Awash

Doing laundry Friday, jeans in the dryer, went to check on a load of towels and... the selector dial said "Done," but the tub was still full of water. Cranked it back around to Drain/Spin, with no result. Fortunately, there are three different cycles on the dial, Normal, PermPress and Delicate, and it did still drain, rinse and spin on Permanent Press.

Took apart the panel yesterday, didn't see anything obviously scorched or broken behind the dial, just a big enclosed galvanized box with no obvious way to remove it. So I did what I should have done first.

I consulted the internet.

Googling "Whirlpool washer doesn't drain or spin" gave me a number of hits, all agreeing that the problem was with the lid switch, a little gizmo that registers whether the lid is open or closed. I watched two different vids, with two different styles of switch, both assuring me it was a 5-minute repair.

Readers, it was not a five minute repair.

Firstly, my washer was much older than both of the models shown, so the lid switch didn't resemble either. Mine is actually in four parts: the switch itself, a little bakelite box with a button on top; the frame, which holds a lever that transfers the impulse from the lid pin to the button; the lever; and a plastic cowl that keeps water out. The parts can all move independently of each other unless held in place by the mounting screws.

I got the little bugger out, confirmed with my circuit tester that the switch in fact still switched. Then I had to put it back together.

Problem is, the switch is under the inside rim of the frame, invisible and hard to hold in place when putting in the screws from outside. Keeping everything aligned is nearly impossible. I tried a trick that worked the last time I had this apart, putting short bamboo skewers into the holes to line everything up with the screw holes, then pulling them out one at a time. Problem was, the cowling didn't have holes, it had slots, open at the top, and the damn thing kept falling out as I was tightening the screws. I tried running strips of tape across the openings, but they didn't want to stick.

Finally figured out that I could partially screw in parts one through three, push the assembly back far enough to make space, then push the cowl up from beneath to fit slots over screws, and tighten everything up again.

But when I tested it, the spin cycle worked perfectly. Success!

Fatherly

Didn't really have any Definitely Dad's Day appropriate images, so this is what I posted on Instagram for the day. Don't know about the parenting habits of killdeer or rhinoceros, but they could be fathers and children? I guess?

Not sure I did that much Father's Day specific trade, in any event, though a couple of times, couples asked each other "Do you think your dad/grandpa would like...?" Pretty sure at least a bear mug was going paternal.

Actually did much more motherly: a fellow who'd bought his mother a covered casserole earlier in the year came back, said she'd loved it, and dropped $200--cash--buying mugs and bowls for her.

I also got to play Magic Restock Box, twice. First Cara (of the one piece a week couple--Jeremy couldn't come) asked, You wouldn't ever do a dinner plate with a peacock on it, would you? (Opens the box) You mean like this? And sold.

Later had a run on octopodes: two stew mugs, a creamer, and a women asked if I had any on dishes? Once again, into the plates box and happy customer takes it home.

I've got a sort of standard pitch to people who come into the booth, variations on "This is stoneware pottery: I make it on the potters wheel, and paint it all freehand." They usually make appreciative noises and we talk about favorite shapes or animals or whatever. But about one in ten--Protestants, I assume--say "Boy, that's a lot of work." My usual response is I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Nothing will ever be that much work again. Quippy, but not incorrect.

Saturday, two different sets of folks said "Where in Wisconsin?" One family turned out to be from Milwaukee; the other two college-aged women had a family cabin up near Webster, maybe twenty miles from Denise's folk's cabin on King Lake. Wisconsin people--always looking for each other, wherever you go. (Also? If you pronounce it with a "C", you're not from there. It's "Wis-GAHN-sin.")

Took three more special orders, so my July firing is filling up. And I had a woman come in, surprised and delighted to see my work. Apparently, she'd gotten one of my hen soup bowls in a school fundraising auction in Duvall, WA. I vaguely remember being solicited for a donation, at Anacortes or Edmonds. I usually beg off, explaining that I'm not local, and support charities back home in Eugene (eg, Empty Bowls), but I was feeling generous, or maybe tired, so just offered a bowl. She bought it, and now found me, and ended up getting another chicken bowl to go with it.

It's a very small world.

Bookmark

Denise has been feeling well enough to do some bookbinding again. These are two of her four new journals. They're 80 pages of commercial paper, coptic-stitched, with hand made paper covers and reproductions from my watercolor sketchbooks.

She does such nice work.