Chit Chat in VOLTVILLE Thread #2 :)

[rave]

Boy, did I have some excitement today. The refrigerator had an electrical fire!!!!! I kept smelling something that reminded me of electrical fire. Finally, I pulled out the fridge a little, then a little more and then a little further. Right then I saw glowing red and smoke. You bet I ran for the circuit breaker panel in the closet in the den and turned off every one of those suckers!

The good news is I get to buy a new fridge. My very first ever new fridge.

I saw a 24.5 cubic foot Maytag with the nice shelves and the French doors. The freezer is on the bottom with the baskets in it. It is stainless steel. No water in the door - we didn't want that anyway. It has those doors you can put the gallons of milk in and the pizza/deli tray skinny drawer. $998 - you can't beat that price.

Here is the bad news - Hubby has to take down the small cabinet above the refrigerator and either modify it or leave it down since the new fridge will be 69 1/2 inches and we have 68 1/2 inches available as is.

Holy smokes, Lizzie!! 8-o That coulda been sooo BAD! I'm so glad that you were home and able to close it down before it turned into a catastrophic even. Now you have me eyeballing my ancient refrigerator with a great deal of suspicion. Anyhow, I'm glad that you're gonna get a new fridge.

 

[SandySu]

Jerry, I remember when you could buy a block of ice in a bag, just like the cubes. When we went camping, we preferred it because it didn't melt so fast. Still, it's harder to wedge stuff around a block in the cooler.

 

[rave]

Dave is now down at the home site with a contractor arranging to finish his foundation for him. Dave is thinking that he may have bit off a bit more than he could chew. After all, if the foundation is not right, anything set upon it will be messed up. This is gonna cost, but may save my son and his fiance big time in the long run. The contractor is the same one that did the foundation for my home. I can vouch for him and his crew.

 

[Renolizzie]

We can buy 7 pound blocks of ice almost everywhere. I got the blocks and the bags of ice. I wanted to make sure I got everything iced down and cooling off fast when I got home. The fridge was about 50 degrees inside when I got home but I think almost all the food is fine.

 

[JerryRM]

I never saw a block in a bag, Sandy. This was a real old-time ice house. My dad would bring in the cooler and they would chip a block, until it fit in the cooler.

I know what you mean about fitting stuff around the block. Most of the food and drink went on top of the block and there was also a tray above the ice to keep things in. It took a bit of ingenuity to get everything in the cooler, but we did and you are so right, the block lasted a long time.

 

[Renolizzie]

Dave is now down at the home site with a contractor arranging to finish his foundation for him. Dave is thinking that he may have bit off a bit more than he could chew. After all, if the foundation is not right, anything set upon it will be messed up. This is gonna cost, but may save my son and his fiance big time in the long run. The contractor is the same one that did the foundation for my home. I can vouch for him and his crew.

Some things are just worth the money. I never pay anyone to paint since I can do that but I would be willing to pay someone to do plumbing and electrical. Of course, I have Hubby and he is free

We had the garage built. They were done in a week and it passed inspection the first time. Definitely worth the extra money to have someone else do it.

 

[JerryRM]

We had a tropical storm pass through here a few years ago and we lost our power for several days. I had to toss most of what was in the fridge and the freezer, several hundred dollars worth of food, I would guesstimate. After that, I bought a small generator, just to keep the fridge cold and for a light or two.

 

[awsum140]

I remember the ice house as a kid, the 100 pound blocks and the tongs hanging from a track rail overhead. Then the smaller, hand-held tongs, for the fifty pound blocks. My friends family owned the ice house. One July we put about 1000 pounds of ice in the pool, which was quite warm by then. The first guy to dive in got a real shock!

Making sure the foundation is level, straight and that the corners are actually square is a key to ending up with a good house. When I was doing trim and finish work, centuries ago, I did a house that had been done by "the best foundation and framing guy around". The entry door from the garage, a three foot wide door, was 3/4" high on one side, and it was plumb and level. The foundation was off, along with the floor and everything above it. At least they got the rest of it right but that utility room area off the kitchen and garage was a disaster. They should have shimmed the plates on the foundation to avoid all the headaches that they caused. Too much beer when they worked on that section I guess.

 

[Wuzznt Me]

I remember having an old icebox in New Jersey. The iceman would come around and put blocks in the top. Mom was ecstatic when she got her first Frigidaire.

 

[SandySu]

I remember the iceman and the coal truck coming to our neighborhood for neighbors, but we had a refrigerator and oil heat. We used to get the milk delivered to the door in glass bottles, though. I also remember some people coming around in a horse and cart. There was a man who sharpened scissors, for instance.

 

[3mg Meniere]

We had a refrigerator, but we also had a locker at the freezer plant downtown. My uncle was a farmer, and the brothers shared meat butchered from his animals.

We had a coal furnace, and the truck would come by and put it down the 'chute. I remember when Dad would go down to tend to the furnace at night. Most of the basement floor was dirt, except for the laundry and shop area. Later we got a stoker, that would put more coal in the furnace, so Dad didn't have to shovel it in.

