Whose Idea Was It To Get A Pet?

So today our dog Maggie decided it was a good idea to pee in her bed inside her kennel. Just so you know it wasn't like she really needed to go and we had just ignored her, she was just put in there while my sister was over and she must've thought she was in trouble. Anyway, it of course stunk up our bedroom, but I got her bed out of her kennel, cleaned up the pee underneath, gave her a bath, then started the washing machine with her bed inside. It wasn't too much of a process and that's where I thought I would be done with the whole mess. I was wrong.

The bed (which we have washed before so we know it was okay) somehow ripped a seam and all of the stuff on the inside ended up on the outside and throughout our whole machine. It stopped our machine from draining and therefore working. We weren't sure if it had actually broken our washing machine or if it just clogged the drain. We emptied the basin as much as possible and then pulled the front off the machine… that's where a huge mess lay. (I wish I would've taken a picture, but I didn't think of it until after). Anyway, we took the clogged pump (that drains the machine) off and water gushed everywhere… not so good when you live on the third floor. We were able to clean it all up with a LOT of towels and blankets, and none of the water made it's way to our neighbors. Thank goodness! 

The tote shows about half of the amount of towels and blankets that we needed to clean up all of the water.

Then the real work began. Micah cleaned it all out… hence the picture of the stuff in the garbage, which doesn't really allow you to see just how much there was in it. 

This was all over the machine, but a lot of it was stuck in the pump. This was causing all of the problems. The water just could not drain, leaving it all in the main part of the washer. It's amazing the importance of such a small piece. :) 

I then cleaned out the stuff that got stuck between the basin cylinder and the plastic cylinder surrounding it. It took a crochet hook (thanks Mom Pratt for buying me those! :) ) and a lot of pulling and tugging. A surprising amount of work, effort, and time. We got it all out though.

The arrow is pointing to the small amount that was in it after a lot of work. The oval represents how much was actually stuck in there when we first opened up our machine.

Micah taking a turn at pulling it out of the very small holes in the side of the cylinder.

Even though it looks like a small amount, this is how much was in that small black spot in the other picture. So really there was about 3 1/2 times that amount pulled out in all.

Finally, Micah got it all back together with a lot of patience and moving little bits around to be in just the right position. We have since tried the machine again and it appears to be working well. In all it took over 2 hours. I'm so grateful Micah was able to figure it out and we didn't have to pay a plumber to come and fix our problem. 

I also have to give a shout out to my little Lila Bean. She was a very big help to her daddy during the whole process. She would grab the tools that he needed and hold the flashlight in the right spot. I couldn't always be there to help because I was trying to keep Brighton happy and out of the way. I'm so glad Micah was patient and willing to work with her because she really wanted to help and was very curious about the whole situation. I hope she continues to learn from him. (I didn't get any pictures of her working with her dad. I did, however, get some pictures of her rearranging and putting away tools.) 

The joys of owning a dog and a house! We're slowly learning some good skills. :)