old timers

[mellowtigger]

We've had at least 2 inches of snow at my house in north Minneapolis today. Here's a photo around 4pm. Our forecast this week is for temperatures down to -7C/20F. It was starting to feel like spring here in Minnesota, but this week we seem to be reverting back to winter for a few days.

I attended 2 online meetings today. One was for an eco-village project, and one was for some of us who were around for that other pandemic, AIDS/HIV.  The AIDS remembrance was hosted by local activist Patrick Scully.  We had about 20 people from around the planet. It was interesting to hear a lot of perspectives, all familiar and yet new in their personal uniqueness. As we ended the meeting, we spoke the name of someone we were remembering in these new COVID-19 pandemic times. I named Carl Collier. I really need to write that blog post about these two pandemics. It's a topic that is clearly on a lot of people's minds.

Afterwards, I finally knuckled down and did laundry. I have no washer or dryer, so for a few years I've been hauling my clothes to a nearby laundromat. On the assumption that I'm susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, I decided that I don't want to risk touching the many coins that would be needed from the coin machine to pay the washing machines and dryers at the laundromat.

So I washed my clothes by hand... in the bathtub. That's a first for me.

I used hot water and twice as much detergent as usual, then I spent several minutes scrunching the fabric and sloshing it around. The water obviously turned dark. I suspect that color had more to do with fabric dye than actual dirt. When I rinsed with cold water and sloshed everything some more, the water stayed much clearer.



I had to wring out all of the clothing by hand. That's tiring. I'm not nearly as efficient at that task as a washing machine which whirls everything in a circle to fling out the water. And I have no good place to dry everything, so it's all hanging on handrails in the stairway now.



Maybe I will spend money on at least a very tiny washing machine that can fit down my very narrow basement stairway. Someday, when people are allowed to roam again, when I can have someone indoors to install it.

Comments

[foeclan]

You're welcome to use mine if you'd like. I've largely stayed at home, and no one else has been here in over a month, so the risk is pretty minimal.

[mellowtigger]

Thanks! I might eventually take you up on that, depending on how long I might be prohibited from getting a teensy washing machine. I certainly don't want to repeat today's experience for the rest of the year.

[brian_bogue]

be aware that air drying inside has a tendency to the make the clothes very stiff when they are done. I think it is from soap residue rather than any actual dirt as I have found that they get stiff even if they were washed in a machine.

[mellowtigger]

Agreed. I've dried in the air after a clothes washing machine, and I've noticed that cloth being stiff too.

Ooh, fancy. Dreamwidth says you have an ipv6 internet address. I should try that someday. :)

[brian_bogue]

I knew that there were such things but didn't know my internet provider had gone to that already

[bitterlawngnome]

Speaking as someone who did a lot of washing clothe in the bathtub when I worked on a farm: it's a hell of a lot easier to stomp them like grapes both to wash & rinse them and then to get some of the water out.

[mellowtigger]

Ooh, good idea. Thanks, I'll try that method next time. And maybe find myself the relevant "I Love Lucy" episode to watch on my smartphone while I'm stomping. Since we're talking "old timer" stuff already. :)

[mllesatine]

I thought the pictures of your bathtub were bars of fancy soap. :D

[mellowtigger]

Ah! I can see that image now too. :)

[armiphlage]

Before moving into my current place (with a washer and dryer!), I used a Panda mini-washer and a spin dryer. Each is just a drum connected to an electric motor, and both are easy to carry up and down stairs (when not full of water). I found that the manual washers like the WonderWash don't work (less useful than washing in the tub).

It's not as automated as a full-size machine:

Put clothes in washer with soapy water
Let them agitate for 5-10 minutes
Drain the soapy water
Put clothes in the spin dryer to get out the suds and water
Put clothes back in the washer with clean water
Let them agitate for 5-10 minutes
Drain the rinse water (and save in a bucket for the next load)
Dry the clothes in the spin dryer
Hang the clothes to dry