"Suds 'n Such"

Suds 'n Such has been a theme lately because our

"Intuitive Dryer" said:

for the last time.

(Actually, this is what the washer says. Our dryer remains mute and blank-screened, but if it could, it would say, "Drying Complete Have a nice day"  or more honestly, "Dryer Expired".)

So we take our wet laundry to the Local Laundromat to dry.

7 minutes cost .25 cents.

Mike hauls and helps! God bless Mike!

Mike talks to Mr. Jones who does his laundry locally.

Mike takes a break.

The Laundromat is nice in our town. It is clean and mostly friendly. 

Mike remembers when he was a boy and instead of a laundromat, the building was Bachman Ice Cream. He was too little to order for himself, but he remembers getting a vanilla ice cream cone with his family. 

Magazines and Munchies, but no ice cream

A reminder. Pay attention!

As nice as the Laundromat is, it is more convenient and less expensive to do laundry at home. 

We went to look at new dryers. Looked at Lowe's, Menard's and Sears. I took my wheelchair and did an accessibility check. My very favorite was an Electrolux for these reasons: 

1. The door opened with just a push. Push. Click. Open. Easy! A person could open it with a hand, an elbow, a forehead, a toe… They call it Touch-2-Open. 

2. The open-door test: The door cleared my legs while I was sitting! No door banging into my knees! 

3. The dryer sat on a pedestal which had a wheelchair-friendly concave. They call it Signature Soft-Arc Door Design (I call it sensible and stylish!)

3. The control knobs were touch buttons (actual buttons, not a flat panel) and straightforward! They call these IQ-Touch Controls (I call it "I love not having to scan through another computer just to use the dryer!")

But alas! though the Electrolux was the most wheelchair accessible and favorite, it was out of our price range- So we looked for a used dryer on Swap Shop.

We found a Maytag.

Simple. White. 50 bucks!

Praise the Lord!

At approximately $5.00 per week for drying clothes at the laundromat, even if the Maytag lasts only 10 weeks, it will have paid for itself!  

Mike is maneuvering the Maytag into place 
with a smile on his face!

More Mike Maneuvering Maytag

The control knobs are not wheelchair accessible really, but the door is.

The sturdy-wire rolling laundry basket is one of my favorite laundromat helps.

Rolling is the keyword!

The orange fiberglass table with metal legs 

is perfect for folding clothes if you're standing up, but it's too high if you're sitting. 

For example, the bottom of the rolling wire basket is about the same height as the seat of a chair. This means that an average-sized person who is sitting in a chair (a chair with either legs or wheels) would sit with his nose about level with the tabletop! If you are not sure what that means, I suggest you sit at a high bar (36" or 42") in a standard height chair to fold some laundry!

I didn't intend to put an accessible spin on this, but it's what's been on my mind: Wheels and Chairs and Accessibility. The wheels are turning! I'm reminded of a scene from Pee Wee's Big Adventure when all those wheels were turning in the window! 

The "wheels in the window" scene. Roll!