Not sure why I have been chosen to visit relatives when their freezer decides to go into melt down mode, but it has now happened twice in less than six months. On a recent stay with my folks, the freezer door to the big upright in the basement somehow was not shut all the way and things inside melted. We discovered it when we went to get something out for dinner. Well, we could have fed all the homeless people in town with what had defrosted in there. The freezer was chock full of food including a lot of meat stored on the topmost shelf which dripped blood down onto everything belowand looking like a scene from a horror movie. Yuck.
Unfortunately, unlike the last meltdown I experienced, most of this food could not be saved. I wondered how this managed to happen to me twice as we grabbed trash bags and dragged liquid ice cream, bloody meat, thawed frozen veges and all sorts of other things out of the freezer to be thrown out. Things we thought we could save went into a myriad of coolers retrieved from the attic. My dad has a collection up there along with a collection of other stuff he has hoarded and stuffed up there. What a giant mess! There were at least 10 bags of really yucky food stuff lying on the floor and leaking before we were through. As the thought of dragging leaking bags of melting food through the house was rather unappealing I took them out the back door and dumped them in the wheel barrow for future disposal.
We had to remove everything from the freezer including all the shelves and wash, dry and reinstall it all. Then we had to wipe down and dry anything we were saving and put it back. Then clean the floor where the bags had leaked and then clean the coolers and wipe all the blood out of them. I have now cleaned up enough blood to qualify for a job with CSI. After five hours of this we finished up and had to get rid of the food.
Oh, did I mention that my folks live in a townhouse? Getting trash out is a task as it has to be dragged from the back of the house, around the corner and up a steep hill to the front of the house. I had a wheel barrow filled with bags and bags of icky food. A really heavy wheel barrow. With great amount of effort, I managed to trudge and shove it up the hill without turning it over (which it kept trying to do) and get it to the car. Yes, I had to put it in the car because a) there is only one trash can and it wouldn't all fit and, b) trash day was almost a week away. Fortunately my dad has a van so I loaded all the bags into it. Unfortunately, there was no place in his development to get rid of it. I had to drive around looking for a dumpster to dispose of the bags. I know, you are not supposed to use other people's dumpsters, but really, what was I going to do? I couldn't hang onto those bags for a week--ewwwwww. So I found a nearby office park --it was after 5:00 and I knew everyone would be gone--and used their dumpster. Please don't call the police on me!
And, finally, I had to clean the inside of the van where the bags had leaked in there! Whew! What a day!
In the future, if I am going to come and visit, please be sure your freezer is working correctly and that the door stays shut. I don't mind helping out, really I don't, but I've about had it with the melt downs.
Unfortunately, unlike the last meltdown I experienced, most of this food could not be saved. I wondered how this managed to happen to me twice as we grabbed trash bags and dragged liquid ice cream, bloody meat, thawed frozen veges and all sorts of other things out of the freezer to be thrown out. Things we thought we could save went into a myriad of coolers retrieved from the attic. My dad has a collection up there along with a collection of other stuff he has hoarded and stuffed up there. What a giant mess! There were at least 10 bags of really yucky food stuff lying on the floor and leaking before we were through. As the thought of dragging leaking bags of melting food through the house was rather unappealing I took them out the back door and dumped them in the wheel barrow for future disposal.
We had to remove everything from the freezer including all the shelves and wash, dry and reinstall it all. Then we had to wipe down and dry anything we were saving and put it back. Then clean the floor where the bags had leaked and then clean the coolers and wipe all the blood out of them. I have now cleaned up enough blood to qualify for a job with CSI. After five hours of this we finished up and had to get rid of the food.
Oh, did I mention that my folks live in a townhouse? Getting trash out is a task as it has to be dragged from the back of the house, around the corner and up a steep hill to the front of the house. I had a wheel barrow filled with bags and bags of icky food. A really heavy wheel barrow. With great amount of effort, I managed to trudge and shove it up the hill without turning it over (which it kept trying to do) and get it to the car. Yes, I had to put it in the car because a) there is only one trash can and it wouldn't all fit and, b) trash day was almost a week away. Fortunately my dad has a van so I loaded all the bags into it. Unfortunately, there was no place in his development to get rid of it. I had to drive around looking for a dumpster to dispose of the bags. I know, you are not supposed to use other people's dumpsters, but really, what was I going to do? I couldn't hang onto those bags for a week--ewwwwww. So I found a nearby office park --it was after 5:00 and I knew everyone would be gone--and used their dumpster. Please don't call the police on me!
And, finally, I had to clean the inside of the van where the bags had leaked in there! Whew! What a day!
In the future, if I am going to come and visit, please be sure your freezer is working correctly and that the door stays shut. I don't mind helping out, really I don't, but I've about had it with the melt downs.
