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It all started because the freezer somehow got unplugged and everything in it rotted. It ended with a tube of toothpaste, some hilarious facial expressions, and a 50 gallon drum filled part way with fish guts. There was one thing we knew we had to work on during our time off: the freezer. The dog lot needed attention but the dog food freezer had started leaking and the smell was anything but pleasant.

We ventured over to the freezer after hemming and hawing about it all day. “I really don’t think we want to deal with this,” was the general consensus but what we wanted to do and what we needed to do were two completely different things. In the end, we wandered over to the freezer and cautiously pulled open the lid.

Instant gagging.

The freezer itself was filled with bloody water right up to the brim. The only exposed contents were part of a Red Paw dog food bag which had more fish in it. We sat and stared at it. How the heck were we going to deal with this? The freezer had been unplugged for a week a week and was full of nasty bloody fish water, not to mention rotting fish.

What to do, what to do. We couldn’t very well lift the freezer. It was far too heavy and, despite being unplugged for quite some time, the contents (fish) were still a completely solid block of ice. There was no getting that thing out. We sat around for awhile before we had the brilliant (or was it?) idea of siphoning the drained water out.

The only problem was this was definitely not water. A reddish brown color, the liquid stunk of decaying fish and rotting seaweed. It smelt like something a dog would roll in, not something it was supposed to eat. Still, the job needed to get done.

Travis was the less than enthusiastic “volunteer” for the job. We found a short stretch of hose and he got it going, getting some of the putrid water in his mouth. He started gagging and nearly vomited. I ran inside for the toothpaste and he promptly emptied half of the tube into his mouth.

That was when we realized that the siphoning had stopped. The fish guts had stopped draining. Travis looked like he was going to kill someone. But he sucked it up (quite literally) and got the thing going again. We were careful about how we held the hoses as the water got drained into an empty 55 gallon drum.

I sat there gagging at the smell trying to hold the tubes in place when we realized the hose had stopped. Susie then came on by and, on her very first try, got the whole thing going again. Then she nearly lost her lunch.

By the time we had drained the water we had exposed several dead fish at the bottom of the freezer — enough to turn anyone’s stomach. But we just took it all in stride. After we were done, we loaded the barrel in the truck and dumped the water out on the edge of town away from any people.

We’ve plugged the freezer back in. Hopefully, we can fill it up with a few new fish for the winter.