Well, guys, it suddenly behooved me to post on here since I haven't posted in such a long time. Course if ya'll follow my writerly blog, you have some idea of the major change in my life over the past year. And the latest happening surely can't be blamed on the g-r-e-m-l-i-n-s. Or...can it?
Quite possibly, since I h-a-v-e been messing around with machines this very day.
As some of you know, I generally do my spring cleaning in the fall and leave yard stuff for the spring. Mostly, in the hopes of some of the stuff mysteriously disappearing when the snow melts. Hasn't quite worked out yet. As Father likes to say, or rather quote: "Hope springs eternal." There's always hope that one spring, I'll emerge from my winter's long nap and find my yard all ready for spring planting. Yep,yep, yep. There's hope in this heart of mine yet.
Hmm. Mayhap, if I leave some goodies for the b-r-o-w-n-i-e-s? At any rate, those rabbit holes are appearing everywhere today. Started over to my favorite haunt yesterday with a post by Will Hahn, author of "Tales of the Lands of Hope" and this morning with a disappearing pin that was of intense enticement that I got lost in the land of Pinterest for 3 whole hours.
And since I plan on being somewhere else this week-end (which for me is Wed, Thurs, and Friday), I duly decided to forego my daily stint at writing and clear up some items on my to-do's. Which is where I promptly found out that g-r-e-m-l-i-n-s may have found their way back. Bout two, three weeks ago, one sock decided to go adventuring and left through the sewer system after causing a ruckus with the washing machine. Fortunately, all the water that overflowed in the kitchen sink was caught in time to stave off requiring the services of a professional plumber and leaving a bigger mess.
Now, some of you may be wondering what the kitchen sink has to do with washing machines and why didn't the washing machine overflow. Luck, I tell ya, puure-dee luck. Or, perhaps, it was the fact that the builder of this house put the trap for the washing machine in the wrong place. When the kitchen sink starts backing up, that's when we check the washer. As for the dryer, well, let's just say, that it's a darn good thing that company is out of business. Over the past 20 years, we've done some work arounds on the advice of our favorite fixer-upper over to the hardware store. Good thing, folks around here know how to make-do. I'm not as good as my mother was. I found that out just a few minutes ago when I promptly decided it was best if I did a bit of writing.
After my brother and our cousin fixed the plumbing for me, I left the washer and dryer alone. Til today. Being as how my son and I are fast running out of clean clothes and have no desire to "find our cleanest dirty shirt," I decided to clean the dryer vent and clear out the machines a little bit since I'd pretty nearly finished with the rest of the to-do's in the laundry area. 'Cept for a new furnace. Must remember to add that to the list of things to get done before the snow flies. I wanted to get all the dust producing chores out of the way as I want to paint. And, voila, got my wish.
Plenty of dust of the lint variety and remembered why I hate cleaning the dryer vent. Specially as the fragranced dryer sheets left their mark behind. After sneezing and coughing for a bit, I got the vent completely unhooked. Well, okay, I had wrestled with the outlet plug for a few minutes. Oh-kay, more than a few minutes. Decided it was time to get my brother to rescue me as son was engrossed in some doings on the net. Sides, which, I D-i-d N-o-t want him to know as he gives me the look which I didn't quite want to face on this trying day. Oh no, at least, not til he left for work.
Usually, brother goes on lunch break when son goes to work. Brother took his lunch break early and he came over. Course, he gave me a bit of grief but that's better than my son's sort of grief. I went in to sister's to give her a report on the community dealings. I met brother on the way back and he said he unplugged the dryer and unhooked the vent from the machine. Yes! Not.
I cleaned the lint screen and the inside of the little tube. Took the vent hose apart and cleared out the elbow and sleeve that hooks up to the machine. Washed those in the bath tub as I just felt like it. Took the vent and looked inside. Reached in as far as I could on both sides. Pondered a few minutes, shook the thing, nothing felt out so I decided to wash it to, being that it was aluminum, it would dry fast. Yeah!
I ran water in one end of the tube, shook it while lifting it to let the water run through to the other end. Was doing this cautiously, cause if anything came out, I could put the bucket under it to catch it. Then, I lifted it straight up and...horror of horrors. Not a spider, such as the two I'd found this morning. All those little floating black things was the wet, black lint I'd shaken from the tube.
I stared in utter fascination at the amount of it.
Then....
Heard the gurgling of the water flowing down the drain. Then...nothing. I leaped, I tell ya, that was a sight to see in the tiny little bathroom we have. How I managed not to fall and injure myself is a miracle and my guardian angel must be happy to have things to do once again. Too late.
All those lint pieces were now clogging the drain. Nooowww what. I pulled as much of it out as I could and grabbed the little strainer thing we have for catching hair and wondered, why or why, did I not think to make sure it was in the proper place. I watched in relief when the water started draining, then horror when it started plugging up.
Frantic again, I looked around for something, anything, with which to stave off having to call brother and cousin again. Aha! The plunger. I quickly used it and felt such a sense of joy when the water and everything went down the drain. Well, not everything. I made sure the little spider looking lint pieces stayed in the tub. Decided to take a break and write a post whist waiting for the little spider-looking lint pieces to dry out a bit before I get up the courage to clean the tub, before cleaning the rest of the vent and putting everything back together.
So...tell me, how is your day going?