Takin' the Blog for a Walk

wish-washing

Posted by Brien Lee on Sept. 19, 2010

Wish-wash is defined as speech or writing deemed banal or foolish. You've been warned.

I heard between 9:00 and 10:00 Thursday night the washing machine had broken. I'd survive, but my kid washes his clothes every day; usually in the early morning before anyone else is up. 

A little more stress than usual this time. Nick had to wash his uniform before Friday. His football uniform. It's North's Homecoming game, he's a varsity starter and hundreds of North fans will be watching from the stands.

But Nick is 18 now and it's up to him to wash it himself, ask for help, or fix the machine. Never having been enlightened of the possibility of beating the clothes on Fox rocks in the middle of the night, he did  what any average teenager would do - he drove many miles to his girlfriend's and back after 10:00 p.m. and again at 6:00 the next morning to pick up. As one of her parents is a teacher at North, they well understand the importance of a clean football uniform. 

So that's how a Waukesha North teacher ended up washing Nick's clothes in the middle of the night. The team lost to Kettle Moraine 15 to 7 anyway.

To make a short story long ...  I found standing water in the machine Friday morning. Was it the water pump? It also wasn't spinning. Wanting to check the belt I opened the panel, could see the motor, but no belt. There's an indent on the machine's bottom, but when I tipped it up I didn't see the belt there either. The pulleys, yes, but not the belt.

The belt either completely disintegrated, or got lost in the lint bunnies when I moved the machine. I located the belt in the middle of the bunny warren. 

Intact but in bad shape, I chose to replace the belt before trying to reuse it. I was so happy it was just a belt, probably the least expensive thing that could've gone wrong with it . . . and easiest to repair. Even though the belt had a Maytag part number on it, Art at Olson's Ace assured me he could help with one from the thousand belts in stock. We allowed for wear and stretch when we identified the belt, but it was a tad too wide which made it too tight and the machine still wouldn't run. 

Trying to find the correct Maytag belt locally on a Saturday is nigh impossible. Best anyone could do was order out for Tuesday. Back to Ace for another try. Picking up a narrower belt, this time it did work; thankfully. Now, about that funny noise the drier is starting to make...