The Old Is New Again

By Frances Bryce, August 27, 2020 — The late period had for me a problem of keeping me cool when my air conditioner in my living-kitchen area refused to continue cooling downstairs. These are window units. I finally got a new device to replace the old one that had given up the ghost. A week later, I was made aware that my refrigerator was not keeping the contents cold. My butter, which usually required to be left out for a long period before it was spreadable, now had a very soft spread. I thought a quick fix would increase the setting to make it cooler. Later when I opened the refrigerator no apparent lowering of the temperature. I checked to see if the freezer, which is a top unit, was okay. There was visible frost on the shelf and some of the items had no problem with the freezing. Had the freezer door not completely closed when I opened it? What should I do?
I realized that before refrigerators were a common appliance in the house, there was always
the icebox and that was a unit that you bought blocks of ice and put in the top, and that unit at the bottom kept everything cold. So what I did, I took some containers and put water in them and put them in the freezer, and now I had my icebox. This kept the cooling part of the refrigerator cool. But this was not a problem solved yet.

I first went on the internet, and then to the Home Depot store itself. Finding someone to see me took awhile. But then I already found the model I had selected only to learn that the delivery date for my zip code would be September 15th. This was on August the 23rd. That’s a long time to fill and refill plastic containers and get the cooling in the refrigerator. I set out if I could find a refrigerator delivered at an earlier date. The holiday and the demand for delivery service with fewer workers to this date meant I must continue my search as I do now.
What was done in the past using frozen ice for the top of the container when we had no refrigerator is the method I used now. I cool containers of water put them in the refrigerator and when they melt I take the other ones out. I will be doing this until I get a new unit. And that’s the deal.