I tossed and turned through the final few hours of my slumber finally waking for good at or near 730a. It was cloudy and cold, but noticeably missing was the 3 inches of snow many were predicting. We got only a slight dusting. That’s it.
I started a pot of coffee then did my exercises. I freed Frankie somewhere near 8a. She and I headed out a short time later. Given that I was on-call, I spent the next hour or so getting my arms around a couple work related matters requiring my attention. Mindy was up around 9a, perhaps a little before.
I dressed and left for a run around 930a. I ran three miles without any problems. Mindy was in the shower when I returned. She planned to head out Xmas shopping during the afternoon. I wasn’t sure what I’d be doing, especially given that I was on-call. A surprise knock came from the front door while Mindy was showering. It was a Fed Ex guy delivering what turned out being the dryer parts I ordered just the day before. Wow, now that’s service!
All the sudden, it looked like I’d be making dryer repairs, or at least attempting them, sometime during the afternoon. Mindy was as surprised as I was at the speedy delivery. After all, they quoted 2-5 business days. Guess it pays to under promise and over deliver.
I’m guessing that Mindy & Jacob left around 1130a. Bella soon headed out to play with Makayla. I was essentially home alone. I wasted little time starting the dryer repair. I was feeling confident after watching numerous You Tube videos demonstrating the process.
To give myself plenty of room, I drug the dryer from the tight confines of the laundry room out into the kitchen area. I removed the front just like we have numerous times here recently then scoped out whether or not I needed to remove the top. It looked like the lint screen assembly needed to come off first. It was held on by 4 ¼” hex screws. Once that was off the drum was free and accessible. I removed the old belt and then pulled the drum completely out of the dryer cavity. Way easy!
Now I had easy access to both drum wheels. Before replacing either wheel, I used the shop-vac to suck out lint remnants. The retaining clip tool I bought at Sears on Friday made the wheel replacement very simple. After pulling off the one that seemed to cause all the squealing, I could see what the problem was. The back washer wash worn down to nothing. I had both wheels replaced in less than 10 minutes and quickly turned my attention to replacing the belt and reinserting the drum. That was easy too. Perhaps the most difficult part was rethreading the belt correctly through the tension bar, but even that was fairly simple.
Before reinstalling the lint screed assembly, I vacuumed it out too. Turns out, there was a thick lint clog right at the 90 degree elbow into the exhaust port. Glad I got that taken care of. I moved the dryer back into position and fired it up. Quiet as a mouse! It took as long or longer to clean up my mess and put my tools away. I felt really good about the job I’d done and the money I saved by doing the repair myself. Not only had I saved us a couple hundred dollars in repair costs, but also the cost of buying a new washer and dryer, which we were seriously contemplating as recent as last week.
Work kept me fairly busy through the early afternoon. Mindy phoned at some point to ask a couple gift related questions. I called her back around 1pm to ask her to pick-up crickets for our lizard. She reported just having turned onto our street, but said she’d be heading back out to grocery shop and would get them then. Great!
Mindy was very excited to learn that the dryer was fixed. Couldn’t even hear it running. Mindy was home maybe an hour before heading back out to the grocery store. Jacob stayed home this time. He and the rest of the kids played in the tree house for most of the afternoon. I worked and watched football.
Mindy was gone a little over an hour. She shared that Lindsey phoned asking if the boys could come over this afternoon. We had that 60’s party to attend later, so we agreed that Sunday would work better. Mindy planned to call her back and advise accordingly. Mindy also shared that my dad would be bringing my mom over later to spend the night after leaving the hospital where they were both visiting aunt Linda. At the time, we had no other details on her status.
I’m guessing it was near 4pm when my mom and dad arrived. We spent the late afternoon/early evening visiting with the two of them. They shared some details surrounding Linda’s care. As I understood it, she was in palliative care, which prior to then I hadn’t heard that term before. Furthermore, it didn’t sound like she was aware of the magnitude or significance of her illness. Thinks she’s going home Monday. I had a little trouble with her not knowing and shared as much.
Mom and dad planned on going out to dinner. We reminded mom that we wouldn’t be there when she got back. The kids would be there with Kara, the babysitter, while we go to a friend’s 50th b-day party.
