What Do You Fix?

[mamselle]

Is it brick?

(The house, I mean...)

M.

[apl68]

Is it brick?

(The house, I mean...)

M.

No, which is ironic given that Dad did, after all, work as a bricklayer for most of his working life.  The lower story is built of (very nicely laid) cinder blocks, the upstairs of wood.  Between being a full-time bricklayer, bi-vocational church pastor, and father, he never got around to bricking up the house.  It's all held up well, except for that temporary-turned-permanent addition on back for the stair landing.  And it lasted 45 years, which is better than most contractor-built houses last.

[fishbrains]

I replaced the door switch on the clothes dryer today, to no avail. Over the years I've replaced anything that was replaceable on that dryer a couple of times. We've replaced the fuses. And the door switches. And the heating elements. And even a circuit breaker to the main box. We've had this dryer for over 22 years, and it was used when someone gave it to us in the previous century.

Alas, I pronounced it dead at 18:32 EST today.

R.I.P., little trooper. I'll bet a paycheck my wife cries when I tell her.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I replaced the door switch on the clothes dryer today, to no avail. Over the years I've replaced anything that was replaceable on that dryer a couple of times. We've replaced the fuses. And the door switches. And the heating elements. And even a circuit breaker to the main box. We've had this dryer for over 22 years, and it was used when someone gave it to us in the previous century.

Alas, I pronounced it dead at 18:32 EST today.

R.I.P., little trooper. I'll bet a paycheck my wife cries when I tell her.

That sucks. Did you try to bypass the door switch?

[mamselle]

Apparently, I fix upside-down and sideways videos.

Found the one I made of my "new" (to me, bought it used) accordion in Belgium in Dec 2019, it's taken three flips on the software to get it oriented correctly. (I was upside-down, down one version ago.)

Had to crop a clip last month for a friend, this may be a new fun skill-set...

M.

[apl68]

I replaced the door switch on the clothes dryer today, to no avail. Over the years I've replaced anything that was replaceable on that dryer a couple of times. We've replaced the fuses. And the door switches. And the heating elements. And even a circuit breaker to the main box. We've had this dryer for over 22 years, and it was used when someone gave it to us in the previous century.

Alas, I pronounced it dead at 18:32 EST today.

R.I.P., little trooper. I'll bet a paycheck my wife cries when I tell her.

Another 20th-century appliance passes from the scene!  Mom and Dad's 20th-century (ca. 1999) kitchen stove gave out unexpectedly last week.  Dad and my brother had just finished installing the replacement when I arrived home on Saturday.  Mom gave it a thorough test by making a Sunday roast dinner.  The roast was great!

[apl68]

Saturday we had a civic event at the city park.  The library had a booth there--first time we've done that since before COVID.  For our booth, we needed a pop-up canopy.  Ours was on its last legs.  A staff member arranged to borrow one.  The borrowed canopy proved to have some essential pieces missing.  It was totally unusable.  The staff member went back to the library and got our old canopy.  It proved to have two lock studs missing.  We couldn't lock the top in place to erect it.

I went to the local Wal-Mart with the library credit card to get a new canopy.  As I had feared, such portable shade devices turn out to be yet another of those numerous items that suddenly everybody wants and are out of stock as a result.  There was another place in town to try, but I suspected that they'd be sold out too.  Before going there I decided as a back-up plan to get a roll of duct tape and a small set of miscellaneous drywall screws and anchors to try to contrive a repair of our broken canopy.

Sure enough, the other place didn't have any for sale either.  Just huge outdoor umbrellas, which weren't what we needed.  So I returned to the park and used drywall screws in place of the locking studs in our old canopy.  They worked!  That successful MacGuyvering held up for the rest of the day.  The staff member I had left behind with the half-raised canopy had meanwhile kept herself occupied by helping the event's organizers to get a portable generator started.  Thanks to a rainy morning that kept the spectators from getting out early, we were able to be up and running in time to receive visitors despite the late start.

[mamselle]

Win-win-win!

Love the use of the screws for the correct part.

Improvisation is all, said the jazz player.

M.

[FishProf]

I spent two weeks helping my parent s pack up their house for a final move to retirement nirvana.  My father, a retired machinist, has a shop in his basement.  A ton of scrap metal was moved to the recycling center.  And I brought home a suitcase full of tools, some new, many I remember from my childhood.  Including things like the socket wrench I learned on as a child.

This is mostly nostalgia, but I imagine I can tackle some new projects with these heirlooms.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I spent two weeks helping my parent s pack up their house for a final move to retirement nirvana.  My father, a retired machinist, has a shop in his basement.  A ton of scrap metal was moved to the recycling center.  And I brought home a suitcase full of tools, some new, many I remember from my childhood.  Including things like the socket wrench I learned on as a child.

This is mostly nostalgia, but I imagine I can tackle some new projects with these heirlooms.

Was it a literal ton?

[FishProf]

2075 lbs.  Stainless Steel, Iron, and Aluminum.  A LOT of Aluminum.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

2075 lbs.  Stainless Steel, Iron, and Aluminum.  A LOT of Aluminum.

Dang! Cast Al? That's still a few hundred bucks... give or take.

[FishProf]

Yes, we got a few good meals out of the proceeds.

[clean]

Replaced the 20 year old microwave.  It worked fine. but the handle broke, cracking the door.  A new door, assuming that I could get one, was listed as costing nearly $100.  Then I would have had to replace it! 
My father, who is really good at fixing things, and had himself replaced the door on HIS microwave a few years ago, suggested that I just get another one!   Not that he doubts my ability to do the work, but that for another $100 I could get a new one.  (the glass plate that spins around was broken too, so a new door would not have solved all of the problems).

I also replaced my 21 year old lawn mower.  The repair place had it for over 6 weeks and still wasnt able to get the part.  Even then there was a good chance that it would need yet another part, and he was not confident that Briggs and Stratton was going to be able to fix whatever issues it is having to deliver the parts (for a 21 year old mower) anytime soon.


So I got a new Honda mower with a real wheel drive AND electric start!  My bride suggested that IF she didnt have to pull start it, or do a lot of heavy pushing that she may even help with the yard work!  I dont know if this counts as "fixing", but I did put in the oil, set up the handles on it and it required me to put the grass catcher on the frame. 

THe mower starts quickly both on the battery and with the chord! 

(She even tried out the mower on the back yard.  It is clear that she had NEVER been behind a mower before.  There was a nice square left to be done and instead of going around the edges, as one would normally do, she just pushed it through the middle, and hten kept aiming for the middle of the biggest unmowed sections left.  I dont know if that is a reflection of her inexperience, or that with the additional weight of the rear drive and starter, if it is a bot too difficult to turn, or if it is just 'more fun' to push it through the middle.... like bowling!! aim for the middle and hope for the best!)

[fishbrains]

(She even tried out the mower on the back yard.  It is clear that she had NEVER been behind a mower before.  There was a nice square left to be done and instead of going around the edges, as one would normally do, she just pushed it through the middle, and hten kept aiming for the middle of the biggest unmowed sections left.  I dont know if that is a reflection of her inexperience, or that with the additional weight of the rear drive and starter, if it is a bot too difficult to turn, or if it is just 'more fun' to push it through the middle.... like bowling!! aim for the middle and hope for the best!)

I've taught my daughters that if they don't want to do something like mowing to just make the yard look really bad the first time they do it, and then the person who actually cares what the yard looks like will never let them mow again--or at least not for a long time. It's kind of like men and doing laundry.

I've never met your wife. Just sayin'.