Trading Freezers

I traded freezers last evening.  I been meaning to for weeks, but finally got around to it.  Well, I should say I traded the contents of my refrigerator freezers.  I don't have an individual freezer.  But I have refrigerators in the kitchen (with a bottom freezer) and the basement with top freezer.  

I find the kitchen one convenient because it has the crisper drawers in the middle and I am in there more often than anywhere else.  I spend a lot more time with getting at fresh fruits and veggies than frozen stuff.

The old previous basement fridge (and I mean "old") was more of a root cellar and storage for bulk items.  Bags of potatoes, onions, fruits etc.  And certainly horribly inefficient, energy-wise.  I replaced it months ago with another top freezer model, because I buy meat in moderate bulk on sale and I bought shoebox-size plastic containers to store the various kinds in.

But the kitchen freezer was the bottom type.  Stuff like frozen veggies, bread products (which freeze well), and leftovers stayed in containers on the (unmovable) top shelf.  Larger containers were in the bottom slide-out tray.  It became unmanageable.  Stuff on the top freezer shelf were impossible to sort through a small container at a time down on my hands and knees.  And the stacks just kept falling over, which destroyed any organizing I tried to maintain.

The slide-out shelf was not very helpful.  It was "necessary" to slide it out to get at anything, but basically, it was just a loose pile of variously-sized containers.  Even though I labeled them, it didn't help much trying to find anything

So I thought about that for a few weeks.  And I think I found the solution.  Reverse the contents of the freezers.  First, I emptied out everything from the slide-out kitchen tray.  Separated them into meat and veggies in a large plastic bin and put all my freezer gel packs on top to keep them frozen.  Then dumped all the small containers on top and closed the lid.

Then took my 6 shoebox-size meat containers to the empty Kitchen freezer.  They fill it up.  And since I have labels in front and on the top, they are easy to find and don't mix into each other.  The unmovable top shelf holds easy-to-manage stuff like breads, bags of frozen veggies, and smaller containers for various sausages/baked bacon. 

All those leftovers (and I do choose them sometimes just to use them up) are in the basement top freezer.  They are more stable there because I can see them better.  Most labels are on the top of the containers, but future ones will be on the front for easier identification 

A benefit of the freezer content exchange is that I used up some stuff I didn't remember I had.  I poached 4 chicken thighs in previously-saved frozen broth.  That had to start them out well.  I have a container of beef broth left over from a spicy chuck roast recipe, to make more beef stew tomorrow from a chunk of other slow-cooked chuck roast from last month I also found.  

So the transfer has worked out well.  I can see the contents of the small leftovers in the top freezer refrigerator more easily now without have to shuffle them all around on hands and knees.  And the bulk meat containers are easy to take out of the kitchen tray easily.

I say "bulk meat containers", but they are all cut up into in 3-4 oz portions and stored in zip lock bags.  All I have to do is lift a lid of the meat container I want and thaw it out.

This looking like a "winning" change.

I Can't Win With Refrigerators

 Getting a replacement refrigerator is driving my crazy!  I need to get rid of the ancient one in the basement.  My initial thought was kind of to automatically get rid of the ancient one, have the current  bottom freezer kitchen one moved in its place and have a new bottom freezer one installed in the kitchen.  

If you think you've read about this too often, there were newer problems.  So you might as well read on...

Turned out, I din't consider the height of the new one.  I thought all refrigerators were the same height!  And I discovered my preferred new one was 1/2" too tall for the spot.  So I had to cancel that order and reconsider.  

The existing kitchen one is working fine, and I go into the cool parts/crispers much more often than the bottom freezer.  So it is actually OK.

In the basement, I am into the freezer much more than the crisper drawers.  So I decided getting a new top freezer fridge for the basement actually made more sense.  And I ordered one with same dimensions as the kitchen one.  And I chose the top-ranked Consumer Reports rated model.

I'm not being snobbish.  It's not like it's gold-plated or anything, just their best choice among the mass-sold refrigerators.  

But I did my measurements about width thinking a new refrigerator would come through front door, to the kitchen.  And the current one would easily go down to the basement (since it was the same stairs.  Oh was I ever WRONG.  

First, the new basement refrigerator was going to be delivered through the garage and into the basement.  I spent 2 hours moving basement clutter out of the way.  That's temporary and will encourage me to put stuff away afterwards in a more organized fashion.

