I had thought that the transmission on my car would be fixed with the arrival of the appropriate part. But it was the wrong part. So the repair shop sent for another part. It turned out to be the right part, but the transmission still does not work in reverse or the higher gears. But the shop ordered another part, and the transmission should be fixed by this coming Tuesday.
I am getting tired of this. I am tired of the rental car, which is costing me seventeen dollars a day. I am tired of parking the rental car in the visitors lot, which costs from five to seven dollars a day depending on whether I have to go anywhere for lunch. I am tired of putting five to six dollars of gas because I was advised to do so and because I do not know when I will have to return the car. But, basically, I am tired of the waiting. I do not want to do anything in that rental car that may damage it or get it dirty. That means any major home or yard work has to wait until I get my car back.
Meanwhile, the spin cycle of my washing machine is vanished. The machine can still agitate the water during the wash cycle. It just does not spin. It drains the water, but I have found that I have had to wring the water out of the clothes before putting them in the dryer.
I can still use the washing machine, but without a spin cycle, it will take longer to dry my clothes. I think it is time to buy a new washing machine. There is a appliance store just across the street from the folks, where I bought my air conditioner. I can get a new washing machine there.
I was given a chance to buy an old washing machine that my sister the teacher brought back with her from Bloomington several years ago. I can buy it cheap, but it leaves with two issues that decided me against buying it.
No warranty. My sister’s machine has been in her garage since she came back from Bloomington. There is no telling if it would break down; and if it did, I am out of luck.
Machine disposal. If I buy from the appliance shop, they would swap the current machine for the new one. If I buy from my sister, I would have to dispose of the current machine myself. I have nowhere to put it: I have no garage; my shed is too small; and what neighbors I have left would complain if I stored it outside. And I do not have the time to look for anyplace to take the machine.
But the current machine still works; I have no problem wringing out my washing for awhile. So I am not worried about this yet.
I attended this year’s meeting of the Friends of the Bracken Library last Wednesday. Here it is in reverse order.
This year’s lecture was about Movers and Stakers, a documentary of stories along the Indiana segment of the National Road. It will be broadcast in October after it completes the independent film circuit.
The dinner was a salad, rolls, some kind of chicken and spud mix, and apple crumble. I was seated with the higher-ups and tonight’s speaker until the Friend’s director realized the mistake and reseated me with the other library staff.
The reception is, as it has already been, a bore. I knew nobody there except the attending library staff and the retired archivist whom I once assisted back in my student days in the 1980’s.