Patience. And a wet vac.

And a compressor helped as well.

I've had a "fun" week.  Nothing major really,  just a bit of a fight with the washing machine.  And Dammit,  I wasn't going to phone a repair man.

So,  there I am,  lounging in front of the idiot box,  with the sound of a load of laundry coming from out in the hallway (whatever you call that area where we have our laundry facilities and boiler) when I hear,  "beep beep beep".   And then,  "beep beep beep".   I mute the TV and no, it's not coming from the TV.   It's the washing machine.  And the display indicates,  "E20".   Da hell?   Didn't need to look in the manual at first to realise that,  something was seriously wrong.

Didn't think to take a picture right away,   but this is after I had already started cleaning up the mess.  Took out the drawer under the cabinet,  so as to place a bucket under the clean out.

Can you see the feathers on the door? 

Yup,  washing a pillow.  It exploded.

Can't think of anyone whom I dislike enough to wish this upon.   Seriously.  Not a fun time.

I've become intimately familiar with the workings of a front load washing machine.  Unlike a top loader,  where there's one drum and an agitator (where your knickers are likely to get wrapped around the spindle)  a front loader has an inner drum (the spinny bit)  and a water tight outer drum. 
Of course,  95% of the feathers were trapped between the inner and outer drums. 
Maybe a repair man (person?) would opt to take apart the two,  but trust me,  it would be a major undertaking.  Probably would cost more than what the machine is worth.
And at first,  it was so packed with feathers,  that the drum wouldn't even spin.  And when I had fished out several gobs of feathers with my highly sophisticated tool, (a bit of hanger wire with a hook on the end) I did manage to get it to spin,  but boy did it ever make some weird complaining types of sounds.

That milestone was like,  last Sunday?  It's all a blur.  I did start this ordeal a week ago.  That I know.

Of course,  T.C. was already looking at new machines,  but there's really nothing wrong with this one,  except that Muggins here didn't check the seams on the pillow that was getting washed. 

Silly bunt.

Naturally,  due to some sort of algorithm,  now all I see are ads for washing machines come up on just about every web page I visit.  Gotta be careful what you search for.  Looking for blue pills?  Ya,  that won't be a secret for long.


Anyhoo,  I think we've finally turned the corner on the feather situation.  There was a time there,  when it would in fact drain without any problem,  but I'd still get a handful of feathers in the clean-out.  I did briefly entertain the thought of hooking up a hose to spray around inside the drum in hopes of dislodging feathers. 

I decided to pass on that,  as I just didn't want one more thing to create a potential mess.

Down at the bottom of the machine there,  just above that bucket,  there's a little doo-hickey that you twist out,  and it's a filter.  It catches all the random coins, safety pins etc. that get past the drum.


And now,  I'm seriously considering emptying the wet vac for the last time,  and turning it back into a shop vac,  and then replacing the drawer under the cabinet,  and putting back the other mobile cabinet that normally resides next to the machine.  Until the control board goes,  or the computer,  or one of the two pumps,  or the belt,  that machine will keep on working.   But hey,  at least I now know how to replace the belt.   The other stuff?  Meh.   We'll let a few years roll by,  and see how we feel about that.

Hope y'all are doing well.

Thanks for stopping by and moving your eyes back and forth.

Keep that stick on the ice.

Piss poor packaging results in Pitiful Performance.

Not sure why these kind of thoughts enter my pea brain,  but I figured it would make a half decent post title.

This is the second time that something that could possibly be broken or damaged in transit from Amazon has arrived broken or damaged.   It's a crap shoot apparently.   Most things,  and they're usually things unavailable locally that I order,  are items that cannot possible have anything done to them.
You know,  batteries.   Random replacement cords.  Elastic for masks due to a Pandemic.

Stuff like that.

Just punt it up the driveway.  It'll be fine.

But then,  as all the stores were closed,  there was a "thing"  that was deemed necessary for a birthday present,  and the entire process was just a clusterfuck.

Firstly,  it was "in stock",  so we ordered it.  And mysteriously,  it was then "out of stock",  and "we're not sure when we are expecting this item". 

Huh?

So,  I chatted with somebody or other,  who then cancelled that order and sent another colour.   Which ironically,  turned out to be the colour we wanted in the first place.   But,  instead of arriving some three weeks ago,  it wasn't due to get her until today.

Well,  what you gonna do in a Pandemic?   So that was that.

Then of course,  it arrived chipped.

What the f**k!!

So back it went.

It's one thing to chip the enamel of your Dutch Oven after you've had it for maybe ten years,  but not if it's never seen the inside of an oven even once.

I'm not sure exactly what kind of monkey it is that packs these things,  but the way I packed it to send it back was a better job than their method of throwing one box inside another with a few feet of paper to keep it in place.

That method didn't seem to work.

