Series of Unfortunate Breakdowns

Circular overhead florescent bulb that no longer works and must be changed. I was told it might be the ballast itself, which is something in the fixture that reacts with the gas of a florescent, that is bad, meaning the whole fixture may be toast, but for now, I can't even get the bulb out and don't want it to break when I am trying. Mercury vapor isn't cool.
ON the left is the outside of the dryer cylinder. The dryer is on its side. ON the right is the metal casing that is scraping the dryer cylinder, leaving screechy metalic scratch marks, possible sparking too, if running, which is why my dryer, until I figure out how to solve this, is not going to be plugged in. I have wet sheets and towels hanging everywhere. It's not pretty.


My appliances are acting up. First, it was the kitchen overhead, a circular bulb florescent, to quit on me, although if I jiggled the threaded metal piece that holds the cover, it would, for a time, come to life briefly. I can't get that circular florescent bulb off of there. That's the thing. And if you break those, while attempting it, you put mercury vapor throughout your whole house, toxic levels, the downside of any florescent bulb. They can be deadly!

The downside to this light not working: It's the one I turn on when I come in, from the garage, after coming home, with a lightswitch by the garage lightswitch. I now stumble around until I can get to the living room light if I fail to leave a light on, when I leave, or forget my flashlight.

The second thing to fail was a shelf in the garage room. The cats have shelves running from the cat run, so they can get down to the floor of the garage room. Last night, I heard a ripping sound, when in the garage, then the sound of scrabbling desperate claws that seemed to go on forever. Then I heard a huge crash.

The shelf over the door had collapsed. Upon examination, I found that it had been attached only to the foamlike door molding, which was only attached to the sheetrock wall with three very short sheetrock nails. Nothing through to studs. Now that was contractor lazy assedness and could have seriously hurt one of my cats or me.

I had to reattach the shelf, only securely last night. I have a nearly blind cat who functions on habit. If she came through the cat run from the house into the garage room, which is at ceiling level, then tried to hop the shelves to the floor, she would have expected that shelf to be there, when it wasn't and dropped like a load of bricks. So I put it back up, only secure, attached to a 2x4 I screwed into wall studs. I then put on two braces and put back the foam molding below it, with its sickly sheet rock nails. Foam molding needs almost nothing to hold it in place. However, a heavy shelf does need some work to secure.

So that at least I was able to fix, although I did hurt my back again. I don't know what is wrong that I'll suddenly not be able to bend over without serious sharp pain on my right side. Usually if I ignore the pain and bend over and over again, to stretch and pull at it, it will go away sooner, the pain.

So anyhow, next to break down--my dryer. Began making a rotational screech. Very loud. One you can't really ignore by turning up the TV or stereo, or taking several swigs of Nyquil and going to bed with the covers over your head.

I called my brother but he has been very sick for a couple of months, even ended up in the hospital overnight, when it was thought he was having a heart attack, which, he wasn't. He said to take it apart and see if it was the rollers or the bearings or, well, whatever. So I have been trying. I have determined it is the metal casing housing the lint vent fan scraping on the outer cylinder. But how to pull that off it. I don't know the answer and am for now, giving up.