May 2004

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One of the things I'm rather fond of in my kitchen is the electric can opener. It's a plain, ordinary can opener, which I've had since 1975. It works well, and is easy to clean. Can't ask for much more than that.

Except there was the one year, which I've done the math on and realized was eleven years ago, when the thing decided to quit working. I did the minimal troubleshooting that I knew to do on such: I made sure it was put together correctly and was plugged into a working outlet. When neither of those were the culprit, I was stymied.

My friend Ronnie, aka Donna's husband and Candace's father, is good at such things as repair of recalcitrant can openers, so I asked him if he'd take a look at mine and see if there was any fixing he could do. He said he'd be happy to do that, so the next time I went home to Dallas I took the can opener with me.

Donna came by my mother's home while I was there, and when she was ready to leave, we put the can opener in the trunk of her car. Turns out it stayed there for a few extra days, because the car had to go into the shop for something or other. This wasn't a problem for me; I was home and using Mother's can opener.

Car and by now quite well traveled can opener got back to Ronnie and Donna's house. Ronnie took the can opener into his workshop, and decided to plug it in to see if it made any noise when he tried to use it. For whatever reason, the can opener decided to come back to life, there on his workbench. It made its regular, "Hi there! I'm a can opener, running, but without a can to open!" whir.

Ronnie went in their kitchen and got a can to try. Sure enough, the can opener worked. And worked again. At which point, Ronnie called me and said he thought he had discovered a new way to fix broken appliances---take them for nice, long rides in the trunks of cars. I thanked him for being willing to do the work for me, and congratulated him on the discovery!

The can opener is back in my kitchen, running like a champion every time I need it. I figure in another five years or so I'll put it in the trunk and take it to ride.

Preventative maintenance.