There has been an element of humankind fascinated with the unexplainable and the scary, over the course of earth’s history. Humans love to be scared, just look at our current world situation. A few famous ones come to mind, The Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, Sasquatch. The theory, of course, is they are all bent on doing bodily harm if you were to encounter such.
The monster that descended on the Law Family Homestead the other day was of a different sort. Not sure if it fell into the category of being able to inflict bodily harm, although if it had been allowed to live much longer it probably would have been capable of such.
I am sure you are all wondering now. Those of you with a large family will know what I am talking about. Those of you who don't have a large family, try to envision your worst ever domestic disorganization dilemma . . . times 10. Kim Brenneman keenly identified this variety of monster in her book Large Family Logistics. (More space will be dedicated to this exceptional book on another post.)
Kim rightly called this domestic terror . . . The Laundry Monster.
We are a family of nine, seven of those of the male gender, the youngest member of the household is now in potty training. We live on a Homestead, at the time of this writing we are in the muddy season, and we have animals.
Consequently, my washing machine runs EVERY DAY, several times a day, in fact. And that, just to keep ahead of the all-consuming mass of laundry threatening to overtake our house.
It is hard to know how our ancestors of large families, without servants, managed the laundry monster. My husband replies that most families only had one set of clothes per person to wear during the week for work and a nice set for town or church. I do know they set aside one day a week devoted to laundry. I do to, along with my daily loads. But all they had was a WASHBOARD, wash tub, and homemade soap. I have homemade soap and a WASHING MACHINE.
Or, let me rephrase that, I DID have a washing machine. There have been a few times over the years when my washing machine failed me. And I must say that is one of the few logistical challenges of large family living that can really turn my day south in a hurry.
It was certainly an inconvenience, in the early years, but now verges on catastrophic proportions!
Well, the washing machine quit the other day. I had thrown in a load of my husband’s work clothes that he needed for that day, before I went out to milk at 5 a.m., because I knew they would be done washing when I came back in. I could throw them in the dryer during breakfast, and he would have them before he went to work.
When I opened the lid to put the clothes in the dryer, my brain told me they hadn't spun. I manually turned the knob to the spin cycle and left the lid open, depressing the safety button so I could see what was going on. The motor turned on, but nothing happened. I ran it through all its cycles, and found it would fill with water, and drain perfectly, but there was no agitation or spinning at all.
Kit had to go to work, and he took the three oldest boys with him, one of whom is my mechanic. So, I got them out the door, and spent the morning on the phone with my father and father-in-law trying to track down what was wrong and then finding the part and getting it ordered. I must say the company we ordered from was fantastic to deal with. I actually got a live person, and they were able to find the part with my description of what it looked like. When I asked how long it would take to get the part, they told me 7-10 days. I must have made a disgruntled sound, because he immediately asked if I wanted to pay $2.00 more for faster delivery, I started explaining the whole nine people in one household scenario to him. He promptly told me I would have it in three days! I thanked him profusely.
In the meantime, my husband and I decided a little education on true homesteading skills wouldn't hurt, and might actually help.
Several years ago we purchased a couple of honest-to-goodness washboards from Columbus Wash Board Company located in Columbus Ohio. They actually still make such things, and the quality of their product is excellent and reasonably priced with the understanding that the person using the washboard supplies their own power, by Armstrong, of course!
From time to time I have pulled one out to wash delicate items or try and teach the boys a lesson in having to wash a piece of exceptionally dirty clothing. This was going to be the first time we actually would wash a large amount of clothing at one time.
We set up in the bathtub. The washboard was just the right length to fit crosswise in the tub at the right angle. I filled the tub with a few inches of hot water, showed each child how to do it, gave them a certain number of items to wash dependent on age and capability, and then left them to work on it, while I went and did other things around the house.
Surprisingly, the boys took this situation as a challenge, and ended up competing with each other to find the dirtiest clothes and see exactly how clean they could get them.
It was truly an enriching experience for us, and the boys did a very commendable job. While we didn't get as much laundry done as the machine would have, we were able to at least keep the piles from becoming life threatening while we waited for the washing machine part to arrive.
It also showed us that we could slay the laundry monster, if need be, on our own if we so chose.
And I can always hope that this will instill an awareness in the children as to how dirty their clothes are becoming before they decide to change them!? Right? HA HA HA!
Oh, and yes, the part did come in three days, and Kit had it in the machine in 10 minutes. After we got it in and the machine running, we discussed the fact that the piece that runs the entire machine is made from two pieces of plastic and a rubber piece. I promptly got back on the phone and ordered up a spare. Now the next time something like this happens, hopefully, we will be better prepared.