i'm sure you've been holding your breath, waiting for this news: there's nothing dead in the dryer vent. Nor any sign of anything ever being dead there, or near it.

Nor a sign of a bird ever wanting to build a nest in it. Warning signs? little piles of twigs, or string, or fluff.

153 dollars later, I have a new hole in the laundry room ceiling, a bright shiny flexible foil vent hose (good for about 5 years, or until something pierces it), and a slightly larger thing that goes from the hose to the outside of the house. I'm told this will allow more air to flow, and clothing to dry faster.

Oh, and if i happen to pierce the hose, duct tape will fix it right up.

and one more thing: if you're looking for a new dishwasher (which i'm not), mike likes bosch. Even though he doesn't fix 'em. But that's what he purchased last year when Sears was discontinuing a model. He thinks it is the quietest (and consumers agrees), though, as he pointed out, he wears a hearing aid and it doesn't make that much difference to him! But his wife appreciates the noise reduction. And he likes the fact that he can tell the machine to only wash the top rack, and it will.