The birthday party was a 60’s themed costume party. Mindy ordered a dress and boots. She bought me some simple ‘hippy’ accessories: eye glasses, head band, peace, love tie-dye badges. Mindy got ready first. I waited until just before we left. I didn’t need a costume per se. I wore my holey jeans, a tie-dye t-shirt, my old jean jacket, and a wig I’ve had for years. I wore sandals too, but with red argyle socks.
Kara arrived just before 7p. Mindy ordered her and the kids Dominos pizza. We also paid Kara before we left. It was cold and spitting snow. Had been most of the afternoon and early evening. Mindy insisted we stop down at Chrissy & Kenny’s on our way. Not my thing, but I reluctantly agreed. We were there just a minute or two, long enough for them to snap a couple pictures.
The party was in north Arlington, up close to Uncle Kenny’s place but further north. We took Reed Rd. all the way up. We were one of the first guests to arrive. The party was at the condo’s party house, which was almost perfect for such events.
It appears that Doomie thought of everything; the food, music, drinks, and décor were all from the 60’s era. Good idea! One of the hosts, Doomie, is a scientist, so a lot of the guests were of the same ilk. Interesting bunch! We got along and blended fairly well with everyone. Of course, it didn’t hurt that almost everyone looked foolish in their 60’s garb.
I drank Jack Daniels green label and Coke through the evening. Mindy had only one glass of wine. We played the ‘guess who I am’ game. A popular person from the 60s name tag was placed on everyone’s back. You then had to ask your partner yes or no questions in an attempt to narrow down the options and eventually figure out who it was. Mine was Diana Ross. Sadly, I failed to ask probably the most important question – was she a musician? I asked everything but that. In kind, I couldn’t figure it out until Mindy gave me a clue.
I can’t remember who Mindy was, or if she guessed it. Oh boy! The second half of Doomie didn’t arrive until late. We hung out until 1030p or so and had a lot of fun. Mindy drove home. We arrived just head of 11p. Mom was there but already in her room. Kara didn’t stay long before heading home.
Tired, we headed to bed after securing the home and penning up Frankie.
I tossed and turned through the final few hours of my slumber finally waking for good at or near 730a. It was cloudy and cold, but noticeably missing was the 3 inches of snow many were predicting. We got only a slight dusting. That’s it.
I started a pot of coffee then did my exercises. I freed Frankie somewhere near 8a. She and I headed out a short time later. Given that I was on-call, I spent the next hour or so getting my arms around a couple work related matters requiring my attention. Mindy was up around 9a, perhaps a little before.
I dressed and left for a run around 930a. I ran three miles without any problems. Mindy was in the shower when I returned. She planned to head out Xmas shopping during the afternoon. I wasn’t sure what I’d be doing, especially given that I was on-call. A surprise knock came from the front door while Mindy was showering. It was a Fed Ex guy delivering what turned out being the dryer parts I ordered just the day before. Wow, now that’s service!
All the sudden, it looked like I’d be making dryer repairs, or at least attempting them, sometime during the afternoon. Mindy was as surprised as I was at the speedy delivery. After all, they quoted 2-5 business days. Guess it pays to under promise and over deliver.
I’m guessing that Mindy & Jacob left around 1130a. Bella soon headed out to play with Makayla. I was essentially home alone. I wasted little time starting the dryer repair. I was feeling confident after watching numerous You Tube videos demonstrating the process.
To give myself plenty of room, I drug the dryer from the tight confines of the laundry room out into the kitchen area. I removed the front just like we have numerous times here recently then scoped out whether or not I needed to remove the top. It looked like the lint screen assembly needed to come off first. It was held on by 4 ¼” hex screws. Once that was off the drum was free and accessible. I removed the old belt and then pulled the drum completely out of the dryer cavity. Way easy!
Now I had easy access to both drum wheels. Before replacing either wheel, I used the shop-vac to suck out lint remnants. The retaining clip tool I bought at Sears on Friday made the wheel replacement very simple. After pulling off the one that seemed to cause all the squealing, I could see what the problem was. The back washer wash worn down to nothing. I had both wheels replaced in less than 10 minutes and quickly turned my attention to replacing the belt and reinserting the drum. That was easy too. Perhaps the most difficult part was rethreading the belt correctly through the tension bar, but even that was fairly simple.
