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Spring improvements to the Farm House here at Posey Lake ran hot and cold, serving as reminders that old habits die hard.

Why did I wait so many years for a new stove? Will I learn my lesson with the refrigerator? The new appliances are white, which nowadays is called bisque. They are so wonderful I could hug them. Apparently Depression babies believe that any investment over $50 should be kept for a lifetime, but I finally gave in and chose the major kitchen furnishings as my annual upgrades to the old house.

A friend asked if I really needed them. The stove, with an attached microwave, was at least 35 years old. I bought it secondhand. It was operating on two burners and had a large hole in the oven door that burst the last time I tried the self-cleaning buttons. Still, the old girl's two burners, the broken oven, and the microwave worked fine. But when people said, "And you used to be a food editor," embarrassment finally hit.

Funny how you think old things work fine until the new ones arrive. The new stove is gas, and sure enough it cooks more quickly than electric. It reminds me of when my mother finally gave up the kerosene cook stove and could afford to buy a used gas stove. There was a great celebration in the rooming house, and our tenants gathered in the kitchen when mother pulled out her first pie.

I haven't done the pie thing yet, but I have done a lot of toast in the broiler. Though I have a toaster collection, I toast bread and tortillas in the broiler because it is dry and cracker-crisp. Jim, a neighbor who sells garden produce, has a sign out for rhubarb and asparagus, homegrown choices that dictate rhubarb pie and asparagus soup this weekend to initiate the burners and oven.

Excitement is so high I am shopping for a new tea kettle. Even if you never use it, every stove should have one. New pot holders stashed in the linen closet have been pulled out, and the plan is to toss out the old ones. Maybe. Unless they catch fire, do pot holders ever wear out?

The new microwave, expertly attached to the top cupboards by Mr. Ed, proves there have been advancements in the fast-cooking appliance. Push the cooking time button and it is off and running, and it rings a bell when the job is completed. Wow! So this is the new world of cooking. It's OK, even though I did shed a tear when the old stove was hauled away.

If you want to know how much food you over-bought, how many leftovers you kept too long, or even what the leftovers are, change refrigerators. It's an open book to your extravagance and hoarding.

In addition to juices, butter, candy, cookies, a turkey breast, bacon, beef chuck roast, chicken, more chicken, and a third package of chicken, shrimp, and last summer's beef barbecue there were a few mystery packages in my freezer. Cooked chicken was in two containers, chicken broth in another, and chicken and noodles in another mystery bag.

As for leftovers, that's when the Depression baby cries for help. Why do we save pizza when we don't even like it, hot and fresh? I have vowed the new refrigerator will remain neat, with everything in view so that I don't have to get down on my hands and knees and search for the sour cream or the head of lettuce that rolled to the back.

Dealing with the three-day window from the time the Salvation Army picked up the old refrigerator until the new one was delivered was challenging. During the interim the following items had to be kept cold: chili sauce, three mustards, six cheeses, flaxseed oil, three styles of olives, maraschino cherries, garlic, lemon, basil oils, pesto sauce, barbecue sauces, syrups, yogurts, lemon curd, greens, grapes, and eight packages of nuts.

The more foods that were packed in ice in coolers, the more I remembered the good old days back home. We not only had a kerosene stove, but iceboxes. Ours held 50 pounds of ice; the tenants only got 25-pound-capacity boxes. Emptying the trip pan was my chore.

No, I couldn't get all the frozen foods in the coolers. Did I tell you I have a second refrigerator/ freezer in the basement? That brings up a question: Are we spoiled or extravagant?

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