But the garage-to-basement path wasn't involved in my original measurements.  The door from garage to basement is too narrow!  OK, so in the front door and down the stairs to the basement.  And then I measured the down-from-the-bottom-of-the-stairs to the basement.  Too narrow.

OK, surely the sliding glass door from the basement to the back yard is wide enough.  No.  It seemed a 33x34" refrigerator could not be delivered!  I was about to call and cancel the order and then reorder a narrower one.

But some door dimensions can be changed!  The sliding glass basement door has a screen.  And that screen even when fully-opened) was the. So I found a way to slightly detach it and gain the necessary inch.  But the glass door itself was still too narrow.  OK, there was accumulated dirt preventing full opening.  I scraped the dirt and vacuumed it out of the slide tracks.

Still not enough, and the door kept hitting something hard.  I saw that a security guard was taking up a 1/2".  I removed it.  Still not enough room.

But stay with me here...

There is a lock on the sliding glass basement door.  The kind where you turn one small dial and then slide a lever down to lock it.  It sticks out 1/2".  With that lock removed and the sliding door able to open as fully as possible (dirt and security bar removed,  I get a 33 1/2" opening.  The narrowest dimension of the new refrigerator is 33"!  A 1/2" of clearance is as good as a foot...

The new refrigerator can be delivered and installed!  YAY...  😊

But it means the delivery guys think they have a smooth path through the garage and basement, and now they have to carry it around to the back of the house.

Aside from all that, I had to have the existing ancient refrigerator moved out of the way (because I didn't pay for removal).  I did that myself last night.  I took almost everything out of it and packed the frozen stuff in a large plastic storage container.  Because I didn't know how long it would take to move it.

Actually it only took 30 minutes.  The place I could put it had stuff piled up there and those things had to be put somewhere out of the way.  If the basement was cluttered before, it is worse now.  But that is temporary.  But I have the ancient refrigerator out of the way, but working, so all the food went back in until the new one is installed.  

I'll post about the delivery/installation in a day or two. 

Refrigerator Troubles

You may recall I was planning to have a new refrigerator delivered tomorrow.   The deal was that I would have the new one in the kitchen, the old one moved to the basement, and the ancient basement one removed.  

The new one comes with an ice-maker (not-optional).  That seemed OK.  I use more ice than I used to (I've become fond of cocktails).  But that required a water-line tapped from the basement to the kitchen spot.

There is a cold water pipe in the basement directly below the kitchen refrigerator.  So, the plumber would have to cut the pipe, add a "TEE", drill one hole through the floor, add 4' of pipe and a shut-off valve at the top.  No big deal.  I guessed $300.

Well, apparently I am bad at estimating.  The plumber did some work on his office calculator app and announced $1,175!  I couldn't believe it.  I asked what special problem he saw.  "None".  Is the job going to take hours?  "About 2-3".  Are the parts expensive?  "Not really".  

So what was it?  "The company charges by the job, not hours.  That's what the office app says to charge".  My job was simple, but the company averages the total cost of similar jobs.  He suggested calling another company, one that charges per hour plus parts instead.  I thanked him for the estimate, paid the $60 visit fee and he left.  We were friendly about it; the charges aren't up to him.

I called a company with just hourly rates.  $150 per hour, which includes travel time.  So maybe that would have been $750.

I don't want an ice-maker THAT much!  I can make ice on my own for the rest of my life for less than that.   About 5 minutes per week... WOW!  Fortunately, the ice-maker doesn't HAVE to be hooked up.

But that's not the end of it.  I always thought all refrigerators were the same height.  Well, there is always a standard shaped space for them with a cabinet above.  So I had checked the width (which DOES vary) and had an inch to spare.  But I looked at the dimensions again and noticed the height.  I measured the space again.  The new refrigerator is a 1/2" too tall!

I could fix that.  The cabinet above has a 1" (unnecessary) bottom front frame.  I could remove the cabinet, cut off the 1", reinstall it, and the new refrigerator would fit.  I have the equipment to do a clean job of it.  But it would be a few hours of work.  And I'm old enough that when I start twisting and turning while removing screws  at the back and sides, I get some serious muscle cramps.  I could hire a carpenter to do it, but I bet that would end up costing the same as the plumber.

So I rethought the situation.  The whole purpose was to get rid of the small ancient basement refrigerator (37 years old).  It is so old, it must cost $300/year to run (modern ones are about $50).  It is SO bad, I have to chip off 2" of ice in the fridge section every few months!  But it has one thing I like in a BASEMENT refrigerator; a top-freezer.  I use it for long-term storage of meats and bags of frozen veggies.  

