This afternoon I finally got around to tackling the biggest project on my honey-do list. I had to. I was running out of clothes to wear.

For the last few months our clothes dryer has been making an increasingly loud squealing noise that didn’t go well with our quiet living in the country lifestyle. At first it only did it with large loads so Lori simply started doing smaller loads. That’s the beauty of being an intelligent creature, you adapt.

But then it got to the point where the dryer was bitching about having to dry more than one sock at a time. This got to be impractical. I kept putting off looking at it because I’ve been busy painting and working on the fence, fixing the truck’s bumper, doing a valve job on the KLR650 and a host of other things around the house. I thought about just calling a repairman, but that’s such a sissy way out. I at least wanted to have a crack at it and see just how far I could get in over my head before calling for professional help. Besides, just a few days ago I was staring at the inside of the motor of my KLR. If that doesn’t make you do the Mr. Tool Time grunt, then it’s time to just get rid of your tools. All of them.

So this afternoon I decided to take a look at our 10 year old Kitchenaid. First I pulled the back panel off. That was easy. Only problem was that it doesn’t get you anywhere. There had to be another way in, only I couldn’t find any other external screws to take off.

A quick Google of “Kitchenaid Superba Dryer Troubleshooting” got me the info I needed. (When you pronounce it super-ba, it sounds like a really dumb name for anything except possibly a loud sheep.) A couple of screws come out in the lint screen, and then the whole top just flips up like the hood of a car. Except the Kitchenaid engineers aren’t kind enough to provide the little pole to keep it propped up and it’s connected by way too many wires to easily disconnect it and get it out of your way.

But once you get that off then you can also remove a couple more screws that allow you to remove the front panel. And that’s when I got a big surprise. I never realized that our dryer had become our piggy bank. A large pile of coins spilled out on the floor, and after counting it all up, I was $20.62 richer. Enough for a night out at the movies.

With the front off, you can then disconnect the drum belt and lift the drum out. Underneath the drum I found my target, two drum rollers that needed some oil. I then put everything back together and it works and there are no screws left over. So not only did I not have to pay for a repairman, or wait for him to show up, I also have a pocketful of change to go have fun with.

While I had it all apart, I searched carefully, but all those missing socks were nowhere to be found. That part is still a mystery.