Before reinstalling the lint screed assembly, I vacuumed it out too. Turns out, there was a thick lint clog right at the 90 degree elbow into the exhaust port. Glad I got that taken care of. I moved the dryer back into position and fired it up. Quiet as a mouse! It took as long or longer to clean up my mess and put my tools away. I felt really good about the job I’d done and the money I saved by doing the repair myself. Not only had I saved us a couple hundred dollars in repair costs, but also the cost of buying a new washer and dryer, which we were seriously contemplating as recent as last week.
Work kept me fairly busy through the early afternoon. Mindy phoned at some point to ask a couple gift related questions. I called her back around 1pm to ask her to pick-up crickets for our lizard. She reported just having turned onto our street, but said she’d be heading back out to grocery shop and would get them then. Great!
Mindy was very excited to learn that the dryer was fixed. Couldn’t even hear it running. Mindy was home maybe an hour before heading back out to the grocery store. Jacob stayed home this time. He and the rest of the kids played in the tree house for most of the afternoon. I worked and watched football.
Mindy was gone a little over an hour. She shared that Lindsey phoned asking if the boys could come over this afternoon. We had that 60’s party to attend later, so we agreed that Sunday would work better. Mindy planned to call her back and advise accordingly. Mindy also shared that my dad would be bringing my mom over later to spend the night after leaving the hospital where they were both visiting aunt Linda. At the time, we had no other details on her status.
I’m guessing it was near 4pm when my mom and dad arrived. We spent the late afternoon/early evening visiting with the two of them. They shared some details surrounding Linda’s care. As I understood it, she was in palliative care, which prior to then I hadn’t heard that term before. Furthermore, it didn’t sound like she was aware of the magnitude or significance of her illness. Thinks she’s going home Monday. I had a little trouble with her not knowing and shared as much.
Mom and dad planned on going out to dinner. We reminded mom that we wouldn’t be there when she got back. The kids would be there with Kara, the babysitter, while we go to a friend’s 50th b-day party.
The birthday party was a 60’s themed costume party. Mindy ordered a dress and boots. She bought me some simple ‘hippy’ accessories: eye glasses, head band, peace, love tie-dye badges. Mindy got ready first. I waited until just before we left. I didn’t need a costume per se. I wore my holey jeans, a tie-dye t-shirt, my old jean jacket, and a wig I’ve had for years. I wore sandals too, but with red argyle socks.
Kara arrived just before 7p. Mindy ordered her and the kids Dominos pizza. We also paid Kara before we left. It was cold and spitting snow. Had been most of the afternoon and early evening. Mindy insisted we stop down at Chrissy & Kenny’s on our way. Not my thing, but I reluctantly agreed. We were there just a minute or two, long enough for them to snap a couple pictures.
The party was in north Arlington, up close to Uncle Kenny’s place but further north. We took Reed Rd. all the way up. We were one of the first guests to arrive. The party was at the condo’s party house, which was almost perfect for such events.
It appears that Doomie thought of everything; the food, music, drinks, and décor were all from the 60’s era. Good idea! One of the hosts, Doomie, is a scientist, so a lot of the guests were of the same ilk. Interesting bunch! We got along and blended fairly well with everyone. Of course, it didn’t hurt that almost everyone looked foolish in their 60’s garb.
I drank Jack Daniels green label and Coke through the evening. Mindy had only one glass of wine. We played the ‘guess who I am’ game. A popular person from the 60s name tag was placed on everyone’s back. You then had to ask your partner yes or no questions in an attempt to narrow down the options and eventually figure out who it was. Mine was Diana Ross. Sadly, I failed to ask probably the most important question – was she a musician? I asked everything but that. In kind, I couldn’t figure it out until Mindy gave me a clue.
I can’t remember who Mindy was, or if she guessed it. Oh boy! The second half of Doomie didn’t arrive until late. We hung out until 1030p or so and had a lot of fun. Mindy drove home. We arrived just head of 11p. Mom was there but already in her room. Kara didn’t stay long before heading home.
Tired, we headed to bed after securing the home and penning up Frankie.
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