does it ever rain in Seattle?
I saw similar pictures taken by Janet’s co-worker Narisa after the snow storm taken days following Thanksgiving last year. I saw the same “ice spikes” in my backyard this afternoon. Notice the little rocks/pebbles raised by the ice spikes.
The snow that was supposed to arrive last night did not show up until late afternoon today.
At 1630
At 0100 the following day
After whining about the GE appliances in my townhouse, i finally made the bold step to replace the crappy GE Spacemaker (i nicknamed it GE Noisemaker) washer/dryer unit with a stackable LG washer and dryer.
After
The installation was not without any hiccups. I had to get two brand new 6-ft hoses for the washer because i was told using the existing one would void my warranty. Also, because there is only 4-prong outlet in the closet, the 3-prong plug from the washer has to be connected to an outlet in the small bedroom via an extension cord. Prior to the installation, i had removed the folding closet door. Originally, i thought the folding closet door could present a problem because it hinged on the left side, the same side where the washer door opens to. After putting the door back, i quickly realized that my worry was unfounded. But i discovered a new problem. With the door hinged on the left side, it was not possible to completely open the detergent drawer, which is located on the top left side of the washer.
So i took the folding door out again and moved the top and bottom hinges to the right side. I also had to switch the positions of the roller and the fixed hinges on the door itself. I was actually amazed how easy it was to switch the hinges from the left side to the right.
The new LG washer and dryer, especially the washer, are extremely quiet. I can hardly hear it when it is operating. Now i don’t have to worry about doing my laundry 3 o’clock in the morning!
The last few weeks, my neighbors and i have been hearing a weird scratching sound that seemed to emanate from the wall between the master bedroom and its bathroom or the attic. The noise almost always appears in the morning between 0600 and 0900. Our concern was the possibility of rodents, birds or squirrels living in the our attics or worse, in the walls.
I tried to climb up to my attic to see what’s going on but i do not have a long enough ladder to accomplish that. All i could do was to poke my head up in the attic. It was impossible to see anything in the attic because it was filled with those pink color fiber glass insulation material. I have a really bad experience with the same insulation material when i was working for the University of Kansas student housing one summer when i was in college. Even though i was wearing a mask, i must have breathed in enough of those crap to cough for the next few days. Oh yeah, my hands were itchy as hell because somehow the loose fiber glass material got onto my palms. So even if i could get hold of a tall enough ladder, i probably would not have gone into the attic.
Two days ago, we even got a pest control guy to investigate what’s been waking me and my neighbors up early in the morning. Jim from Eden pest control did a visual inspection of all our attics (4 units) and looked around to spot any possible openings. From what he saw, our units are very well sealed so it was very unlikely that animals could have gone up to our attics.
Yesterday morning, i decided to set up a “sting” operation to find out the source of this noise. My initial thought was that the noise could come from the roof. I told one of my neighbors to call me on my cell when she hears the noise. So at 0630, i went up to the Tower roof top with my camcorder. After waiting for about 15 minutes, i noticed a crow flew up to our roof and to my total surprise, starting jumping onto what appeared to be a ventilation pipe protruding out on the roof. There are 2 pipes from each unit that stick out on the roof. The crow jumped onto the pipe, starting pecking at it with its beak. Then, it would jump down from the top of the pipe and started pecking at the bottom of the pipe. This was repeated for about a minute. Sure enough, my neighbor called and told me she was hearing the strange noise again. Mystery solved!
I have no clue why the crow has taken a liking to the ventilation pipes on our roof. As irritating as it has been the last few weeks, it was a relief to know that we do not have any rodent problem in our units.
My house is fitted with all GE appliances when i bought it in April of 2004. In my house, i have a GE refrigerator, a GE microware oven, a GE electric stove, a GE dish washer, a GE garbage disposal and a GE washer/dryer combo unit. The GE garbage disposal broke two months after the 1-year warranty was over. Consider the fact that i was barely home most of 2004 and 2005, it is really hard to understand how something that was so seldomly used be broken right after the warranty period was over.
Just two weeks ago, i found out that freezer door on my GE fridge is no longer sealing as well as it used to. Half the time when i shut the door on the bottom part of the fridge, the freezer door will open up. I discovered this problem the “painful” way. Two weeks ago, i found out that all the popsicles on the freezer door, including my favorite mango popsicles and the Melona melon flavor popsicles, melted!
The GE washer/dryer combo unit is not in a good shape either. About a year ago, it was emitting this burned rubber smell during a regular wash cycle. Since then, my clothings have been quite wet at the end of every wash cycle. In addition, lint is every around the opening of the dryer after each and every use - it is a pain to have to wipe away all the lint around the door area before i remove my clothing so that the lint doesn’t stick to my stuff.
If i could, i would replace all the GE shit in my house with something else. So far, i have replaced the garbage disposal with a more powerful unit by In-Sink-Erator. As soon as the washer quits working, which i assume will not be long from now, i will replace that with a stackable LG washer and dryer. For all of you out there looking for home appliances, stay the hell away from GE products! Don’t say i didn’t warn you.