It should be noted that Amazon keeps looking for more people to come and work at their distribution facilities.   There's no mention however,  as to whether those folks should actually have a brain in their head.   And who knows,  maybe it was damaged before it even got to Amazon?   Do they bother to check on stuff that arrives at the distribution centre?

What ever.


There was no option on the "next...next....next"  Amazon return page for any kind of a replacement,  so after conferring with T.C.,  I slapped on the shipping labels and made a jaunt to the Post Office.

I mean,  the good news is,  We'll get our money back,  and return shipping is free,  but seriously.   All they had to do was put in just a wee bit more paper inside the "outside" box to keep the "inside" box from moving around.  Didn't do that.

Oh and,   the other thing?   "Made in China".

*grumble*

T.C. didn't really want it if it were made in China,  but nowhere on the web page did it say anything about that.   Not sure you can get much of anything that's not made in China these days,  but we'd sure like to get away from that if at all possible.


Other than bitching about that this morning,  I got nothin'.

The weather's perfect.   The grass needs to be cut.

Sailing this summer looks like it's pretty much off the table.   Regattas and racing have been getting cancelled left right and centre.

My understanding is that the boat is in the water,  and I guess that if any ONE of us wants to go out with the Skipper,  that would be fine.   But sailing is more about the company and the conversation than just getting from point A to point B.

This too shall come to pass.

Hope everyone is OK.

Keep that stick on the ice,  and thanks for stopping by.

Well, at least now we have a better understanding.

Or,  "how I learned to stay in the car".

I didn't take any snazzy pictures,  so you'll have to be satisfied with a few words.   I'll try to be punchy.

Anyhoodle,  a decision was made to make an excursion to a particular butcher/deli kind of place about half way between here and downtown Toronto.

Now,  I should say that,  our impression is, that Toronto has been somewhat hard hit by the Coronavirus,  but I don't have any actual numbers to back up that particular observation,  so you'll have to take my word for it.
Suffice to say,  in a similar fashion to most any large city,  the occurrence of COVID-19 is considerably higher than most any place in suburbia. 

Well,  unless it's a meat processing plant,  but that's a whole other clusterfuck.

I'm referring to the "Family Meat and Deli"  on Brown's Line.  You can look it up if you give a rat's ass.

But here's the thing.

There was some talk about "needing some meat",  both on the part of T.C.'s older sister (she'll be 85 this summer, so we prefer to get her stuff,  rather than have her go shopping)  as well as a few things that they carry that we like.   I'm referring of course to kranjska klobasa. 

Our first clue should have been when T.C.'s sister called them a couple days ago,  and the word was,  "Oh sure,  the two of you can come in,  or you can order ahead of time."

Didn't register.  But that should have been a red flag.

Now that we think on it,  there are no deli type of stores that are just allowing folks to "come in". 

The one we have here in Burlington was trying that a few weeks back,  by only allowing two people in the store at a time,  but when I was there,  I could see that it clearly wasn't working. 
The thing is,  once you go into this type of place,  you really need to stand in one spot,  and not ramble around trying to decide what you want.  If it wasn't for the fact that I would have had to touch the guy,  I really wanted to clobber this one fellow who simply couldn't seem to figure out what he wanted without wandering up and down the display case.

In the meanwhile,  that particular store (J & G Meats)  has very astutely realised that having customers in the store simply doesn't work, and have gone to "curb side" shopping.   We all know what that is,  so no need to explain.

So,  back to "Family Meat....".   And this is all I know from the report that I got back from T.C. 

They haven't a clue.

After she donned her mask and went in,  I saw two more people go in,  (without masks on, I might add)  and it looked like there were already at least two or three in the store.   And this is not a big store.  About as wide as the average townhouse. 

Not that wide.

So,  T.C. is trying to keep her distance,  getting somewhat hassled by other shoppers,  who don't know where to stand,  and then?   They're calling out numbers!

She bailed. 

Apparently,  there was only one lady behind the counter,  and just how she was supposed to be cleaning anything (including the number thingy)  was unclear.  (like,  impossible)  Plus,  there was no protection for the cashier,  like the sort of screen that mostly all of the retail outlets have installed.  Just a disaster waiting to happen.


So now we know.   We know why the numbers are so much higher in a city like Toronto compared to say,  Burlington. 

It's not just the stupid people.  I think it also has to do with a sense that,  even though there might be a ticket in the offing,  the by law officers are so few and far between,  that there's no worries about anyone putting up a fuss.

It was a nice day for a drive.

Which is to say,  not a nice day to be outdoors.   We had snow.  It was maybe one or two degrees above zero when we got up.  Not sure what to say about May.  It pretty much sucks so far.  Naturally,  I've already switched out the winter tires. 

On the other hand,  the Marinas aren't opening,  which means the boats won't be going in the water any time soon.   But in light of the crappy weather,  that seems to be an OK thing.   Who knew?

Still unclear how the whole sailing thing is going to pan out this summer. 

We'll see.


That's all I got.

Thanks for moving your eyes back and forth.

Keep washing those hands.