Disaster averted

We have weathered a disaster around this old homestead. It was another death. It was an old trusted, reiable friend who was of undetermined age. It was my faithful microwave.

When we bought our first microwave all those years ago, we thought it to be just a passing fancy. It would be good for warming left overs and making nachos, but that would be about the only uses we could imagine. But we forged ahead and bought one anyway, and brought it home.

Then we began to use it. The original uses were there of course, but then we began to experiment. And lo and behold, we discovered that others had been branching out in their uses of the glorious appliance. And those people recorded their experiments and bound them. They made microwave cook books. Oh the horizon expanded.

And so we were hooked. That orignial microwave quit on us several times. We rushed it to the appliance hospital where it was put on life support and would recieve a transplant. It would be returned to us, and we would again put it to work, reheating and cooking.

Then it became apparent that it was suffering more than was allowable. It would have to be put out of it's misery. Plus there were new ones out - with push buttons replacing the dial. Oh, we had to have one of those. So the old work horse was put out to pasture after about 18 years, and in came the new one. It was all shiny white and pristine. What a joy.

As the years wore on, the white one became stained, but it wtill worked like a charm. It served proudly and well. That was until it suddenly began arcing. That was about two years ago. It was out of the blue, and it would stop almost as soon as it began. The arcing would come so infrequently that we just plugged on.

We just didn't know how sick the poor thing was. I was heating a small bag of popcorn when the arcing became so violent. I went to the oven and opened the door. The popcorn was only half popped, but I knew that it wouldn't allow another heating because I didn't want a burned offering. The next day I went to the oven, opened the door and carefully placed my lunch into the cavity. I set the timer for two minutes. The sound was not familiar. It was so different. It was labored. The food was not hot! The microwave was dead.

Suddenly it was shop on line time again. I began my search for a replacement. How could we go on without a microwave? My search was difficult. What I was finding was the 1.1 cubic footers that had a measly 1000 watts. That wouldn't do at all. But I pushed on, and was delighted when I went to the Mega membership huge quanity store had what I wanted. A beautiful new 2.2 cubic foot with 1250 watts. It was a fitting replacement, and the price was right.

So now we have a bright shiny stainless steel microwave sitting in the place of honor in our kitchen. All's right with the world, and I can once again have a hot lunch.