Shakedown Cruise

According to Wikipedia, a shakedown cruise is a nautical term in which the performance of a ship is tested. Shakedown cruises are also used to familiarize the ship's crew with operation of the craft. In our case, it is the latter definition that is appropriate. Not only do we have the house itself to take on the “Cruise” we also have all of the new appliances. 

Randy has been lusting after the soaking tub since it was installed a few weeks ago. Saturday he finally took “The Plunge” and filled it full of water in preparation for a long bath, or at least attempted to. All that came out of the tap was lukewarm water. He even turned up the setting on the hot water heater to no avail. Finally Georgia asked “Have you used the other tap?” He had, but not for long enough. One shakedown cruise moment accounted for. 

We had ordered the fridge thinking it was the same size and model as we had in Grants Pass. We were wrong on both counts. It is one size smaller and is missing some features as well. The size does not matter that much to us, but the deli-tray option will be missed.  The larger model that we had really wanted isn’t manufactured any more. (For information about what we purchased, see http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SpecPage&Sku=PFSF2MJYWW)

The dishwasher has been taken some getting used to. Georgia is still working out the proper procedures to load and run the dishwasher for the best cleaning. (See http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SpecPage&Sku=PDW7800RWW). It is quiet when operating which was why we got it.

The washer and dryer are manufactured by LG rather than the Maytag units that we have had in the past. Maytag is really no more, having been bought by Whirlpool. Maytag was also not rated as highly by Consumer Reports, though LG was. We bought ours through Home Depot. Randy swears that the washing machine and dryer have an mp3 player function in addition to the normal features. The machines play a little ditty when they turn on, and another one when the cycle starts. While they are not this year’s model, they seem to work well. They even have a true steam function. (See http://www.homedepot.com/Appliances-Laundry-Front-Load-Washers/LG-Electronics/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xhcZb9bzZ21jZ1z136dn/R-202017156/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053 and http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=202017158).

Garbage pickup is twice a week (Tuesday and Friday) here in Yuma. It gets pretty fragrant with just once a week pickup. It also got a larger can than we had in Grants Pass, but no recycling. 

Light switches are another item on the list. It does not help that some are present to control fans that we do not have and will not have. Some also control lamp outlets that we do not have in place. We also had one light that would not turn on no matter what switch we used. We had it checked and it was a burned out bulb!