Anymore tho, you run into hassles with “Park Management” or Home Owners Associations who do not want “unsightly” clotheslines cluttering up the scenery.
Yes they did Dypak.. I hope you understand that my great admiration for the song enabled me to pull it from memory for the parody version ; )And for the record – three is truly a magic number.
DirtyDragon, I thought your parody was great. Was perfect with the whole theme of Gasoline Alley. I was just trying to let you know I caught and appreciated the joke. Loved Schoolhouse Rock as a kid and loved playing it for my students in class. Thanks for the reminder!
Blackwolf, you’ve got a great point. The only people who look back nostalgically on washing clothes with a scrub board and in a washtub never had to do it that way.
I find it very strange that folks like the Wallets would NOT have a Maytag washer and dryer. I got a Maytag washer and dryer in 1979 and have had only TWO service calls for the machines – and NEITHER of the calls was for anything relating to the machines! Each service call cost me about $30. For the first service call, I had an “indoor venting system” installed. My second service call was to purchase a new "indoor venting system because of the innovations available with the newer models.
Back in the 30s, my grandmother invested in a Maytag washing machine – which was the type which had a wringer installed. When the machine had finished washing the clothes, she ran them through a wringer into a tub of cold water. After the clothes had soaked in the first tub of cold water, she would use a manual wringer to wring out the clothes and put them into a second tub of cold water to soak. After the clothes had soaked for a reasonable amount of time in the second tub, she would use the hand wringer to wring the clothes out again and pile them into a laundry basket, which she then put in a little red wagon and pulled the clothes out to the clothes line in the back yard, where they were hung out to dry. Except when the weather was bad. Then she rigged a clothes line around her living room and hung and clothes out to dry there. Most people living in rural areas in the 30s did not actually have electricity, but my grandmother was so determined to have an “automatic” washing machine that she invested in and had my uncles help her install a wind charger and then did most of the work of wiring her house for electricity by herself, with some help from my uncles. Since she had ten children, my grandmother figured that she DESERVED an automatic washing machine! Since my grandfather had passed away in 1929 – my grandmother raised those ten children mostly alone throughout the worst part of the Depression Era.
When my grandmother passed away in the 1950s. we had just moved to town from our farm. While we lived on the farm, we had no electricity, and did our laundry the old fashioned way, by boiling water on the “coal” stove in the kitchen, then washing the clothes in a metal tub with a washboard, then wringing out the clothes an moving them to a series of tubs filled with cold water until the soap had pretty much soak out of the clothes.
When all of the ten children arrived in Nebraska for my grandmother’s funeral, they found the wind charger still doing its job – as it had been since 1930. Plus, of course, the electric Maytag washing machine was still on my grandmother’s front porch. (Her house had a covered front porch – and that is where she did all of her laundry.)
When some of the children suggested that they should haul my grandmother’s Maytag washing machine out to the dump – since it was obviously too old to be sold to anyone – my mother decided that, instead of hauling the washing machine to the dump, she would take the washing machine home with us. Fortunately, we had traveled to my grandmother’s funeral in our pickup, so my Dad put my grandmother’s Maytag washing machine in the back, tied it down, and that Maytag washing machine spent another ten years in our basement while my mother continued to use it. My mother finally gave up that particular Maytag washing machine in 1960, but only because she was investing in a brand new Maytag washing machine and dryer. When my mother passed away 49 years later – in 2009 – the Maytag washing machine and dryer which she had purchased new in 1960 were still functioning just as well as they had on the day that she bought them!
I understand that the Maytag brand has gone downhill in more recent years, so it is not likely that I would try my luck on any of the newer models. But, you would think that the Wallets would belong to the generation which discovered Maytag washing machines. So it seems very odd that the Wallets would have the type of washing machine which broke down any less often than every 50 years or so!
I thought the story of the wringer washer, the grandmother wiring her house, and all the rest was very interesting regardless of the brand. Thanks for sharing it, Estrelita Phillips.
pbarnrob almost 13 years ago
Somehow makes me think of The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay!
axe-grinder almost 13 years ago
Sometimes when one of a long-time couple passes away, the other follows not long after.
rcerinys701 almost 13 years ago
Anymore tho, you run into hassles with “Park Management” or Home Owners Associations who do not want “unsightly” clotheslines cluttering up the scenery.
namenamename almost 13 years ago
Ladyfingers, do you go to the laundromat much? Believe me, nobody saves money there any more.
kab2rb almost 13 years ago
As my departed mother-in-law would say the good ole days.
Durak Premium Member almost 13 years ago
Whats wrong with jumping in the pool with all your clothes on, paddling around awhile and then hanging ’em up to dry?
