Musings on a Small Life

Does anyone have terrific experience with a particular brand of washer? If so, is it a front or top-loader, and if top, does it have an agitator or an impeller? One of the models I'm considering, with either an impeller or agitator: My old washer still functions, but the normal wash cycle no longer works properly and the repair fellow who came early in the winter couldn't figure out why. Actually, it behaved just fine for him...but not for me. LOL. I've been washing on another setting for months. Then last week the auto-temperature control seemed to go; I was getting straight hot or straight cold, not a mix. I switched to the manual setting and it's working at the moment. The machine is the last of the Sears Kenmore (i.e. Whirlpool) mechanical top-loaders, is now 22 years old. I hate to give it up because it's been a terrific "work horse" of a machine, but I don't want to keep paying for repairs, either. (I've already had half a dozen repair visits...

3:03PM EDT and the sound of my washing machine on its rinse cycle is music to my ears. Yesterday I called the appliance repair shop I used the last time the washer died (November 2012), 98% sure no one would be there on a holiday Monday. But no, they were open till 1PM. Yippee! So I was able to make an appointment for today, and the repair guy showed up just after 10AM, earlier than expected. Not the same guy who came in November 2012, but he told me the same thing: It's a good (mechanical) machine, worth rebuilding when the motor goes. Fortunately it wasn't the motor this time, it was something that sounded like "capacitor," the doohickie that gives the machine its initial shot of "juice." A starter of sorts, I guess. A $25 part, plus $40 to show up and $40 for the labour, plus tax. Came out to $118.65 and I thought that was pretty darned good. Sunday's load is finishing up now, rewashed, and I've a second load to go in shortly. (Found ...

It's an unwritten law of the Universe that your washing machine will die after (or during) the wash cycle, but before the spin cycle.  On a Sunday at 5AM. On a long holiday weekend.     I'm not going into details of how difficult it is to hand rinse sheets and towels in a spare (unused) litter box in your basement wash sink. Or how long it takes to bail out a washer full of dirty water. I'll just say that I'm waiting for the vacation fun to start!   Oh, and I did I mention that the sky looks ominous right now, like rain and thunder are in the offing? Peace .

Not that long after my last post, actually. In the middle of a load, of course. No agitating or spinning, though fortunately the tub still drained. So I have a repairman coming out this afternoon to take a look, and if it's less than a couple of hundred dollars, I'll get it fixed. Might be something simple. It's a 12-year old mechanical, top-loading Kenmore 90 series washer. Sturdy, never a problem until now. I'd like to get a few more years out of it, but if I can't, I can't.  Nicki will want to be front and centre helping, of course, and Derry will be hiding under my bed, in terror. Fun times, eh? And tomorrow's the big day--the patio door and window replacement. Cross your fingers, please, that it all gets done properly in one day. BTW, I've already told the fridge (out loud), which is the same age, that it is not allowed to give out this year or early next.  But the little piece of cheesecake I saw on sale in the grocery store, a...