Day of Labor

Even though I'm not usually someone who makes lists, that to-do list we made a couple of weeks ago made me realize how many smallish things needed to get done around here and pushed me to accomplish some of them. We replaced the light in the office last weekend and now this weekend crossed another off our list (and got started on a different one, but that's a post for another time). 

This Labor Day (and boy, does labor mean something different to me now that I have a baby...), we cleaned out the dryer! It had been about three and a half years and especially given how much more laundry we've been doing these days with a baby, we figured it was probably become quite the fire hazard. We actually had completely forgotten how to do it but fortunately took very good notes on the blog last time and followed them. Step one, of course, was that we unplugged the dryer. Next we had a little trouble getting the bottom of the dryer off, but eventually got it unhinged.

Then we unscrewed the black covering inside, vacuumed, and then unattached it from the vent hose. D dragged out the shop vac and sucked up the dust while using the drill attachment from both ends to send the brush through the vent.

I'm happy to report that it wasn't really all that bad. So we cleaned it the first time a year and a half after moving in, but it had obviously been a lot longer than that since the previous owners cleaned it out (or they never ever cleaned the lint trap?). I think ever three years should definitely be plenty in the future.

The only other unexpected find from this little project? A very very very dead and desiccated mouse stuck to a sticky trap behind the dryer. Don't worry, there'll be no pictures for this one. The trap wasn't even for mice, it was for spider crickets. Poor little thing. Wrong place, wrong time. Though of course if he'd made it upstairs our cat would have been waiting...