Doing the Laundry - - - -

The laundry was done on the back porch (in the summer) in a machine similar to the one below. It was filled with hot water and, of course, detergent.

The whites were always washed first, because the water was clean and hot. After the clothes agitated for a while, they were pulled out and run through the wringer. This was usually accomplished using a wooden spoon, because the water was still hot. On the other side of the wringer was a tub of cool water for rinsing. Clothes were lifted in and out of the water numerous times to rinse the soap off and then run back through the wringer. The handle on the side of the ringer allowed it to swing around to the position needed for rinsing or into a basket. Then came hanging out the laundry (see post below). Whites were hung first, 'cause they were first to wash! Next usually came light colors, then dark colors, towels and levis last, as the water cooled and became not so clean. Untold numbers of fingers and hands have gone through wringers. They did have a safety feature that popped the wringers open if too much went through, saving many a broken bone.

I used one for quite a while when Jason was a baby. It was actually quite enjoyable to do the laundry outside in the shade of the trees.

Hanging the clothes out to dry - - -

I got this email at work today, and I wanted to share the process of hanging the clothes out on the line to dry - - you younger gals may not remember this, a time before we had a clothes dryer. There is nothing better than climbing into a bed made with sheets and pillowcases right off the clothesline!! I will save the washing and ironing part for another time!!

THE BASIC RULES

1. You had to wash the clothes line before hanging any clothes. Walk the length of each line with a damp cloth around the line to remove dirt.

2. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order and always hang whites with whites and hang them first (this is a result of the washing rules, which I will tell later.)

3. You never hung a shirt by the shoulders, always by the tail. What would the neighbors think

4. Wash day on a Monday ........... never hang clothes on the weekend or Sunday for heaven's sake!

5. Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you could hide your 'unmentionables' inthe middle.

6. It didn't matter if it was sub zero weather.......clothes would 'freeze dry.'

7. Always gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes. Pins left on the line was 'tacky'.

8. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothespins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.

9. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket and ready to be ironed.

10. IRONED??????????> Well, that's a whole other subject.

I remember - - -

milking cows (by hand, no machine), hauling the milk can out to the ditch, irrigating, stacking hay (better than my brothers), driving the derrick horse (a tractor), picking potatoes (for 7 cents a bag), the outhouse (complete with catalogs), digging in the dirt hole on the other side of the fence, hanging out the clothes, bringing in the clothes (the smell was wonderful), picking up the receiver on the phone and waiting for the operator to say "number please," picking up the phone to hear one of several parties talking, our phone numer was 1J69, when we got our first indoor bathroom, swimming in the ditch in front of our house, flood irrigating the front yard, sleeping out most of the summer, playing games well into the night with all the neighborhood kids, eating green apples right off the tree, when the brush ran from the road clear up to Brown's fence (with no water and lots of trees), climbing the tree to find a quiet spot to read, the old rope swing by the big tree, where the old barn and corral were (now under water most of the summer), sleeping out all night out in the far brush, when Mom's new set of melmac arrived, surprising her and having them all put away when she got home, Dad pulling us on a sled up into the "far" brush to get a Christmas tree, the day my brother died, picking a bajillion acres of raspberries while mosquitos tried to carry you away, Dad shooting magpies out the window, canning bottles and bottles and bottles of fruit and vegies, ironing every weekend for several hours (after the clothes had been sprinkled, rolled up and stored for a day or two), bathing in a round metal tub, when there was no freeway to Salt Lake City, learning to drive in a new Dodge Dart with a three-speed on the column, ferocious migraine headaches in grade school and Dad rubbing my head to get them to go away, giant strides, jacks, jump rope, walking to Grandma Radford's with Dad and Steven for lunch, floating down the canal from Browns to VanNoys, making houses in the brush - - - -

West Virginia

Mike and I went on the most awesome trip the end of September. It was the annual trip for work. We stayed at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. It has to be the most awesome place ever. It was even better than Hawaii! We had a beautiful suite - ate gourmet meals (scrumptious!), golfed (Mike only), went to the spa (me only), toured the bunker (more about that later), shot trap with the whole group (60 of us). What a blast. We didn't want to come home. That area of the country is sooo beautiful - - nothing but hills and trees!




This is the outside of the hotel from a distance - -

We visited a confederate cemetery in Lewisburg. The story of this particular one is told on the headstone below. The next photo is of the grave itself. It was a very quiet, peaceful place.


This is the lane leading to the cemetery - the large post on the left is the entry.

We took a little 100-mile side trip one day - - -

We had such a wonderful time - - I did work some while we were there, attending some meetings, making sure everything happened as it should (stressful!), and playing hostess. We left early on Saturday morning and returned the next Friday night. Fabulous!! Mike and I have such a good time together - we laugh a lot - and he got along famously with all my co-workers and their spouses.

What am I doing here?

Well, here I am. I didn't think I would fall for this blogging stuff - - but, what's a girl to do. I mean, really, everyone's doing it!! Anyway, I thought it would be a fun way to share happenings in our life. Not that we have anything exciting going on, but somebody somewhere might be interested.