2002-07-18 - 8:33 a.m.

Snow in July

Well, I guess I�d better clarify that. I�m in the northern temperate zone. It�s hot here today. And I decided it was a good day to work on a project I had been putting off.

You see, we have this huge, heavy-duty commercial-type food freezer. And while I love almost everything about it, there is the recurrent task of defrosting. I always used to wait for the really cold part of winter, so I could put the frozen food outside while I defrosted. But I�ve been waiting a long time; we have had comparatively mild winters. So I bit the bullet; I put the food into a couple of insulated coolers and got started. (I had carefully eaten up all the ice cream, because ice cream is too delicate to endure partial melting and refreezing.)

This was going to be a big job even with the super defrost feature, not only because it was so long since I had done it, but also because U.D. (that�s the daughter who lives with us) has this habit of storing things in such a way that the door doesn�t quite close. With the door open, more frost forms; the frost itself was beginning to cause a problem.

So I started about 8:30 in the morning: packing the coolers, turning off the power, and setting roaster pans and similar containers on the shelves. If I can take some of the water away before it pools in the bottom, there will be less of a mess. I hope.

At this point there�s more waiting than anything else, so I went to run some errands, because I might not get another chance. There was still very little going on when I got back, and I did some other stuff between dumping the pans into a bucket and sponging off the ice.

This is not rocket science, but there are a few tricks based on the laws of physics. Wiping the drips before they can refreeze speeds things up. The more surface you expose, the faster it will melt. And this revelation: put the biggest pans where it�s dripping fastest.

Anyhow, in the interest of exposing more surface, I started scraping some of the softer frost with a wooden paddle, and what I got was� snow! I even made a few snowballs. Now if Husband were in a playful mood� But he�s not, he�s grouchy today. His loss.

Y�know, defrosting in hot weather is not such a bad idea. Obviously, leaving the door open to the hot air will accelerate melting. (You should see the stalactites.) Meanwhile, this is one of the cooler spots in my kitchen. What�s more, handling the water and the ice doesn�t hurt my hands the way it does in winter.

Eventually the melting was so fast that I was working almost constantly. About nine hours after I started, all the ice was gone. I wiped down the shelves and filled the top shelf with wrapped paper goods. (I�m just too short to use the top shelf efficiently; I found a pound of ground beef under the ice!) I turned on the freezer as well as the super cool feature. And the alarm sounded. The same loud alarm that didn�t go off when U.D. left the door open. I had a helluva time turning it off.

I am now one solid ache from head to feet, and I was planning to go out to dinner to celebrate my son-in-law�s birthday. Tylenol, here I come. Even if I�m tired, even if it hurts, I feel I really accomplished something. And I learned something too. I don�t think I�ll ever try to defrost in the winter again.

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