Freezer Burn

During my recent visit, my father bragged about the kitchen appliances holding up after 26 years – “perfectly good shape, even though not very efficient” – and would not need replacing until after his death. Judging by the amount of meat carefully wrapped, hermetically sealed and labeled in their freezer (see picture), there is no need to shop for a decade. Well guess what. The refrigerator/freezer died last week. And he didn’t. In a burst of energy, Dad went door to door dividing up his stash with the neighbors for safekeeping. Then he convinced someone to take him to the nearest store to buy a new one – no comparison shopping, no coupons, no discussion with my mother. He found the dinged, dented, lowest cost model, had it delivered the next day and the old one hauled off.

My mother only realized something was amiss when she noticed how clean the refrigerator was and that it seemed organized. She also noticed it was white – the old one was beige – since my Dad is color blind, it never occurred to him that color would matter. Well, hey, it does match the tiled counter, which in theory is white but no one knows for sure because of all the debris piled on top.

I wonder if all those crusty packets of ketchup and mustard made it to the new vegetable bin. I’m guessing that they survived and will be there at my next visit. I’ll be sure to check.