Surprise in the Oven

I just realized that the post title could be construed in all sorts of ways, but I am refering to a literal oven used for baking. I'm not prone to pulling surprises out of my oven, since I don't use it very much these days, and I'm not an imaginative or creative cook. Generally the smoke detector notifies me of any surprises incurred while cooking.

One of the first things I did in my retirement was to recruit Phillip to help me finish cleaning up the in-laws' house and disposing of stuff that was left after the children and grandchilden had taken what they wanted. When they moved into the assisted living facility a year ago, I went to their vacated house within a couple of days and cleaned out all the perishible food that had been left. Later (giving the in-laws' time to determine if there was anything they had forgotten that they still wanted), Emily helped me take everything out of cabinets, closets, and drawers so that family members could see exactly what was available. After a couple of months, just about all the usable stuff was gone, and we were left with just stuff, not even enough for a decent yard sale. There the stuff sat for months, until I had time to finish what I'd begun.

Phillip & I went armed with a good stash of boxes (History of the Reformation, if you need to know). We boxed up all the loose stuff, and moved everything that was left to the front room for pick up.

At one point during the morning, Phillip said, "I bet you didn't look here," here being inside the oven. He reminded me that his grandparents usually had leftover food in the oven. Sure enough, this is what we saw:We don't know what it was in its former life.