I'm not sure how long it's been since the
last defrosting. I would have said at least
five years, but based on some recent discoveries
I might have to roll that back. Maybe 7 or 8,
but I can't rule out 10. Or more.

I didn't want to do this. It's so much work
and a real mess. But the thermostat stopped
working. It wouldn't shut off. The day before
yesterday, I noticed some items from the freezer
were so cold my fingers were sticking to them.
Yesterday, I noticed stuff in the refrigerator
section were frozen. This is no good, I have
to fix it. I vaguely recall this happened
once before, and it was fixed by defrosting.

In recent years, I'd just chip away enough ice
so I could get the door closed and keep a tunnel
through the ice large enough for an ice cube
tray, bag of frozen prawns, and bag of frozen
potstickers. When I'd have extra ice cubes,
I'd put them in a plastic bag to plug up the
front of the ice tunnel, which seemed to work
fairly well for keeping everything frozen.
(The freezer door fell off a long time ago.
The door I was referring to above is the main
refrigerator door.)

My handy method of defrosting is to put my
broom across the top of the fridge, use my
laundry basket as a counterweight on the
far end of the broom, use the handle (sticking
out over the front) to hang my big box fan
in front of the freezer, and use the blast
of air to melt the ice. I alternate that
with chipping the ice out with a kitchen knife,
oyster knife, or a 19th century English carpet
stretcher I bought on eBay that works quite
well for chipping ice.

My mom used to boil a pot of water on the stove
and use hot water to defrost the ice. I've
tried that method, but I've always worried it
might cause the Freon to boil and burst the
refrigerator. It's also more work than the
air blast method. Also, Mom only had to deal
with much thinner ice layers because she
defrosted much more frequently. For the last
30 years or more, she's had a frost-free
refrigerator. Of course, no serious foodie
uses one of those.

To my surprise, I found something plastic
in the back of the freezer. I thought I knew
what was in the freezer, and it was all ice.
But no, there were two Zip-lock type bags.
One had what looks like fried rice. That's
got to be more that 5 years old. Closer to
10, I'd say. I can't remember the last time
I made that style of fried rice (with bits
of fried egg in it).

The other had a couple pieces of chocolate!
Could be Valrhona, I thought. Nope, even
better! It was a piece of that Chocovic
Trader Joe's used to sell. Could have gone
rancid over the years, but no. The first
piece was okay, no hint of rancidity, but
also not notable for the fruitiness that
made the Chocovic so good. I ate the second
piece, and it was the same, of course.

I wasn't tempted to try the fried rice.

I'm about halfway done. I haven't found any
money or drugs, but it's not all melted.
Who was that politician who kept his bribe
money in the freezer? If it was my freezer,
the FBI never would have found it. So far,
while writing this posting, I've had to use
my large sponge three times to transfer water
collecting in the pool at the bottom to my
bucket. I dumped the bucket once, and it's
about half full now. I should be ready to
begin wrapping up in another hour or two.
Just in time to begin making dinner.

Hopefully, this will solve the thermostat
problem. Wish me luck! Time sponge it out
again.