New Fridge

After the food bank on Saturday I went home and stuffed my stuff into a fridge that gets warmer and warmer below as the ice builds up in the freezer. I could make it colder by defrosting it but I have too many things that could go bad right now in the time it would take for the ice to melt.

I rode to No Frills and was pleased to discover that the Ontario peaches are finally here so I bought two three-liter baskets. I got two containers of Liberté Greek yogourt because it's cheaper than at Freshco right now and having tried both the Oikos and the President’s Choice brands of Greek yogourt I’ve found that they taste sour compared to the Liberté.

All morning long I’d been repeating to myself, “Don’t forget to buy vinegar!” and I guess my mantra paid off because I remembered. I noticed that the pickling vinegar has 7% acetic acid whereas the regular kind for less than half the price has 5%, but I decided to get a quartet of four-liter jugs of the cheap stuff. Four of them are quite heavy so at the checkout I got a new extra large cloth shopping bag.

Shortly after I’d gotten home and put my things away, I was relaxing at the computer when my landlord called my name from my front door. I went to see what he wanted and he surprised me by telling me that he had my new fridge downstairs and that he needed my help bringing it up. I was taken aback for a couple of reasons. One was that he would get me a new refrigerator at all even though he said he would, since he’d also said he would about ten years ago. The other reason was simply that he’d given me no warning so I could prepare my place for the new appliance.

I went downstairs in my bare feet and saw that Raja had the new Samsung strapped to a hand truck and waiting in front of the building. Our first hurdle was just getting it through the front door and I wasn’t sure it was going to make it. We had to back it out again because the buckle of the hand truck strap was in the way. We had to push the fridge through the door by rolling it on its own wheels and it was still a tight squeeze but we made it. Then Raja strapped the hand truck back on and with me lifting and him pulling we climbed the stairs step, pause, step, pause, step, pause and so on until we were at the top. After that he removed the fridge from the hand truck again and we rolled it to the hallway door but it wouldn’t clear the doorknob. I had to squeeze through to go get a Phillips screwdriver from my drawer. With the doorknob removed we were able to make it to the hall in front of my apartment. I told Raja that there was lots of stuff I had to move before I could bring the fridge in, so we left it in the hall.

Raja warned me that I had to wait until the refrigerant gas settled before plugging it in. At first he said I should wait until that evening but later said three hours would be enough.

When Raja tried to open the hall door in order to re-install the doorknob but the door was locked and he couldn't fiddle it open with my screwdriver. He had to call his friend, who was waiting outside in the van to come around and open the door from the other side. Then his friend used my screwdriver to put the doorknob back on but I didn’t notice until later that evening that he hadn’t given me back my Phillips. Raja better buy me a new one if he can’t find the one they borrowed.

The final word on plugging the fridge in, on the advice of Raja’s friend was one hour. I found out later from looking it up that it’s not about the gas settling but rather the oil in the compressor flowing back into place.

            Just inside my apartment on the right is a rickety four-tier shelf that’s almost as tall as me and that was sticking out to far to allow the new fridge to pass. I took my two bikes off their hooks and rolled them into the living room, then I very slowly dragged the shelf sideways, with all the stuff still on it, just until the entrance to the living room, where it would be out of the way when I brought the fridge in.

            Next I turned off the old fridge, took my big aloe vera plant off the top and took all the food out from inside to put it in the sink, except for the meat, the milk and one can of beer, which I shoved into the freezer with the frozen vegetables.
            I had a quick lunch of crackers and cheese followed by some yogourt with fruit preserves and then I took a siesta. After an hour and a half I got up to tackle moving the old fridge to make room for the new. I decided not to take a bike ride that afternoon because there was too much work to do at home.

I slipped a blanket under the ancient Admiral and pulled it to slide the machine over against the entrance to the bathroom where it would be out of the way. I moved my four-drawer filing cabinet that has been standing snugly beside the old fridge for many years, over beside the kitchen cabinet because I was sure that it wouldn’t fit next to the bigger Samsung. I ripped out the grey carpet that had been under both the old fridge and the cabinet (and that for some stupid reason used to cover the entire kitchen floor), I swept the area and then I wheeled in the new refrigerator. I plugged it in, slid it into place and began putting all of my food inside.
The freezer, which is almost twice as tall as that of the old fridge felt a little cold right away, but it took a few hours for it to become as cold as a freezer. The Samsung, though 9cm taller and 5.5 cm deeper inside than the Admiral, was only 1.5 cm wider and it looked like I’d wasted my time moving the filing cabinet. It went beside the new fridge with no problem.

The Samsung has this mildly annoying beeping sound that starts if the doors stay open too long but the only really disappointing thing about the new fridge is that there is no egg tray on the door like the old one had. I found that extremely convenient but now I don’t know where to put my eggs.

One of the best things about the new fridge is a cutting edge feature that is going to make everyone jealous when I tell them about it. When I open the door a light comes on! Now I don’t have to turn the kitchen light on to look into the fridge! Technology is amazing! What will they come up with for the next model? A little piano inside that plays Camptown Races along with a dancing polar bear.

The landlord had left the hand truck with my next-door neighbour, Benji, and he brought it to me so I could move the old fridge out into the hall. The freezer was still packed with ice and so I put a blanket under the icebox to catch the water when it started to drip.

I grilled two burgers in the oven and had one with a beer while watching two episodes of Dobie Gillis.

In the first story, teen movie star Valentine Van Loon has lost her dog “Booboo” and is offering a $500 for his return. Dobie wants to find the dog for the chance of romance with Valentine, Dobie’s father wants to find it for the reward, but Maynard has found it.

Valentine was played by Mary Miller, who released four singles in 1964, none of which managed to chart. One of the songs, entitled "Where's Johnny?" was from the point of view of a teenage girl that lied to her friends about having a boyfriend and now has to make up stories about him to keep from looking like a fool.

Before I watched the second story, Benji called me from the hall because the ice in the freezer of my old fridge had started to fall and there was some water on the floor. He helped me take the ice out and throw it on the roof and seemed to enjoy trying to break up with a screwdriver the ice that was still remaining. I don’t think Benji has much excitement in his life. I mopped up the excess water with a sponge and some paper towels and then went back to drink my coffee and watch the second Dobie Gillis story.

This episode features the final appearance of Zelda Gilroy on the series and in it she comes up with another scheme to get Dobie to marry her. Her plan is to get Maynard G. Krebs to propose to her because she knows that Maynard’s faithful friend Dobie will not let him go through with it. She uses her superior mind to convince Maynard that if he doesn’t marry her he will have no one to take care of him in his old age and so he proposes. The wedding takes place but whenever the justice of the peace asks if anyone objects, a different person stands up to offer a very good argument against the marriage. Each time though Zelda and Maynard argue for the marriage. Dobie speaks up but he loses the debate, Maynard speaks against the marriage but changes his mind and then Zelda objects but Maynard convinces her. Finally the justice of the peace objects to the marriage and everyone, including Zelda and Maynard cheer.