Mom's Old Refrigerator

Mom and Dad had a small Leonard refrigerator back in the '50's when I was growing up in a small town in northern Minnesota. The bottom had a tilt out bin where she stored her potatoes and onions. It had a small freezer at the top between the taller shelves that held the milk bottles. It probably could hold an ice tray and a few frozen steaks.
As the family grew, the little refrigerator became too small for the family of five, and a family friend surprised Mom with a new, larger refrigerator full of plastic shelves instead of the steel racks in the old Leonard. After a few years, the shelves were cracked or broken, and the side shelves had fallen off one time too many. And the big new refrigerator died. So when Mom and Dad moved into the bigger house across town, they purchased another new plastic refrigerator. And soon this one needed replacing, also. And the old Leonard? They sold it to a resort.....where it is still in use today.
Why did I think about all this today? I have been in my new house a month now. My brand new GE washer would not work on the hot cycle, and I am awaiting a new part for it. My brand new hot water heater burned out a lower element, and I just had a new one put in. My brand new GE side by side refrigerator quit making ice, and a new ice maker has been ordered for it. I bought a new house, as my former one was 25 years old, and I was expecting to be needing to replace some expensive items such as air conditioning, furnace, roof and deck. So now I am in spanking brand new home.....and three spanking brand new appliances have already needed repair in the first 30 days. Don't make 'em like they used to, huh? I guess it is our throw away society....we want to get new colors, new model,s new specifications, new styles, new husbands,..... Since all the importation of cheap goods from China and former Third World countries, places like WalMart can sell items so cheaply that is it cheaper to replace rather than repair. And then there are the computer chips......
But there was a time when there was quality and pride in workmanship. Now it is "Planned Obsolescence" . I bet even the Maytag repairman is no longer sitting around with his dog waiting for a call. Might as well just throw that old Maytag, anyway....the new ones are RED!!!!!