Hello Everyone, Frank here.
We were recently visited by some old friends, and yes, we've known them for a long time, and they are getting older. So, I guess that truly does make them old friends. We were looking at some pictures of their new piece of property, and noticed that they had an interesting set up for doing laundry.
They were using the old rectangular galvanized washtubs. Two of them, with a hand crank wringer in between the two. When I asked about how it performed, they told us it works great. We've thought about and talked about many ways to do laundry over the years, and we have a pretty good stash of round galvanized washtubs. We plan on using regular household toilet plungers to facilitate the agitating. But, again, we've known these people for a long time, so we started doing a little research.
We found numerous websites with hand crank wringers, but they were all the exact same wringer. The prices varied by $30.00 to $40.00, and guess the average was about $155.00. I was hoping for a little bit more selection. When looking for hand clothes wringers, we also ran across some sites that had complete kits, which included the rectangular washtubs, wringers, stands to set the washtubs on, and in one case even a stand for the wringer to attach to. All this is great, and it's doable. Then I got the idea, how about a double sink utility basin? Lowe's has a couple of them that they show. Most of them are a plastic type product, and one they show as a rigid composite. But, remember, these are online, and I'm not sure if attaching a wringer to the vertical partition between the two sinks would be strong enough.
Then I got this shebam idea! How about stainless steel restaurant type sinks? Better get ready for a price shock. Then I thought, you know, besides doing laundry, we could use this for butchering chickens, not the butchering part, but the clean up part; cleaning up garden vegetables; on the rare occasion, processing fish. So, it could be used for other things besides just laundry. Stainless steel is expensive. I didn't mention above, but all of these ideas about doing laundry will be outside and on the porch. I would feel comfortable attaching a hand wringer to the stainless steel sinks.
But then I could just get two single plastic utility sinks and put a homemade stand with the wringer on top of it, between the two sinks. That's not a bad idea.
So, here is where I need your help. I recently did a post about a propane cookstove that the ignitor uses a 9volt battery. After I did the post, a couple of folks sent comments about other brands that also have battery ignitors. By looking at the websites, they have more features than what my cookstove has, and appears to be a higher quality. But at the time, I didn't know they existed. Same thing happened with washing machines. I couldn't find one without all of the monitoring sensors. Well, after that post, I received comments from folks about Speed Queen washing machines, which are manufactured without all of the sensors.
So, I'm going to try something different this time. For those of you out there that are either doing laundry by hand, or know someone that is doing laundry by hand, could you provide me with some information about what type of system they use? This is one of those times that I don't want to reinvent the wheel again. Now, I'm not interested in using a paddle to beat my clothes on the side of the stream on a rock. I used to watch the ladies overseas do that. All the women would meet at the same time everyday, some of them with babies strapped on their back or their front. They would bring their laundry down to the stream. That was an interesting trip.
If you can help me, share some information about how folks in real world America wash their clothes in an off grid situation. Your help would be deeply appreciated.
We'll talk more later. Frank
Here a week or two back my mother-in-law's washing machine decided to
quit. Guy came and looked at it, told her what it needed. He didn't
charge her anything, and said he could replace the motor, but it's still
an old machine, and it will break down again. He recommended she buy a
new one. So, a couple of days later, she had this new washing machine
that had some electronic gizmos on it that I had never seen or,
actually, never heard of. And, please forgive me here, but I just
thought that my dear mother-in-law had been taken for a ride by the
appliance store.
Well, let's jump ahead a couple of weeks. This Saturday
my washing machine decided it was going to retire and it quit. I
checked all of the usual. Yes, there was water pressure, it was not the
circuit breaker and there was electricity at the outlet. Since it was a
mechanical unit, I tried some thumping, poking and prodding here and
there, but still no life. And, at this stage right now in my back
recovery, I cannot bend over and do the research I would normally do on a
piece of equipment.
