Fearsome monsters of the cold!

Life having been complicated round here recently, we hadn't defrosted the freezer for a while. Quite a long while. More than two years, actually, and it wasn't a new (never mind frost-free) freezer, by any means. Having been given a new freezer for Christmas by our families, we finally found ourselves in a position to clear out (and then probably get rid of) the old one.

On Wednesday evening, I started the process of defrosting it, having transferred the contents. Many times in the past I've speeded the defrosting of a large freezer with careful application of a hammer, but Wednesday evening was the first time I've ever used a chisel. However, suitable application of brute force via mallet and cold-chisel allowed me to get through the ice sheet that blocked access to the bottom drawer and recover the items stored therein. Well, most of them: there was a bag of chopped peppers that was sufficiently frozen in that I simply couldn't get it out without damaging the freezer or injuring myself.

This morning, I was finally able to remove the sliced peppers, and pull out and throw away the last chunks of ice in the bottom of the freezer. I can only assume that there were a number of ice elementals resident in the thing after all that time, and I hope they've found new, more appropriate homes.