Refrigerator marvels and woes

Our refrigerator, in all of this nice hot weather, decided to let us know it was tired.

It isn’t the one that is our main appliance for use everyday, but one that has been around for many years, you might say when “Hector was a pup.” I’m speaking of the type that has to be defrosted quite often now because of its age. As the months have gone by, I don’t know what we would do without it, and I thought that was going to happen.

This past week as I completed its defrost, before I turned it back on I said a few “hail Marys” and turned the knob. Nothing!! That was the end, or so I thought. I took the items inside and put them in our regular fridge and accepted the fact that it had had its day. We needed to go shopping. Guess what? After a few days, one of my relatives who now resides with me as passed by the fridge and decided to open the door. He turned on the switch and IT STARTED. It just needed a little rest. Now we have to be patient and hope. We have a cooler for all of the extra items such as beverages for this hot weather.

Defrosting is something I can bet very few people have to do. We have an electrical item that you use to defrost, which makes the process quicker. A friend loaned it to my mom after she got her first refrigerator that was frostless. This was a good many years ago when the new appliances came on the market.

This put us in mind of years ago when we had an ice box and underneath the ice box was a pan where the water went when the ice melted. It was my sister’s and my job to keep it empty or the pan would run over and the floor would get puddles and we would be scolded for neglecting our duties. There are several generations I guess that wouldn’t even remember such an arrangement for refrigeration.

Today, refrigerators are equipped with the instant ice water available from the door and so many more new attachments that offer so muchmore for keeping food in the fridge. There are the two door conveniences offered to make your appliance offer so muchmore in so many different ways to help keep your family supplied with all of their goodies they can help themselves to that you aren’t expected to any longer. This arrangement has been going on for several years but it just seems to get better as the people who design appliances come up with more and more ways to help make life easier.

Not only do they design better refrigerators, but they are constantly thinking of all appliances we use every day. Can you imagine the improvements of stoves from the old-fashioned wood-burning kitchen ranges? They have made their comeback in the little “pot belly” that folks now use to heat their family and living rooms. When the electricity rates raised, folks started using other ways of heating their homes. Those who have early designs in their homes leaned towards these new reproduced wood/coal stoves. There have been improvements on so many other items used daily such as washers, dryers, cooking quicker times in the microwave. This is only in our kitchen, but what about so many other items in the home? Things are getting better and better as the years go by. Life is much easier, isn’t it?