The fates were disappointed

Tuesday, 7:28 pm

By Kate

Dec

04

2007

Now...about that wet laundry hanging in the shower yesterday.

My washing machine isn’t fixed yet. I had thought I might just have a plumber come in and fix it, but, after talking with a couple of different plumbers, I realized two things: 1) they hate picky little jobs like that and 2) it would cost more than the washing machine was worth—considering it is rather long in the tooth at 14 or 15 years of age.

The last plumber I spoke with said it would cost me somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 to fix the water hose on my machine. That includes the time it takes for him to leave his driveway and park in mine, an $85 fee just to walk in my front door, and about the same hourly rate for repairs. “Can’t you fix it yourself?” he wondered. Well, yes, I guess I can.

I know the fates were crowding around me urging me to hire the plumber. I could hear them. “Do it, do it, do it!” they whispered. Because...you know...if I did and paid that kind of money for a new water hose, the fates would whip into action and they’d kill my washing machine completely dead within two weeks. And then I’d be wishing I’d saved that 200+ dollars to put toward the new front loader washing machine that I REALLY want.

So, tough luck, fates. I’m fixing it myself. Mostly.

The trouble is, I can’t move the washing machine more than a couple of inches. That thing weighs a ton and it’s not budging. Until I have an extra set of helping hands and muscles, I can’t disconnect the water hose from the machine. So, I figured I’d wait until the lad comes home somewhere around the 18th. Then we can get it done in an hour or so.

In the meantime, I need clean clothes, so I thought about it for a while and came up with a plan.

The plan includes a 10 gallon waste basket and a plumber’s helper (plunger). Yes, I bought a brand new plunger for the job.

Sunday night I filled the waste basket about three quarters full of hot water with some detergent and tossed in a moderate sized load of clothes. And I plunged...and plunged...and plunged. Many, many times. I sat on the edge of the tub with my feet in the tub and plunged. Hundreds of times. By the looks of the wash water, one could assume that I am a dirty girl and that the method works quite well at extracting dirt from clothes. Well, this is the wood stove season and the cuffs of my sweatshirts tend to get a little filthy by the end of the day.

All things considered, it wasn’t hard work. It took two waste baskets full to rinse. That was easy. But then things took a steep dive. Wringing out laundry is like wrestling a calf to the ground. Whoo boy. Try wringing out a pair of jeans, four sweatshirts and a couple of turtlenecks. And an assortment of girlie things. By the time I had finished that, my arms were a mass of mush. And the thing is...the clothes were still sopping wet. I left them hanging on the edge of the tall waste basket, the shower head, the shower curtain rod, and the water knobs so they could drip dry until time to hang them on the wooden laundry rack.

By the next morning, I couldn’t see that they were one bit dryer. I wrung them out some more. And again. Finally, they were (marginally) wrung out enough to hang on the wooden laundry rack, in front of the stove, without dripping all over the carpet.

It was some time afterwards that I remembered. My washing machine isn’t REALLY broken. I COULD have taken my waste basket full of sopping wet laundry down to the basement and run it all through the spin cycle. And saved myself all that work. Smacks forehead!

Oh well. It was an experience worth having. And the laundry is washed and dried, folded and put away. I’m clean for a few days.

In this modern age of washing machines, most of us have no idea how hard it is to clean clothes the old fashioned way. And I know that I don’t take as much care as I should to prevent my clothes from getting dirty. All I need to do is throw them in the washing machine. At least until I can’t. But after doing a moderately large load of wash by hand (for just myself), I can really understand the value of smocks and aprons and...even the napkin stuck in one’s collar at meal time. I can also understand why one entire day a week used to be completely devoted to laundry. Without benefit of the washing machine, it’s darned hard work. I am SO looking forward to getting my washing machine back in proper working order.