RefrigeratorCool, and quite English, imperturbable. Saturday, February 5, 2000
A year ago, I went to a dance with Jack and his daughter A----. I think that might have been one of the last pleasant excursions that included her!
I had a busy, productive, and fun day today! I'd decided that today was the day I would get my new refrigerator. My old one was not new when I moved in here, ten years ago. The freezer currently is not keeping things cold, though strangely, it is filled with ice and frost. I walked down the street to Dave's Appliance Rebuild, where Jack and I had examined refrigerators a few weeks ago. I think it may have been the easiest sale that Dave ever made! I made sure I was looking at the same or similar model that we'd looked at then, asked if Dave could deliver it today and take the old one away, and bought it! It's a smallish model, with no bells and whistles beyond being frost-free. It's extra cheap because one of the racks is tan-colored instead of white, and there isn't a vegetable crisper in the bottom -- more like a bin. I'm perfectly satisfied!
I went home and got ready for the delivery, by clearing out an incredible amount of old crap that was residing in the present fridge for no discernable reason. Old beers, cans of V8 juice way past the pull date, a few science projects, dubious condiments, a costco-sized jug of ketchup -- all gone! The liquids went down the drain, the rest in the trash. While I was on a roll, I did all the laundry, and took out the trash and recycling too! Two guys showed up with the truck around two pm. They successfully got the old appliance out the door, and brought in the new one. Luckily I remembered that I needed the fridge and freezer doors switched so that they opened on the other side, and one of the guys stayed behind to take care of that. My few little groceries looked out of place in the glorious, empty, well-lit, cold! space, when I reloaded the new refrigerator.
Jack had thought he'd be arriving in Seattle in time for us to have dinner, but of course it took longer for him to get going than he thought. He did call me and warn me though, when it was past six thirty and he was just leaving, so I was able to go get something to eat. (Eight o'clock is a late dinner for me!) When he got to Seattle, we decided to just go ahead to Vanguard. There's always a goodly amount of food there, so Jack could be sure of getting something to eat. Amy Thomson and Edd Vick were there, with their new daughter from China. She's very cute! Because they'd just come from a Chinese New Year celebration, they dressed her in a tiny red-and-gold robe. She tolerated the hubbub of people in the living room, smiling and laughing the while. We had a grand time in the smoking section of Vanguard, downstairs in Jane's part of the house. Jack was playing his backpacker's guitar, which led to comments from Andy and Victor about "shooting the bouzouki player" (a Monty Python reference). I figured that if they really wanted him to stop, it was up to them to communicate that to him directly. Folks had fun with the "Bopit" toy, which vocally commands you to perform certain actions on it, in rhythm. If you get confused, or are too slow, it shrieks or gives you a bronx cheer. That will be fun at Potlatch!
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