The Hideous FREEZER Adventure.
Jul. 11th, 2007 04:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chochiyo_samaI have been wanting to clean out my freezer for a long time because most of the food in there is OLD and freezer burnt. Finally, the golden opportunity came on Tuesday. My friend Theresa from New Jersey and I walk every morning and talk on the cell phone while we walk. (She walks in New Jersey, I walk in Minnesota, you see.)
It has been godawful hot in New Jersey for a few days, and we walked extra early so she could escape the heat. Tuesday is garbage pick up day, so I decided that it was an idea time to clean out that freezer. If I did it the day before, the stuff would thaw and get water and juice all over the porch--and I couldn't let it sit outside because animals would get into it. So, this way, I could sack it up and haul it to the curb right before the garbage truck came--it would stay frozen, and animals would not have much time to discover and devour it.
So, all full of joy and motivation, I moved the stuff blocking the porch door, and opened the freezer door.
Horror of horrors, I discovered my freezer had broken down. Apparently some time ago. Everything was thawed out and
The stench was unbelievable. It was so horrible that it burned my eyes and my throat. The smell got into my hair. Cleaning that mess up was the worst thing I have ever experienced in my life.
This is the door of the freezer before I cleaned it out.
There is the inside. In the upper right hand corner, you can see a checkbook box inside a ziplock bag. THAT is the entombed body of my poor little hamster who died in December about 12 years ago. i didn't want to put his little corpse in the trash. I put him in the freezer so I could bury him in the spring. I never thought of him in the non-frozen months. I only remembered him when I opened the freezer, which I very rarely did. So, there he stayed.
The nastiness of this freezer HAD to be documented. It would not be fair for ME to be the only one who had to see it. Unfortunately, I am not able to share the unbelievable STENCH of it with you. Gawd.
This is the door AFTER I threw all the rotten food into garbage bags (I tripled bagged it so that nasty crap didn't burst the bag and pollute any other part of house). The garbage man came and went before I could get the bags out to the curb, so I got into my car and CHASED HIM DOWN and BEGGED him to come back to my house and get this stuff. I explained the circumstances to him, and he stared at me without expression until I was finished. I thought he was going to turn me down, but...he said, "We can do that."
Chivalry is NOT dead. It drives a garbage truck. :)
This is the inside of the freezer after I scrubbed and scrubbed and SCRUBBED it with bleach cleaner and hot water.
And there is the bottom of the freezer after it was cleaned. Brother, I tell you, that was the NASTIEST job I have ever had to do.
It has been godawful hot in New Jersey for a few days, and we walked extra early so she could escape the heat. Tuesday is garbage pick up day, so I decided that it was an idea time to clean out that freezer. If I did it the day before, the stuff would thaw and get water and juice all over the porch--and I couldn't let it sit outside because animals would get into it. So, this way, I could sack it up and haul it to the curb right before the garbage truck came--it would stay frozen, and animals would not have much time to discover and devour it.
So, all full of joy and motivation, I moved the stuff blocking the porch door, and opened the freezer door.
Horror of horrors, I discovered my freezer had broken down. Apparently some time ago. Everything was thawed out and
The stench was unbelievable. It was so horrible that it burned my eyes and my throat. The smell got into my hair. Cleaning that mess up was the worst thing I have ever experienced in my life.
This is the door of the freezer before I cleaned it out.
There is the inside. In the upper right hand corner, you can see a checkbook box inside a ziplock bag. THAT is the entombed body of my poor little hamster who died in December about 12 years ago. i didn't want to put his little corpse in the trash. I put him in the freezer so I could bury him in the spring. I never thought of him in the non-frozen months. I only remembered him when I opened the freezer, which I very rarely did. So, there he stayed.
The nastiness of this freezer HAD to be documented. It would not be fair for ME to be the only one who had to see it. Unfortunately, I am not able to share the unbelievable STENCH of it with you. Gawd.
This is the door AFTER I threw all the rotten food into garbage bags (I tripled bagged it so that nasty crap didn't burst the bag and pollute any other part of house). The garbage man came and went before I could get the bags out to the curb, so I got into my car and CHASED HIM DOWN and BEGGED him to come back to my house and get this stuff. I explained the circumstances to him, and he stared at me without expression until I was finished. I thought he was going to turn me down, but...he said, "We can do that."
Chivalry is NOT dead. It drives a garbage truck. :)
This is the inside of the freezer after I scrubbed and scrubbed and SCRUBBED it with bleach cleaner and hot water.
And there is the bottom of the freezer after it was cleaned. Brother, I tell you, that was the NASTIEST job I have ever had to do.
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Date: 2007-07-11 11:03 pm (UTC)-Debra
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Date: 2007-07-12 02:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:57 am (UTC)Dirty Jobs.
Date: 2007-07-12 12:59 am (UTC)Now that the freezer is clean, what are you going to do with it? If it broke down and all of the contents spoiled, there's no sense in putting more in there. And it's probably not worth fixing either.
So...what to do?
My freezer is fine. Neither the freezer nor the refrigerator are that old. But I really need to go through my refrigerator. I'm sure there's yoghurt in there that has seen better years. I'm also sure there are a few science experiments in there which it would be hard to say if it's very old meat or old cheese.
I've taken out a home equity loan. (You will piss your pants to know what my house is worth.) That means I'll be pretty broke for the next 25 years. I also may have to move back my retirement. But....
I'm having Photovoltaic panels put on my roof. It will zero out my electricity bill. So that's money saved every month. It will pay for itself in ten years. Less if the rates keep going up. And I can easily add panels if for any reason my electrical useage increases. Like I get an electric on-demand water heater. Or an electric car.)
I'm also replacing my driveway with driveable grass. It's a checkerboard of little concrete blocks about the size of childrens building blocks on a flexible mesh. It allows dirt in between so you can plant green stuff. And you can drive on it. This is ideal as I'm sure, by the huge crack in the middle of my garage that matches the huge cracks in my driveway, that there is a small fault running through my property. This way no future cracks.
I'm in the process as I type of replacing my old kitchen door with a new 10 lite french door. It's on sawhorses right now waiting for another coat of paint. And I have enclosed miniblinds to hang over it when its finally hung. What a great invention. The miniblinds are sandwiched between glass with a frame around it so you never have to dust them. You can make them go up and down and angle them with levers.
I'm thinking if there is any money left I'll have the house painted. It's been 13 years and it's due. If not now I'll never have the money. Not for another 10-15 years.
I find for every $1 I spend on the house the return is at least $2, so I don't mind putting money into it.
And there is always the stuff that is just labor and time. Pulling weeds will keep me very busy. Plus all of the stuff that has to be carried up into the attic.
And....cleaning out my refrigerator.
(You walk early in the morning? You are a better man than I gunga din. I sleep as much as I possibly can. And still nod off in the afternoon.)
Re: Dirty Jobs.
Date: 2007-07-12 02:53 am (UTC)I love the concept of the enclosed miniblinds, since I HATE cleaning blinds.
My poor flowers are a mess, but I can't bring myself to deal with them when there is so much to deal with on the INSIDE of the house.
Worked on the kitchen today--pictures will no doubt be posted up (Before AND After), perhaps even tomorrow.
I think I could pour a million dollars into my house to no avail. No one wants to live in this shitty little town--Hell, *I* don't want to live here!!