I remember we were off school because of a horrible snowstorm, and my brother and I built a snow-house without a roof, but we were surrounded with show. We got some coal and built ourselves a fire. Our outer clothes stunk so bad that mom had to have them cleaned. Luckily, mom's father ran the dry-cleaners. LOL.

The milkman's name was Jeff, and he would visit us most mornings at breakfast time.

 

[JerryRM]

I remember the milkman, delivering his glass bottles of milk, every day, I think. The cream would rise to the top, so we had to shake the bottle, to mix it in with the rest of the milk. There was a contalner outside of our door and we would put the empty bottles in the container and leave a note for the milkman as to what we wanted with the next delivery.

We lived with my grandparents, for the first 6 years of my life. They owned a triple decker and we were on the second floor. They had a large family and it was all family in the triple decker and the cottage in the back. My grandparents on the 1st floor, we on the second floor, my aunt and her family on the 3rd floor, my uncle and his family in the cottage. We were all one big, but not necessarily happy, family. LOL

 

[3mg Meniere]

Here is a recent picture of the house I grew up in.

 

[SandySu]

I remember the milkman, delivering his glass bottles of milk, every day, I think. The cream would rise to the top, so we had to shake the bottle, to mix it in with the rest of the milk. There was a contalner outside of our door and we would put the empty bottles in the container and leave a note for the milkman as to what we wanted with the next delivery.

We lived with my grandparents, for the first 6 years of my life. They owned a triple decker and we were on the second floor. They had a large family and it was all family in the triple decker and the cottage in the back. My grandparents on the 1st floor, we on the second floor, my aunt and her family on the 3rd floor, my uncle and his family in the cottage. We were all one big, but not necessarily happy, family. LOL

We didn't have a container, but I knew people who did. Our milk was homogenized, so we didn't have to mix the cream in, but when I stayed a summer on a dairy farm, their milk separated because it was fresh from the cow. The farmer used to pour off the cream for his hot cereal for breakfast, so I guess the rest of us drank skim milk.

 

[SandySu]

0mg, neat photo of the house. I should go take a picture of the house I lived in as a little kid. I loved that place. We moved when I was 12, and it took me a long time to get over it.

 

[JerryRM]

We didn't have a container, but I knew people who did. Our milk was homogenized, so we didn't have to mix the cream in, but when I stayed a summer on a dairy farm, their milk separated because it was fresh from the cow. The farmer used to pour off the cream for his hot cereal for breakfast, so I guess the rest of us drank skim milk.

The rest of it tasted like colored water to me, Sandy.

Nice house, 0mg. My grandparents house, among others on the street, was torn down in the late '60s, to make way for a housing for the elderly complex. My grandfather died in 1966 and the following year a government guy, showed up and told my grandmother to pack up and leave. He told her how much she was going to be paid for the property and how long she had to get out.

They had raised their family there, it was their home. I'm glad that my grandfather didn't live to see that happen.

 

[3mg Meniere]

My uncle had a separator for the milk from his cows. I was fascinated with that machine. Then someone would come by and pick up the milk and cream.

We originally had a big double lot, and my parents had a huge garden. Later Dad built a gas station on the corner, and rented it out.

Our bathroom was originally built as a closet (that had a closet within), to be turned into a bathroom later. We even had the remains of a cement path to where the outhouse used to be. We also had a cement slab close to the house, where the cistern used to be.

 

[SandySu]

That is such a shame, Jerry. I've heard of things like that -- usually to build highways, etc.

 

[Wuzznt Me]

We had a refrigerator, but we also had a locker at the freezer plant downtown. My uncle was a farmer, and the brothers shared meat butchered from his animals.

We had a coal furnace, and the truck would come by and put it down the 'chute. I remember when Dad would go down to tend to the furnace at night. Most of the basement floor was dirt, except for the laundry and shop area. Later we got a stoker, that would put more coal in the furnace, so Dad didn't have to shovel it in.

I remember we were off school because of a horrible snowstorm, and my brother and I built a snow-house without a roof, but we were surrounded with show. We got some coal and built ourselves a fire. Our outer clothes stunk so bad that mom had to have them cleaned. Luckily, mom's father ran the dry-cleaners. LOL.

The milkman's name was Jeff, and he would visit us most mornings at breakfast time.

Our milkman's name was Jake. My Dad worked as a book keeper for the dairy. Country Club Ice Cream. We had the coal furnace and bin in the basement. I used to get spanked for drinking the cream off the top lol. In about a week the call of that cream would obliterate the memory and I'd get another one. I was really sad when they started homogenizing milk. If I buy milk now I always by a pint of half and half to mix in it.

 

[3mg Meniere]

Our house was at a major intersection, and there often rumors going about widening the intersection. Traffic was very heavy at times-- but, as you can see, the house is still there. Traffic was really bad whenever there were big shindigs going on about fifteen miles away, but we stayed close to home during those times. LOL!!