Durak Premium Member almost 13 years ago
@ DiirtyDragon, re: Mr. Morton.Schoolhouse Rock would not approve. The Morton’s lived happily ever after.
Dirty Dragon almost 13 years ago
Yes they did Dypak.. I hope you understand that my great admiration for the song enabled me to pull it from memory for the parody version ; )And for the record – three is truly a magic number.
Michelle Morris almost 13 years ago
They do! That’s why they bought the electric washer and dryer!
countoftowergrove almost 13 years ago
Whoah, Ladyfingers! People smoke in laundromats. The Wallets’ clean clothes would stink!
Durak Premium Member almost 13 years ago
DirtyDragon, I thought your parody was great. Was perfect with the whole theme of Gasoline Alley. I was just trying to let you know I caught and appreciated the joke. Loved Schoolhouse Rock as a kid and loved playing it for my students in class. Thanks for the reminder!
Durak Premium Member almost 13 years ago
Blackwolf, you’ve got a great point. The only people who look back nostalgically on washing clothes with a scrub board and in a washtub never had to do it that way.
EstrelitaH almost 13 years ago
I find it very strange that folks like the Wallets would NOT have a Maytag washer and dryer. I got a Maytag washer and dryer in 1979 and have had only TWO service calls for the machines – and NEITHER of the calls was for anything relating to the machines! Each service call cost me about $30. For the first service call, I had an “indoor venting system” installed. My second service call was to purchase a new "indoor venting system because of the innovations available with the newer models.
Back in the 30s, my grandmother invested in a Maytag washing machine – which was the type which had a wringer installed. When the machine had finished washing the clothes, she ran them through a wringer into a tub of cold water. After the clothes had soaked in the first tub of cold water, she would use a manual wringer to wring out the clothes and put them into a second tub of cold water to soak. After the clothes had soaked for a reasonable amount of time in the second tub, she would use the hand wringer to wring the clothes out again and pile them into a laundry basket, which she then put in a little red wagon and pulled the clothes out to the clothes line in the back yard, where they were hung out to dry. Except when the weather was bad. Then she rigged a clothes line around her living room and hung and clothes out to dry there. Most people living in rural areas in the 30s did not actually have electricity, but my grandmother was so determined to have an “automatic” washing machine that she invested in and had my uncles help her install a wind charger and then did most of the work of wiring her house for electricity by herself, with some help from my uncles. Since she had ten children, my grandmother figured that she DESERVED an automatic washing machine! Since my grandfather had passed away in 1929 – my grandmother raised those ten children mostly alone throughout the worst part of the Depression Era.
When my grandmother passed away in the 1950s. we had just moved to town from our farm. While we lived on the farm, we had no electricity, and did our laundry the old fashioned way, by boiling water on the “coal” stove in the kitchen, then washing the clothes in a metal tub with a washboard, then wringing out the clothes an moving them to a series of tubs filled with cold water until the soap had pretty much soak out of the clothes.
When all of the ten children arrived in Nebraska for my grandmother’s funeral, they found the wind charger still doing its job – as it had been since 1930. Plus, of course, the electric Maytag washing machine was still on my grandmother’s front porch. (Her house had a covered front porch – and that is where she did all of her laundry.)
When some of the children suggested that they should haul my grandmother’s Maytag washing machine out to the dump – since it was obviously too old to be sold to anyone – my mother decided that, instead of hauling the washing machine to the dump, she would take the washing machine home with us. Fortunately, we had traveled to my grandmother’s funeral in our pickup, so my Dad put my grandmother’s Maytag washing machine in the back, tied it down, and that Maytag washing machine spent another ten years in our basement while my mother continued to use it. My mother finally gave up that particular Maytag washing machine in 1960, but only because she was investing in a brand new Maytag washing machine and dryer. When my mother passed away 49 years later – in 2009 – the Maytag washing machine and dryer which she had purchased new in 1960 were still functioning just as well as they had on the day that she bought them!
I understand that the Maytag brand has gone downhill in more recent years, so it is not likely that I would try my luck on any of the newer models. But, you would think that the Wallets would belong to the generation which discovered Maytag washing machines. So it seems very odd that the Wallets would have the type of washing machine which broke down any less often than every 50 years or so!
stringmusicianer almost 13 years ago
I thought the story of the wringer washer, the grandmother wiring her house, and all the rest was very interesting regardless of the brand. Thanks for sharing it, Estrelita Phillips.
Durak Premium Member almost 13 years ago
Estrelita, too bad computers don’t last as long as your Grandmothers Maytag washer.