We often take for granted what we have until it’s gone.
We are very fortunate to have good tasting, clean, spring water. We are also very lucky that it is gravity fed right here to the place. We don’t have to rely on a pump to get it here, so when the power goes out we still have water. This fall that proved to be an invaluable asset!
Among all the things that can go wrong during a cold spell, one of them happened to be we discovered we must have a leak in our water line. Our water pressure is considerably less than normal since the temperatures dipped into the -20’s. It could be worse. We could have no water at all. One winter we had a frog get in the line, not much water gets past a frog! And from the remains we found in the filter on the line going into the washing machine, it looks like he wasn’t alone.
Now that we don’t have good water pressure I can’t run my dishwasher! My dishwasher, along with the washing machine, and dryer are some of the most vital appliances in this house. Doing dishes by hand 3 times a day for a family of 7 doesn’t leave much room for all of my other bad habits. So all I have accomplished today is to cook and do dishes and wash a couple loads of laundry. It’s a good thing Christmas vacation starts in a week, I will have my 4 little dish washers’ home from school to help. From the eye rolling and sighs of disgust when they are asked to wash dishes, I know how excited they will be to help their mother out with this chore.
About 2 years ago we splurged and bought new front load washer and dryer set. We went even as far as buying the extended warranty. Honestly we rarely ever purchase the extended warranty on anything so this was a pure stroke of genius on our part. About a year into using the new washer it started to leak water out of the detergent dispenser. I tried all of the trouble shooting tips they provide on the washing machine website to no avail. So I called the warranty company in hopes that they would send somebody out to look at it. After talking to several people, and by the end of the week they called to tell me that they had no certified repair men in a 90 mile radius. I tried to tell them that. But what do I know? I am just the customer who lives a 120 miles from the nearest Lowe’s! In the meantime while they are trying to find a repair man my laundry is starting to pile up, I tried to explain to the lady that I don’t have a washing machine and that there are six of us in this house, on a ranch, 30 miles from the nearest Laundromat, was it possible to look into this with a sense of urgency. Needless to say there was no urgency. While they were determining what to do about my machine, I needed to wash clothes. I very well couldn’t load up laundry and drive to town every day to wash clothes. So we duct taped the soap dispenser shut every time we ran a load. After leaving me to duct tape my washer shut so it wouldn’t leak for the better part of two weeks, they decided they couldn’t find anybody to fix it and they just replaced it.
That wasn’t even the kicker of the deal, almost a month later the element in the dryer burned out. They didn’t need a certified repair man to fix it but managed to take 2 months to order the element. So from Halloween until almost Christmas we hung laundry for six people all over the house to dry. My living room looked like a thrift shop. Had it decided to quit in July, this wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but in November and December, clothes don’t particularly dry well on an outdoor clothes line. They have a tendency to get a little stiff.
So, today I miss my dishwasher. I miss loading it, running it and listening to the kids groan when I tell them to unload it and reload it after a meal. There will be a little consolation tonight, as I will get to listen to them argue over who is doing more work, the one clearing the table, the one washing the dishes, the one drying them, or the one putting them away. And the one who whines and cries and complains the most will win the grand prize of sweeping the kitchen floor as well. If nothing else, they are learning team work, cooperation and that just having to clean out the dishwasher isn’t so bad after all. See there is always a silver lining.
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