Going Green In White

Yes, going "green" is in everyone's thoughts and I'm no different - just selfish. See it really had nothing to do with the environment, it had to do with my olfactory senses. If you've never slept in sheets that were hung out to dry, you don't know the magic of that smell. No, "Fresh Linen" by Renuzit doesn't even come close - unless your idea of fresh air is a chemical factory. So one day I decided it was time to buy a clothes line. A mail order, Internet purchased clothes line. In no time at all here it was. Let's see, now I have to dig a hole and put it up. In Northern Minnesota, in these glacier created lands, digging holes is quite a challenge because the ground is one part soil and ninety-nine parts rocks - big rocks. But when you're determined, anything is possible - and I was determined. So carefully and with much bending over and picking out rock after rock, I was able to get a fairly decent hole dug. No, of course I didn't follow the directions and pour cement in there to create anything permanent. The area I'm using has to be completely excavated for a new septic system - one of these years.
Into the hole I put a short length of PVC pipe and into the pipe went the holder for the clothes line. Then I used rocks to keep the holder in place. I opened the clothes line like an umbrella and stuck it in the holder. Voila! My dream clothes line. In moments, the whole thing began to closely resemble the Leaning Tower of Pisa. More rocks, more gravel, more straightening - OK, it's not perfect, but clothes won't touch the ground. Now for the "fun" part...washing the clothes.
No, I don't have a clothes washer, nor even a wash tub. What can I use? How about some rectangular plastic containers with lids that I use to store old linens? That'll work. One for washing and one for rinsing. Everything was going about as well as could be expected until I began the wringing part. See, you have to wring out everything before you rinse it and then you have to wring it all out again before you hang it up. By the time I was done, both hands were a mass of blisters. Yes, everything smelled great - although quite stiff - but I could no longer move my fingers. I needed a wringer - thus the quest began.
Finding the clothes line was a piece of cake so how hard could it be to find a wringer? Pretty darn hard. Seems that the only folks interested in wringers these days are large car wash operations. I wasn't about to spend seven hundred dollars for a wall-mounted wringer. Well, how about going whole hog and buying a wringer washing machine? Do they still make these? They sure do, and for a mere $1,100 you too can have a brand new model. Not including shipping. I don't think so. How about ebay? Yes, there are some old wringer-washers there which all seem to have an opening price of $120.
The following Saturday, at the Brimson Market, where I was selling my Oatmeal Spice cookies, I mentioned my search to Diane of Ladyslipper Organic Farm. "We have an old wringer, do you want to see it?" "Wow, that would be great." But, the summer passed and I never got over there. This year, my first summer Saturday with cookies came, and back to the market I went. Well, things are changing. Diane and Sherry both have tents this year - that's festive. The garage where town equipment is kept is open and there are odds and ends for sale. Let me look around. Oh my gosh, there's the wringer. It truly is an antique. Made of wood with a handle, it sits on a stand and I assume you put your foot on it to hold it while you wring. I would feel terrible using a true antique for it's original purpose. But what's this? Right next to the wringer is a squat, white, wringer washing machine. I could feel my laundry hormones surging. And the price? I hope you're sitting down. Diane was asking $20 for this piece of American history. She proudly plugged it in and showed me how it agitated and how the wringer worked. I was entranced, smitten. Did I want it? I was in love, of course I wanted it.
Diane, Lynn and I put it in Diane's truck and she drove it over to the cabin and I lovingly put it in the shed. Nancy and Bobette were visiting for the weekend and they pretty much thought I had lost my mind. Nevertheless, the very next Monday, I was ready to try her out. I wheeled her onto a platform of planks that I made from some that were under the deck and I started to fill her with water. Suddenly, the water was all over the planks and not in the tub. Ah, the hoses are bad. OK, let me get on my back and see what's going on.
There are two hoses, and with a great deal of grunting, screwdrivering, and plyering, I managed to get them off. OK, hoses - that can't be too hard. I bet they even have some in Two Harbors at the Tru-Value. Well no, they don't. I'm surprised at that and realize I'll have to go to Duluth for this major item. I did check the Internet, of course, and found the Maytag club. Yes, she's a Maytag, manufactured in the 1940's, is the N Model, and called the Chieftain. I found lots of information about the motor and none about the hoses. I'm pretty sure that the Maytag club is a guys club.
Bringing the old hoses with me, I'm first sent (from the plumbing supplies store in Two Harbors) to a big repair center for just about everything. It's in the area around the airport in Duluth. As I walk in, I'm sure they'll have just what I need. "Hmmm", the man behind the counter scratches his head as he looks at the hoses, pulls out the Maytag parts catalog, says "Just as I thought" and swivels the book around to me as he points to the words, "no longer available". "What should I do?" "Try the big auto parts place." The weather, which had been lovely when I left the cabin, had become a sea of fog - so dense that I had to open the window to see. I made it to the auto parts place and the young guy - with direction from an older man, went to look for something similar to the hoses I'd brought in. As the minutes passed, it got quite a bit darker and suddenly, there was a huge flash...boom. The sky opened up and it was a downpour. "Nope, we don't have it." "What?" "This is the closest I could come and it's not even close." So I got to spend the next half hour browsing auto parts while the sky continued to pour mass quantities of water over Duluth. Finally, I decided that I'd just get wet and I ran out to the car. Yes, of course I went to the Home Depot - nothing. Defeat. My love affair with the Maytag was being sorely tested.
Back at the cabin, I paid a visit to my friends Chris and Bill who bought the old farmhouse and then built a cabin closer to the lake. Bill can do anything and is currently adding a beautiful enclosed porch on one end of the new cabin. I told him my tale of woe and he recommended L & M in Virginia. "Never heard of it." "It's huge. They're bound to have it." I hotfooted it right over there. It's a big place all right and kind of confusing. I think it's aimed at farmers and builders. All kinds of everything - including snacks. An odd place. I find someone to help me, but it looks like I'm going to strike out again. They don't have exactly what I need. Now I'm giving up on getting duplicate hoses and am looking for alternatives. Finally, he shows me a washing machine hose that's the wrong size, but it's too big and most importantly, it's flexible. I figure that with a small enough clamp I can tighten it onto the metal end. Sure enough, it worked perfectly.
Now I have everything I need to do laundry and I proceed with my first multi-loads; whites, colors, darks. The machine works like a dream. While it's agitating I use the old, rusty, child's wagon, which I load with dirt from the gravel piles I have on hand for future lawn leveling, and fill holes. After a load is finished, I wring it through the wringer, put it in a big tub that I found at the Family Dollar store in Aurora, and let it soak in water. After everything is done, I drain the soapy water, wring out the soaking clothes, agitate them in clear water, rinse, wring and finally hang to dry.
Nancy had mentioned the stiffness which I attribute to too much soap clinging to the fabrics. What I need is a clothes softener. Back to Google and I find a recipe for home made clothes softener. There are only three ingredients; baking soda, water, and vinegar. Baking soda and vinegar? Isn't there some sort of chemical reaction if you put those two ingredients together? Seems to me there is. Maybe, if I dissolve the baking soda in the water first it negates the reaction. Guess what? No. Luckily, I was doing this right by the sink so the reaction - which is similar to shaking a warm can of Coke as hard as you can and then opening it - didn't make too huge of a mess. It did work very well to make the clothes softer.
So now I'm green. I no longer drive the twenty-five miles to the laundromat in Aurora. Nor do I spend about $6 each time to wash and dry everything. Yes, it takes about three and a half hours to do all the laundry in "My Beauty" and about another three hours before everything gets dry, but my dears...the smell...that wonderful smell. It's better than any lullaby.