There's a solution (sometimes more than one) to most problems.

I tried doing a VERY SMALL load of towels and still had the water bubble up in the bathtub. I really needed to do sheets - at least. And then I remembered: hey, the church has a washer and dryer in the kitchen. And I am mere blocks from the church.

(I really do not like laundromats, and a couple of the ones here that I have seen, it seems to me my clothes might come out more dirty than when I put them in)

So I called the church secretary (I know, some people believe in it being better to ask forgiveness than permission, but I tend not to be one of them). Almost before I finished explaining the laundry problem and before I could ask, she said, "Oh, you can just bring the stuff down here and do it." Apparently lots of people who have had washer/dryer problems in the past have done that.

So I did a load of sheets. I just washed them and then brought them home - my dryer still works fine and it saves me a trip to not have to go back and get them. But I'm thinking tomorrow I might go down there with a couple of loads (I have a load of whites, and while I could manage for a week or more without doing one, still, and I have a load of jeans. And I could do the "dirty" sheets that are currently on my bed) and run them in the washer AND practice piano on the fellowship hall piano while the stuff is washing, so I won't have to either run home and back, or sit over there and try to think of something to do in the semi-spooky empty church kitchen/fellowship hall.

Or I could drag a load down Sunday night and do it during Youth group. (Probably not a load with brassieres in it, though...)

It also occurred to me that the drainage hose from the washer is long enough and flexible enough that if I wanted to open my "back door" (it is right next to the washer), I could probably direct the hose out it and run the water out into my side garden - which right now is kind of trashed anyway from the cold weather and from my past inattention. Even better, I could probably get an extension from Lowe's or somewhere and just do that until I can get the drainage really fixed.

Though I probably would have to sit and babysit the hose and the door while the wash was running - the hose, so I could be sure it was positioned so it wouldn't spray into the house, and the door, so I could be sure one of my neighbor's Bumpas Dogs didn't come wandering into my house.

Or I could get a couple of large buckets and catch the water in them, then dump it outside. (If I can lift a bucket full of rinse water...)

Or I could just do small loads and put up with the occasional water back-up into the tub. I haven't decided yet. Sometimes a little icky problem is less of a problem than having to do a big elaborate set-up. I'll have to think about it. I'd almost rather have to scrub the tub out after the water finally does drain out (and it does; it's not that the line is totally blocked, it just can't seem to handle more than 10 gallons or so of water at once.)

This kind of thing is why I have no romantical feelings about the "simple life" where you live exactly like your grandparents did. My grandma had one of those old wringer washers that you had to fill with a hose from the kitchen sink and empty either into buckets or out the back door.

It's not a big problem, and I can cope with it, but I will be glad when I don't have it any more.