This summer has been particularly hard on our appliances. The beginning of May we had to replace our eight year-old Kenmore freezer, and this morning Vickey discovered that our Whirlpool Gladiator freezer (which we think is only about four years old) in the garage was no longer keeping food frozen.

We suspect that because the kids left it open a couple weeks ago after getting popsicles, the motor has kicked the bucket. Do I need to mention that it’s consistently over 105° here each day?

We did our best to salvage the food, particularly the meat, but lost the ice cream and a couple grocery bags of food. A repair man is on his way so we’ll see what the diagnosis is.

Could we possibly get a break here?

At lunch I prayed to bless our food and expressed gratitude for all we have…that works. I guess I should also be grateful for this experience. I may need to put some distance between it and me, then I’ll let you know.

In other news, the family I helped move last weekend (and became immobile for a couple days after spraining my back in the process) gave us a 14’ trampoline for our back yard — a very nice gift. Eliana and Dominic are thrilled to have a tramp again. Eventually I’ll get it installed correctly. It’s bigger than our 13’ foot hole. I plan to anchor it in the cement walkway so it doesn’t move around when you jump on it.