Friday, June 8, 2007

When Something Breaks, Something is More Like Somethings

First my hot water heater went on the fritz. Then, right after that broke down, so too did my washing machine. Oh joy, now I wonder what will make it the magic three. Isn't that how it works when bad things happen, they come in threes? Well the hot water heater got fixed pretty quickly by my oil company man; that is it was almost fixed, then it broke down again. The oil guy came back and fixed it again, and gave the oil jets and electronics a good cleaning. Seems they were coated with lint from the dryer and animal hairs. I wonder where all those hairs came from? Were they from the now deceased cat, the three dogs, or the 50 or so mice I have down in the basement (in tanks). I guess it doesn't matter now that it is clean and working well. This was not so bad especially since the repairs were done free of charge; heck we pay enough for the oil to cover the repairs.

As for the washing machine, it does not drain. There was no warning or anything to indicate the pump was about to fail, but I guess it has. The machine was only about 10 years old - certainly not made to last as they used to be. I remember washing machines lasting well over 20 years. This one certainly will not be worth having it repaired. A few years ago, last time we had repairs done to it, it was under the extended warranty. As I recall the repairman told us that the repair he made would have cost about $225, which was more than we had paid for 5 years of extended warranty service. Back then, just having the repairman come to our house had a minimum charge of about $125.00. I think it is time to buy a new one for about $450 - $500. Of course, I'll pull this one out of its nook this weekend, and maybe I'll even try to check to see if I can find and fix the problem. If not, then out it goes, and in with a new one. Hmm, that made me realize the third thing that will be broke - me!

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to tighten the purse strings for a month or two.

All the best,
Glenn B