WASHING MACHINE, PART 2

So, if you read my post of June 12, you know about my HATE for my new washing machine.
The good news is that Lowe's will trade out this machine for a new large-capacity, AGITATOR one.
The bad news is that it had to be ordered; and I will have to 'wash' my clothes in the crappy one for 2 more weeks.

SCOOTER

So, Harv bought this little beauty for me.  It has a lot of zip, which surprised me.  It can be taken

apart into 5 pieces; the heaviest is only 28 pounds and it will fit easily into the car trunk.  This will save my back in large stores and long hotel hallways.

Ain't it the truth!

Now, THAT'S a father!

FATHER'S DAY - NOT SO MUCH

So Father's Day was this last Sunday.  Now, Harv is a father; Cal is a father; Harv has a step-father.  End of my thinking about the subject.  Wait...I had a father too.  No, I didn't.  There was a person who
lived in the same house I did growing up.  He was an adult male.  He was a bastard.  He was a harsh, mean, egotistical, cheating, controlling, sadistic asshole.  And that's the good stuff.  I can feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about him.  He made my growing up years a pure hell.  When he would enter the house, you could feel the tension descend like a thick fog.  Your safest bet was to hide out in your room.  Out of sight, out of mind hopefully.

I never considered him Dad.  That's how my mother would refer to him:  "Your Dad...".  But he never
interacted with me in a positive way.  He never considered me anything but slave labor and someone he could push around and snarl at.  I was always envious of my cousins who had nice dads.  Dads who would speak kindly to them and take an interest in them.

He colored my thinking about men.  They say girls marry men just like their fathers.  I sure didn't want
to marry anyone like him.  I went the exact opposite way, thank God.

Because of him, I planned from the age of 11 how to get the hell out of that house as quickly as possible.  Because of him, I didn't go to college; but took every secretarial class in school I could.  That way I could get a job as soon as I graduated; and escape.  Which is what I did.

After my mother died, I never had to deal with him again.  And I didn't.

So it was 2 days after the holiday that I actually spared him a thought.  And it was accidental because
I had been reading about other people's fathers.  I only think of my father with a deep, dark hate.
So, Father's Day - not so much for me.

So Puck is shedding.  No.  He is SHEDDING!  Hair everywhere.  Who knew a short-haired dog
could leave so much hair laying around.  Apparently he has a double coat.  I can feel the hair in
my eyes, in my throat and mouth, in my nose, and on my bare arms.  Ick!

Am I the only one who is irritated by e-mails and e-Books that are apparently written by
illiterates?
I read a "book" last night that seemed to be written by a 9-year-old.  And not a smart one.
The "book" turned out to be only a sample.  It was a good thing because I wanted to strangle
the author by the time I was done.  The author had no clue about past tense.  Where was the
editor?  Aren't they supposed to correct grammar and spelling?  Reading is supposed to be
relaxing; but it just seems to frustrate me when I'm reading e-Books.

Leafy Trees

I really love it when my backyard trees leaf out in the Spring.  Because then I don't have to look

at all the crap in my neighbor's yard!

PUCK

We got Puck when he was 4 years old.  We learned about him from a friend of a friend; and were told what a nice and friendly dog he was.  (I don't know what dog they saw; but it wasn't Puck!)  We  had lost Murphy (our Golden) the year before; and the house was empty.  We love Puck to death; and he is my husband's constant companion.  But if we had known all his issues; we would have passed.  Puck HATES people.  Especially men.  He loves me, my husband, our daughter.  He tolerates our 6-year-old grandson.  He dislikes and distrusts our son-in-law.

When we got Puck (2 years ago), he had a serious ear infection which he had had for several years apparently.  We finally got that cleared up after many vet visits, ear flushes,  and medication.  However, there were many more issues.

He loved Harv when he was with him.  But if Harv was out of his sight for an hour or more, it was like Puck forgot who he was.  There was growling and barking; and I would have to restrain him.  Every day when Harv came home from work, we would go through this all over again.  (Doggy dementia?)  It took about 2 weeks before Puck 'remembered' Harv.

