Worth the Wait?

It’s here it’s here it’s here! Imagine! Just five short months after it was paid for, the over-the-stove microwave is in place and operable. Which ought to be exciting, but frankly it’s so anti-climatic that it was hardly worth the wait.

The problems are more noticeable than the pluses. The first thing I noticed is that — since Lynn and I are now microwave professionals — the “express cooking feature” that was standard on our last three — yes, three: one left behind at the old house; one that shorted out after two weeks of use; and the $50 Walmart model that has served as stunt double for the Real One — seems to be missing on this monolith. We can no longer push a number on the control panel and have the microwave come on for a corresponding number of minutes. That’s inconvenient.

The first thing Lynn noticed was the monolithic nature of this thing. It offers 100 more watts of power than the Hamilton Beach That Could, but it does so in about 5,000 more cubic feet of space. I’m not sure it’s usable space, because it’s much more width than depth, so the circular turntable is perhaps one inch larger in diameter than the countertop microwave that appears to be about half the overall size.

And the first thing Oz noticed about the new appliance — much to the great delight of the rest of the household — is that the “beep” of the microwave sounds just like the doorbell, at least to him, setting off paroxysms of barking and a rush to the door every time the microwave is used. How fun!

So, not really a great first impression. It does give Lynn the ventilation her stove has been lacking since we moved in, and she now has a light to see what she’s doing on the stove at night, so that’s good. And I think, once we get around to moving the Hamilton Beach, she will appreciate the restoration of her baking table.

Maybe, if we can locate operating instructions that don’t seem to have come with the machine — I guess perfection would be too much to ask for after only five months — it will turn out that there is an express option other than repeatedly pressing the 30-second button. Maybe Oz will figure out it’s not worth barking about every time someone uses the microwave. Maybe without a svelte companion nearby it ultimately won’t look quite as hulking as it does. Maybe we will all learn to love one another.

Things went better — or at least, with fewer complaints — in the laundry room, where a hideously ugly faux-stone Formica countertop got replaced with Marmoleum left over from the floors. Now it matches the pet feeding station counter, and looks so much nicer I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier.

And our final cabinet got placed on a wall. It was supposed to go over the mudroom bench, but Dusty’s worker Zach had expressed concern about placing it anywhere that would let us reach it easily without smacking our heads as we stood up from the bench. So it went on the alien green wall (sadly, covering up more green), where Lynn is sure she will drop cabinet contents into the utility sink. That still seems preferable to bonking our noggins.

And with that, Dusty was gone. Lynn and I were both at work when he and Sam left, so once again we didn’t get a debrief. I don’t know that everything on the repair list got done and, if it didn’t, when they might be back this way. Probably as with Mary Poppins, it will require a change in the wind.

Monday he said he had called the electrician about my steam shower, but the connection was so bad he gave up. I have no idea if a subsequent conversation took place. And I still need to have my electric car charger installed — but I have to get one first.

If I had spare time, which I never seem to, I need to check with my electrical co-op to see what charger(s) they sell and then get something ordered, either from GCEA or my friend the internet.

The microwave may have convinced me of the folly of shopping locally, although I find myself in agreement with the publisher of the Gunnison paper, who endorsed the tax increase that will allow us to build a new library but who also reminded readers that commercial property pays about four times what residential property pays in taxes.

Amazon, with zero property holdings in Gunnison County, will not fund a single penny of the new library, but the Gunnison Country Times and Pat’s Screen Printing will. The publisher suggested residents bear that in mind when making decisions on where to shop. Of course, no one’s going to listen to him but me. If I do.

We’ve purchased microwaves locally from Ace Hardware and Walmart without problem. (Well, there was the shorting out, but Walmart exchanged units, no questions, no sweat.) So maybe the lesson is more specific and limited to one store in particular. The same store that has yet to produce my bathroom vanity. Assuming it ever arrives, it will probably have to sit in our garage for a couple three weeks until the wind blows Dusty back this way.

I’m sure it will be worth the wait. Just like the microwave.

It’s a drab life Lynn and I lead, never more so than in our laundry room with new countertop and cabinet.