[AT] Remembering Mom's Clothesline OT

[Charlie V]

One more blue Monday story:

When I was young, Monday meant Mom would pull the Easy copper tub
wringer washing machine out of a corner in the kitchen to the center
of the room.  She already had piles of sorted laundry back through the
dining room.  Usually four or five piles.  Three or four large pans of
water from the kitchen sink faucet were heating on the gas stove.
Next came a stand and a galvanized wash tub which was set up by the
Easy so when the clothes were run through the wringer they dropped
into the galvanized tub now filled with cold rinse water.  Fels Naptha
soap was sliced from the bar into the Easy as laundry soap.  As has
been stated, whites went into the machine first.  When finished, they
went through the wringer and into the rinse tub.  The next load went
into the machine.  Then a spring loaded pin was pulled and the wringer
was pivoted ninety degrees and locked in place.  Put the wringers back
into gear and run that first load of clothes fished from the cold
rinse water piece by piece through the wringers and into a clothes
basket to be taken out to be hung on the line.  On and on until all
were finished.  Usually during this process some water had to be
drained out of the spigot in the bottom of the easy tub and dumped
down the sink or out the door.  This was to allow another kettle or
two of hot water from the stove to be added the machine and keep the
temperature up. When finished, all water was drained through the
spigot and poured down the sink, the machine wiped up clean had put
away until next Monday.  The tub of rinse water was dipped out with a
bucked and dumped so the tub could be put away.  When the clothes were
dry, they were folded into baskets or piles for ironing on Tuesday.
When I got older, I thought it was a big deal to iron all of the
hankies to help Mom. Hankies were about all I knew how to do without
messing them up.

I wonder why they called it blue Monday?

Clothes lines!!!  They were the cotton type.  I do not remember if
they were cleaned each trip or not  I do remember the clothes line
sticks well for supporting the weight of the lines.  They were
typically a length of 2 x 2.  Near the top end a good sized nail (
maybe #10) was driven in part way.  About 1/2 inch fron the pole the
nail had a ninety degree bend upwards, providing a configuration to
hold the stick up under the line.  Maybe instead of the bend, some of
the nails were driven in at an angle to form a Y to hold to the line.

Charlie V. in WNY



On Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 1:47 PM, Paul Waugh <paul at plwaugh.com> wrote:
> The biggest thing I remember about mom's clothesline is .... that I was tied
> to it.  Seems at age 3-4 I could not stay in the yard. Mom had a harness for
> me when we traveled down town, so she could keep me 'reeled' and I could not
> break things.  When brother Gene came along, I guess she was busy, because
> she would put the harness on me, then hook me to the clothesline.  It was
> great, I was outdoors and having a ball, I just could not get to the 'fish
> pond'
> Paul
>
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