This dog is very aggressive and protective of me.  He is a Belgian Malinois/German Shepherd mix.  (His mom was Belgian Malinois; and the vet figured the German Shepherd part.)  So if he hears, sees,
or just thinks something/someone is near his territory, he goes ballistic.  God forbid someone comes to
the door!  I always hated it if I went to someone's house, and their dogs were barking their furry butts
off on the other side of the door.  Now, I have that dog.  We have tried everything to break him of this, without success.  If I have a friend come to the house, he feels he has to be between me and the new person.  He was going to go after the UPS guy the other day when he advanced toward me.  I thought
we had finally got him over this because on Halloween after about 3 groups of kids came to the door, he calmed down and enjoyed seeing them.  However, on reflection I realized Harv was opening the
door to these strangers.  I wasn't.  He is so protective of me, that I can't go to his Agility classes.  If I'm there, Puck keeps his eyes constantly on me instead of what he's supposed to be doing.  At one point, he jumped over a short fence to get to me.  I guess he figured there were too many other dogs and strangers about; and he felt compelled to be at my side.  Just in case.  There is a puppy next door that
Puck likes.  But if I'm within 10 feet of the fence and puppy, Puck attacks the fence to keep the puppy
away from me.

Puck was immediately started in obedience classes after we got him.  He had a few commands; but we wanted him to be more than a dog who could just sit on command.  He has progressed through many
classes and trainers, and has now been doing Agility for months.  We have had at least 4 dog trainers tell us unsolicited that he was abused before we got him.  That would explain a lot.

So, he had commands when we got him; but no vocabulary.  We had to teach him "outside", "treat",  car, upstairs, etc.  Now, if he is asked "Do you want to go to class?"; he runs to the car.  Once Harv
is home from work, Puck thinks Harv is on his watch.  If Harv is going to leave the house, Puck thinks
it's just not right unless he gets to go too.

During the day, Puck can be found close to me.  Apparently he feels I need supervision and protection.

In November Puck developed a growth on his leg; and after surgery, it was discovered that it was cancer.  The vet told us that it will probably grow back, more aggressive this time.  Since the tumor was surrounding tendons etc.; the vet was unable to get it all.  So right now we're just hoping that Puck
has many more years with us.

Just sayin'...

Last night we had a terrible thunder storm.  For over an hour there was rolling thunder that came closer and closer; and then the downpour and after that, hail.
Today, the clouds look really odd, dark and close to the ground.  Right now, more rolling thunder.
The dog is NOT happy.

So the prices have gone up and up on eBooks.  WHY?  There are no printing, binding, paper, or distribution costs.  So why are we being gouged by the publishers and retailers?  Because they CAN.  No other reason besides greed.

Then to add insult to injury, the editing is half-assed or none at all.  When reading a book, I don't appreciate being constantly pulled from the story because of poor grammar, spelling or mis-placed sentences.  So, People, here is my protest and I hope yours:

JULY eBOOK FREEDOM

FREEDOM FROM HIGH PRICES AND

POOR EDITING.

DON'T BUY ANY eBOOKS IN JULY.

SEND A MESSAGE TO PUBLISHERS &

RETAILERS.

Rant of the day:

We just bought a new washing machine.  I HATE THIS MACHINE!  WITH A PASSION!

It is a:

GE Hydro Wave Washing Machine, LoWater Wash & Infusor 3.6 CU FT, Model: GLWN50509M1WS

This was not a cheap machine. I LOVED my last GE Washer; but it gave up after about 5 years. So I needed another washer right away. I sent my husband to Lowe's; and they had no

GE agitator washing machines that were large capacity.

So my husband came home with this. I've had it for less than 2 months. I HATE THIS MACHINE.

It makes a LOT of noise. Not "whoosh" as GE claims. It is a very loud squealing.

It doesn't hold nearly as much as my last machine, even though it is advertised as 3.6 CU Ft. because you have to

stack the clothes around the sides so they don't cover that center infuser.  Also because there is

so little water in the wash load, things do not get clean.  

It has already sliced up a King comforter. Apparently because during the spin cycle the fabric made contact with the top inner edge of the tub, which is rough plastic. It sliced ribbons in the comforter like a razor blade.

Because of the low water used, I couldn't use my powder detergent, even though it was HE. The machine just WOULD NOT rinse it out. So I bought liquid HE detergent. I kept using less and less of it; and the machine still doesn't rinse the detergent out of the clothes. When you take them out, you can feel that detergent residue on them. That's with using the

2nd rinse on every load. So I end up NOT using less water because I have to rinse twice instead of

just once as I had before.

Because of the way it washes, it crams the clothes into a small space on the bottom and wads them together. It presses deep wrinkles into the clothes; and I now have to iron everything when before I could get away with no ironing.

I don't think it is too much to ask from an expensive machine to get clean clothes without soap scum and damage!  Just because it's NEW and HI-TECH doesn't mean it's good!

This blog is blah, blah about various things that bother me, I find interesting or funny, or whatever.  If you don't like it, take a hike.