My hairdryer led me into the abyss. Fairly new, with all ‘ionic’ features,
whatever that means, the ding-dang dryer was acting up. It would blow hot hair, then cold; it would
produce lots of air, then very little.
First thought: I’d bought a lemon; second thought: Is there a problem with the air vents? Are they obstructed?
Were they ever! I took a tweezers to those layers of
dust. Gone! Result: the hairdryer operated as good as new.
I walk by the refrigerator. A yellow indicator light draws my attention
and I squint to read the information.
“Clean coils!” What? More dust and more havoc to deal with? On my knees, then flattened on my side, I
shine the flashlight into a place no one ought to have to look. Horrors!
Globs of dust everywhere.
Now where do I find a brush narrow enough and long
enough to clean out those coils? And how
important is this task? I use the
longest brush cleaner I have; I even stick a wood lefse turner into the dark
reaches, hoping I’ll gather up some dust.
I bring out globs of the stuff, but more remains, unreachable. Yet, the indicator light goes out. Success!
Later I think: I should have turned off the power on the
refrigerator while I dug around those dark places. I won’t forget to add that safety feature
next time.
Here’s the thing.
Our kitchen refrigerator has stood in place for about 20 years. We ‘owned’ it when we bought the house in
2000. I swear, no one has ever cleaned
those coils. Did you know there’s a pan
for collecting water down there? How
gross does yours look compared to mine?
Worse, we brought a very old refrigerator to this
house to provide coolness to my chardonnay wine collection. Forty years of chill-time? Have I ever cleaned its coils? Of course not! But now I’m thinking I better, even if I
don’t want to.
Lesson to self:
One obstruction leads to another.
Question for my readers: What else have we forgotten
to clean out after all these years?
Speaking of obstructions, every character in FEAR
LAND confronts a barrier to their happiness.
If these people don’t solve their problems, anxiety, instead of joy,
will take over their lives. Watch how a
soldier, a psychiatrist and a boy deal with trauma in this suspense novel,
spiked with romance!
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16 comments:
Great post. I'm heading to the kitchen to check on my refrigerator (smile!).
You are far braver than I, Rolynn. It's been a loooong time since I've felt "safe" lying down on my kitchen floor! It's bad enough when I have to kneel and replace the water filter thingie. :-) Glad you fixed your electronic snafus...and thanks for the warnings!
You'd think there would be a a coil-cleaning specialist...someone ecco savvy, since the fridges don't work efficiently when they are dusted up. Another Fixer-Upper who'd make a lot of money here in CA, is a water fountain repair person. I see so many fountains that are waterless.
Now, Leah, I'm not saying you have to take on this task. Someone younger, definitely, could be guilted into doing the job :-0
Gee, I've never even heard of coils and in all my years of home owning, never cleaned them. But my seven year old Bosch fridge just packed up and I was told by the repairman there was no point in repairing it at a cost of $1300!! Maybe I should have been cleaning those coils?
What? Dirt and dust accumulate where we can't see? Our refrigerator is relatively new. Guess I better jump on the dust thing while it's still 'fresh'. You inspire me!
Andi, you've introduced a conspiracy theory...those refrigerator folks will sell more units if we don't remove the junk around the coils. We're having our whole irrigation system redone because of poor (original) design. Our landscape guy says 'this new system will last forever.' Will I be around to see if that's true? :-)
Margo, hop to it! Your new refer instructions may or may not tell you how to do it. But turn off the electricity, first. Report in, please!
These things should be self-cleaning like ovens. I swear it is a thousand miles from my bedroom to my office because of such annoyances along the way.
Calvin takes care of those things. He thinks it's a "man's job." Who am I to argue? He has changing out HVAC filters, dishwasher and coffee maker filters on a routine he keeps written somewhere. He also operates the self-oven cleaner and digs out the lint in the dryer that somehow gets beyond the filter. I think he just likes to play and I'm feminist enough to allow him to do it.
Geesh, Von, you have yourself a gem in Calvin. Most men don't see (or want to consider) that dirt might be present anywhere (so we women have to deal with it). MDB=male dirt blindness. Yup, mine has it. I'm in awe that Calvin not only sees it but does something about it! HUG HIM HARD!
Had to pull the griddle out of the pantry this morning to feed pancakes to the cross country kids we hosted last night. Honestly never use that thing except when I have a houseful of kids. Let's just say the shelf under it wasn't pretty and I had to rinse out the sponge twice to wipe it down. My theory is, "Why clean it if you can't see it?" LOL
Love all the comments. You guys are a hoot! I say Vonnie needs to rent out Calvin to all of us who don't want to clean under refrigerators, et al.
Both of my sons know how to clean and sew and iron. Oh, and cook. Both Steve and Mike iron their shirts and pants before dressing for work. And I'll never forget the afternoon we arrived at Mike's house to find Ryan, who was eleven at the time, cleaning the hall bathroom. LOL He wore big black goggles, a rubber apron cut off so he wouldn't trip, his step-mom's pink rubber gloves, rolled down, and rain boots. I leaned against the hall wall, laughing in hysterics, as he scrubbed and sprayed and grunted with GREAT effort to show how hard he was working for my benefit. When he took the toilet bowl brush to the commode, it was like a fountain going off.
Vonnie, what I love about guys is, if they go at it, they GO AT IT! See, I never had kids and had to change diapers and what all...cleaning a toilet still has an ick factor for me.
Too funny. I didn't lift the top of my stove go clean because I didn't even know it did that until someone mentioned it. If I'm in quick clean mode I don't put my glasses on. Now and then I do put them on and actually look everywhere, up and down and nooks and crannies. Surprise!
I don't even want to THINK about how many things should be deeply, thoroughly cleaned. :) Fear Land looks fabulous!!! (Please forgive my delayed visit!)
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