Dangerous Moving Parts

I learned a very valuable lesson the other day. My dryer was being uncooperative. It was not doing it's job, and my clothes were not getting dry. I started the dryer yet again, for the third time. I had no choice but to set out on a journey to see what the problem was. I figured that the lint was backed up and if I could just reach up and grab it out, all my problems would be solved. I went outside where the vent is and was able to do just that, grab out a bunch of lint. It felt like the tubing was out of place and blocking the exit, so the lint and hot air could not properly escape. No problem, I could fix that. . . or so I thought. I reached up and stuck my arm in as far as it could go. If I could just go a bit further. That's when it occurred, the life lesson that I had to learn the hard way. There was a rotating fan-like thing that was going at a very rapid pace. I reached that bit further and thump, thu thump, thump, thump. My finger hit the fan. I quickly retreated my arm and looked at my finger, half expecting to see it fall right off. Luckily it was still intact with only a small bruise under the fingernail. My dryer is working fine now, but the fear has been put in me. The lesson I learned was to never work on a machine while it is running. This is one to put in the books.