What About This?

By Wayne William Cipriano

Well, we finally brought the new washing machine up from the basement and put it into service.

We bought it on October 25, 2018 (yep, 2018) when our old washer started to make some growling noises. But, Rosalie got used to the growling, maybe even  found it a bit reassuring – knowing the wash was getting done. Anyway, she didn’t want the new washer installed until the old one had truly “given up the ghost.” It never did!

It started to leak a little and so once a week I added it to my chore list, took off the front panel and sponged the base catch plate dry. It wasn’t that much of a hassle and got to be almost reflexive. So much so that Rosalie decided the ghost was still well contained.

Lately, the leak seemed to be increasing somewhat. I was still drying it out once a week, but there was more water each time in the catch pan. It didn’t seem to be fixing itself, although we gave it every chance. So, we brought up the new washer.

Before we took the box off the washer (you don’t take a washer out of the box) and put the machine in place, we took pictures of the sealed box behind last week’s front page of the Herald. We wanted to memorialize when we opened it just in case we had some problems. We thought we could convince the folks who sold it to us that the guarantee’s time frame shouldn’t begin until we put the washer into service, sixteen months or so after we bought it.

I’m not sure such a strategy would work but it was worth a few photos to give it a try, just in case of trouble. And like just about every time you take precautions, against some potential failure, the failure never shows up. The washer is working just fine.

We bought the most unsophisticated washer we could find: bells and whistles always impress us as gremlin–haunts waiting patiently to self-destruct. Nevertheless, it does have twinkling lights, several buzzer sounds, and such stuff, but at least it doesn’t sing to us as does washers our daughters have recently purchased. It doesn’t have ten or twelve cycles and doesn’t require doctoral levels of engineering training just to understand the operator’s manual.

Wouldn’t it be great if they took all that money invested in all these “extras” and “conveniences” and made a super tough motor that went on forever, a monster basket that spun on huge, well sealed bearings, and one switch that was marked “Off” and “Wash?”

Anyway, so far so good. Rosalie loves her new washer. She likes the looks and the newness promising many years of trouble-free operation. Me? I’m going to miss those weekly sponging-out the old washer’s drip pan. NOT!

However, as chores drop off my weekly list, I’ve been noticing more attention being paid to the way I spend Saturday mornings. I’m going to have to find some other recurring maintenance items that look complicated but are easily accomplished Maybe dab a little grease on my forehead and swear a little, too.

That usually works pretty well.