I’ve been puttering around the house this morning, doing laundry and making some soup.  As I was loading the washer my thoughts went to Grandma Red and her routine on laundry days when I was a kid.  Then, my mind landed on Grandma Blodwin at the farm doing the washing in the 1920s and 30s.  Suddenly, it wasn’t such a trial emptying the drier and loading the washer.

I remember Mom’s double-tub-wringer-washer.  On wash day she was committed to laundry all day.  First, she sorted, usually the night before.  Then, washing began bright and early.  It included washing, wringing, rinsing and wringing again, for every load.  Next, she hauled the basket full of clean, wringed out laundry outside and hung each piece on the clothesline; that was solar power at its best.  After the clothes dried, she gathered in the freshest smelling bundles.  Do you remember those?  It was bury-your-nose in a fresh pile of clothes!  Life was Good!  If it rained or snowed, we had laundry hanging on racks around the house, and that fresh outdoor scent was missing.  I’m not sure how she got anything else done, but in my mind, it was worth it because there was nothing to compare with a freshly laundered, outdoor-scented bed.

Mom’s double-tub-wringer-washer had an agitator in the 50s that stirred the laundry.  In the 30s Grandma Blodwin had a washer on the farm. It must have had an agitator too, because there are stories about attaching a gas motor to it. The motor was so loud Little Blair (my dad) ran away from home to escape the noise.  He came up missing on laundry day and was found out on the highway trying to catch a ride into Malad to his Grandma’s.  Prior to the gas motor I guess they had to activate the agitator by hand.  Anyway, the noise was worth it for Grandma Blodwin.  Eventually, Blair came around because one of his chores was to sit on the lid of the washer to keep the agitator working while the motor ran.  There’s a job to keep the little ones occupied! 

So, back to my puttering.  It’s a Good Life when you can putter on laundry day, and you don’t have to sit on the washer to keep it going.  We have, however, sacrificed that real outdoor scent; Bounce just does not compare!