Coffee Maker Fails

When we got up this morning, our new Melitta coffee maker had just died. It was plugged in, but the display was dark, and it wouldn't brew coffee. Darn! I improvised by boiling water in the teapot and pouring it over the grounds, so we did have our morning coffee anyhow.

Then I looked up the warranty, only to find out that the purchaser is responsible for shipping the coffee maker back to Hamilton Beach and then for shipping the repaired/replaced item back. Even though we paid $70 for this appliance, it would hardly be worth our while to pay to ship it back--probably $40 anyhow, plus I just recently recycled the packaging (wouldn't you know?).

Meanwhile, I plugged the pot back in, just to see what would happen. Nothing. I forgot to unplug it, and after a bit I heard a strange buzzing noise. It was the coffee maker. The display was still not lit. I immediately unplugged it. After a bit I plugged it in again. Voila! The display came back, and it seems to be in working order again, but I'm afraid to trust it, so I'll only plug it in to make coffee.

Actually, that's what Hamilton Beach recommends in its safety information. Not ideal for a "programmable" coffee maker, but we'll see.

It was definitely chilly today, so we bundled up for our walks. We stopped to talk with Bruce about Terro ant bait, which he had recommended after reading our litany of woes about our ant invasion. He gave us an intriguing little item that contains Terro liquid ant killer, a "bait station" that draws the pests to ingest the poison, which is actually borax, and take it back to their colony. Bye bye ants! We'll try it out the next time we see any of the little buggers.

Then we stopped to talk with Rebecca and Will, who recently purchased a used New Horizons Summit model. We wanted to get some tips from them, and of course we were eager to see their rig. It's a 2006 model, but looks almost new. The previous owners traveled only in the summer, and of course New Horizons units are all well made of quality materials. We can't wait to see ours.

We got an update on progress from Marty yesterday. It's exciting to hear the blow-by-blow.

The guys have been really busy with your coach this week. Furnaces were going in today when I went out to look at it. One wall is up and the other side wall should be placed by the end of today. Shower is in and frames for cabinets in the bathroom. The roof will go on probably early next week and then the front end cap will be placed after that.

Tomorrow we're planning to go see Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol with our friends--at the discount theater, of course. The movie gets really positive critical reviews and viewer ratings. Besides, Mission Impossible is one of the shows I watched as a teen, so I'm really looking forward to this update.