Having decided to join the realm of my
classy neighbors, there is now a washing machine sitting out in the
yard. Think it can be used as a giant planter? Oh well, that
one will just have to wait for another time. This happened on a Saturday afternoon. Monday it was time to buy a brand new washing machine. And, do you know what? You can't buy a
regular old washing machine anymore, that doesn't have multiple energy
saving features, all those little electronic gizmos that I snickered at
my mother-in-law about. Well, here is my apology.
My
question is, "Why can't clothes be washed in cold water if I want to?"
Now, I bought the bottom of the line that meets my need, but, it has a
sensor that automatically adds warm water if my cold water is too cold.
It will not allow the tub to be filled up and just wash one pair of jeans, even if you want to. And here is the one that really gets me. If you fill the
machine up and let it sit for too long, it will automatically empty the
machine. Now, this is not a water saving feature, so it has to
be a safety feature. Can somebody in our government please explain why having a tub full of water is a safety problem? You might ask why
I didn't go to a different appliance dealer. Well, something strange
happened that day. The person that sold us the washing machine, was
extremely knowledgeable about the products she was selling. I'm not being facetious here, she was really very knowledgeable and competent. She assured me that
any new machine available, would come with these types of
features.
Now the government tells us how much water we
can flush in our toilets. Tells us what kind of light bulbs we can't use.
Will not allow us, if we're in New York City to buy a super large vessel
of soda pop. Why is it any of their business how much water we use in our washing machines? Well, actually I can understand the cold water logic a
little bit. Some detergents will not dissolve well in cold water. But,
you know, I think I'm smart enough to add warm water to cold water and
get my detergent to dissolve. I am sick and tired of government
intrusion into my life. But it doesn't make any difference what I think.
I'm not trying to sound calloused or cold here, but it doesn't make any
difference what you think either. The government is going to do what it
wants to, any time it wants to, and it doesn't care one bit what you, I
or my mother-in-law think. Did anybody ask any of you how you wanted
your washing machine regulated? I don't recall voting on that anywhere.
Was that on some agenda I missed? That's right, I forgot, it's on the
Socialist agenda. And again, I am not blaming the current administration
for all of these problems, because I can feel the fingertips of an
environmentalist, former Vice President of the United States all over this one.
It's just one more way to control. We have no vote and nobody cares one
way or the other what anybody thinks.
But I fooled them. I have a thirty
year old toilet. I nicknamed it my Flush Master 2000. And when I feel
really, really defiant, I get up, run in the bathroom, and flush that
thing. Stand way back folks, cause you don't want to get your tie caught in it. Gotta have a little humor, or we're all going to go insane.
So,
what's it going to be next? I don't know what's going to be next. But
we all know it's not going to be good. When is the last time our
government did something good for working, middle class America? I've
been watching this come for years and years and years, and folks, we all
know that it ain't gonna get no better. Better be getting ready.
Go to
some garage sale and find a Flush Master 2000. If the porcelain is
not cracked, all the internal components are easily replaceable. It will
give you the feeling of independence and power. Then when you get
finished, go get a 64oz. Big Gulp, cause we don't live in New York
City. Well, I hope to feel better for at least a little while.
If I were you, I would keep a real close eye on what's happening in Ferguson, Missouri. The truth about that incident, which was tragic, is going to be real hard to come by. Summer is still hot. I would just be paying attention to that real close. Last year they tried to get the Trayvon Martin tragedy going and it just didn't catch on. My compliments to the people. But if this one in Missouri catches on, and I'm sure they will pour every bit of fuel on this fire they can, it would be a good time to know where you are, and your loved ones are. Keep your gas tanks full and don't be someplace where you shouldn't be. All it
takes is one match and this thing could light up every major city in this country. And I don't put it past our people in
charge, to pull something off like this. It hurts me to see what our
country has come to. Pay attention. Stay out of the Middle East. Avoid
Africa and anybody just returning from there. Hug your kids, kiss your
wife, or husband, and enjoy a Snickers on me.
We'll talk more later. Frank
