Colby and Thimble Help With the New Microwave

My microwave, original to the house, started making popcorn noises whenever I ran it at full power for more than five minutes. After some half-hearted searching on the internet, I discovered accidentally while reading an article for something else that noises like popcorn popping when there isn't any in your microwave mean that your microwave is slowly dying.

It finally occurred to me that instead of viewing this as annoying, I should be grateful, because at least I didn't put my supper in to warm and have the microwave just quit on me, leaving me with a cold supper and a dead microwave.

My microwave is a "countertop" microwave but it's on a shelf above the counter, so I was space-limited. Finally I found one that sort of kind of matched the old one in size and also in the way it worked with the buttons on the front. I've encountered microwaves that are exactly the opposite of what I'm used to, and it's difficult. With mine, you put in the time and then, if you want to change the power, you put in the power. Some do it the other way around, and once you get used to one way, you generally screw it up constantly if you switch. Sure I'd get used to it eventually, but I didn't want the hassle.

So my microwave arrived on a Monday night, and I was so tired from work and everything else (been fighting off a cold or having severe allergies, not sure which) that I didn't unpack it until Saturday, last Saturday the 7th.

And I got helped! It's been a long time since I had a cat to help me when I did things like that. Colby and Thimble both gathered around and had great fun interacting with all the stuff.

At one point I was cleaning out the inside of the old one while it was on the floor, in case I wanted to donate it (it still warmed up food, after all; you just couldn't cook with it). I had kittens trying to get inside of it. I did not take pictures of that, since I'd probably get hate-mail from people taking it out of context! But it was fun to have to keep sweeping persistent pushy fur out of the way so I could wipe the microwave down.

Colby's sitting on the old microwave,
contemplating jumping in the box the new
one came out of.

Thimble sitting on the tray from the old
microwave, investigating the smell.

He actually sat there for some time.
It was like a cat trap!

No cats (obviously) just the completed installation.
I'm proud of this because things like this are
difficult for me to do. And it was heavy to lift up there!

In the end I decided not to donate the old microwave. I put it in the box the new one came in ... and now the box is a permanent part of the kitchen because the cardboard flaps on the top are chew toys. They sit on one side and chomp at the other side. As teething season is rapidly approaching, I want them to have as many allowable chew toys as possible!

Oh, are you wondering where Apricot is during all this? He came to the kitchen door opening, observed the general chaos, and retreated to a safe calm spot in the living room, where he stayed the whole time.