Appliances, what a boon to the American homemaker! I’ve visited living history re-enactment sites at
- Connor Prairie Farm in central Indiana
- Plymouth, Massachusetts
- Williamsburg, Virginia
While I enjoy these historical immersions with people dressed in period costumes making candles, shoeing horses, and cooking meals to showcase the life and times of our country’s past
I wouldn’t change places to live there and then.
No furnace? No refrigeration? No near-instant hot via microwave? No blender, aka frozen margarita machine? Washing clothes by pounding them on rocks? No modern conveniences in any room?
As you know as you’ve read through vignettes I’ve written of my life, I’m the fortunate recipient of instant, miraculous fixes throughout my adult life. For instance, the day the side-by-side refrigerator/freezer died – for its warranty ended – the place where we’d purchased it eight years before had the same model in stock. And an installer available within hours!
We didn’t lose our steaks, hot dogs, or ice cream – nor the milk, lunch meats, or fresh fruit and vegetables!
Years later when our microwave died – mid-cycle when I was reheating my tea – we were in one of the ‘out of’ cycles of Covid quarantine. One phone call later, we were in the store where we’d purchased the microwave where… you guessed it1 There was the exact same make and model of microwave for sale – and it could be installed pronto!
A day after our new furnace was installed – during a bone-chilling rain – it wouldn’t start. When we called the company, we spoke with the manager, who was clearly a man of integrity. He personally rushed to our home to complete the final task of the installation, which was a fail-safe latch. He apologized profusely for his crew’s lapse and completed the task. Afterward, we invited him to dry out, complete hot cocoa, made with a ready-mix packet and milk – in the microwave! And a stack of cookies I’d just baked.
Good deeds beget good deeds.
We have similar stories for many other of our home appliances. They need not be recounted because you, dear reader, get the gist. Perhaps you, too have been blessed with an honest tradesman who gave all so that you weren’t inconvenienced. Or you got the last needed item in stock when you needed a replacement appliance pronto…
Maybe you even own a home generator for instances if/when the electricity goes out. No candles necessary!
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