poll: should hippyhubby buy Grandma a chest freezer for Christmas?

[franksolich]

Many here are familiar with Grandma (the "hippywife" primitive), but perhaps might not be aware that Grandma has been wanting one of those superduper chest freezers for a long time now.

But hippyhubby doesn't want to get her one; on the grounds that if the electrical power fails, they would lose all the stuff in it.  Now, northeastern Oklahoma is not the center of the electrified world, but one suspects the power there fails no more than it fails in Baltimore or Cleveland or Boston or Lost Angeles, places where other primitives are known to have chest freezers.

I suspect hippyhubby is just being a tightwad skinflint, but that's just me.

Grandma as usual is thinking more than just of herself; she feeds hippyhubby very well, and a chest freezer would ensure that she feeds him even better, and saves the couple money.

It's a very odd match, Grandma and hippyhubby.  Grandma comes from a close-knit family of Italianate derivation in Ohio, and hippyhubby comes from the woods of northeastern Oklahoma, amidst a family that devours even the bones at the holiday dinners, leaving no leftovers.  They got married when both were later in life; middle-age.

Grandma reminds one very much of "Aunt Bea" in that old television series, Mayberry RFD, while hippyhubby reminds one of the snarly gnarly craggy mean sinister rough Alfred Packer, the famous man-eater of Colorado during the 1870s.

It's very odd, how opposites attract.

[Freeper]

Why does she want to freeze her chest?

 

[franksolich]

Why does she want to freeze her chest?

 

The proper terminology evades me--probably because I've never actually heard--as in really "heard"--what the thing is called.

I assume it's one of those long coffin-like freezers with the lid that opens on the top, rather than being a stand-up like a refrigerator.

[BadCat]

That is why I voted no.
I think he'll kill the shrew and put her body in one if it's available.

Not that I would care.

[Freeper]

The proper terminology evades me--probably because I've never actually heard--as in really "heard"--what the thing is called.

I assume it's one of those long coffin-like freezers with the lid that opens on the top, rather than being a stand-up like a refrigerator.

No your terminology is correct I was just making a stupid joke.

[Chris]

Why does she want to freeze her chest?

 

Because they're real.  And they're spectacular.

[franksolich]

No your terminology is correct I was just making a stupid joke.

I knew that, sir.

But there existed a little bit of doubt.

[longview]

I voted "yes" because it seems a harmless request.  My only doubt is based on something I've learned since beginning to read at this forum: "DUmmies lie... all the time." 

For all I know she already has a perfectly good upright freezer and is trying to drum up some support for a federal "alms for appliances" program because she wants a new chest freezer. *shrug*

[franksolich]

I voted "yes" because it seems a harmless request.  My only doubt is based on something I've learned since beginning to read at this forum: "DUmmies lie... all the time." 

For all I know she already has a perfectly good upright freezer and is trying to drum up some support for a federal "alms for appliances" program because she wants a new chest freezer.

Grandma's not that way.

Trust me.

Grandma on Skins's island among the primitives (think of the defrocked warped primitive, for example) reminds me very much of one of the most flattering things ever said about myself (franksolich), by a Russian secret policeman after giving up on trying to beat me up: "a lamb among wolves, but a lamb who escapes the wolves nonetheless" (or so it was translated to me).

I always cherish that decription of myself, and I suspect it describes Grandma too.

[NHSparky]

I voted no, because simply put, it would make her and the rest of the denizens of the DUmp into...oh dear, what's that word--oh yeah!--HYPOCRITES.

Think of it--buying meat (flesh!) to store for months, even years, on end, all the while consuming a great deal more power than would otherwise be needed, contributing further to global warming, climate change, the coming ice age, or whatever pet project they'll come up with to fleece an unsuspecting public.

[Duke Nukum]

I voted yes.  If hippydad's woman wants a freezer and he can afford it, he should get his woman a freezer.

[longview]

Grandma's not that way.

...

I always cherish that decription of myself, and I suspect it describes Grandma too.

Then I withdraw my doubt and wish her a Merry Christmas with a new Kenmore. 

[IassaFTots]

I voted yes.  They make some nifty ones with shelves and things, so she wouldn't have to bend over too far and risk falling in.  I want one of those myself.

[kenth]

Grandma on Skins's island among the primitives (think of the defrocked warped primitive, for example) reminds me very much of one of the most flattering things ever said about myself (franksolich), by a Russian secret policeman after giving up on trying to beat me up: "a lamb among wolves, but a lamb who escapes the wolves nonetheless" (or so it was translated to me).

I always cherish that decription of myself, and I suspect it describes Grandma too.

Coach, if you ever put that story to paper, please let us know. I imagine it is one of the most intriguing stories to be read, especially your survival of the situation. I'd definitely buy a copy.

