Remember bright colors and the others don't mix

[austin_dern]

I really hate to say this, because I know it sounds like one of my many obsessive-compulsive disorders running away with me, but I have the suspicion that my washing machine isn't working. The clothes just come out not smelling clean. It turns on, yes, and I can see that it sprays water into the drum, and it seems to consume laundry detergent, and it spins the clothes around, and it takes about the right time. This is why I'm hesitant to bring it up to maintenance and shy to mention it here, because I can't point to any actual specific function the washing machine is clearly failing to do. But the clothes just don't smell clean when I'm done. Happily I have enough to have some certainly clean outfits to wear to class tomorrow.

One suspicious point is that the clothes are taking much longer to dry than they should, but that could just be a factor of the heavy rains we've had the past week. Singapore's a rainy place, but this has been heavy even for here. You know the rain and wind are really heavy when, at an above-bround MRT station, not only is the entire (covered, maybe 15-meter-wide) platform subject to sprays of water making it unsafe to read books, but the entire escalator down to the entry level is getting sprayed too. But the rain hasn't been that heavy all the time, and yet my clothes are taking an extra day at least to dry, and like I say, they just don't smell right.

I spotted at Borders the 2006 ``Why Paint Cats'' calendar. The pictures of this calendar are of cats with fur dyed and painted into remarkably complicated patterns. While I'm impressed at the paint jobs I have to agree with the title question since there are much easier ways to make a cat hate you forever than to dye its fur a complex pattern of red and white stripes with a blue union and stars. Heck, my sister once dyed the white patches of her cat green for Halloween, and after New Year's the cat still had noticeable green tinges and was still glaring at her. And these people have painted cats with hexagonal tiling and complicated interior facets. How'd they avoid getting clawed to death?

Trivia: The first US patent for a pencil with an attached eraser was issued in 1858 to Hyman Lipman of Philadelphia. Source: The Pencil, Henry Petroski.

Currently Reading: The Romans, Donald Dudley.

Comments

[spaceroo.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I wasn't that sure about your washing machine when I was there. Admittedly to some degree you could blame that perception on my simply having trouble believing something as, well, "Fisher-Price" as that machine *could* work well. However, it just seemed my clothes always had a certain, well, "crustyness", which I hesitate to blame entirely on line drying. It's like the extraction phase just wasn't quite getting all the detergent out of everything, so the end result was vaguely like a quickly-rinsed-then-dried dishrag.

(Not to sound overly critical, there. I'd be quite happy to wear dishrags while visiting Singapore again.)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

It's occurred to me the washing machine might just be cranky. At least the symptoms are compatible with a partial or complete clog in the drain hose.

I'd be glad to have you here in dishrags, although the people across the courtyard may complain.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

On reflection, do you have minerally water there? If there's a buildup of scale somewhere in the washer, the water may be completely saturated with minerals, so that the detergent doesn't go into solution as it ought. That'd account for slow drying, poor cleaning, and also for the gritty feel that Spaceroo reported. You might try running a couple empty loads with a bottle of CLR or Lime-Away dumped in there.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a good thought. I hadn't considered the minerals of the water. I can give LIme-Away or such as try, though.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

We have Photoshop so that we may experience the joy of painted Qats without suffering the injuries attendant upon Qat-painting.

Dogs, however, are a different matter. In the summer of 1976, when all things had to be decorated in some manner of patriotic or colonial motif, Mike the Hippie and I made a serious effort to colour his Dog Hector red, white and blue with Rit dye. He ended up a vague sort of pink and lavender, not at all as we'd envisioned. Hector enjoyed being the centre of attention, though, so it wasn't a complete loss.

I'd like to see pictures of the Fisher Price washing machine. I'm intrigued now.

[spaceroo.livejournal.com]

I'd like to see pictures of the Fisher Price washing machine. I'm intrigued now.

Your wish is my command, Sahib.

(http://pics.livejournal.com/spaceroo/pic/00060bfa/g5)

It probably doesn't look that Fisher Price-y in pictures, but... the key is it's basically entirely made out of plastic. It's sort of like a Trabant (http://www.team.net/www/ktud/trabi.html) version of an American compact washer.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

That's the washer, though in its defense I must point out so far as I know all the washing machines sold here are plastic cases. Dryers too.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I'm really impressed with how the fur-painted cats looked, I just can't imagine how it would actually be done. I have a hard enough time believing in the henna painting of people, though, and I've got abundant evidence of how that's done.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

eeep!
toploader git maybe?
or some Downy?
(hey! I need those feathers! .. I meant fabric softener...)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Front loader, as it happens. And I did just run out of fabric softener, although I think that's coincidental to the washer not working.