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This past weekend was "Dumpster Weekend" in my condo complex. Three or four times a year the condo association puts out a big Dumpster for us to use, over and above the usual trash bins. Since my dishwasher hasn't worked for a few years and is just taking up space, the boy toy got the notion that we should take it out to the Dumpster.
I was a bit skeptical, but the boy toy studied the big orange Home Depot book of home repairs, and I had him talk on the phone with my friend Bill R., the condo king of northeastern Massachusetts. We had to make a couple of runs to Home Depot for tools and supplies. But, finally, we got the darn thing detached and unscrewed and pulled it out from under the counter, and we were happy to find that it actually had a couple of small wheels at the bottom. We put duct tape around the unit so the door wouldn't flop open, and we tried to push the thing on its two wheels toward the Dumpster, but it was awkward and Sunday's weather was stifling (we're under a "heat dome" this week).
So I thought: I have this car, why not use it to lug the dishwasher? So I pulled the car up alongside the sidewalk, but the dishwasher, alas, did not fit into the trunk. Here's how we ended up getting the thing to the Dumpster: I left the trunk open and the boy toy balanced the appliance in the open jaw of the trunk, and I put the car into low gear and crawled at walking speed while he held the dishwasher so it wouldn't fall out. It was a bit awkward, but we got it there. Then we left it on the side of the Dumpster, because by then the boy toy was *so* sweaty and dirty and gross-feeling that he didn't want to heave the thing up the six-foot sides of the Dumpster.
Then the boy toy discovered that the cap that we bought for the remaining hot-water pipe didn't fit. So we left the water to the sink switched off and didn't do the dishes that evening (Sunday). On Monday we went to the local friendly hardware store at the downscale local mall, but the one employee in the store couldn't find what we wanted and seemed to not know a whole lot about plumbing anyway. So I swore that we would go to a REAL plumbing-supply store, even as the sink continued to fill with dirty dishes and utensils.
Yesterday I used the boy toy's computer to look up plumbing-supply stores in Beltsville, because that neighboring town has lots of industrial-type neighborhoods. (I'll explain a moment why I was on his computer.) The first address, which was supposedly right on U.S. Route 1, took us to an empty lot with a chain-link fence around it. The second address took us to a row of small warehouses off the beaten path, where the guy behind the counter knew exactly what we needed and sold it to us for less than $5. Boy toy installed the part, and it felt SO good for both of us to take turns doing all the dishes. Someday I'll get a new dishwasher, but I have a lot of higher priorities.
Anyhow, the reason why I was using the boy toy's computer was that I devoted some time on Monday night and Tuesday morning to download and install Windows 10. Overall, it was pretty painless. I figured I'd better not wait until the last day that the software was free, and no way am I going to pay $119 for what had been free of charge, y'know what I mean?
I was a bit skeptical, but the boy toy studied the big orange Home Depot book of home repairs, and I had him talk on the phone with my friend Bill R., the condo king of northeastern Massachusetts. We had to make a couple of runs to Home Depot for tools and supplies. But, finally, we got the darn thing detached and unscrewed and pulled it out from under the counter, and we were happy to find that it actually had a couple of small wheels at the bottom. We put duct tape around the unit so the door wouldn't flop open, and we tried to push the thing on its two wheels toward the Dumpster, but it was awkward and Sunday's weather was stifling (we're under a "heat dome" this week).
So I thought: I have this car, why not use it to lug the dishwasher? So I pulled the car up alongside the sidewalk, but the dishwasher, alas, did not fit into the trunk. Here's how we ended up getting the thing to the Dumpster: I left the trunk open and the boy toy balanced the appliance in the open jaw of the trunk, and I put the car into low gear and crawled at walking speed while he held the dishwasher so it wouldn't fall out. It was a bit awkward, but we got it there. Then we left it on the side of the Dumpster, because by then the boy toy was *so* sweaty and dirty and gross-feeling that he didn't want to heave the thing up the six-foot sides of the Dumpster.
Then the boy toy discovered that the cap that we bought for the remaining hot-water pipe didn't fit. So we left the water to the sink switched off and didn't do the dishes that evening (Sunday). On Monday we went to the local friendly hardware store at the downscale local mall, but the one employee in the store couldn't find what we wanted and seemed to not know a whole lot about plumbing anyway. So I swore that we would go to a REAL plumbing-supply store, even as the sink continued to fill with dirty dishes and utensils.
Yesterday I used the boy toy's computer to look up plumbing-supply stores in Beltsville, because that neighboring town has lots of industrial-type neighborhoods. (I'll explain a moment why I was on his computer.) The first address, which was supposedly right on U.S. Route 1, took us to an empty lot with a chain-link fence around it. The second address took us to a row of small warehouses off the beaten path, where the guy behind the counter knew exactly what we needed and sold it to us for less than $5. Boy toy installed the part, and it felt SO good for both of us to take turns doing all the dishes. Someday I'll get a new dishwasher, but I have a lot of higher priorities.
Anyhow, the reason why I was using the boy toy's computer was that I devoted some time on Monday night and Tuesday morning to download and install Windows 10. Overall, it was pretty painless. I figured I'd better not wait until the last day that the software was free, and no way am I going to pay $119 for what had been free of charge, y'know what I mean?