[crockspot]

I voted yes. I have a Kenmore commercial chest freezer, and I love it. It freezes at a lot lower temperature than your fridge freezer compartment, so things will keep longer too. If you use a vacuum sealer like a Food Saver, you can keep stuff almost forever. The Price Chopper I shop at often has really good meat deals, but you have to buy the huge family size pack to get the cheap price. For instance, I recently got ten chicken leg quarters, and about fifteen nice fat pork chops for about 79 cents a pound. Those are all now individually sealed up and packed in the freezer. I'll be eating those all winter. I also like to buy several dozen bagels and english muffins at a time when they go on sale, and freeze them. It isn't hard to fill that sucker up.

[IassaFTots]

I voted yes. I have a Kenmore commercial chest freezer, and I love it. It freezes at a lot lower temperature than your fridge freezer compartment, so things will keep longer too. If you use a vacuum sealer like a Food Saver, you can keep stuff almost forever. The Price Chopper I shop at often has really good meat deals, but you have to buy the huge family size pack to get the cheap price. For instance, I recently got ten chicken leg quarters, and about fifteen nice fat pork chops for about 79 cents a pound. Those are all now individually sealed up and packed in the freezer. I'll be eating those all winter. I also like to buy several dozen bagels and english muffins at a time when they go on sale, and freeze them. It isn't hard to fill that sucker up.

So, you like that vacumn sealer?  I have been thinking of getting one, but don't know anyone who has one, to get advise from.

[Tucker]

I voted "yes" because it seems a harmless request.  My only doubt is based on something I've learned since beginning to read at this forum: "DUmmies lie... all the time." 

For all I know she already has a perfectly good upright freezer and is trying to drum up some support for a federal "alms for appliances" program because she wants a new chest freezer. *shrug*

You learned the most important thing first. Off to a good start.

[crockspot]

So, you like that vacumn sealer?  I have been thinking of getting one, but don't know anyone who has one, to get advise from.

Yes, I got the Food Saver at Costco several years ago, and got the extra rolls of plastic at the same time, so I haven't had to buy more plastic yet. So the cost is a bit masked from me currently.

It works very well, no freezer burn ever. The one problem is that when you thaw out a steak, the vacuum inside the bag tends to suck all the juice out of the steak, but I get around that by piercing the bag to break the seal when I move it from the freezer to the fridge.

[IassaFTots]

Yes, I got the Food Saver at Costco several years ago, and got the extra rolls of plastic at the same time, so I haven't had to buy more plastic yet. So the cost is a bit masked from me currently.

It works very well, no freezer burn ever. The one problem is that when you thaw out a steak, the vacuum inside the bag tends to suck all the juice out of the steak, but I get around that by piercing the bag to break the seal when I move it from the freezer to the fridge.

Thank you.  I have been using the Ziploc vacumn system currently, and it is pretty much a hit or miss with that.  I think it is time I graduated. 

[Karin]

Frank, I also want to hear that story.

It's none of my business, but I think Grandma ought to get a really good set of knives.  She cooks a lot, and cooking can be a pain with crappy knives, and a joy with excellent knives.  I mean, she's always in her kitchen. 

longview, she doesn't "do" Christmas, really.  Hates it.  Which seems not in character, really. 

[SilverOrchid]

I feel bad for Grandma. But in life, you get what you settle for.


And I voted yes.

[franksolich]

Coach, if you ever put that story to paper, please let us know. I imagine it is one of the most intriguing stories to be read, especially your survival of the situation. I'd definitely buy a copy.

There wasn't much to it, actually.

I had seen something that wasn't supposed to happen (a railway accident), and because it wasn't supposed to happen, I wasn't supposed to see it.

Thus is socialism.

As an obvious eyewitness, and clearly a stranger, I was approached by the police.

Being deaf, even if I knew Russian, I had no idea why the guy was yelling at me.

I was "non-responsive," a sure trigger for those with short tempers.

I should note that my first reaction, generally, to aggression is sheer passivity; I suspect this is because I was a younger child in a big family.  Simply sheer passivity; "well, do what you're going to do, and get it over with."

He gently tapped one of my thighs with a baton, and then lifted his hand so as to slug or slap me, but then stopped.

I have no idea why; I am 6'3", usually about 180-190 pounds, and used to make a living bending 320-pound 20'-long lengths of steel pipe--but this was well into my excursion among the workers and peasants of the socialist paradises with free medical care for all, and I was down to something less than 150 pounds.  So I don't think it was my size that deferred him; it seemed it was something else.

He walked around me, examining me from all sides, yelling at me.  When I first opened my mouth, he accused me of being a German, and started screaming German invectives at me (I did not have my passport with me).  This was told me by an eyewitness to the spectacle, who knew English.

Usually I wear my hair long, so as to disguise the absence of ears, but when wandering around the socialist paradises of the workers and peasants with free medical care for all, I wore my hair short, so the absence would be obvious.

A commonsensical matter when among people one does not know; that way, if there was something wrong, observers could see the problem, or at least part of the problem.

The guy circled me a couple of times, snarling, and then stopped.  He backed off, and then made a comment which was later translated for me; "a lamb among wolves, but a lamb who escapes the slaughter nonetheless;" something like that, and then left.

You know, sir, for a person who never fights back, and for a person who can inspire really vigorous hostility because of my "non-responsive" nature, I am truly surprised I've never been beaten up in my life.  God is good.