New Neighbor

I spend most of my time in my bedroom, sitting or laying in my bed. The walls and everything around me are very familiar, as well as the sounds that come drifting down the hall. I know what the dish washer and refrigerator sound like from my perch in the west wing of the house.

My nearest neighbor in the house is the laundry room. Almost every day, except Sunday, at least one load of laundry is either washing or drying. The sound of the laundry equipment, just on the other side of the wall in front of me, is a frequent background noise that drums along as I go about my daily routine.

For well over twenty years, I have had the same washer and dryer as my neighbor. The washer has had a number of health challenges with some of its parts wearing down and increasing in noise as problems increase. However, dad has been faithful to take my neighbor out to the clinic in the garage and carefully do surgery with various hammers to replace outdated organs. Sadly, despite three procedures this year alone, my old neighbor became too ill. Dad carefully tried to get a few more cycles out of it, but Neptune was done. She had spun her last load and with a bent shaft to her drum, she was all washed up.

Last week, while I dealt with neck trouble, my new neighbor moved in next door. This neighbor has a much larger appetite than its predecessor and eats more laundry in one gulp than we had before. While the old neighbor was sounded similar to an aircraft taking off, this one has all new sounds to learn.

I think it is similar to me and doesn't always want to get going. After being fed with shirts, shorts, and more, it makes some gurgles before going silent a few seconds later. The process repeats a few times before finally starting to process the meal of cotton and synthetic. I'm getting used to the sounds, but it's taking time. Late this week, my new neighbor's partner in laundry should arrive as well. It has been getting along with the old dryer reasonably well, but mom thought it would be best to have all new neighbors of the same age and model.

Living the quad life has its perks, even when laundry facilities take on a life of their own.