Ordinary Life

New (to me) Haldane Spinning Wheel

This sounds conceited, but sometimes my life includes the usual annoyances that everyone has handle.  This doesn't often happen, since things usually hum along pretty easy at Greenberry House.  But since Greenberry House is also an OLD house, sometimes the quirks and kinks get a little out of hand.

Case in point.  My washer decided to flood the bathroom about a year ago.  Now, usually when I do a load of laundry I pile it in and leave home, intending to hang it outside when I get back from work, errands or whatever.  This time my partner was doing his laundry and he has sense enough to stay around when the washer is running.  Therefore he managed to save the rest of the house from the flood and probably our water source, a spring, and the pump.  I couldn't find anyone to fix the washer right away, so I trooped to the local Laundromat with my clothes and Dad's, when I can get him to sort out the clean from the dirty in his room.  Not a problem for me...good reading and knitting time.  At some point during the year we discovered that the dryer wasn't working...also not a problem.

But then last week the refrigerator quit.  A refrigerator that was only a year and four months old at my place.   Nasty.  And part of the roof blew off the bathroom, but that's another story.  A refrigerator is sort of important in the lives of most people.  So what if I have to run the power cord to another room to get it to run so I can also plug in a few small appliances?  And does it matter that only corner in the kitchen where a refrigerator can fit is so narrow that it takes a monster hunt to find one small enough to fit?  Not to mention the fact that if you want to use a microwave in my kitchen, the only place you can both set it and plug it in is on top of the refrigerator, which also has to be short enough so said microwave can be reached?

Anyway, I had to get my act together and call on local sources of information (numerous cousins and kin) to find someone that would come out and fix the refrigerator, washer and dryer.  Locating Mr. Goad was easy, and he came out today and had a look at all the appliances.  Shaking his head, meanwhile, at my sad house management, no doubt.  The washer and dryer were minor repairs.  A mouse had chewed a tube in the washer.  Barnabas now has a disciplinary letter in his employment folder.  

Mr. Goad took one look at my refrigerator, however, and said, "Uh-oh."   Not a comforting sound to be hearing from a repairman.  Sure enough, the small type of refrigerator I have cannot be repaired for a reasonable sum of money.  The manufacturer, which shall remain nameless, says it doesn't make repair parts available for these refrigerators due to the fact that they usually only last a couple of years.  I keep the manufacturer's name out of this because my I only have Mr. Goad's word for it, but I have a feeling his word is pretty good.  

I really don't like our throw-away world.  It's hard to understand that a major appliance could only have a working life of two years.  The first refrigerator I bought for this house lasted six or seven years, then I bought an old one that my cousin was wanting to sell about the time the first one died.  That one died just before Christmas in 2007, which makes seven years here and I don't know how long at Buford and Rita's place.  Now I'm dreading going out and buying a new one, and getting rid of this old one.  Anyone got any ideas as to what I could use this dead refrigerator for?  I wonder if I could make it into a composter?

The picture of the spinning wheel is to remind me that some people still make things that can be counted on.  Local farmers, artisans, and small manufacturers are reliable and you know where to find them if things do go wrong.  Local farmers don't have their produce recalled because of manufacturing problems and toxins that creep into their product due to mismanagement.  Local artisans and small manufacturers put their hearts into their creations and their name on their work.  The ones I deal with stand behind their work and do their best to create lasting and meaningful items for their customers to enjoy.

This spinning wheel has been passed on to me from Sandra Bennett, and I brought it home from Thistle Cove Farm last weekend.  I've been spinning on it a bit this week and it is lovely.  Sandra may have been the first owner; perhaps not, but this spinning wheel will be useful for a long time after my next refrigerator is rusting in some landfill.