On Monday of last week we went to Charlotte and did shopping at Trader Joe’s where we bought two months supply of some items. Some of these items, such as yogurt, store in the refrigerator. On Tuesday evening we smelled an unusual smell, like a hot wire or something. The smell dissipated in a few minutes, so we did not think much of it.
On Wednesday the refrigerator kept making a clicking sound. At first I thought it was the thing that checks for power surges and interruptions. However, the clicking continued throughout the day and became quite irritating. When I got up in the morning, the fridge temperature read 28 degrees. There was even some ice in my yogurt. However, by late afternoon, the fridge and freezer were warm, and the ice cream was melting.
We called Uncle Mel who came with my cousin Kole and put in a 3-in-1 relay. Success! It worked! For about ten minutes. Then it tripped the GFCI breaker, which would not reset. Bye-bye fridge. So, Wednesday afternoon and evening were spent transferring things to coolers and adding packs of ice to keep things cold. Mom and Dad did a lot of that while Christy and I went to church. Wednesday night and Thursday we did some fridge hunting.
On Thursday morning, Uncle Mel dropped off an old yellow refrigerator. It had dirt, rust, and mold all over it. He hosed it down, and I sprayed it generously with disinfectant and Fabuloso. Then I just let it sit open until evening. In the evening, Christy got some dish soap and bleach water ready, and we got to work. Armed with a mask, gloves, rag and the soapy/bleach water, I helped Christy clean. After the cleaning, I sprayed all around the seals thoroughly with hydrogen peroxide. Later we put some baking soda in a little cup in the freezer as well. Then we closed her up and plugged her in. The blankets were added to the top and sides to insulate a little more as it had a hard time keeping cool when temperatures got above 90 degrees.
Well, the fridge we put inside looked really nice. The yellow one, on the other hand, was a very old General Electric and was not really that nice looking. But guess which one worked? The old GE. The white one just would not get cool. So, we managed to put most of the food in the yellow refrigerator.
Friday was a relatively quiet day for me. That was the day Mom and Dad got to move into their little studio apartment, so it was a very busy day for them. I was tired so did a lot of relaxing. Was very thankful that there was not much to do on Friday. In addition to moving into their apartment, Mom and Dad also went to Hendricks and purchased a different refrigerator.
On Saturday morning, we moved everything else out of the white refrigerator and into the little yellow one on the carport. I had started to smell a dead animal smell in the kitchen. When I opened the fridge, it seemed like the smell came from there. None of the food smelled bad, and I did not see anything so concluded it was probably a rotten potato in the laundry room. I put on a pot of lemon and cinnamon and cloves as an air freshener.
Thankfully we had time for a couple hours’ rest in the afternoon before the men from Hendricks came to deliver the refrigerator and remove the nice looking white one. As they were taking the white fridge out, they had to tip it to get it over the threshold. Well, as the men tipped the fridge to get it out the door, a reddish-brown putrid smelling water started pouring out the bottom. I said, “Uh-oh.” The men hurried the fridge out the door as I grabbed two towel rags out of the laundry room and threw them down on top of the water. We did not want the water to run under the China cabinet where it would be hard to clean up. Christy found another towel rag in the dryer. It took all three towel rags to soak up the yucky water.
The next big task was getting the new fridge in. Although the men had taken the handles off the fridge doors, they also had to take our front door off in order to fit the fridge through the doorway. It was still a tight fit. They also had to move the couch and piano, and we moved a couple other items for them as well.
Even though we had taken all the glass items off the baker’s rack and put them on the table, and moved the table back out of the way, the men did set the fridge handles on the table. Somehow one of them managed to knock the top off the cookie jar. That sent other glass items falling over and a cup flying. Thankfully nothing broke, not even the cup, which was porcelain fine China. I think the cup was something we had bought at a thrift store, but it was still a nice cup, and we were glad we did not have to clean it up. 😊
After all the cleaning was done, Mom and Dad came over to play games, and we gave Dad his birthday presents. Whew! What a day it had been! What a four days it had been! Our game of musical fridges was finally over. At least we hope it is over for a long time. We are thankful for the extra grace and strength the Lord gave over those four difficult days. We are thankful for all those who helped us and worked hard. We are thankful for the men from Hendricks who worked so hard to get the fridge in and set up. And we are thankful for the Lord’s provision.