Adventures in refrigerator recycling

When the Fridge Collection Dude (hereafter FCD) called last night to say that he would like to pick up our refrigerator earlier than the time originally promised, I was delighted. I've been wanting to go out stalking that snowy owl again, which I can't do if I'm sitting around between 10 and 2 waiting for the FCD to show up and haul away my fridge. So I said sure, how early, and he said between 6:00 and 6:30.

.....a.m.

....on a Saturday.

....that also happens to be (1) the day after the end of an exhausting semester and (2) my birthday. 

But sure, I said, we get up early, go ahead and try to find my driveway in the pre-dawn darkness, and if you have trouble, give us a call, except that you'll have to backtrack a mile or two to find any cell-phone reception.

So this morning we got up early enough to clear the last few things out of the fridge and prepare for a week of fridgeless living, and we were dressed, fed, and ready to answer the phone when it rang around 6. I expected to hear the voice of the FCD explaining that he couldn't find my driveway, but no: this was an entirely different FCD, who explained that last night's FCD got called away for a sudden family emergency and had to dump his work on this new FCD, who sounded as if he'd just crawled out of bed himself and was clearly in no position to pick up our refrigerator at 6 a.m., so he'd come by later, between 9 and 1.

Well what could I say? I'm not going to physically haul this FCD out of bed and drag him out here to pick up our fridge, so instead I guess I'll sit around enjoying the morning. One of the advantages of cleaning out the fridge is that you sometimes find things you'd forgotten about, which explains the pawpaw smoothie I enjoyed for my birthday breakfast. The sun is starting to illuminate a frosty world outside, and the dog is bumbling about wearing the Cone of Shame--she had a skin growth surgically removed yesterday but seems to be recovering just fine. I have a pot of hot tea, an unread magazine, and a clear view of the birdfeeders out front, and if I get tired of all that excitement, I can always grade some papers. What more could I possibly want?

(Besides, of course, the absence of refrigerator.)