Switching off from daylight savings time recently reminded me of that famous old song about Grandfather’s Clock, a song which always used to – pardon the expression – tick me off.

… the one that goes…

My grandfather’s clock was too large for the shelf
So it stood ninety years on the floor.
It was taller by half than the old man himself
Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.

Remember it?

Here’s this faithful, hard-working clock ticking and tocking and chiming its heart out every day with no overtime pay or time off or fringe benefits, and what kind of honored place in nostalgia history does the songwriter give it? NONE. According to the song, the clock was a good-for-nothing quitter.

The grandfather in the song, on the other hand, was given a four-star featured role just for winding the clock once a week. What kind of an achievement is THAT? Anybody old enough to remember how to wind a clock, can wind a clock, can’t they? It doesn’t take any special dancing ability. But ask yourself – does the old guy know how to endlessly TICK? Or TOCK?

At least the granddaddy recognizes his own minor role in the clock’s story, even if the songwriter didn’t:

“My grandfather said that of those he could hire
Not a servant so faithful he found
For it wasted no time and had but one desire
At the close of each week to be wound.

And it kept in its place, not a frown on its face
And its hands never hung by its side
But it stopped short, never to go again
When the old man died.”

Now ask yourself: why would the clock – an obvious over-achiever if there ever was one – suddenly decide to just quit. Just because the old guy kicked the bucket and the warranty ran out? Are we supposed to believe that for one minute?

Or is this the more likely scenario? The numbskulls left in the room couldn’t figure out how to wind the clock, or how to locate and change the clock’s battery, or they didn’t know where to find the user manual, or they got tired of holding for Technical Support, or they found out that it needs a new Part that will cost more than buying a whole new clock. What a sorry demise for that heroic ninety year-old clock.

At least, that’s what I USED to think, but I’ve lately had to revise my thinking a bit.

For one thing, clocks may be becoming obsolete now. Show me an iphone user and I’ll show you a person who disdains the use of clocks and wrist watches. And flashlights. And cameras. And checkbooks, postal service, cookbooks, the Encyclopedia Britannica, Wordplay dictionary for crossword puzzle answers, newspapers, and whatever-else-you-could-possibly-need-or-want-to-know.

This is a very sensitive subject for me today. For a very good reason. Out in my garage at this moment is what may be the world’s most faithful appliance. And I never even purchased it. It was here in the house when we bought it in 1972, and it’s been my good friend ever since. (As mentioned previously, my social life is really pathetic.) The house was built in 1969 and the appliance was first installed in 1970 which would be 50 years ago.

In the 1950s or 60s when it was born, appliances were designed to be a permanent investment which – like the grandfather’s clock – was supposed to endure, at the very least, for the lifetime of the owner. And maybe beyond. (Of course, in those olden days the owners weren’t expected to have such a long shelf life themselves.)

Since its previous owners installed it, this elderly freezer, a Sears upright Coldspot Freezer Model 106-6222172 has never had any maintenance, except for manual defrosting every year or two, and except for the occasional power outage in Seattle, IT HAS NEVER STOPPED RUNNING. Ever. Not even once.

But a few weeks ago, something ominous started happening inside. All kinds of hoary frost started forming in the upper section. The user manual (yes, it still has one with the print date of November, 1957) says that it needs a “new gasket seal”. And indeed, the internet – that fountain of all wisdom – tells me that this condition can happen when warm air is getting in and that it likely means the freezer needs a new “door gasket seal” Part No. 576662, now listed as “No longer available”. If they were, the freezer would no doubt be able to keep freezing mountains of food for another 50 years.

So here’s my sad dilemma: the freezer is still operating under the illusion that it is functioning perfectly, and indeed everything in there seems nicely frozen even though it’s kind of entombed in a frosty Arctic landscape. If I call Sears Appliance Repair department, I know I’ll have to submit to the $169 “diagnostic fee” just to have them come out to tell me that they’re not in the antique business and they don’t have any parts to fix it. But the alternative is to face putting to death such an amazing old trooper, still out there in the garage valiantly working its heart out. Possibly, it’s just trying to hang in there till I make it to my 90th birthday, a goal which I would, of course, normally otherwise heartily endorse.

Now you can see why I changed my mind about the clock quitting? Whenever I go out in the garage these days, I keep hoping the freezer – just like the clock – will have the mercy to just…”Stop short, never to go again”.

It would make pulling the plug so much easier.