Tag Archives: dishwasher

Mystery solved!

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Olive sitting at the kitchen counter.

Weird things have been going on lately. It’s stressing me out. First the dishwasher quit working, next it was the garbage disposal.

Then the power went out and I wrote about my mishaps with the garage door HERE.

Then I mistakenly threw out a Costco gift card we received for having solar installed. I had a stack of junk mail to recycle — and the Costco letter — which I hadn’t opened yet got mixed in.

The next day, it occurred to me that the Costco letter was in the recycling bin. But of course it was recycling day and the bin was empty! Costco was great about replacing the gift card, although I lost a night’s sleep fretting about it.

We hired a serviceman to fix the dishwasher. He had tools to diagnose it and said several motors were out and it would cost $1,000 to repair it.

I looked at the paperwork from the prior homeowners and it was installed in 2014. We decided to buy a new dishwasher. It arrived but it was broken. I’m waiting for the new dishwasher to come in.

In the meantime, I called the garbage disposal company and over the phone they had me unplug and plug things in the outlet under the sink. They told me it was an electrical problem, not an appliance issue.

Duh! My synapsis snapped and I realized the dishwasher and the garbage disposal are plugged in the same outlet. They would both start and then suddenly stop after a minute.

The electricians came yesterday morning. They called their boss when they couldn’t figure out what was wrong. After consulting they figured it out.


“The neutral wire was tied into a 220v circuit, so technician untied it, resolving the issue and converting the circuit back to a 120v circuit.”

The electricians

The solar people upgraded our electrical panel three weeks ago and they made a mistake. My problems with the dishwasher and garbage disposal happened at that time. I didn’t make the connection. Instead, I thought everything was breaking down at once. At least the solar company is picking up the bill for the electricians.

We were driving back from Costco after a spending spree with our gift card when a rock hit our windshield. I made an appointment with Safelight to have the one inch crack filled. The next day, the crack was 10 inches across. That means a new windshield.

Notice most of our problems are caused by going solar?

Stuff happens. And we don’t have our solar approved by the power company and city yet.

What weird things have you experienced lately? Or is it just me?

Yes, it was me

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Olive has discovered a fun game to play while I make the bed. She jumps on the bed and hides under the covers. Her crazy polydactyl claws get stuck .

Last Thursday, I had a dental appointment to get my teeth cleaned. An hour before my appointment the power went out.

I checked my iphone and the power company predicted power would be restored in four hours. They didn’t give the cause.

I called the dental office to let them know I couldn’t get my car out of the garage because the power was out.

The receptionist told me to pull the red cord and then I could manually lift the garage door. I hung up, pulled the red cord, but couldn’t lift the garage door. So I asked my husband to try.

“No. I’m not going to mess with the garage door,” he said. He wanted to leave well enough alone and wait for the power to go on. “Just call them and reschedule,” he said.

The dentist was able to swap my appointment with somebody on Monday morning. It was all good.

A neighbor called us and said she was at the hair dresser and would we please go to her house and invite her husband over. He had been walking their dog when the power went out. He was sitting freezing in the back yard with their dog. He had exited the locked house through the garage and without power, the buttons to open the garage door were worthless.

The wife said she asked him to come over to our house, but he didn’t want to be a bother. My husband returned with our neighbor and Rascal, a poodle bichon, a few minutes later.

The power was restored a few hours earlier than predicted and life was good.

But then Friday morning came. We had an electrician over to see why a few outlets inside and lights outside don’t work. My husband clicked to open the garage door for the electrician. The motor went on but the door didn’t open!

I saw a sticker with the garage door company name and number. I quickly called them in a panic. After all our dishwasher AND garbage disposal already quit working earlier. I was worried everything was going wrong in our “new” house all at once.

The garage door repair man came a few hours later. I told him we had had a power outage the day before and I didn’t know if that had anything to do with the double-sized garage door not opening.

“Did anyone pull on the red cord and manually open and close the garage door?” he asked.

“No, absolutely not,” my husband said. “We didn’t want to do that for the exact reason that we could hurt something.”

I was standing slightly behind my husband and sheepishly raised my hand. “I did,” I said.

The garage door man climbed a ladder under the garage motor, pressed a lever and presto! The garage door worked. The price tag: $230.

“Why didn’t you tell me you pulled the red cord?” my husband asked.

“You didn’t ask and the dentist told me to,” I explained. My husband shook his head and walked away.

The garage door man said he’d service our garage door and he also fixed the buttons outside which have never worked. So, now we can also get locked out of our house if the power goes out while we’re on a walk.

What embarrassing things have you done that compare with me pulling the red cord?

Frustration on the home front

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Wednesday was delivery day for our new dishwasher. I ordered the one model that was in stock. The one I wanted had a wait time for 25 weeks.

I had a window of four hours to wait for the dishwasher.

When it finally arrived, the three men who came to take away the old dishwasher and install the new one said they wanted me to see something.

I went outside to where they took the new dishwasher out of the packing and they showed me the middle rack was broken and hanging down.

So much for the new dishwasher. I called the saleswoman and left a message asking if they can get another one and when that might be. Haven’t heard back.

Meanwhile we had solar panels installed last week. It will be up to a month before they are turned on. The electric company has to inspect them, the local jurisdiction has to sign off.

We noticed damage to molding on the side of our garage door. It’s right under the solar panels and where the crew was working and didn’t exist prior to installation. I emailed and called our contact with the solar company. I didn’t hear back for three days.

I finally got an answer that they’d send out someone to repair the damage on Monday. Nobody showed up. Then I was told Tuesday. Didn’t happen. Next was an apology and Wednesday for sure. Nope.

I’m annoyed and frustrated. Although these are minor things, I wonder what happened to service?

What great service or horrible service have you experienced lately?

Great weekend fun

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Desert Trails
Sonoran McDowell Preserve

We had many beautiful walks this weekend. Mainly because it warmed up. I was able to walk without being bundled up in a ski parka and wool cap. I wore a sweatshirt instead.

My dishwasher quit a week ago Friday right before guests came over for appetizers. Saturday we had friends over for Oxtail soup complete with salad, vegetables and a rice dish. That meant a ton of dishes. Lucky me, we have dishwasher in our casita. I had to traipse back and forth with dishes on a tray for the past week.

Finally, this past Friday (a week after it broke down) the repairman came. He did diagnostics and said it would cost $1,000 to fix the dishwasher. I looked at the paperwork the prior owners left us. The dishwasher is around nine years old. Easy decision.

We went shopping Saturday for a new dishwasher. The one I wanted could be delivered in 25 weeks! I thought we were over supply chain issues. I’m not schlepping dishes to and from the casita for half a year. I looked at other brands and they had one dishwasher in stock! Imagine that! I feel like we lucked out.

Sunday I went with a girlfriend to a driving range to hit balls for the first time in years. I couldn’t believe how nervous and shaky I was. Eventually I settled down and hit a few good shots. We chipped and putted. It felt marvelous to be outside having fun on a bright sunny day. My new golf friend also hasn’t golfed for years and we seem to be a good match as far as our golfing skills go.

Sunday morning I got this video of Canadian geese:

I hear the geese before I see them.

What fun things did you do over the weekend?