Jim is visiting, and Saturday night, after a game of cards, Jim retired to his guest room, Tim went home to bed, and Tom and I were almost finished washing dishes (he washed; I dried and put away) when I noticed some water leaking out under the dishwasher door. We almost never use the dishwasher, because when I cook, I wash as I go; other times, we take shifts washing up afterward depending on who cooks. It’s recommended that you DO use your dishwasher, at least once a week, but with only the two of us, it seems like a waste of water. Plus I’m one of those people who finds dishwashing relaxing.
Apparently, for some reason, water was pooling in the bottom of the dishwasher. We hadn’t had any backup into our sink and no problem with the garbage disposal, so we weren’t sure where the water came from or how long it had been there. Tom and I together used two of the small cups I save from our laundry detergent (to use as water cups when I paint) to bail water from the dishwasher into a tub, which we emptied outside twice. Then he used towels to soak up the rest and dry out the dishwasher, then threw the towels into the washing machine. And we crossed our fingers, hoped for the best, and went to bed.
This morning, I woke up to find he’d moved about half of the contents under our sink onto the kitchen counter. The rest of that stuff was in a movable rack we keep under the sink. We’d cleaned out a couple of filters inside the dishwasher Saturday night, and he cleaned out a hose that had some gunk in it this morning. Then I cleaned and partly reorganized under the sink.
Tonight after dinner, we had the real test: doing a load in the dishwasher. All went as it should normally, so we’re hoping that’s the end of the drama. I’ll finish organizing the cabinet under the sink Monday.
I suppose my theme for the week will be house and home projects: cleaning, maybe some organizing, and a few other things that have been on my to-do list for a while.
Fingers-crossed that’s the end of the crisis.
I have lived in The Hermitage for over five years now and have never used the built-in dishwasher. It’s pointless with (mostly) just me in the house and I don’t host dinner parties. If I waited until it was full, it would stink!
Enjoy your time with Jim!
Thank you on all counts! Yes. It will take us a while to collect enough dishes to do a full load because I use iron skillets (don’t go in dishwasher) and usually don’t put pots and pans in the dishwasher, but I guess I should. We do go through a lot of glasses, and those are easy to do a quick rinse then line up in the dishwasher.
I washed dishes at restaurants as one of my trades with schools, and I’ve never found that relaxing!
OH HELL NO. That is work! I’m sure having my hands in soapy water while looking out the kitchen window is not the same.
During my first years of dishwashing, I was watching the neighbors’ dogs in their backyards. Then we had a house where we looked out on one of our main (small-town) roads, and I’d watch for cars of my classmates or my father’s students going by and blowing their horns. The houses or apartments I had without kitchen windows were never as fun. At The Compound, I was looking at a tall fence, but I could also watch for lizards, squirrels, and (honesty matters) the occasional rat. Here, I can sometimes see the neighbor’s cat in the window, and look over the bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds on my Mexican petunias. With those things, dishwashing isn’t work at all.