I have been wanting a used refrigerator that I can convert into a fermentation chamber that would allow me to brew beers other than ales. Ales are great, but I want to expand.
A controlled environment would allow me the option to brew lagers, bocks, and especially doppelbocks. Most of these styles need to ferment below 40* for months. So I have been trolling CL for a while now trying to find one cheap.
Last week I found one on Craigslist posted for $20. I asked Dad if we could swing over to Knoxville to get it. He was agreeable to it, so I called about it. Never got an answer and later noticed that the post had been removed so it must've been sold before I could call.
Earlier this week, I found a refrigerator for $50. This was a monster --17 c.f.!!
I asked Dad for a favor requesting if he could loan me the cash until our income tax return arrives next week sometime. He said he would. WOOT!
My head is all a-swirl (is that a word?) now with the possibilities of being able to brew more beer styles and I am looking up doppelbock recipes and really getting pretty stoked! Yesterday, I called the guy to tell him we were headed out and all of a sudden Dad does an about-face.
He says 'I don't think there will be room'. I showed him where I planned to put it and let him know that would be a non-issue.
He then says 'I don't want to pay the extra electricity'. Granted the utility bill has been large this winter, but again, I am ready with an answer. Melissa is now gainfully employed and would be able to once again contribute to the bills.
He then goes on with 'Isn't there anything closer?' Sure but not at THAT price! I have been looking for months. This is only an hour and a half ride away. In Florida he would drive that far just to go eat.
Besides that, he has been wanting to setup a salt water fish tank in his bedroom. There is a little unit called a biocube he is very interested in. A new one was way more than he cared to spend, so I told him I would search CL for him.
I found one last week in Spartanburg, SC that is about TWO and a half hours away. He was all over it! That distance a ride was no problem! I contacted the guy and never got an answer. This involved two hours more ride time than the distance to get than the refrigerator I was wanting.
Anyway, I wound up having to call the guy back with the refrigerator and apologize for "leading him on". It made me look like an ass, because Dad was being a jackass!!
There are days I sit here and wish he wasn't 'my problem' anymore. No, I don't mean that, but sometimes he pushes the envelope. I hate that it comes to that sometimes but he really has made an art of pissing people off.
I honestly believe he spent the 24 hours from agreement to the time it was to leave to pick it up trying to come up with reasons/excuses NOT to go. He could've avoided the whole thing if he had said "no" when it was first mentioned last week. At least then I wouldn't have gotten excited about it just to hear that he changed his mind.
I guess I made the mistake of letting him know this was important to me. It could've been free, in excellent shape, and at the neighbor's house, and I bet he would've rejected it.
Sure it's his house, and I respect his wishes, but damn it, I live here too. I don't ask for payment or an "allowance" or anything for tending to his needs. In fact, I rarely ask for anything.
The slight increase in the bill due to another refrigerator (especially one equipped with a temperature regulator set above normal temps so it wouldn't be running all the time) is *much* less than what he would be paying if he were confined to a nursing home situation or had to pay for a full time live-in caregiver.
Again, I don't think it was so much about extra money on electric as it was just to deny me for some reason. We have had arguments in the past where he claimed he would "get even". I guess this was one of those backlashes? Who knows?
And I wonder where my immaturity stems from.
1 comment:
ugh. sorry buddy.
be patient... this will all sort itself out.
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