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Washer Heal ThySelf

Sometime in mid January when I pulled the clothes out of the washer they were exceedingly wet. Figuring that the load was unbalanced I spread the clothes around evenly and ran the “Drain and Spin Cycle.” It didn’t help much. Because we do just one load a day and have the time we just started allotting 75 to 90 minutes for drying instead of the typical 50 to 60.

Was our 3-year old washer broken already?

I looked online for what might be the issue with the machine and there were at least a half dozen reasons. I tried the first two. Rerouting the drain hose to go straight up immediately after exiting the machine instead angled like I had it with no change of clothes wetness. Dumping some liquid plumber down the drain pipe had no effect. The rest of the suggestions involved opening up the machine to check pumps and belts or troubleshooting the electronics.

We could replace it with the same model for just under $600. But did we need to? The extra 20 or 30 minutes really wasn’t a big hardship, except for possibly adding $10 bucks a month to the power bill. Maybe we should have a professional come look at it.

This Tuesday I called a local appliance repair place and set up an appointment to have someone come look at the machine next Monday. It was $95 for the house call, but then at least we could see whether to fix it or buy new or just live with it.

Wednesday morning when I washed the bath towels, the bath mat and our sheets, they came out of the washing machine just like they used to 2 weeks ago. Huh? So we rounded up some more stuff to run another load. Those too came out fine and everything came out of the dryer in the usual hour-ish time frame. The next day’s load, same thing, we were back to the normal wash day timing. I called and cancelled the appointment.

The weather was nice enough today that we drove the Miata to take Donna for her physical therapy appointment. It was even warm enough that we dropped the top for the leg home.

Times Miata Driven since 11/01/22: 8

 

Everclean Car Wash

The photo above is from just after Thanksgiving the last time the Mini was clean. Since then we have had snow storms every two weeks like clockwork. Everything from a 1/2″ to 6″ and that meant the helpful folks of the Klamath Fall road department have been distributing cinders on the roads after each one. This has led to a very dirty car, especially the nearly vertical flat back of the car. It has become entirely brownish-red except for where the clean sweep of the rear wiper.

As much as I love washing our cars I am not about to go outside when the temperatures are below 40°, so this afternoon we ran out on some errands with the last stop being a drive-thru car wash. It is not perfect, so probably tomorrow I go down to the garage and break out the Mequier’s Quick Detailer and finish the job.

Times Miata Driven since 11/01/22: 7

 

Groundmiata Day

Backed the Miata out of the garage and it didn’t see its shadow so we are in for for an early spring no matter what Punxsutawney Phil says.

Times Miata Driven since 10/28/22: 7

 

Inspired By…

…those insipid Verizon commercials that I see while watching the NFL games on Sunday. Which, while bad, are not nearly as annoying as the multitude of Spectrum (wireless, business and whatever Spectrum One is) ads that they stick in practically every commercial break all dang day long.

Times Miata Driven since 10/28/22: 6

 

Another Minute and a Half of Internet Fame

The Everyday Driver podcast has been a must listen ever since 2018 when I started listening to it while I did my daily walk when Donna was at the gym swimming. Now a days it is my audio companion while riding the exercise bike 2 of the 3 times a week I do so. They actually do 3 episodes a week, but one of them is just the audio of something off their Test Drive channel on YouTube and I’ve already watched the video.

For the two original podcasts they do each week they post a note on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter asking for questions that someone might want answered. They can’t answer every one of them, so they cherry pick the ones they are interested in answering. Back in May of 2019 they actually answered one of mine. Well, it happened again.

The photo above was yesterday’s Bing Wallpaper, it is of Park City, Utah which happens to be where our intrepid Everyday Driver guys reside. So, yesterday when I saw their anybody got questions post on Instagram, with tongue firmly in cheek, I added this to their list, “Park City is the Bing wallpaper of the day and I’m trying to find your houses on there…”

Here is the audio of them answering my “question.”

Magnetic Miracle

About twenty years ago we discovered Easyclip glasses as a replacement for having a pair of sunglasses and a pair of glasses. Somewhere around a decade ago I moved to photochromatic lenses because I was tired of having to put the clips on and off. Donna still uses the magnetic Easyclip style because she hates the time lag when when moving from shade to sun and vice versa.

Two weeks ago when Donna went to put her magnetic clip-on sunglasses that came as a set with her regular glasses they weren’t where she expected them to be.

We looked everywhere for them. All her jacket pockets, her purse and the knapsack that acts her alternate purse. We checked in all the nooks and crannies in the interiors of the Miata and the Mini. We looked on the floor and every horizontal surface around the house, from the dresser in her closet to desk in the living room. We asked at our favorite coffee shop where we were the day before if anyone had turned them into their lost & found. They were just gone.

We hightailed down to Rite Aid to get an aftermarket set of clip-on sunglasses. They are spring loaded instead of the magnetic, but the fit is pretty good and were a darn sight cheaper than getting a real replacement. The only thing we could figure as they fell out of her pocket getting in or out of the car somewhere during our running around the day before.

While doing laundry today, what did I find at the bottom of the dryer after pulling out all the clothes? Right, her Easyclip sunglasses!

Had they been in a piece of clothing that got washed two weeks ago and the magnetic part stuck to somewhere inside the dryer drum? I find that that hard to believe, we do a load of laundry almost everyday and a couple times a week we two loads, those clip-ons would have appeared before now.

This was eerily reminiscent of the Easter Miracle of 2018.

30,000 Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces

Out running around this afternoon because we had a few things to take care of. We needed to find a new dentist (possibly another separate blog post.) We stopped at Goodwill to restock our shelves with jigsaw puzzles. We have done 3 so far this year and only had about 4 left in the queue. So we picked up another eight. Seven of them had green tags which meant they were half off the $4.29 regular price. The eighth one we gladly paid full price for because it still had the factory seals intact, so we are sure to have one puzzle with all its pieces.

Those eight puzzles don’t total to 30,000 pieces, but on our way to our last stop, Wendy’s for Jr Frostys, the Mini rolled past thirty thousand miles.

On last Saturday the Miata got driven twice. Firstly I went and just randomly drive around for 6 or so miles because the poor car hadn’t moved for a couple weeks. Then later that day it was time to head down to the local cannabis stock to stock up on our “sleep” medicine – Wyld Elderberry Gummies.

Times Miata Driven since 10/28/22: 5