Happy 406 Day*

Last week, when we had no time to deal with it, the dishwasher decided to stop working. I left it until Monday night and then asked the husband what he wanted to do. I expected him to tell me he would take it apart, determine what failed, and buy the replacement part and install it. I have a 26-year-old dryer that is still running because he refuses to allow it to die.

“Assuming you can find one, go buy a new dishwasher,” he said.

“Who are you and what have you done with my husband?” I asked.

Our current dishwasher is a Bosch, probably about 15 years old. It leaks, randomly. It will go for three months without leaking, at which point I will decide to take up the towel that usually sits on the floor in front of it (because it leaks), and then it will start leaking again.

Sigh.

I started at Home Depot yesterday morning. They have nothing. They have no idea when they will have anything.

I went to a Pacific Northwest chain called Fred’s Appliance. The reason Home Depot doesn’t have anything is because all the dishwashers are at Fred’s Appliance. I like Fred’s. We bought our Speed Queen washer there. If they ever get JennAir downdraft gas ranges back in stock, I might let my mother buy me a new one. She’s been trying for many years.

[People do not like my current JennAir downdraft range because it has to be lit manually. We have propane, not natural gas, and the lighter has never worked properly, not for 26 years. It doesn’t bother me. I just pretend I am lighting a Bunsen burner in the lab when I cook dinner.]

Fred’s had plenty of Bosch dishwashers in stock AND apparently now those dishwashers come with anti-door leak technology. How nice to know our leaking dishwasher was not an isolated issue.

The husband will install this tonight.

It was too late when he got home last night. He is still trying to decompress from the auction and needed to sit and relax.

[My house is in desperate need of a thorough deep cleaning. I see no point in starting that, though, until this season of rain and mud is over.]

Once I had the dishwasher problem sorted, I went and taught a serger class at the quilt store south of town. I only had one student. That’s fine—I’ll teach one student. She came from Eureka, about an hour and a half away, and brought two machines. The first one, an older Singer model, had belonged to her mother. We started with that machine, but it was not catching the left needle thread. The last time I had a student with a machine with that problem, the store owner said that it probably needed to be re-timed.

I’ve re-timed sewing machines, but re-timing a serger is above my pay grade.

This student also brought a New Home (Janome) model of slightly newer vintage, probably late 90s or early 2000s, so we switched over to that one. The New Home machine had differential feed, which the Singer did not. She told me she picked it up at a yard sale for $15 and I told her she got a screaming deal. It was a lovely little machine. We went through it from top to bottom. I suggested she get a supply of needles and replace the knife, but the machine worked well for the class. We tested out a four-thread stitch, a three-thread stitch, and the rolled hem. All of them looked great.

************************************

I am staying home today. I need to finish planting seeds out in the greenhouse. Everything I planted a few weeks ago is up, although I need to replant a few things that either didn’t sprout or got dug up by a mouse (who has been eliminated).

I also stole an hour yesterday morning and started a new quilt. I like it. This one is going to be fun.

************************************

*Montana only has one area code for the whole state—406.