Davidson's Defrost Day

It's not that we actually set today aside to clean the refrigerator. I mean, who actually says "Today I think I'll empty my whole icebox and see how much stuff I've accumulated over the last 4 years"?? But that's what we're doing today.
This morning as I'm trying to herd all 4 children out the door to meet our friends at the library I reached inside to grab some milk for Ruth. Hmmm, I thought, this is kind of stinky stale air in here. Then I started feeling the containers. Odd how warm they feel today. So I check the freezer and everything is nice and frozen. So, why is the ice frozen and the milk warm? I know nothing about refrigeration and that's one thing Curtis knows nothing about as well.

We're doomed!
How can we afford a new refrigerator? (the man just said "oh boy"... I don't think that's a good sign!) Speaking of man... there's one here at the moment and it's not Curtis. He's checking out the damage.
Back to this morning... the 3 walking children helped carry everything that was perishable downstairs to pack into the other fridge in the basement. We looked like little ants with our treasures all marching in a line up and down the stairs. I'm so thankful God has provided us with a second fridge and freezer for moments just like this. We then headed out to the library and on to Burger King for yet another healthy lunch.

So, now the man is here. I had to empty out the freezer as well so he could get to the frozen coils, damaged defroster, and replace the no longer functioning safety thermostat. Apparently it cuts off the fridge on a timed basis to defrost and prevent the coils from becoming frozen up. It didn't work. He says we had 2 inches of ice on our coils and the safety thing did not reset itself to warm the coils. Whatever... it's broken! $ So I wonder $ what the rest of $ the day will $ hold for $ us around here$. The humming of his wet vac and his heat gun blower thing have lulled all 4 children into a much needed nap.
So I shall throw out the 4 year old food. Wipe up the sticky spots. And reassess the need for such "plenty" in my iceboxes (plural!). I asked for a frozen January day... but we have 60's instead. Time to clean the meltdown.

Now, if I could only get to the heaping piles of laundry on the other side of the wall...