What's That?

The following tutorial is based on a real conversation with one of my children. I have added the humor.

This, my children, is called an ice tray. I know you have never seen one, but this is how we made ice back in the day.  Since the unfortunate demise of our ice maker, you will need to learn about these. It works like this: You fill the tray up with water and place it in the freezer.  Since it has been close to a decade since your mom last used one of these, she forgot one very important ice tray necessity.  They must not nest in each other.  Yes, I purchased the wrong ones.  This means that to stack the trays which is necessary in our small freezer space, you will have to put them slightly off center of each other.  This is the hardest part as it takes some coordination.  After some time in the freezer, the little compartments in the trays will hold ice cubes.

This is very important:

Remove the ice cubes and put them in the appropriate bin in the freezer.  Now, nobody will die if you don't do this- at least I've never heard of anyone dying because of this.  However, you can take it from me that if you take a few cubes at a time and leave just two in the tray, somebody will get angry.  There will be arguments, blame, and possibly the gnashing of teeth.  It can get ugly.  Refill the trays and place them back in the freezer after you remove the ice.

The moral of the story is this.  We no longer have an automatic ice maker.  These trays don't fill themselves.  Everyone must do their part.

Remember that this is what we call a first world problem.  There are many children who do not have running water in their homes-much less ice to keep their drinks cold.  Keep calm and fill the trays.

July 23rd update:  I actually had to show a certain red-headed adult (who shall remain nameless) how to use these today.  I am very worried about the problem-solving skills and resourcefulness of this next generation - very worried.