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Malcolm--  I don't grill steaks often, but have had great luck with rib eyes from Sam's Club.  Sounds like Costco has a good meat counter, too.

 

Sandy-- You are so right about the meat counter at Fareway Foods.  There's one in Worthington, MN, which isn't far from me and the quality of the meat is great.  Unfortunately,  Fareways aren't open on Sunday, which is often when I'm in Worthington.
 
I recently had a look at a Kenmore (Whirlpool DD) washer that had apparently made a noise similar to an explosion, some smoke and didn't spin after that. When I tested it, I manually advanced the timer to spin and it did spin slowly. Then I saw some smoke coming out of the capacitor.  It was just a few years old and I noticed some of the windings on the motor had darkened but a replacement capacitor was cheap and I thought it might be OK if I'd just replace it.

So after I replaced the capacitor, I started the washer, let it agitate and when it started to spin, there was another loud bang and smoke from the new capacitor! Then I noticed the timer knob had not advanced from the position I left it in when it was filling for the wash. I didn't understand how the timer knob stayed stuck in "wash" and the washer had started to spin but I figured it had to be related to the problem!  The owner didn't want to spend more than 10 bucks on that washer so I didn't investigate further!
 
You are not hallucinating

"I thought Wards washers were made by Norge"

Wards sold Westinghouse and Norge concurrently for a long time; the Signature 15 was the Westinghouse design and the Signature 18/20 was the Norge. Here's a pic that shows both on the same sales floor, from the excellent Pleasant Family Shopping blog. You can see the Westies hanging off in the far background; I think the foreground is Norge-o-rama, and of course, the Her Royal Pain set are elevated on the platform. :-)

"I had a severe case of Frigidaire envy for 15 years."

Me too, Eugene! I've only had the Envy for 9 years, though, because my first pulsator Frigidaire encountered was on the homepage of this site. :-) I never knew such a thing existed.

"I fooled around with the overload protector at the rear of the machine"

You know, Paul, that's a danged good idea. I had checked to be sure it had not popped, but maybe it has something to do with it? Then again, I tried a test cord on the motor, and nothing. I'll come back to it with a fresh view and see.

"Maybe there's a sheet stuck in the dishwasher too..."

Would it be a whole lot different than the action on those Hitachi GE portables? ;-) Just think, with the dual-fill dispensers, you've got room for detergent and softener. It's almost a Dispensomat!

"There are some nice DD Kenmores on Craigslist. :-) "

LOL!!! So true, and that might be the footnote of it all someday...

"smoke coming out of the capacitor"

Phil, that is odd. Kind of the "fool me twice" phenomenon. I wonder what the deal with that was? Sounds like an electrical issue elsewhere. I first thought about the capacitor on this machine, but was intrigued that it was able to spin with no issue. Now we know why, I guess...

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And we were a Montgomery Ward family: Coldspot refrigerator, Signature washer & dryer, Airline television set, PowrKraft (?) tools. Loved how Wards copied Sears "Sears Best" with "Wards Finest' on certain appliances. BTW, I have the exact same model washer that's featured in the front of the photo above.
 
Ward's Refrigerators

You'd think I'd be an authority on all things Ward, but we only owned one of their refrigerators briefly and my mom bought it used from a co-worker (at the time they both worked at Ward's, of course).  It was a noisy '65 frost free, top freezer, single control Frigidaire re-badge that offered two scenarios:  Optimum fresh food temperature and soft ice cream, or firm ice cream and firm fresh food.  As with virtually any contraption Ward's sold, it was an epic FAIL.

 

I think the refrigerators may have been Signature, but the freezers were Tru-Cold.   It's possible both were badged Tru-Cold, either part of the time or until, mercifully, Ward's folded.
 
My first 'real' job was TV repairman for Montgomery Ward at their 7th Street store in Fort Worth, maybe 5 miles from where I sit now. We/they took products and customers seriously. Whatever the absolute value of what they sold in 1966, try to find that 'serious' commitment in retailing today.
 
Tru-Cold

I don't know who sourced refrigeration for them; I think we've seen some Frigidaire and possibly some Norge refrigeration? They seemed to have a more diverse source of white-good suppliers over the years, and yes, I would wager that made life much more difficult for Wards, compared to Sears, who was pretty much sourcing only Whirlpool and/or D&M. Imagine the mix once WCI shifted to the Franklin platform, making three possible designs for the Signature top-loaders.

There was a Tru-Cold top-freezer fridge here in Phoenix that was very handsome, and Ralph and I both thought it was nice, although Ralph had to excuse himself due to shaking and cold sweats after viewing the ad. :-)

I didn't know until that point that they badged Tru-Cold on fridge combos. Buying appliances at Montgomery Ward must have been confusing as hell.
 
Who made Wards Airline series of televisions? I always wondered about that.

My parents loved Sears. I don't think they ever shopped at Wards at all. Well, when I was in college my mother bought me some dress shirts from Wards. They were OK.
Even though my parents bought a lot of stuff from Sears. The kitchen was either Kenmore or Coldspot the laundry equipment always came from Polk Bros. Frigidaire or GE.
 
Airline and Tru-Cold

Ah yes Nate, I remember that Tru-Cold top freezer in Phoenix.  If it were nearer me and I didn't already have the Combination, I'd have overcome my PTSD (thanks Drew!) for that one.  The '61 Tru-Cold freezer in the basement has never been out of operation except to defrost -- and you know how infrequently I do that . . .  which is why I qualified my statement above with "virtually" regarding Ward's products.

 

Allen, I think Airline was a rebadge of a fairly reputable manufacturer, but I can't think of who it was.  A Ward's anomaly to be sure.

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So the old memory doesn't serve me like it used to...yes, Tru-Cold was the refrigerator/freezer line. Ours had the freezer on the bottom with foot-pedal opener, middle meat drawer, and fridge on top. My Mom worked at Wards back in the early 50s; she says Magnavox was the manufacturer of the TVs then...
 
I think maybe when Ward's switched from Westinghouse to Frigidaire, they also switched from Tru-Cold to Signature.
 

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