Yesterday the heating element on my dryer died. Yep. After the usual post-mortem imprecations one offers large, expensive, appliances when they shrug off this mortal coil (literally) I began my search for a replacement. The Sears Hometown store — from which I procured my new fridge last spring when my old fridge died — has closed permanently. The easy solution gone — POOF! An appliance store in Alamosa is possible. Repair guy? Maybe I’ll find one. And then… Since I couldn’t take any action I had to (oh no!!!) think…
Wait a minute. I live in a windy desert. “Imprecation! I don’t have to do this right now!!!”
So I won’t. I lived an El Niño year in China without a dryer. Most of the people I’ve known in Europe don’t have a dryer — some have a cool machine that does both. After it washes the clothes, it extracts water from the wet clothes. All one machine. I want that. It was kind of a pain in Iceland where the humidity was 9,000,000%, but here? Where the weather is dry and it’s just me? And those machines aresmall. To use my back door (not the storm door) I have to move my dryer out of the way. That means, all winter for 8 years I’ve had to move my dryer back and forth whenever I wanted to close the door — that’s all winter and whenever I leave town. This house was built nearly a hundred years ago, long before appliances as I know them. Once upon a time, the kitchen had a wood stove.
So…since fixing my car’s hatch door is more important to me right now than the dryer, I’ll see how that goes before I jump into any financially burdensome appliance decisions. Anyway, what I really want is someone to take that thing out of my laundry room and haul it away.
In other news I framed the snow painting, and I love it. It’s not going anywhere. It’s going to hang above my table here, a reminder of the end of a strange time in my life and a beautiful walk with my much loved Polar Bear Yeti T. Dog. I don’t know what the frame is made from, but I think steel. 😉 It’s very hard wood and broke off the tips of two screw-eyes yesterday, so it’s still not hangable, but maybe today I will bring in Mr. Drill to have a chat with it. Whatever the wood is, it’s very pretty.
That’s the quotedium update for March 14, 2023.
“Summer is the season of inferior sledding” - Inuit proverb 
There is nothing I resent more than having to replace an appliance! I definitely feel your pain there. On a brighter note, the frame is the perfect addition to your beautiful painting.
These big expensive things shouldn’t break. Since Covid, in my little part of the world, it’s hard to find any business that still exists. I may be stuck with that dead dryer for a while!🤣
Replacing a dryer heating element is a pretty simple job…if the part is available and a service company still exists – two big ifs. I’ve replaced several and it’s a lot easier than replacing the bearings on a front-loading washer. My mom used to hang clothes out even in winter. In the morning she’d shake them out to break off the ice that formed and hope the sun would dry them a bit..but I guess if the moisture keeps freezing and you keep shedding the ice, they dry eventually.
Yeah when I was a kid no one had a dryer. It was a big decision for my parents when we moved to Nebraska but they got one. I remember discussions between my aunts and mom about dryers. It was a new thing. So far I haven’t found a repair person. Covid killed a lot of businesses in the San Luis Valley and there were never many to start with. I’d be happy just to have it gone and move on to the next thing. I’m thinking now if I can get rid of it and when, down the road, if the washer goes (pls whomever no no no) I’ll get a washer/dryer in one deal. I think the worst part is having to think about it! 😀
On rainy days, my mother used a dryer like the one you pictured in this post — she never had an electric dryer! On rainy days, she strung a clothesline outdoors and let the sun and wind dry the laundry.
I’m about at that point. If I could find someone to haul Moby Dick away, I’d relax 😀
A very good post
Thanks for sharing
I hate spending money on appliances and irrationally expect them to last forever
Is there a laundromat close by you can use in a pinch?
Our Sears repair center closed down, too, but my appliances were so old it just made more sense to replace them–with a brand someone else could repair.
There is a laundromat. 🙂
I’ve got my clothes line in the basement – it is wonderful! It works year round and doesn’t cost me a cent!
I wish I had a basement sometimes!!
I usually head out to the nearest Goodwill store. They usually have use appliances for cheap.
My sympathies. Never nice to have something break down on you. But actually, why don’t people in your corner of the world dry clothes on lines, at least in the season when they can? Would save a lot on electricity
Lots of people do! I want to but I live on a major highway and in summer there’s so much traffic clean clothes get dirty out there.