Crisis After Crisis Before a Trip

OK... This is the 3rd and last time I'll break my blog hiatus... 😳... mainly because I'm probably on the flight as you read this.

We've often had a crisis pop up just before we go on a trip. There was that time we were leaving on a trip to Japan and mom hurt her knee two days before. We had to get a wheelchair for her and she had a wonderful time. 

Then there was that trip a few years ago when Art and I were leaving on another trip. My brother was on his way to our house to take us to the airport. Mom fell on the sidewalk while sweeping leaves. Art and I were getting ready and neighbors brought her in with a bloody head. Dennis took her to the emergency room while our friend, Dave took us to the airport. Dennis kept us informed on what was happening as we waited at the airport. Thankfully, everything was OK and we were able to get on the flight.

So here we were preparing for this Hokkaido trip and I got that subconjunctival hemorrhage in my left eye last Friday. Happily, our optometrist squeezed me in to make sure everything would be OK to travel.

And THEN!  Arrrghhh! We had a crisis with that new Maytag impeller washer we bought from Costco! Arrghhh! We've never had an impeller washer before.

Would you believe mom's blouse got stuck under the impeller? No, the washer was not even full. The clothes were not stuffed in there. However, the blouse somehow was lodged. Art looked online and discovered that it had happened to other people who owned impeller washers and found instructions on what to do.

OK... That's fine and dandy.

Art was able to remove that center cap.

But then there was that bolt under it holding the impeller down.

I forgot to take a photo of that bolt so I had to get this online.

Well.... poor Art had the darndest time finding a socket wrench to put down into that long tube to try to unscrew that bolt.

And when he finally got the right tool, that bolt would NOT budge. 

Arrghhh...

So with all else failed... Art just figured the blouse would have to be sacrificed and he pulled it out slowly from between the impeller and drum, grateful that there wasn't a button holding it in.

Incredibly, the blouse did not tear.

But what if this happens again? This is so irritating. 

We didn't have time now to worry about getting a Costco repair person out here so we decided to wait until we returned from our trip.

OK... what else could go wrong?

POSTSCRIPT:  After I wrote this post I decided to call Costco Technical Support anyway. A repair person will be coming to loosen the bolt the day after we return from our trip. 😊