I guess “old” is relative. We live in the house that my family moved into in 1959. When my parents passed away, David and I moved into the house. We have neighbors to the left of us, who have been in that house for a couple of years, so not a new home for them. A couple of houses down from us, on the other side, people moved in a week or so ago; so, a new home for that family. So, “new” is rather relative.
Most of the appliances in our house are running along pretty smoothly. And, I’ve not looked into what the longevity is for our various appliances. And, of course, most appliances don’t give much of a warning that they’re on their last leg. Maybe the washer starts leaking. Possibly the air conditioner starts rattling. Loudly. Often times, our appliances give us a little warning. Or, they quietly breathe their last. And all the frozen food thaws out, and we just canNOT eat it all up fast enough.
When Kevin and Peter were here last, several weeks ago, David and Peter went to buy some Blue Bell ice cream. They put it into the freezer section of the refrigerator. The next day, the yummy green ice cream was more like a yummy green milk shake. Most things in the freezer were still pretty solid, but that was just a harbinger of disaster, as in “how fast can you eat up the rest of the food in the freezer?” Things softened and hardened, and, really, let’s don’t actually take a chance on a trip to the emergency to get our stomachs pumped. So you see where this is going.
We went to Lowe’s and Home Depot and then chose a new refrigerator/freezer.
We tried for a couple of days to keep the fridge door closed as much as possible and tried to cook things from the freezer that seemed like they might be thawing. I got a couple of ice chests to protect the cold/frozen food while we waited for the new fridge to arrive. Then, the new refrigerator got delivered and they pulled the old fridge out and looked at the water hook-up and said, “That’s not acceptable.You’re going to have to get a plumber to come and attach the water.” So, they didn’t install it, and I called a plumber that I’d used before, and he came and looked at the water hook-ups and said, “This is exactly what it’s supposed to look like. It’s fine.” And by then, it was too late in the day for the new fridge to get installed, so we pushed the old fridge back into place and plugged it in, and then, when it chilled down again, we put the food that had been stowed in the ice chests, with lots of ice, back into the refrigerator.
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- Coolers for the cold, hopefully, food
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- the filters, etc. for the old fridge, which will not be compatible with the new one
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- The old, dear fridge
And then (of course), they had to re-schedule bringing the new refrigerator, so that didn’t happen until the end of the week. That meant, on Friday morning, I had to put the food from the fridge back into the coolers, so they could stay chilled until the new fridge could get unloaded, brought into the garage, put together, partly, and then brought into the house, where it could get completely put together, get hooked up to the water line and the electrical outlet. And then they put the doors on and they brought the drawers and door compartments in, so I could put it all together on the inside and then, at last, I could put the food back into the brand-new refrigerator.
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- I had to empty out this area below the sink,so that they could reach the area under the sink. They never touched the area beneath the sink.
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- At last, they’re going to take the new fridge out and bring it into the house.
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- The parts of the new fridge.
But first, of course, there’s always a “but first,” I said to the guys who’d brought the fridge and put it together, “you’ll take away the old fridge.” And they said, no, they didn’t do that. So I called David, who said, “Let me talk to them,” because when we bought the fridge, we’d also added that the fridge would be put together, installed properly, and the old fridge would be carted away, and we had paid to have that done. The paperwork for that was in David’s car (of course), but he talked to the guys and explained that we’d paid extra to have that old fridge taken away, and the young men, whether they believed him or not, took the old fridge. And, I suppose, they checked on it when they got back to the store.
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- David measured the space in the kitchen. The left side of the fridge–a tight fit
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- The lovely new fridge.
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- And here’s the space at the right-hand side of the fridge. Again, a very snug fit.
The young men who brought in (and hooked up) the new fridge, also brought in several bins that are meant to go into spaces in the fridge doors. I got to decide where they should belong, and I guess we’ll decide over time, which ones would work best where. There are some pull-out drawers, also. And, the pull-out drawers in the previous fridge pulled out from the tops of the drawer handles. The new drawers pull out from the bottoms of the drawer handles. I’ve yet to remember that difference, and am still clonking my fingers on the tops of the drawers. It’s just been a week (REALLY!?!? just a week?) Still Clonking.
All adorned with the hallmarks of many parents/grandparents.
You provide streams of water in the hills and valleys, so that the donkeys and other wild animals can satisfy their thirst.
Birds build their nests nearby and sing in the trees.
From your home above you send rain on the hills and water the earth.
You let the earth produce grass for cattle, plants for our food, wine to cheer us up, olive oil for our skin, and grain for our health.
Psalm 104:10-15