Thanks MaggieLou and others. I had another Kenmore a few years back, and thought I remembered this being the super-high shank. Thanks for clarifying that I was correct! You know, the funny part is, I bought the adapter way back when.. and now I can't find it! I've gone through all of my boxes of attachments and it hasn't turned up yet! Guess I need to keep looking.
Pat, yes I have the manual and I know that lever comes off when you remove the foot. I've just never seen a lever like that on any other machine and was wondering why they designed it that way because it seems so weird!