Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Refrigerator

Once upon a time (on a Black Friday in 2008) a farmer and his wife rose before the sun and headed to Sears to purchase a refrigerator. Their old refrigerator had ceased to function and so it had to be replaced. As the couple headed toward Alma, the farmer dreamed of a lovely side-by-side model with a front door ice maker. The wife just wanted something in the same color that would fit in the refrigerator spot.

Before heading out, the farmer carefully measured the space.
"Remember this, 35 w x 70 h."
The farmer's daughter, being an intelligent young lady, said,
"Write it down."
The farmer's wife wrote it down. (and left it on the desk)

At Sears, the farmer found exactly what he wanted. A beautiful side by side in bisque. Perfect. Ummmmm, not so much. It measured 35 1/2 x 69. Undaunted, and sure he had accounted for the 1/2 inch, he snapped up the deal. It would be delivered the following Wednesday.

Upon reaching home, the farmer's wife reminded him that the new fridge was 1/2 inch wider than what the paper said. He measured the space. 35 inches. He had the wife measure the space. 35 inches. He had his intelligent and beautiful daughter measure the space. Still 35 inches. Hmmmmmm. That 1/2 inch DOES make a difference.

With a heavy heart the farmer headed back to Sears to cancel the deal on his dream refrigerator. The model he purchased (the one that would fit in the space) looked pretty much like the old fridge but was a 1/2 inch less wide. (It was also about $500 cheaper).

Fast forward to Wednesday. The farmer's wife moved all the clutter out of the front hall so that the refrigerator could be brought in through the front door. (That's a story for another day.) She emptied out the salvageable stuff from the freezer of the old fridge. She called the farmer to tell him that it would be his job to move the food from the bottom of the old fridge into the new fridge.

At 2:30 the wife's cell phone rings while she is at work.
"There's still food in this fridge," the farmer said in a puzzled voice.
"Right," said the wife.

Upon returning home from work, the wife noticed that the front door was open. (The new fridge must be here.) Sure enough, in the kitchen stood the new refrigerator in all its glory. The wife called the farmer to tell him how nice the new refrigerator looked. "It seems bigger," she said.
The farmer said, "It is. It's deeper. Be careful when you open the dishwasher. We forgot to measure the depth"




It's hard to see in the pic, but that is as far as the dishwasher will open without scratching the door of the refrigerator. But where there's a will, there's a way.



The good news is that the extra depth leaves more room for pictures and Clayton's art work.



Word of the day:
Gospel
Thursday of the First Week of Advent
Mt 7:21, 24-27

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”


Thoughts from the cornfield:
The easy way is not always the best way. It takes a lot more effort to build a house on rock, but when the winds blow, the reward is priceless.


God bless our troops!