A New Refrigerator Today, and Thoughts On Grocery Expansions

The new refrigerator will be delivered today between 8:00 and 10:00. Of course, we can't just plug it in, load it up, and let it be. No ... the new fridge will take 24 hours to get to appropriate temperatures, so we have to pull all of the frozen food out of the (still functional) freezer of the old fridge, and store it for 24 hours without having it melt. Another challenge, but we will prevail. 

It's going to be lovely to have a new, 
functional refrigerator in place 
when I get home from work today. 

To win this challenge, I went on a major hunt for dry ice late yesterday afternoon after ending my weekly chat with Aearwen. Although the website for WalMart had stated they had dry ice, when I went there, I discovered they actually do not. That left me with D&L and Kowalski's, neither of which were as convenient (although at that point, convenience was very secondary). I went home, grabbed an empty cooler from our storage shed, and set out to buy 4-6 blocks of dry ice. 

Dry ice blocks are usually 10"x10"x2" and can be scored 
and broken against an angled surface with relative ease. 
Gloves MUST be worn to work with them, they're much 
colder than "wet" ice. We used to get dry ice all the time 
when we brought coolers of food out to the Reservation 
for various Ceremonies. We're pretty used to it. But the 
place we used to purchase from is no longer there, so I had 
to hunt for a new source (and prices have tripled!). 

D&L also turned out to be a disappointment. Yes, they had dry ice, but most of it was semi-melted, they didn't have the amount I wanted, and the guy behind the counter was less than helpful. I texted DH that I was heading over to Kowalski's - an upscale supermarket on Grand Avenue, quite a few miles south of home. But they, at least, had the ice, it was in great condition, and I bought four blocks. They re-open at 6:00 am, so if I need another block or two, I can still take a quick dash down there and get them before I have to run off to work. 

I love shopping at Kowalski's. They are a local chain of stores 
which feature fresh natural foods and a lot of quirky 
smaller brands. They've been expanding rapidly in the area 
and will be building a new location at the large mall 
near my home later this year. It'll be good competition 
for my local grocer, but I'll probably shop both places. 

I think we'll be OK with four blocks. At least I hope so. I might still need to buy one more 18 lb bag of regular ice before I leave for work in a little over an hour. So we'll see. DH couldn't sleep, he's been up since 2:45 am, and he'll take his morning shower and start working with the various coolers scattered in my kitchen soon. I should have a "schedule" within an hour or so. 

Huge mega-malls have been fading and more all-purpose 
malls and outliers have been taking their place. My local 
mall, Rosedale Mall, has been weathering the change well. 
Kowalski's will be building along the south side where 
a large, vacant tenant space was just demolished. The 
grocery store will be accompanied by apartments and 
other pods along the exterior boundaries of the old mall 
parking lots. Exciting times for the mall, for sure! 

It'll be lovely to come home to a new refrigerator. Now if I could get any kind of schedule for my oven replacement ... but things come in their own time. I really can't be too impatient. Here's hoping you have a wonderful day. I'll be back tomorrow.