The basement fridge part is really more of a root-cellar.  I store bulk veggies (potatoes, onions, carrots, etc), fruits, my garden seeds, and some odd stuff that wants "cool but not necessarily cold" (like bird suet packs).

So I cancelled the new refrigerator order.  The Home Depot store was very nice about that.  Their website says cancellations require 72 hours notice and I was giving only 36, but they allowed a full refund.  I was expected some charge for that.

The current kitchen refrigerator works just fine.  I just automatically thought I should move the current one to the basement.  And I like the bottom freezer in the kitchen.  I am in and out of the fridge part a lot more than the bottom freezer part.  But I am in and out of the top freezer of the basement fridge more often.  So why not just buy a modern energy-efficient top freezer fridge for the basement?

Cheaper and a lot less movement of appliances.  And the store wants $50 to haul the ancient one away.  Guess what?  My electric company will PAY me $50 to have them haul it away!  So THERE is $100 in savings.  

So I went to the Consumer Reports website, found the top-rated top freezer model.  More energy-efficient, larger freezer section, and less-complicated delivery (straight through garage into the basement).  And no concerns about it fitting into a space.  

All in all, I think buying a new top freezer model for the basement is actually a better decision.  I really should have thought it through more carefully.  But I think it will all work out better.

I would post pictures, but I'm pretty sure everyone knows what a standard refrigerator looks like.  LOL!

Sales Tax Holiday

I thought I was going to buy a new refrigerator today.   

Nope.  Out of stock, line to order too long (wasn't worth the Maryland sales tax holiday $60 benefit to stand in line for an hour).  I want the ancient basement refrigerator gone (too much chipping off frost the the cooler section), the current temperature-recovery-challenged kitchen one moved to the basement, and a new one installed in the kitchen.  

I do a lot of fresh food prep, so I am in and out of the refrigerator a lot.  I need faster temp-recovery (like to save the milk).  The stores had the stainless steel variety, but every appliance in the kitchen is "finger-proof black" so that (SS) would feel out of place.

I'll live with the current stuff for a month or so until the one I want is back in supply.  Or until Consumer Reports suggests a better one...

Yeah, there is always a better product a few months away, but that ancient refrigerator has got to go soon!  It is like an incandescent bulb in an LED world.  I bet it is 25% of my electric bill these days.

Which reminds me; I should replace the 37 year old water heater with a tankless (and maybe heat pump powered one).  After all these years, I might be drinking moldy high (bad) mineral water.

A Little Of This, A Little of That

I didn't realize I hadn't posted for so long.  I've been on the computer about "enough" stuff that I kind of forgot about my own ME blog.

Computer problems continue to drive me crazy.  I can't seem to solve them.  I'll try to stay brief, to spare you...

The computer restarts randomly because of (from the error message) incompatible software or hardware.  Wow, that pretty much covers all possibilities.  I've unplugged all non-essential hardware.  I've looked at all the software, trying to figure out exactly what is incompatible.  Maybe turning off nearly all software and bringing them back one at a time will help.

I've scanned the HD for problems.  2/3 is available, so nothing there to fix.  I've used Kaspersky and Bitdefender to search for malware.  Nothing seems wrong.  I increased my RAM from 8GB to 16 GB; didn't help.

Macs can stay in sleep mode without problems, but I restarted it several times and even shut it down a few.  That didn't solve anything.  I even shut down the router overnight and restated it.  No help there.  The problem pre-dates my current O/S (and nothing mentions frequent restarts as a bug in any recent O/S).  The 2018 Mac isn't old enough to be a problem.

ARGGGG!

I can't get the newer printer to print.  It there in the printer list, just "idle and paused?  I've tried it cabled and wireless, and followed the manual instructions in "baby steps".  I've even gone a a Mac Help Forum.  No  luck.

On other stuff...

I ordered a clear acrylic dining tabletop cover in November for "3 week delivery".  And since I was doing that, I ordered covers for my 2 computer tables for easier cleaning.  The computable table covers arrived in perfect condition.  The dining table one had a big chip on one edge.  When I sent the sender pictures, they promised to ship a replacement in 5 business days.  That was January 17.  Time to bother them again.

