Nightmare on Main Street

I have been eating more Paleo.  Or at least thinking more Paleo.  I got a great cookbook called EveryDay Paleo.  A lot of the recipes call for ground beef and pork sausage.  A few weeks ago we bought half a cow (300lbs) and half a pork (80lbs).  We fit as much as we could in our fridge freezer, then bought a little deep freezer to store the rest.  We put the deep freezer on our bedroom patio (the one most of you didn't know existed), because it has an outlet and we never go out there.

Yesterday afternoon about 2:15pm my worst nightmare occurred.  I needed some more pork sausage, because I was going to make some yummy Crockpot BASEBALL sized meatballs for Sunday lunch.  I open the patio door, (smell something funny), walk out to the freezer, and see it.  Blood.  A lot of blood, covering almost half the patio.  Open the freezer.  It's not freezing, it is only cold.  Everything has melted down.  Have I mentioned blood everywhere?  (Chris later explained to me that it isn't exactly 100% blood, some blood stuff, some water, etc)  It was a MIRACLE/BLESSING that Erica and Jared were over, because Chris had just gone to work.  So, Jared stepped up and stepped in.  Erica came out to see for a second, but the smell made her sick.  I went to call Chris and it took me like 60 seconds to push the right button I couldn't even think straight.  $1000 down the drain, because the freezer wasn't working?!?!?  Called Chris, told him, hung up.  Talked with Jared about what to do.  He and I put it all in bags (blood everywhere) and filled up our cooler and laundry basket with the meat.  Drove it to his parents house and loaded it in their deep freezer.  Thank you Wards!  Got a hose, came home, hooked up the hose, I found an additional hose in the clubhouse.  I warned my downstairs neighbor that I was "rinsing off my patio" (failed to tell him it was cow blood coming over the edge) and if anything got on his I would come clean it off too.  Washed off the patio, scrubbed so hard some of the flooring came off too, double checked with the downstairs man ("It's just water!  It's fine!"), then rinsed off the first floor guy's patio.  Talked with the owner/builder to see why the outlet stopped working.  He was basically no help.  Rinsed out the now bloodied laundry basket and cooler. 

For the most part I figured the nightmare was over by now.  I started looking up what was ok to refreeze, what may be spoiled, etc.  The internet told me that as long as it was cold like it had been thawed in the fridge it could be refrozen.  So that is what we're doing.  Re-freezing it.  Pray my friends.  Pray that it is ok.  Anyway, the nightmare wasn't over because when I opened the fridge, there was blood everywhere.  Yet again.  So, I cleaned out the fridge, re-packaged a bunch of meats, and prayed that could be the end of it.  All the while I was nearly negligent if not belligerent to my poor tired child.

That night when Chris got home I just kept asking him to tell me it would be ok.  Even if it wouldn't.  And that is the worst part about this, until that beef is gone and nobody has gotten sick, I won't stop worrying about it.  I won't stop regretting that I didn't check that freezer every hour of every day.

I still feel the stress of those few hours, because I started bawling to Kenzie today at church about Camden not wanting to go to Nursery.  My eyes are still stinging.  My feet hurt.  My gluts hurt from carrying a heavy cooler down the stairs (thanks adrenaline!).  I have been cleaning the house like a psycho-lady.  Soaked the garbage can in soap, cloroxed it inside and out, cleaned every room, did all the laundry.  I just want that blood smell OUT of my existence forever.

I will be FOREVER in debt to Jared for dropping whatever he had planned to do after getting home from a weekend BYU Track trip (maybe spend some time with his 4 week old son?  Just maybe?)  to help me as my ox was in the meyer.

Also, I am appreciative of Dave Kennedy who while telling him this story tonight said, "What's the worst that could happen?  You get food poisoning?  Ah, you'll be fine."  Thank you x a million, but that doesn't mean you can all stop praying.

It's What's For Dinner

BEEF!  Ever heard of it?

(Click on the picture for a larger view.)

This is our freezer, friends.  Stock full of 287lbs of beef (1/2 a cow). 
Chris couldn't be happier.