Writing from the land of the exhausted

[rolanni]

Ghod, She knows why I should be exhausted, but there you are.

Those who have been breathlessly awaiting news of the refrigerator defrosting project at the day-job will be pleased to know that I was able today to throw away the food that was in there (some of it having been in place for the better part of a year) and commence in with the business end of the thing.

Alas, in my innocence, I had assumed that I would be able to fill up the eensy ice cube trays with hot water and perhaps a cup or two and put them in the freezer to move things along.

The freezer is so ice-clogged that there is no room for a cup of hot water, and the eensy ice-cube trays are glacier-trapped. Using today's rate of melt as my benchmark, I'm thinking the fridge will be defrosted by about this time next week.

In other news, I have written, slowly, about a thousand words, and am now calling it a night. Tomorrow is Friday, for which I raise a faint but sincere, "Yay!"

G'night.

Progress on Mouse and Dragon

105525 / 120000

Comments

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

Two words - blow dryer :o)

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

use a hand held hair dryer to facilitate defrosting.

[sraun]

A hair-dryer can help with defrosting a freezer. So can a desk fan.

Hot Air

[bookmobiler.livejournal.com]

No members of the faculty are on had to talk at it for you?

Please remember that standing in the melt off with a blow dryer is contra indicated.

Also see if you can talk some one into supplying you with big thick towels. A little unwieldy but best for sopping up glacial run off.

no implements of destruction

[amm-me.livejournal.com]

Doubtless, as you, like I, grew up in the dawn of the "frostless" age, when many fridges had freon channels molded into the exposed aluminum of the freezer compartment, you know not to use any utensil, no matter how dull, to attempt to expedite the removal of the glaciers. Ask me just what the sudden quiet "ssssssssss" of escaping freon sounds like. But please do not mention this post to Mrs. Quinn, the skinflint landlady of the rooming house on 198th Street, ummm, a --number-- of years ago.

Having just defrosted my mother's freezer

[romsfuulynn.livejournal.com]

Which I believe is a circa 1950s refrigerator, I feel for you. I'm guessing the freezer is about 4-8 inches in height when not frost bound? If a cup won't go in how about a small shallow frying pan, griddle or even ordinary plate?

(I'm guessing you may not have hot plate/stove accessible, just either hot water from the tap or possibly a microwave?)

In either case, if china get the plate/saucer hot by either soaking it in hot water or microwaving wet paper towels on it.

If metal, something hot, wet and fabric in/on the metal flat thing.

Or hot wet (quite wet in a ziplock) cloth thing or hot wet wrung out thing just in there.

PS

[romsfuulynn.livejournal.com]

I have always found blow dryers to not be worth the effort - just swap hot wet things every fifteen minutes.

Another tactic, if it is an interal freezer common to the refrigerator parta is just turn off the fridge, put a large pot (pitcher) of hot water in the refrigerator part. Swap out.

Oh! or sacrifice a drink bottle of some sort - something skinny on its side? with hot water in it that has a cap that screws back on?

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The freezer is so ice-clogged that there is no room for a cup of hot water, and the eensy ice-cube trays are glacier-trapped. Using today's rate of melt as my benchmark, I'm thinking the fridge will be defrosted by about this time next week.

I once committed breakroom fridge defrosting on a beast in similar condition. I was able to use a plug-in heating element to help things along.

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

having done this to a freezer in my garage (meaning, slosh water on the floor = no big deal)... I used both the hair dryer and kettles of boiling water, Dunno if this helps or not, but you have my sympathies.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

Since other people have recommended a blow dryer already, I'm going with suggestion #2.

Can you get into the freezer well enough to salt it down? That won't help things a tremendous bit, but does help break things into managable chunks. At least, it did the one time I tried it.

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Hum... work refrigerator freezer with glacial buildup? I think I'd just wait, too. You might want to take pictures of what escapes along the way. Who knows, there might be someone who will recognize their long-lost sweatband from last summer when it stands up and trumpets in the moraine?

[keristor.livejournal.com]

"recognize their long-lost sweatband"

I read that as "long-lost sweetheart", as in the Farside cartoon where a woman opens up her sofa and find (as well as the usual coins, pens etc.) her husband...

(I am so not awake yet this morning...)

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Well, if someone dumped their sweetheart in the glacier in the breakroom... I'm tempted to say that would be cold-hearted, but I better not, someone will thump me for public punning.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

But she's well-preserved...

(Will someone pun-ish us?)

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Is that where the term ice-maiden comes from?

Y'a know, poor Sharon's going to have to break the ice and tell us to stop...

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Yay the kwords! Only 14 and a half pictures to go...

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Given the totality of the situation (workspace and "secretarial duties" and all) I'd be tempted to just unplug the bastard and leave it open overnight . . .


But I'm just a Grumpy anyway.

Fan

[muehe.livejournal.com]

You are in a no A/C office -- I am sure you have several fans. (Is that a pun?)

Anyway, fans work great. I threw a fan on the last one -- walked away and came back in an hour. Water and chunks of ice everywhere -- I did not think far enough ahead. Tilt it slightly back if you can or put lots of towels down.

Re: Fan

[keristor.livejournal.com]

"I threw a fan on the last one -- walked away and came back in an hour"

Is that a reference to our ice-maiden comments up-thread? Anyway, it's cruelty to dumb animals or something (you could at least put the fan on gently instead of throwing it). *g*

("Science fiction fan" in Russian comes out as "ventilator naoochnoi fantastiki", according to Babelfish. I wonder what it is in Liaden...)

Defrosting

[ingrid44.livejournal.com]

After 30 odd years of every quarter having to defrost my fridge, my sympathies. I found it easier to turn on the DEFROST setting from the night before, and after a good nights' sleep, proceed with the hot water routine. Boiling water in 3 small pots placed in the freezer section did the trick - but only after having to go thru the whole procedure at least twice.
Finally got tired of it all, and used my IRS returns last year and bought a frost free fridge.
Only, I'm told that new fridges don't last as long as my old 30year old fridge did.
Oh well, I cann't have it both ways!