How to cool down a body to 50 degrees?

[WM]

I'm planning a home funeral/burial for my spouse. I'd like some opinions on the best way to preserve the body for 3 days until buried in a homemade pine box.

I'm thinking that rather than lay her out on the dining table for the wake, I'd just go ahead and clean her up and put her in the box as soon as she dies. Immediately, I'd go to the grocery store and get some packets of dry ice and put under her in the box. I don't really have any idea how many and how long it lasts.

The idea would be to keep the body at about 50 degrees but above freezing. I just want the flesh to keep nicely for 3 days then dust to dust, you know.

Any suggestions?

[Bob]

A chest freezer. It locks, and she'll die quickly.

[Joseph Meehan]

Yea, and after she is dead, you could put a Plexiglas lid on it for the showing.

Of course the dry ice would smother her quickly in the pine box, likely quicker than the freezer. :-)

[badgolferman]

Insert this:

[Bob]

[Mikey]

The dry ice probably wouldn't work very well. Here's a better way: Take all the food out of your refrigerator. Remove all the shelves. Put your wife in the refrigerator. An hour before the funeral, take her out of the refrigerator and put her in the coffin.

[Jim Yanik]

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in news:RYqCf.64345$ [e-mail]:

I get this mental picture of the wife laying in a box with a clear top,with wisps of CO2 vapor swirling around and flowing out over the sides like a Halloween display;then the wife sits up and makes everyone scream,like in a Haunted House.

B-)

[Bob]

Won't work, she'd be too stiff to bend (unless she's still alive). Get a chest freezer where you can lay her out flat.

[Bob]

That could only happen if someone didn't do the job right the first time.

[Mikey]

[ds549]

in most states laws the body must be buried within 48 hours if not imbalbed. ......... cut a drain hole in the box and pack her in ice.lucas

[hallerb]

Our dog had to be put to sleep this past summer. We brought gypsy home in a cardboard coffin. Our chest freezer was empty so I plugged it in and put her on ice till 2 days later when I had time for digging.

miss gypsy a lot....

[Bob]

A little make-up on the face and hands, and no one will notice. When was the last time you went to a funeral and someone touched the body to see how cold it was?

[Bob]

Most people miss their dogs more than if a spouse died.

[Bob]

Most states North of the Mason-Dixon line won't let you put a wife in the freezer.

[Harry K]

Thaw her in the microwave a piece at a time. Stitch back together whatever will show.

Harry K

[Bob]

True story: Saw an ad in our local newspaper once. Ad said, "For Sale, used hospital bed and meat grinder."

[Andy]

Andy writes: All you have to do is preserve the head. Easy to store in the freezing compartment and thaw out in the microwave.... The other parts you can put almost anywhere where the police can't find it....... In fact, there's probably no need for a full sized coffin. Just a small box of about a cubic foot should do....

Andy ( Big fan of Senor Winches)

[HeyBub]

Be sure to save all the suggestions you get. She may need them.

[dnoyeB]

Why not have it before she dies. That way you don't have to be concerned about the temperature. Just get her to lie real still.

Then she can enjoy all the kind words people say.