Dryer vents are warm = good place to nest

Our 11-year-old set of washer/dryer recently took a turn for the worse. The washer would rip clothes and the dryer took 3 cycles to dry clothes.

So we bought a new set during the President's Day sale. And the new dryer is so smart, it said it couldnt get enough air from the dryer vent. So I booked a duct cleaner to come out and clean the dryer vent.

In addition to a lot of lint, they pulled out bird feathers and straw. Our dryer vent is inside the screened-in-porch, so my conclusion is that a bird made a nest in there 18 years ago when the house was built, before the screens were put up. And the feathers have been there since then. Sigh.

On the plus side, the washer and dryer are pretty cool. New-fangled whozimigadgets.