Mad Skillz

This weekend, soda bottles were harmed

I fixed the washing machine.

All by myself too. As you know, if you've been reading here long, farm women are surrounded by the kind of men who can split huge tractors in half and repair whatsoever is borked in there.

Stuff was grilled, including steaks and hamburgers from our most recent beef

They can weld old balers up and get another few years out of them, change oil, replace brakes, and all manner of other impressive and esoteric repair and maintenance tasks that I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot wrench.

However, none of them messes with washing machines. They are not so much complicated as encased in inconvenient metal parts that make them hard to fix.

When ours started screaming this weekend whenever it was on the spin cycle, my thoughts turned to spun bearings, broken pulleys, jammed wingnuts, and other things that are hidden deep in the guts of the white monster.

Dang.

The boss made his famous potatoes

That poor little machine works nearly continuously. When the herd of adults who live here aren't washing clothes, there are baby things in there...and you know babies....and in the interim should there be one, I wash Alan's grouty clothes from his job. 

When I do that there are crumbs of cement in the tub when I get done...I could darned near pave the driveway with them.

Thus its apparent demise brought consternation and frantic plans for getting a new one...quickly.

This morning I figured I'd run one last load of small blankets through it.

What could happen but that it would break completely?

As I was putting them in...I'm a shorty...I had to lean on it to reach.

Moving it a tiny bit produced that same Godawful shriek......from the OUTSIDE!!!

I dug around in the clutter of old plastic bags, misplaced tee shirts and other detritus that lurks beside it and found.........wait for it......ta da........ the culprit.

The big metal dustpan had gotten shoved up against the side and was making the noise when the washer jiggled in the spin cycle.

I moved it.

Like magic the little washer that could is working fine again....

Is that cool or what?

I am very happy.