One week ago today I came home from the grocery store, opened the deep freeze, and found water flowing off the lid and all the "frost"/ice in chunks on top of the food. Thankfully Bobby was home, and he called his Mom to make room in her freezer while I started sorted thawed, partially thawed, and still frozen into piles. The next morning I began the arduous task of searching for a new freezer, as well as attempting to move the chest out and clean.

The broken chest

11 years of dust bunnies underneath it

and the new freezer in place!

I broke tradition by going with an upright freezer. Everyone I know has always had a chest freezer. They hold more food, for one thing. But I decided since it was just the two of us, that wasn't a concern. Also, I'm tired of bending double and having the blood run to my head for forty-five minutes every year while I empty the freezer to defrost and clean it. Those days are now gone. So our 3/4 full chest freezer totally filled up the upright, but I can now tell exactly what we have without having to shove half the contents of the freezer around looking for an item. I also think it will help somewhat in using the older stuff first.

Now if I can just figure out how to keep the field rats out of my garden, I'll be happy.