TheBanyanTree: Gratitude - and thinking back

[Woofie]

This is wonderful, Russ! And thank you for posting it. It brought back lots of memories. We had a similar washing machine in our basement. Except you manually had to fill the water. It was round and you put the clothes in the top. It had a wringer perched on top and yup always got fingers caught!

Sent from my iPad

> On 18 Mar 2014, at 4:57 am, Sally Larwood <larwos at me.com> wrote:
> 
> What a wonderful picture you have given us of life as many of us knew it as kids Russ. I can even remember my mum washing in the copper with the gas underneath it and hand washing our smalls in the big old concrete tubs in our laundry. 
> We didn't have a big machine with the wringer on top. Our first washing machine was a little Hoover with a very small wringer on top. 
> I'm still cringing, picturing you with your arm half pulled into the wringer!  Ouch!
> 
> Sal 
> 
> Sent from my iPad 
> 
>> On 18 Mar 2014, at 0:57, Russ Doden <russ.doden at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Today I feel mellow.  Not ambitious, not "gung ho" to do anything, just . .
>> . mellow and introspective.  I have managed to get breakfast in me, and a
>> load of clothes in the washer.  As I sit here, sipping on the last of my
>> morning coffee, my mind started to wander down strange alley's.  (It had
>> better be careful doing that or it is going to get mugged one of these
>> days.) Anyhow, I started thinking along the lines of gratitude.  Yeah, that
>> is something that is coming up in my conversations and thoughts a lot
>> lately it seems.  So here I am, sitting in a comfy chair, sipping on
>> excellent coffee, working on a very small computer that allows me to
>> communicate with people all over the world, and my clothes are being washed
>> for me!
>> 
>> Pretty soon they will be in another machine getting dry!
>> 
>> That may not seem like a big deal, but it got me to thinking.  (Yeah,
>> always dangerous.) When I was a kid, when laundry day came, we took the
>> clothes down to the basement and started the laundry.  Oh, we had a washing
>> machine (this memory was from was circa late 1950's) but it wasn't totally
>> "put the clothes in the machine, close the lid, flip a button or two and
>> forget it".  In the first place it didn't have a lid.  I can't remember the
>> details, but I do remember you had to watch the beast to make sure the
>> water shut off at the appropriate times, and refilled properly - and make
>> sure the belt didn't jump the pulley at the bottom.
>> 
>> When the washing was done, it stopped, you took the wet clothes out, put
>> them in another tub so you could wash another batch of clothes.  Yes, you
>> used the same water you used for the batch you just took out.  You washed
>> the least dirty clothes first, then went to progresively dirtier loads.
>> When finished you put the drain hose in the drain and let the dirty water
>> drain out.  Then you refilled the washing machine with fresh water and
>> repeated the process, and that was the rinse cycle.  It didn't go through a
>> "spin cycle" to get the water out.  It stopped washing (or in the rise
>> phase washing the soap out) and stopped.  In either case you put the drain
>> hose down to the drain, and gravity drained the tank. Then you started the
>> wringer.  Yeah, it was a wringer washer.  That means you carefully put
>> clothes into the wringer one item at a time and guided them into the
>> rollers of the wringer, being careful to keep fingers out of said wringer.
>> (I wasn't careful one time and my arm went into the wringer up to my elbow
>> before we got it shut off.  We had a heck of a time getting the wringer
>> assembly released to get my arm out, and I was rushed to the doctor.  Since
>> we hadn't "reversed" the wringer all was well.  We were told that had my
>> mom reversed the wringer to get me out, it would have done all kinds of
>> damage.)
>> 
>> Anyhow, after each batch of clothes were run through the wringer we would
>> take them out and hang them on the clothes line to dry.  If it was raining,
>> we did have back up clothes lines in the basement, but that was only for
>> rainy days because often other jobs were going on in the basement as well -
>> among which was putting coal in the furnace, removing coal "clinkers" or
>> ashes, and other things like that - not good for wet clothes in the process
>> of drying!  If it was cold, (this was up in Iowa and winters are cold) we
>> still hung the clothes out.  They would freeze stiff, then somehow
>> magically dry from there.  That always mystified me as a kid.
>> 
>> Yeah, the clothes came in smelling wonderfully fresh, but it was a lot of
>> work to tend the washing machine, run the clothes through the wringer, hang
>> them out and then later on take them down before taking them in to fold
>> and/or iron.  I still have the old basket that the clothes pins were in -
>> and yes those clothes pins are still in the basket - some 40+ years after
>> they were last really used.  Imagine what luxury my mom felt when she got a
>> washing machine that washed, rinsed, and drained and even did a "spin
>> cycle" to get the water mostly all out AND then just put the clothes in
>> another machine to get them dry!  No, they didn't come out smelling nice
>> and "outdoor fresh", but it didn't make any difference if it was raining or
>> not, and by then we didn't even have to shovel coal in the furnace either!
>> 
>> This has me thinking about so many little luxuries that have become
>> "normal" to me - so today I feel grateful.  I can't help but be amazed as I
>> look back over my life and see how so many things have become "push button"
>> or automatic, or even not necessary, and wonder what is yet to come.  I
>> look at my recently acquired "smart phone" and am amazed at what it
>> represents.  The really astounding thing is that something like that is now
>> considered "normal" and a device that many feel necessary!  In my mind, in
>> some long forgotten time, to make a phone call, you picked up a device on
>> the wall, told the operator the number - or even just the name of the
>> person you wanted to call, and the call was placed.  When you got a call,
>> your phone would have a distinct pattern of rings - because it was a party
>> line and several homes would be on the same circuit.  Computers were just
>> in the very beginning phase; camera's used film and were sometimes
>> contrary; you used checks or cash as credit cards weren't heard of yet;
>> music was played on the radio and TV was black and white - if you had TV at
>> all; letters were sent by the postal service; and the alarm clock was wound
>> up and setting on the night stand.
>> 
>> Like I have said several times, today I feel grateful - and more than just
>> a little in awe.
>> 
>> Russ
>> 
>> -- 
>> Enjoy Life By Living In Joy
>> 
>> Well Being Consultant
>> www.rldwbc.com