It’s those little conveniences . . .

We have had our share of cold temperatures this season but sometimes it just does not make much sense to me. About a month ago we spent almost three weeks well below zero in the mornings some days over minus twenty five. We have been over that now and the last several weeks it has jumped around from the twenties to back down around zero.

A few days ago my icemaker quit working and as I watched the ice container slowly dwindle to nothing I figured it might be time to give it a look. I went into my handyman mode after doing plumbing work for many years so I decided to go through the logical steps to figure out why it was not making ice cubes.

I looked underneath the kick plate by the floor to see if there was any buildup of dust that might make things work efficiently as far as it maintaining the proper temperature. It wasn’t too dirty so I next pulled the refrigerator so I could get to things on the back. I checked out the tubing going from the water valve up to the icemaker and it looked clear. A quick test of the water valve told me it was working so it had to be in the line going from the house water supply to the water valve on the bottom of the refrigerator. I loosened the nut on the valve and out squirted water under pressure . . . I quickly tightened it back up and now confusion set in as to why it was not working properly.

I pushed it back in place and cycled the icemaker several times to see if the water valve was working and filling the ice tray compartment. The cycle worked but there was no water. Confusion set in as the obvious had not even entered my mind. I slept on the problem and figured I would work on it again when I came home from the hospital.

I hurried home so I could do a load or two before trying to get a couple hours of much needed sleep and loaded the washing machine, put the detergent inside and turned on the hot water to do a load of whites . . . Nothing.

What’s up with that?

The light bulb above my head was finally coming on as I came to the realization that I had frozen pipes. It has been a couple of days now and it unthawed for a few hours yesterday afternoon enough to drop a few ice cubes but this morning when I came home from breakfast both water lines were frozen again and the icemaker too.

Why is it frozen now when we are not in the deep freeze? How can I get the lines thawed without ripping out sheetrock due to its location? Should I leave it a few days to see if things warm up within the floor or possibly outside? These are the questions that I really do not feel like dealing with right now but I would like clean clothes next week and a good southern man needs his ice cubes to have a proper drink.

Its funny how we take those small pleasures for granted until we are reminded how things ‘could’ be. I guess one nice thing today is my ‘office’ is quiet for a change as I listened to music by some old friends who performed a reunion concert last fall at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina.

A good friend attended an was able to get a DVD of the concert and sent it to me and I spent over two and a half hours reliving old times with great tunes. After 25 years it was interesting to see all of the changes we’ve gone through . . . gray or receding hairlines . . . a few more pounds here and there and the clear crisp voices of our youth have changed somewhat but the raw talent still flows within them.

Thanks guys for the music as it still lifts my soul, and thanks DG for sending it to me.

Ice