Coffee pot died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure. The note on the desk  says: Your Coffee pot passed away. Funeral tomorrow. Deep sympathy. Which leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday.  Bonus points if you  know  where that sloppy copy of a  literary  classic is from.

The machine above, a Windmere, served me very well over these past 4 or 5 years. It was as simple as a coffee pot can be. But at some point last week it started to…. malfunction. Put water in the back and it would come out the bottom. As seen here, 10 cups of water are held in that tray.

Any person planning to brew coffee in their home or office, especially in a drip brew coffee machine, please note the white tray under the machine. That  tray  has saved more electronics, gadgets, and spills than I care to count. If you run a coffee pot and plan on leaving it unattended during brewing. Get a drip tray.

So the machine dumped core. 10 cups of water in, ten cups of water out. Not good. So I figured I could either spend the better part of a couple of hours trying to get inside to see if I could fix it. Or I could pull The General out of retirement. So the Windmere was stripped of his Comic Garfield Badge, as seen above and sent into the trash.

The General is the oldest Coffee Pot in our family. I think it might be older than me. My parents had this in the kitchen when I was growing up, and it Cannot Die. This is The Connor McCloud of coffee pots. A Highlander beheads rivals and consumes their power. It has had many carafes but still keeps going. So The General is Back, Mr Coffee makes, or at least made some mighty fine equipment. This machine is the SRX-50, be afraid… be very afraid.

Long Live the General