"Das Unglück schlägt auf allen Seiten..."
Okay, not quite that bad: misfortune is not striking from all sides. (The text is from the bass aria of Bach's cantata "Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott," BWV 139, and as usual the music is far better than the text.) I haven't looked at the stub of the toe since yesterday morning, but it looked better then than it had the day before. A mess of little problems are indeed showing up.
The clothes dryer stopped working a few days before I checked into the hospital, and I'm slowly running short of clean clothes. Today I finally started trying to diagnose what's wrong. I moved the dryer out of its usual place, unplugged its cord, and tried closing the tripped circuit breaker again -- and the breaker tripped at once. Now, I didn't wire that circuit myself: it was part of the trailer when I bought it. I'd trust it more if I had. I suppose it's possible that something broke in the dryer (which was producing no heat the last time it ran) and somehow trashed the socket, the short run from the in-trailer panel (in the same room, a very few feet away), or perhaps the circuit breaker itself. I should be able to find what's wrong and repair it, but it's been ten years since I did serious electrical work (wiring the outside panel for the trailer, and wiring the inside panel to it), and I'm getting rusty. I suppose I'm up to replacing a circuit breaker -- if that indeed is the problem -- and perhaps even to diagnosing and fixing what's wrong with the dryer, but right now I feel disheartened and inept.
I suppose I could string a clothesline, but a dryer really helps remove cat hair from clothing and bed linen.
I'll probably just call an electrician, then an appliance repairman. Damn the expense -- although I can afford it, and it's sure to be a drop in the bucket compared with my recent medical expenses -- and damn the feeling of being too incompetent to repair things myself, which is what really hurts.
The clothes dryer stopped working a few days before I checked into the hospital, and I'm slowly running short of clean clothes. Today I finally started trying to diagnose what's wrong. I moved the dryer out of its usual place, unplugged its cord, and tried closing the tripped circuit breaker again -- and the breaker tripped at once. Now, I didn't wire that circuit myself: it was part of the trailer when I bought it. I'd trust it more if I had. I suppose it's possible that something broke in the dryer (which was producing no heat the last time it ran) and somehow trashed the socket, the short run from the in-trailer panel (in the same room, a very few feet away), or perhaps the circuit breaker itself. I should be able to find what's wrong and repair it, but it's been ten years since I did serious electrical work (wiring the outside panel for the trailer, and wiring the inside panel to it), and I'm getting rusty. I suppose I'm up to replacing a circuit breaker -- if that indeed is the problem -- and perhaps even to diagnosing and fixing what's wrong with the dryer, but right now I feel disheartened and inept.
I suppose I could string a clothesline, but a dryer really helps remove cat hair from clothing and bed linen.
I'll probably just call an electrician, then an appliance repairman. Damn the expense -- although I can afford it, and it's sure to be a drop in the bucket compared with my recent medical expenses -- and damn the feeling of being too incompetent to repair things myself, which is what really hurts.