When our old washing machine gave out, Jon and I used a garden hose to siphon the dirty laundry water out the door and into the yard. Video by Barbara Newhall
Sheltering at Home Week Six, April 22, 2020
Some dirty rags needed washing. I tossed them into our faithful 23-year-old Maytag washing machine. When the tub had filled, I closed the lid.
Nothing.
I opened the lid. Closed it again.
Nothing.
I called Jon. He opened the lid. Closed it.
Nothing.
Our old Maytag had bit the dust. Right in the middle of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Down and Dirty With Our Geriatric Appliances
Jon and I got down on the floor next to the washing machine to see if we could see what was going on around back. We couldn’t see behind the washer. But now that we were on the floor we could see that the water heater, which lives next to the washer, was leaking.
A puddle of water. Clumps of lime scale the size of portabello mushrooms.
A month ago, during Week Two of these sheltering at home chronicles, our furnace went out. A repairman came and went. Apparently he was not shedding the COVID-19 virus at the time, because, now, four weeks later, Jon and I are neither coughing nor wheezing nor checking ourselves into the hospital. We’re still coronavirus virgins. For now.
Now What Do We Do?
But what to do about this week’s double whammy?
Get a plumber in to see if one person, wearing a mask, can fix the washing machine and the water heater in a single visit?
Or, order two brand-new appliances from a single outlet and hope that no more than two service people, wearing masks, can deliver and install them both?
Which strategy is cheaper? Which one is less likely to kill us? Which one will get a washing machine up and running before we’re out of clean socks?
How are we coping with the coronavirus epidemic? Read more at Sheltering at Home. You can also sign up to get notifications of my latest posts.
More about keeping house at “A Case of the Human Condition: I’m a Woman With a Sprawling Past.”
