A Story of an Ice Box

We have had used refrigerators for quite a while. Each time our fridge has approached the end of the trail we have been blessed to be able to replace is with a used one, at a good price and a nice savings over new refrigerators, which can get quite expensive. In fact, the last brand spanking new fridge we bought was just a couple of years out of college, when we were living on the west coast. It stayed with us for quite a while, through three interstate moves but it finally did give out.

That was over forty years ago. I know that fridge didn't last forty years. Anyway, we noticed the other day that our fridge didn't seem as cool as it should so we began watching it pretty close. We'd catch it up in the 50 degree range but then it would go back down where it belonged. One time we even moved a bunch of stuff into the freezer downstairs and borrowed a couple of coolers and moved stuff into them, out in the garage where the temperature was still pretty cool. But then the temperature went back where it belonged and stuff began working its way back into the fridge. Up and down for several days, until we finally called a repairman to come look at it. He did but the day he got here it was behaving well and the temperature was down where it belonged.  He checked this part and that, listened to hum this and that, checked all the coolant levels and everything else he cold think of. Everything was where it belonged. He found no problem. We talked about trying to catch while it was not working but that's near impossible. By the time we noticed and called him, then he would have to fit it in his day's schedule and get here.  And all that had to happen quick enough that it was still not working when he actually showed up. Yeah, right. That was never going to happen.

So we kept a close eye on it and talked about what we might do about it, what our options were.  Over the next several days it continued it cycle of working and then not working and then working and then not working. It was apparent that something had to be done as it just wasn't going to last much longer. We felt like we were on borrowed time. So we began looking around for a replacement. We found ourselves looking at the new fridge market because there just wasn't a whole lot on the used market right now. This whole process was also made a little more interesting by the fact that everything in the state is on lock-down because of the corona virus business and only those stores deemed "essential" were allowed to be open. And those that are still open are required to observe "social distancing", all to reduce the possibility of spreading this virus. But we found most appliance places were open, some required appointments to avoid having too many people in the store at once. Fortunately, the first place we actually went to, our favorite appliance repair shop which also sold a line of appliances, was open and didn't require an appointment. They were the folks that came and looked at our fridge when it was on its best behavior. So went there and looked over what they had.  Just as we had been blessed all those years to find used fridges just when we needed one, we were blessed this day as well.  He had a nice one in stock, which was actually a return, returned by someone who could live with the flaw it had on one side, a slight bulge that was nearly imperceptible, even when he specifically pointed it out.  They offed such a good discount that it was well within what we had planned to spend.  Plus it was a cubic foot bigger than what we had.  Such a deal. It was a little taller and deeper so it would stick out into the room a little farther.  But it was close enough, it would fit.  We bought it.

Two days later they brought it by and installed it. That was nice. And they hauled off the old one. So there it was, installed and working, and all the food transferred from the old fridge to the new. The interior is a little different and we had to arrange things differently inside. But it all fit easily enough. We're getting used to the new layout.  We're still deciding whether or not the freezer space is the same.  Its hard to tell.

The final step was all the stuff that decorates a normal fridge.  We had to take it all off to make the switch out.  Not everything survived the transition, just the important stuff.  But enough went back on that it still looked like it belonged.

Especially all our magnets from all the places we've visited in the last couple of years.  We haven't always collected magnets from our travels but since we started it's become a fun way to remember some good times.  And a couple of the kids have given us magnets from their travels, too.  That's been fun.