A Disappointing Turn of Events

Currently I am on hold with Whirlpool, hearing a recorded message telling me that my estimated wait time is zero minutes, however, at present I've been on hold for 6 minutes and counting. To say that I'm frustrated is an understatement. Didn't you just buy your appliances Gail, you ask? Indeed, we did. In spite of that, two years ago, almost to the day, this symbol came up on my range.

I'd only just baked a cake two hours earlier using one of Bruce's Mom's old recipes as shown on this card that she gave me many, many years ago. As you can see, it has been a well loved treat.

On this occasion I added some chopped apples, imagining it would make it a more nutritious cake for breakfast, the time of day when we eat this sort of thing. It baked up beautifully.

So, I was a happy camper, thinking of having it the next morning and that it was large enough for sharing. I've been most pleased to find a willing recipient in Patti who is a cake is perfect for breakfast gal.

Having a digital oven is great when it works, but not so much when it doesn't. Still I was hopeful that all would be well once the breaker was flipped for a reset. Except it was not. After holding for 30+ minutes, Bruce spoke with a "representative" who told him to unplug it. Great. That meant sliding it out away from the wall, which he did, hoping it would not scratch our floor. Unplugging it for the requisite 10 seconds, he plugged it back in. You guessed it, an hourglass. We left it unplugged overnight to no avail, so back to square one, we called an appliance repair company to come out. There's a long story connected to that which I will skip but I do want to mention that Brian from Reliable Appliance Repair in Longwood came out and he was super. Confirming our worst fears, he told us that it was the "motherboard" that needed replacing, to the tune of $800 for the part and installation. We said to go ahead and order it.

Fuming, after thinking about it for a bit,  I thought better of that decision and called Whirlpool to let them know that I thought it was unreasonable for a two year old oven to break. What could they do for me even though the measly one year warranty was expired? After a long conversation, Patrick said Whirlpool would make good and replace the motherboard at no expense except we had to use their preferred vendor, the very one I had been trying to avoid due to absolutely tons of horrible reviews. He said he would set it all up for me which I was hoping would streamline the process. Okay, so this happened on Tuesday afternoon; I'm typing this on Friday afternoon, and I am far from closing out this case. Fields Appliance Repair is coming on Monday to make their own diagnosis and then they will order the part. Again, I took to the phone, calling them directly to explain that I needed an oven ASAP and having someone come out and confirm the earlier diagnosis was a silly waste of time. We need a motherboard!! I'll spare you anymore except to say that now I've learned that they are on backorder!!!! More phone calls did nothing to change that status and now I fear that it will be weeks before I have a functioning oven again. Apparently this is yet another problem brought on by the pandemic. The fallout continues, seemingly unabated.

For some folks this would be an inconvenience, but for this blogger who uses her oven for more than baking cakes, this is horrible news. Perhaps I can find a friend willing to loan me a toaster oven? That's my next idea. At first I was just imagining it would be the following Monday, September 28 which was going to come with another problem and that is.........we are going camping that day!! Yes, I'm hoping the weather in Georgia will be cool enough for camping, and have made reservations at two parks, neither of which we've visited before. According to our friend Gayle, the Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park is amazing, and we are soon to find out for ourselves. To say that I'm excited is putting it mildly.

And why am I so excited? Because, much as I love doing puzzles and playing pickleball, I am hungry for a little change of scenery, something most folks can surely relate to. Speaking of puzzles, I ordered the one below from Amazon and was it ever fun. Just hard enough.

Thinking of change in scenery, coming across the photo below from our time in Vancouver, it almost seems as if that time were all a dream two years later.

While that view was extraordinary, the one we have today is pretty nice as well, in an entirely different way. 

The air has been stifling, the humidity is so high. In the mornings the windows are covered with condensation, as is everything else outdoors, including our front porch chair cushions. Although we've had them less than two years, their light color was not my best choice. Every week when landscaping crews blow the parking lots, just outside our gate, sand and dirt fly everywhere including on our furniture.  First I washed one of them in the machine, and it did not much of anything. Next up was spraying the heck out of the other one with OxyClean, again with no improvement. Following that I went to Amazon!

Two good things came out of letting my fingers do the walking. One, the new cushions are clean, and two, they are thicker! One cushion arrived around 5 in the afternoon, thus the above photograph. Around 8:30 the other came and now we are all set, hopefully for more the next couple of years!

My goodness, the days are getting shorter and it seems to be happening so fast. Of course all of time seems out of whack these days. 

Should you be wondering about Cris, his improvement has been not nearly as rapid as was hoped for but on the flip side, he is not declining so that's something to hang onto. Bruce called him the other evening and I overheard what was being said. Bruce asked Cris if there were anything he wanted to tell me and his reply kind of shocked me. "Tell Gail I am sorry about the quilt." Knowing nothing about what he was saying, Bruce explained that it had been lost. Naturally I was sad, having spent countless hours making it, but I knew that once I'd given it away, this kind of mishap was a possibility. Well, the good news is that, whereas once it was lost, now it has been found. Yippee! 

In other news, the carport outside of our gate, where I park the MINI Cooper part of the year, is not what it used to be, with one of the metal support poles rusting off at the bottom and causing the roof to cave in a bit. All cars had to be moved, so we shall be looking at caution tape for a bit. Thank goodness one of the maintenance guys noticed it!

And yes, it rains even while the sun is shining! Yet another misery from rain and wind in the Panhandle and Alabama. Our friend Yvette's daughter lives in Pensacola and her in laws place on the beach suffered some serious damage, including flooding and torn out doors and windows. The good news is that no lives were lost. Apparently there is yet another storm system in the Gulf of Mexico as I type. Ugh!

To tell you the truth, it's a wonder I've got much to say because as far as I can recall, I've gone nowhere this week, maybe even dating back to last week. That's even saying something for this homebody, although I am set to leave after typing my final words because, the cupboards are becoming increasingly bare. Time to put on my mask and hit Publix!

your friend, 

Gail