Day 2958

The refrigerator broke again. This was very discouraging, considering the time, effort, and money I've already spent repairing this thing. The appliance repair folks weren't much help. Despite three separate services calls and hundreds of dollars worth of parts, they still made no promises. They told me the first part they installed wasn't under warranty anymore because they installed it more than 90 days ago. The second part is still covered, but they have no idea whether it is causing the current problem. The third part, which actually ended up getting the refrigerator running again for several months isn't covered at all because I purchased it myself. Basically, I'm screwed. They could keep coming back forever and never solve the problem.

I think it's time to abandon this refrigerator and buy a new one. The main reason I haven't already done this is that our current refrigerator is much nicer than what is currently available. Nobody makes the size we have anymore. You can get a basic, slightly smaller model, or a wide variety of larger models that won't fit in the kitchen alcove where the current refrigerator sits. To make matters worse, the small refrigerator is actually more expensive that the larger fancy models because it is considered a low volume "specialty" appliance.

I give up. I'm tired of taking the freezer apart so I can thaw out the frozen evaporator coil. It took over two hours to do this today. The refrigerator is working again, but since something is causing the automatic defrost cycle to malfunction, the coil will just freeze again in a week or two. I have no confidence in the appliance repair folks anymore. They've had three chances to fix this problem and they've failed every time. I can keep replacing parts and hope for the best, or I can buy a new refrigerator.

After spending the morning getting the refrigerator running again, I spent the afternoon driving around looking at new ones. I finally found two refrigerators that will fit in my aging mid-century modern kitchen, but neither was what I was hoping for. I think my entire house has passed it's '"use by" date. The plumbing is old and hard to replace. The utility room is too small for my front loader washer and dryer. The electrical system is not really designed for modern power hungry appliances. You've already heard about my ongoing roof problems. Nobody is interested in fixing old things either. I really don't want to buy a new refrigerator in the same month that my car insurance is due, but what are you going to do?

At least Dash was fairly normal today. He slept through the night and had a good appetite. He even left me alone while I was disassembling the freezer and removing all the ice from the evaporator coil. We took a nice long walk this morning, but I sure wish Dash was a little faster. Since I hadn't fixed the refrigerator yet, I kept imagining food spoiling during our entire journey. At some point during the day, I noticed that I had a stripe of dried poop on my pants leg. It probably happened yesterday when Dash had diarrhea. I immediately threw the pants in the laundry, wondering how long I'd been walking around that way.

I hope nothing goes wrong tomorrow. Days like today really wear me down. Eventually the refrigerator problem will get resolved and then something else will break. Something always breaks. I hope I can count on my car for a while longer. A new car is a lot more expensive than a new refrigerator.

Spirit is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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