A few posts ago I commented about how our dryer died. We have propane for our house so the stove runs on propane, the water heater and our dryer. This is supposedly more efficient but makes everything cost more. We've already replaced the water heater and our stove died the first year we bought the house but as part of closing the previous owners tossed in a home warranty to sweeten the deal so the stove repair was covered. Well, upon coming home and gearing up for another short jaunt today and then leaving for Christmas on Wednesday we are in dire need of a dryer. Carrie has been getting by while I've been out by doing a load a day and get this, air drying. Ha! What a novel approach. We've been blasted back to the sixties!
Yesterday was the first day I had to really deal with it when all my dress shirts came out looking like I had them stored on my dorm room floor for the past consecutive 10 years. I would have to iron 6 times to get all the wrinkles out so I was determined to get a dryer in the house yesterday. It turns out I know very little about appliance purchasing. Imagine that. Even if I was able to purchase a dryer no one actually carries them in stock. After I purchase it and get it delivered I still have the additional step of tracking down a licensed plumber to hook the gas line up. It took about 3 phone calls and 15 minutes on the internet when I realized if we wanted a dryer we were either going to have to live without one for at least 3 more weeks or find a plan B.
Plan B. - call a repair man. Novel idea number two. Genius! I'm generation X, which apparently is not much better than Generation Y (Just buy another one! Money grows on trees! I've never lived a day without everything I've ever wanted! Text messages cost money)? I just assumed it came with the house and was old and wouldn't be worth the cost of repair. I call this guy up and I tell him I want to ask a few questions because my POS dryer has died and it's really old and I want to know whether it would be worth paying for a repair and wondered if he could diagnose it over the phone. How old he says? I say, it was installed in 2001 and is no longer shiny. He laughs at me. It turns out these things are supposed to last 25 years and all gas dryers are made the same regardless if you paid $250 or $1,500. The difference in price being who is a sucker and how many cycles you want that baby to have. (Personally, I just want my clothes to be dry).
Long story short. I made the phone call at 10:30 am on a Saturday. I was drying my clothes at 12:30 pm Saturday with my quieter (apparently there was 21 cents - two dimes and a penny caught on top of the giant drum making a very pleasant screeching sound while on), more efficient, repaired dryer. The whole experience totally changed my mind set. I'm not sure I won't repair every last thing in my home for the rest of my life, probably to the point my poor wife will be living with 30 year old appliances. They'll work though! All I know is the Qster is a lot happier wearing his dry pressed shirts.
Here is an iPhone video I took of Q sprinting through the living room. Notice the disaster in the background.
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