After All That...

Would you believe that after all that work on my linen closet and catching up with the laundry a bit that our washer started leaking? It did. It would seem everything is breaking at once around here. That's always fun. First the van, then the washer, and of course the lawn mower needed help if it was to get its job done this spring.

Dan decided to have E9 help him diagnose the problem with the washer. He put a piece of paper under it and filled it up and got it going to see where on the paper the water ended up. Between that and the big water spot on the cardboard on the back of the washer. The site was isolated. The whole time Dan fiddled he claimed it wasn't looking good for the washer. I was having dreams of stimulating the economy with a large appliance purchase.

But this is Dan we're talking about here. The one who wouldn't get me a new phone becuase I could still dial 911! Just like he took apar the phone, he took a look at the washer and found that the pump was leaking. So off to parts.com he goes and lo and behold there is the part and it isn't expensive. He did slurge on the two day shipping. What a guy!

The part arrived and here we go!

Getting to the pump- lots of hoses...

The brand new pump...

The question really was, could he seal it all back up after the new pump was installed. Again I held out hope that it couldn't be done. After all this washer is 20+ years old and no longer has the gleam of a new appliance. It's marred with years of hard work and doesn't even allow me to use the small or medium setting anymore. Nope- we have to fill the washer all the way each time. We figure that's not critical because well we always have a big load to do! That part was too expensive by the way, he did check on the wiring to see if he could replace it but in case you want to know that switch is about $65. I should add that he has already fixed this washer once- he visited a scary appliance junk yard place to get new hoses for the leaky ones that attach to the water lines.

Well, wouldn't you know that it sealed up tight and once again Dan has triumphed over some household object! And that is probably a good thing. Have I ever mentioned that we have extremely bad car karma?

Frankly, I think it might be time to have him take some mechanic classes... our 2001 Chevy Venture has had two new sets of tires (purchased within a few weeks of each other back in the fall- this involved new year round tires which turned out not to be so good in NY winters...), points and plugs and wires replaced, new bearings on both front wheels, and now we need our front brakes and roters worked on. These last three services have been in the last two weeks and we still need the brakes done. We decided to spread out the pain and just say no to the brakes for a couple weeks. It runs like dream. Too bad I have to work so hard to get it stop!
JK ; )

As for the lawn mower, it reluctantly agreed to do its job yesterday, but it didn't sound good. At one point I heard it stall out in the front yard as Dan yanked on the starter and let out a very loud GRRRRRRR! as he did it. I'm sure the neighbors enjoyed that display of frustration! Fortunately, he might be able to handle the complexities of a 2 cycle engine.

Isn't it fun to be homeowners?? I think I miss the days when I drove my parents' cars and only paid for the gas I used!