It's a Wash

Today I said goodbye to a some old friends - the washer and archaic dryer which have served us well for lo these many years. It's been a long time coming. The washer is still fine and has many years left in it. But the dryer, oh the sweet little HotPoint Dryer circa 1973. It has seen better days.

About 10 years ago, we inherited an old washer and dryer from Chad's Grandma Christensen. What a blessing, until one day I came into ankle deep water in the laundry room of our old house. Ok, maybe not ankle deep, but toe deep. A long service call and a couple hundred bucks later a happy little repairman told me I needed a new transmission in my washing machine. To which I said "washing machines have transmissions?!?"

Being that a entirely new washer was cheaper than a new transmission - we got a new washing machine, and despite my vanity, I lived with the mismatched washer/dryer set for about 8 years. I'd still be living with it, but poor little dryer has been showing signs lately of giving up the ghost.

A few years ago the light went out. "Replace me?" it asked. "Nope," I said. "Laundry in the dark I can live with."

Then it decided to keep spinning when you open the door. Again, I could not be persuaded. The "always spin cycle" turned out to be a pretty fun game actually. I spent my laundry days seeing if I could unload and reload the dryer, while it was still spinning. Probably not super safe, I knocked my arms pretty good a couple of times, but hey, I like to live dangerously ;) (I had forgotten that dryers are supposed to stop spinning when you open the door actually. I was doing wash at my sister-in-law's house in Denver on our recent trip. When I opened the dryer door and it stopped spinning - I thought I broke it!)

Then little dryer starting making a loud sound like a small, wounded animal was trapped inside and then it started making a very loud banging noise. Chad and I used to lay in bed and listen to that thing pound the living daylights out of the clothes. We worried it was coming to the end of its days. "Can you hear me now?" it cried. "Yes, but I'm praying (literally) you'll be quiet." And the prayers worked apparently because, as suddenly as they started, the noises stopped.

So the dryer gave up begging for a reprieve from 20 some years of drying and dutifully toiled on. But recently I've noticed more silent pleadings to be set free. It takes 3 cycles to dry a load of towels. And the ultimate deciding factor, in the last few weeks, whenever you open the dryer door after it is finished running it smells really hot. You know how a hair blow dryer starts to smell really hot before it dies? That kind of hot. One day, in the midst of unloading, I thought "I really hope I don't burn the house down." I've learned not to ignore thoughts like that, so we started looking and today...



Wow! These babies are pretty sweet. They aren't top of the line because I didn't see a lot of need for settings that let you steam wool, while it is still attached to the sheep. Not a lot of sheep wandering around here after all. Still, they seem pretty luxurious. (There are a few logistical issues to work out before I can really start using them.)

Best of all, today they hauled off my little HotPoint Dryer. Off to be recycled into a Hyunduai and spend the rest of its days cruising 1-15. Enjoy the open road, little dryer, you earned it.