Thursday, May 08, 2008

A Kool Ride

La Bamba, ready to roll

Dave's new old car was in the shop for a week having necessary work done and it finally came home, much to my delight. This signaled the start of the last garden project: my hydrangea bed. We needed landscape timbers and lots more composted manure. This is just the perfect manure hauling vehicle, imho.

We decided to go to the Lowe's in McMinnville, with the idea that we might stop at a nursery along the way and shop for a Southern Magnolia, which I long to plant in our yard. What's the point of living in the South if you don't have a big ol' magnolia on your land?

This would be my first foray in La Bamba, and I was brimming with enthusiasm.

Uh oh. My seatbelt doesn't work. But the remote control for the stereo works great! (whoever heard of a remote in a car?)
We arrived at McMinnville, safely, and I gave Dave wrong directions and we ended up in a parking lot across the highway from Lowe's, but right in front of a Sears. So we decided to look there for a new refrigerator.

Wha?

This is the refrigerator that came with the house. Double doors, icemaker and water in the door, but it has one minor flaw...the freezer door only opens a crack and things get lost in there. The kitchen wall is flush against the side of the freezer, preventing the door from ever opening fully. We tolerated this silently all this time, but really, it is a pain. I know some good things were in there, but once squeezed in, could never be found again.
Sears was having a sale, including free delivery and we found the VERY SAME refrigerator we had in our Cary house, which we loved. We loved it so much in fact that we had two. One upstairs and one down. So it was easy to decide to get another for our current house.

Here is the delivery guy rolling it into place. Yes, they delivered the refrigerator only a couple of hours later, the same day. Amazing!
The doors swing totally open and all the food is just so easy to find. In the move from the old refrigerator's freezer I discovered a fully cooked quiche, three unopened bags of peas, birthday cake from December, and a full bag of flounder fillets. Who knew?
Of course the question arose, what to do with the old black beauty? Dave wants to sell it. I am happy to keep it on the side porch, which conveniently has a grounded outlet, never gets wet in a rain storm (east side of the house) and makes good use of that porch. Yes, the screen door opens fully. And isn't just so appropo to have a big ol' appliance on the porch?
And look, all the beer, and soda, and ten pounds of potatoes and onions can be stored out there. I project this will also be the future home of 700 cucumbers.
******
We never got the magnolia, the timbers or the manure. We are so easily distracted.

11 comments:

  1. Do you guys have a generator yet for power outages? You could put the old fridge in your outbuilding hooked to a generator so you can get through any power emergencies!

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  2. Anonymous8:02 AM

    I dunno- it's awfully nice for a porch fridge.....

    You do need the generator tho...

    teri

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  3. Once again you have started my day with a chuckle and a smile. Perfecto! The ole frigerator on the porch! You don't have to track mud and mulch in the house to get a cold one.
    What did we decide about the cover for the path on the side of the house. You know we are all in this with you... except for the shoveling, and clearing and planting and weeding and lugging and spreading and.....

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  4. Anonymous8:24 AM

    See... now, if you were really into dyeing fabric, that fridge would be perfect to keep your dye concentrates cool, which allows them to last longer! Mine's in the garage, and part of the year I don't even need to keep it turned on, since it gets so cold in the winter...

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  5. My parents and grandparents always had their old refrigerator(s) on the pack porch. They held exactly what yours does, beer, soft drinks,jugs of water, fresh garden veggies and eggs from the chicken house. It always came in handy at Thanksgiving and Christmas when everyone was there, it held the leftovers from dinner for 30 and all the desserts mom could make and that as alot!

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  6. Anonymous8:49 AM

    Now you need an old sofa out there!

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  7. An extra fridge is a requirement at my house! Ours is in the garage, we don't have a "porch" - but heck - you live in the country now - do what you want!!!

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  8. Cindra, as for the walkway mulch, Dave wants to wait to see what happens when it rains first. The walkway has a layer of embedded gravel, very flat and road-like, so it may stay that way until he paints.
    Judy Sall, after 15 years of dyeing fabric, I am done done done. If I were dyeing again, I would just mix up enough for one day...I know how much I would need. Saving dye in the refrig certainly works, but not likely here.
    As for the generator, we thought we would get one, for the many power outtages we were supposed to experience. We just haven't yet.
    We haven't had one yet, so thankfully we have lived in grace.

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  9. Anonymous7:04 PM

    Mrs Mel,
    Consider carefully where you plant the magnolia tree. You should know two things about these trees:
    1. Their roots are notorious for searching out and disrupting underground waterlines, and
    2. They drop leaves year-round, which, after a few years of raking year round, lessens their appeal somewhat.
    jp in Missouri

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  10. All you need now is to put LaBamba up on cement (pronounced seeeement) blocks when not using him.

    Twinnie Susan

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  11. Anonymous2:33 AM

    Please: no potatoes in the fridge. They'll taste horrible - sweet.

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