laundry woes

Laundry.

Recently, it's been the sticking point in my day.

About a month ago, when we first got back home with Isaac, we were plagued with lots of water problems. Well, technically, just one problem.... water outage. Lots of water outages. Washing clothes with no water gets pretty tricky :) So our laundry would pile up and pile up and then, as soon as I heard water running in the pipes, I would rush to start a load in the washer.

Then the water started running consistently again. But my laundry problems were far from over.

The extension cord that runs from our washer & dryer to the nearest outlet began emitting a strange burning smell every time I ran the washer and dryer for an extended period of time. I got a little worried about that and quit running the appliances simultaneously. But the cord still smelled smoky, so I would only run each appliance in short little bursts. I would start a load, let it wash a while, and then pause the washer to let the extension cord "rest". [Can you tell I am not an electrical engineer?]

By the time that extension cord died its final death I had to stand beside the outlet and physically push the cord into the outlet for the washer to finish a load. I was desperate to wash clothes, so I set Lydia up playing with the water in the bathroom sink and stood beside the outlet while the wash finished!

An electrician managed to repair the cord, and I was back in business - the water was running in the pipes and I could have a load in both the washer and dryer at the same time! Laundry heaven!

Until a few days ago when Matt noticed the dryer was on, but the barrel was not turning. He assumed the belt that turned the barrel was broken and called a repair man. I continued to wash clothes, and hung them to dry.

The repair man came Wednesday afternoon, spent about an hour working on it, and then declared he needed more parts and would return "soon".

He came back tonight (Friday) and as of 7pm things were not looking good for the dryer.

The repair man started by removing one part of the dryer and laying it in our hallway (the black and blue bags are his parts and tools).


And then he continued to remove parts and now this is the repair man, with the dryer. Which is in about 97 parts on the floor of our bathroom.

Any guesses as to the prognosis for our dryer?

One other piece of good laundry news: it just started raining and rain is forecast for the next three days. Looks like the clothes hanging in the window will take a while to dry!