Typical Sunday morning for Herb and I...Not much on our schedule today, Rusty just called, he flew to to New Jersey last night, starts to work tomorrow...Talked to Bobi yesterday, Ci had her last regular swim meet and has district next Saturday...She will be ready to come to Joseph for a week, then Bobi will join us and we will all have a great visit before Cienna starts school after Labor Day...
Herb has the sheets in the washer and soon they will be flapping in the breeze on the clothes line...Brings back memories of another wash day many years ago...
WASH DAY IN LAKE FORK
I pushed open the back door, coming out of the cold into the warm house on a dark December morning. I took off mittens, heavy coat and wool hat, then struggled with cold fingers to remove my buckled overboots. The milking and chores were finished for another morning. As the welcoming warm air of the house surrounded me the odor of lye soap permeated my nostrils; it mingled with the smell of ham and beans already cooking for dinner. Mom had the washing sorted; big piles of whites, light colors, darks and really dirty clothes covered the floor. She had the twin-tub Dexter washing machine filled with first warm then hot water with lye soap grated into each of them so it would have time to dissolve before the clothes were added. Daddy followed me in from the barn and we would have breakfast before the laundry was started.
I washed up, started the toast and set the table, putting thick cream and sugar out for the oatmeal and coffee. Mom was at the stove cooking bacon and eggs. We had hearty appetites after milking ten cows, separating the milk from the cream, putting the milk in ten-gallon cans, and into the cooler. We also fed the bucket calves, chickens, and pigs. There would be more to do after breakfast, but for now we concentrated on eating everything Mom had cooked. Soon Daddy finished his second cup of coffee, and went back to the barn to feed the sheep and cattle and clean the barn for tonight’s milking.
Usually, I would have to get ready to go to school, but it was Christmas vacation so I helped Mom with the wash. She had the gyrators going now and the first batch of whites in the machine sloshing back and forth. I checked all the pockets a second time to make sure nothing had been left in them; maybe I would find some loose change that Daddy had missed. Also I turned down and cleaned the rolled up cuffs on Daddy’s bib overalls, because they always had dirt and hay chaff in them and Mom didn’t want that in her washing machine. Mom was very particular about how things went into the washer; first, only lightly soiled whites, sheets etc.; then, light colors and continuing on until last came the really dirty clothes. I loved running everything through the wringers, but had to be careful to keep my fingers away from the wringers and to fold the buttons to the inside of a garment or they could get popped off and maybe broken. Everything went through two wash waters and two rinse waters, the whites going first into warm water, then into the second, hot water. All the socks had been turned wrong side out before they went in. Then after they went through the wringer, they were caught and turned right side out before going into the second wash. There were usually ten to twelve loads of washing to be done. If the day was sunny, even in the winter all the clothes (after the last rinse), were shaken, to get rid of the wrinkles, then laid out straight in piles. They were then put over your arm, and with the clothespin bag tied around your waist, a heavy coat and hat on, you made your way to the clothesline. Usually, in winter, the snow was frozen hard enough that we could walk on top of it. If not Daddy had dug a narrow path and cleared snow from under the clothes lines. No matter how cold it was, you didn’t hang Mom’s washing haphazardly or mix things up. Every towel, pillowcase, sheet etc. were hung together in a group very straight. When we were finished washing, all four tubs had to be emptied by draining, the water into buckets, and then dumped down the sink drain or in the summer we carried it outside to water the flowerbeds. The wash tubs were then cleaned and rolled back into the corner and covered, with an old sheet, until the following week.
Our dinner of ham and beans with huge slices of homemade buttered bread was eaten about noon, with a short rest afterwards. Later in the day, we would bring the washing in, most of it frozen, stiff as boards. It was then hung upstairs on lines, also downstairs over chairs in front of the wood stove. When the sheets were dry, we would remake the beds, with the clean, fresh smelling sheets.
Afternoon would be over by now and it was time to again milk the cows and do all the chores that had been done that morning. Supper most nights was bread and milk with left over cold meat from another meal and home canned fruit from the cellar. Bedtime soon followed because 5am came early.
Daddy had a surprise for Mom that year, when the day before Christmas an electric clothes dryer was delivered and installed. Every winter, she treasured the dryer that made her life a little easier. But come spring, clothes were again hung outside to dry, because nothing smells better than a bed made with line dried sheets. Unless, of course, it is the smell of lye soap mingled with the smell of ham and beans.
Hugs to all, hope you enjoyed the story...~OWAV:)
