAX because of a collision, so I abandoned my original plan of checking every MAX stop and instead went back upstairs to the 19 stop and poured water on my head, arms, legs, and shirt because I was hot and needed to cool off. (I had a very big water bottle with me; for all I used it today, it's still not empty!)

Took the 19 to the part of Woodstock over by the Bi-Mart and the Safeway there, checking garbage cans again all the way down to 52nd, where I got on the 71. Got off by the Grocery Outlet on that route to check a couple more can boxes, then walked down to this convenience store and got a pop just 'cause. Got back on the 71 from there, got off to take the 33 back to Milwaukie (the suburb), wandered around there a bit checking trash cans. I was intending to walk along the 34's route for a bit, hop the 34 to another part of its route closer to home, and meander around there a bit before going home, but I remembered the 34 only runs on the weekdays and this was Saturday. So I took the MAX to the same area instead, and proceeded from there. There's this spot by Ochoco that can be good for returnables because there's dozens of semi trucks and/or their trailers parked there. You just have to avoid the ones filled with piss.

From there, I went to this building that's for the Oregon liquor licensing organization thingy, checking a garbage can by their front door. It had several beer cans in it, and I was oddly surprised by this, though maybe I shouldn't have been. Anyway, from there I went home and found nothing else between there and home.

I have to say, today I had a very unusual amount of stamina. Though I didn't record any part of the trek because my cellular data is used up for the month and I forgot to grab the smart watch, given how much more I walked than my usual route today, I would estimate I walked probably eight miles in total.

Now of course for the returnables total: Sixty! Yes, a total of six dollars' worth of returnables in one day, which is possibly a record for me. And because I don't have mileage stats, have these photos of how loaded my cart was:

( Under the cut because there are largeish images, including a selfie with my new sunglasses. )

Also went on a similar walk last Thursday, after picking up my new sunglasses at Brooke's, since I had forgotten them there when I left on Wednesday after our TV night. That one involved wandering around the shopping area up between the Ikea and the airport. Found a bunch in that park there, and the trash cans by the restaurants, and also outside the Ikea in a returnables box, and even a couple inside the Ikea because I went in to use the restroom and to get a quick bite to eat. I don't remember the returnables count from that day, but probably between 10 and 15 at the most. Also didn't have any recordings of the mileage that day.

Oh, and yesterday all I did was I went to the library down in Milwaukie with my new-to-me laptop and tried to write because I hadn't been writing for about two or three weeks. Only ended up doing some notes and planning for a chapter, but it took me a few hours and at least it's progress. After the exhausting day I had today, I think I'll let the can boxes go fallow for a day or two and go to the library again for writing tomorrow.

The weirdest thing all day is that I left sometime between noon and 1 pm I think, and was out until 6 pm, and though it's 8:00 pm now, I'm still not hungry. I didn't eat a lot this morning, so I don't understand why I'm not hungry yet. I mean, part of it might be my hyper-focusing on this post for the last 40 minutes, but that's only part of it. (Shrugs) I'll eat anyway because I'm sure my body is just being weird again like it does sometimes.