DIY

My dad could just about fixed anything mechanical. I was always amazed at what he was able to do and how he did it. I have a couple brothers who could do the same however fixing things is not a trait that I have. It's taken me a long time to accept that thread of truth in my life but it's true. I don't know if I don't have the patience to stick with the project until it's done or the mere fact that I tend to exist in a constant form of advanced entropy may be part of the problem . I would love to be a fix it yourself kind of guy but alas… Poor me. My older brother Carl, like my dad can fix anything. I'm so fortunate to live in the same city as he so when I do need of repair one form or another I can usually get hold of him and he'll come over and help me out specially with my power chair type repairs.

Tomorrow is the first of the month and my cleaning person, Gail is coming over to do anything I like to spend some time actually clean up things a little bit before she gets here just so she doesn't have so much to do are not do if she wins out of time. I purchased two hours of time seems to be twice a month. To good deal for recharges me 15 bucks an hour which is cheaper than most. So yesterday I was trying to vacuum my floor in preparation but the machine was not picking up any of the dirt particle matter. I took the vacuum over and sure enough the brush is not spinning. I figured I'd broken the belt somewhere over the last week or so. I don't remember the belt being broken but I must have. Of course I did not have a replacement and that was one of the trips I made yesterday was finding a belt and I did find one Walmart finally. I try to get hold of my brother on Friday but I guess he's been busy. I put the belt aside and decided I would just wait until I can get a hold of him or someone else perhaps Mark Anthony would come over today. Anyway, the more I thought about the process of replacing the belt, I even checked YouTube and of course there's the number of YouTube or screws showing how to do this process. I looked easy enough and certainly gave me the motivation to try to fix the problem. After all all I had to do was undo 2 to 4 screws in the bottom of my vacuum.

The vacuum is heavy at least for me and not only is the vacuum heavy but very awkward to try to maneuver but I was able to pick the vacuum up and turned upside down and place it on a workbench I already had set up in the kitchen. I even found a screwdriver! I was pleased to see they were just 2 screws that need to be unfastened. And I was actually able to do the job. I was shocked when I pulled the plate off the bottom of the vacuum to see that in fact the belt was in place but the press was not spending like it was supposed to. Then I noticed on the upper side of the vacuum there is a sliding switch that engages the brush to the belt sort like a clutch and I pushed on that sliding switch and sure enough the belt engage the brush and start to spin. I had put the bolts or screws just so I'd seen my dad and brother do is say in times. This is really one of my weak spots where I lose keep pieces of a project. I figured I was safe with just two items to keep track . Of course I'm not even writing about the fact that I got the cord tangled in my back wheels once and spent 20 minutes trying to disengage myself even to the point of rolling out in the hall to see if I could get someone to help unlikely is able to free myself. Then of course I backed into the bench, on which the vacuum sat, sending the vacuum to the floor. When I plugged in the vacuum it would not pick any dirt up but then I realized when I dropped the vacuum it disengaged that clutch so I pushed it back in place and was able to do my floor. Rarely, am I able to do something like this – – I was even able to get both screw set back in place and twisted tight it was a good day for the rug and for me.