They Don't Make 'Em Like That Any More

My clothes washing machine finally called it quits. I know it hast been less than nineteen years, because t wife Cindy Morrison Beck passed away nineteen years ago and she never used this washer. It has probably been less than ten years. The control mechanism went kaput. It died in the middle of a load of lights. Thankfully I was able to open the lid and remove them before they could mildew in this hot and humid air. They were still waterlogged. I couldn't spin the water out and didn't want to overwork the dryer, so I hung them on my outside line and that worked. I took them down when they were still slightly damp and tossed them in the drier to finish.

I described the problem with the washer to my appliance service tech. He talked me through any possibility to reestablish the controls, but of course, that didn't work. He told me that the cost for the washer's “brain” would be at least three hundred dollars and it would be worth my while to purchase a new machine. I drove to the appliance store and found that for less than six hundred dollars, I could purchase a new machine. I decided to buy the new machine than stick a Band-aid on the old one. He will be delivering it on Thursday. Hooray, I can wash my undies.

When I was growing up, my mom, Sybil Miner Beck's Maytag, square tub wringer washer was almost indestructible. And talk about water conservation. It puts the new washers to shame. Mom would wash the whites and lights first, then in the same water she'd wash the darks. The towels and or bed linens were washed in the same water, followed by work clothes, then the rugs. No wasted water there. Five loads without using more water. Two tubs of cold water hovered near to catch and rinse the clothing after the soapy water was squeezed out between the rollers of the wringer. Twice into the different tubs to rinse, one then the other before the wringer would spit out the clothes into a waiting basket and hung out on the outside line.

No matter what the weather was like, unless it was raining, Mom hung the clothes on the outside lines, sometimes the clothing would freeze dry in the winter. Mom's hands were often reddened by the temperature. Mom was ahead of her time, water conservation and solar powered dryer. Those old washers and rope clothes dryers, they don't make machines to last like that anymore.