They don't want the damaged one back, so I am using it in the meantime.  I haven't even peeled off the protective masking.  It does work functionally, but a bright blue tabletop is a bit funny-looking.  When the new one arrives, I'll use that.  Interestingly, I do make things from plastic sometimes.  When I'm positive they can't demand the damaged one back, I'll use it for a few projects.

Not everything is bad.  I ordered flower seedlings.  A native-plant seller of good reputation offers various plant mixes.  One was 38 plants for $149 dollars (free shipping).  You can order 2 kinds (16 of each) or up to 6 different kinds (7-7-6-6-6-6).  Since most are perrenials or self-sowers, I went for the 6 different kinds.  I matched them by water/sunlight needs and spread them by bloom time, so it should give blooms May-Nov.  Most of those are meadow flowers with a couple of ornamental grasses.

I also ordered 3 seed mixes (each covers 500 square feet) for about $22 per bag.  One is deer-resistant (for the front yard - the deer can't get into the backyard), one is for shady areas, and one is for pollinators (some specifically for native solitary bees).  

Plus, I have saved seeds and existing transplantable meadowlike and pollinator-friendly plants.  I'll move those.  That will free up some space for "merely" ornamental flowers.

I'm sure glad I bought a snowblower 5-6 years ago.  Self-propelled, forward/reverse, and electric-starting.  It was most important with the 12" snowfall, but even with 4" it sure makes things easier!  My house faces north, so while the cross-the-street neighbors' snow melts in a day or 2, mine turns to ice if not removed quickly.  And my driveway slopes downhill to a drainage ditch.  I had to pay a guy $50 to shovel my driveway once (18") so I think the snow-blower has paid for itself now.

I'm replacing the refrigerators.  Yes, plural.  I have a really old one in the basement for bulk veggie and seed storage.  It is SO bad, I have to chip ice off the top of the refrigerator section and the freezer section won't go below 10 F (S/B 0 F).  And I bet it is costing a lot just to operate.

The current fridge isn't great at temperature uniformity, but it is sure better than the basement fridge and more energy-efficient.  I looked up newer/better ones at Consumer Reports.  There is a bottom freezer  LG model rated at the top I think I'll buy.  The temperature uniformity, reliability, and owner-satisfaction are all at the top, the price is about the same as lower-rated ones, and it has a top "energy-star" rating.

It has an external ice-maker.  I'm not sure I like that.  They tend to fail.  I make ice cubes manually just fine.  But if it works, "hurray".  Mostly though, you can't find a good refrigerator without one, LOL!

I'll have to clean the basement before I order the new refrigerator though.  It is too cluttered for movers to get around in.   No matter what I want to do, I have to do something else first!  To explain, I have say that my electric co-op will come and take away the oldest refrigerator and credit me $50.  Who doesn't want $50?

But I have to clear a space for the new fridge guys to put the older kitchen one in the regular space and the oldest one "somewhere".  That "somewhere" has stuff in the spot.  So I need to move that stuff.  I'm running out of places to put "stuff".  Which leads to REALLY cleaning the basement before I can buy a new fridge.  It's ALWAYS something...

Back to sad stuff...

Lori went into heat Wednesday night.  It's Monday night and that makes it 5 days.  She HAS to stop tomorrow, right?  Lori hasn't been as bad as Ayla was, but a sudden "calling session" in the middle of the night is hard to sleep through.  I sleep badly enough as it is.  Daytime isn't too bad and she doesn't keep it up for more than an hour.

Unlike Ayla did.  OMC!  She was a yeller.  For those of you who read this but are unfamiliar with "Alya In Heat", she had 2 botched spays by the breeder's vet, went into heat every 3 weeks for 7 days at a time, climbed me desperately with sharp claws, for maybe a year before my regular vet got her fixed.  

Ayla drove me crazy day and night, screaming.  The first circle of Hell is probably filled with Siamese cats in heat...  It was a terrible year.  I still have the calendar marked with Xs for her days in heat.  It seems mostly Xs.  She was seriously messed up.  

Lori isn't "that bad".  She has a quieter voice.  And it will certainly be her-our last experience.  I am a little annoyed at the vets though.  They said they didn't like to operate on a cat in heat so they wanted her to go through it first.  Timing the operation for "in-between", they said.  OK.  But they aren't here listening to the calls.

I am sad that Lori can't get the relief she wants so desperately.  Marley and Laz are neutered and *I* sure can't do anything about.  There should be a chill-pill...

That is sure more than enough for now...