I have an Excelsior Food Dehydrator. In fact, it’s in my workshop now, drying pears from the little orchard in our backyard. I was told it was the Cadillac of food dehydrators by my wife when she brought it home from a yard sale two years ago for the amazing price of $5. It just needed a little work was all… Hmm, was this Lydia project now going to become a Brian project? But we set to work: Lydia replaced the plastic drying screens with stainless steel ones, and I rebuilt the interior of the drying box. The end result was, in a nutshell, fantastic! I’ve used it for drying all manner of fruits and vegetables, taking the bounty on backpacking trips in the Sierras and as work snacks to sustain me when underneath kitchen sinks and replacing toilets. (I’m a plumber.)
I like to fix things. I take it as a personal challenge to see if I can revive a tired vacuum cleaner or non-functioning kitchen appliance. I’ve come to believe that life remains in so many things that I own that have a problem functioning and seem ready to be discarded. Now, this is not to say that I’m always successful in my undertakings – recently I had my 20-year-old non-functioning Bosch dishwasher on its side and disassembled in my kitchen, twice! I ultimately had to replace it. That being said, I have such a feeling of satisfaction in reviving for at least another day some well-loved gadget that will now serve me just a little bit longer.
If you’ve been by Greenspace anytime in the last four months, you will have noticed that things are a wee bit torn up on the exterior of the entire complex. Thank you for your patience! The building owners are doing the same thing with their building that I do at my house – breathing new life into the location and tying it into the Delaware Addition development they own directly behind us. I believe they are on the home stretch with the project and when complete in the next month or so, it will be amazing! Lighted crosswalk islands allowing safe pedestrian crossing to all the great shops across Swift Street from us – Kelly’s Bakery, Santa Cruz Yoga, West End Tap Room, and perhaps a new corner cafe – need I go on? So once again, a big thank you to all of you who support and believe in Greenspace and return time and time again to see what new life you too can breathe into your homes.
- Brian Corser