NYNIAGAR-FOLKS-L Archives

From: "Vee L. Housman" <>
Subject: I gained a pound
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2004 15:39:05 -0400

Dear Folks,

Last night when I finally got to bed very late I continued to try to sort
out the mystery of the missing pound of hamburger. Being a true detective,
I asked myself whether I had actually bought three pounds of hamburger at
one time. Yes, I remembered it clearly. I also remember clearly when I had
separated the hamburger into three one-pound packages and froze them in my
refrigerator freezer top. I could still the three packages sitting in the
back of the freezer compartment.

I remembered clearly that I had used up the first pound in making a big pot
of soup and using the second pound for the disastrous hamburger, rice and
broccoli recipe. I also remembered still seeing the last pound of hamburger
on the shelf in my refrigerator freezer just waiting for me to cook up a
"Joe's Special." However, I also remembered clearly when the freezer
compartment needed some extra room and I removed the hamburger and placed it
where it belonged in my chest freezer.

Now, my chest freezer is quite well organized. In the left basket
compartment is where I store leftover servings of home cooked dinners, a few
boxes of store-bought frozen dinners, a box of Banquet crispy fried chicken,
and snuggled up next to my package of hot dogs is the partial can of
sauerkraut that I froze to go with them. It didn't take but a minute to
realize that the hamburger wasn't there.

In the middle basket compartment is stored frozen vegetables. Period. In
the right hand space in the freezer (no basket) is where I store raw meat
waiting for me to cook up, a number of bags of French fries, a bag of
chopped celery, the remaining green peppers I have, plus some other
miscellaneous things I've stored there. Frankly, I know precisely where
everything is stored. As I mentioned, last night I all but tore everything
out of that side of the freezer and even peeked underneath in the space
between the floor of the right side of the freezer and where the middle
basket compartment ends. In the past I know that on occasion a frozen
package might slip off the pile from the right side and slide underneath the
middle basket so I gave the space a real good look-see. No hamburger.

By today I was DETERMINED to find that lost pound of hamburger and once
again went thoroughly through the chest freezer. Only this time I removed
EVERYTHING from the right side. I recognized everything I removed with the
exception of one unfamiliar frozen package laying right on the bottom of the
freezer floor. I picked it up and still didn't know what it was. I turned
it over and lo and behold! I saw the red note I had enclosed in it telling
me it was one pound of hamburger!!! I almost hugged it to me in relief! I
KNEW that's where it should have been in the first place but I was really
surprised that it made its way to the very bottom of the freezer in such a
short period of time.

After I had placed everything back where it belonged in the freezer, I
immediately went to my kitchen cupboard, got down a dinner plate, placed the
frozen hamburger on it and placed it inside my refrigerator to thaw out by
tomorrow. In fact, I've check the refrigerator several times since then to
make certain it's still there! :-)

The moral is that if you don't succeed at first, wait until you've had a
good night's sleep and try again. I KNEW that I wasn't really losing it!
vee

This thread:

• I gained a pound by "Vee L. Housman" <>