A Wringer Story


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Thread Number: 9263
A Wringer Story

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Post# 172037 12/4/2006 at 00:36 (6,346 days old) by cheyenps ()
Checkrate/Likes Howdy- I've not posted here in a while, but I have a story to tell that I think some of you may appreciate. My wife's grandmother died about 5 years back. She was in her mid 90's by that time, and she lived in a little garden apartment complex that is occupied exclusively by senior citizens. Very proud of that she was - still able to cook and clean for herself right up until the end. There is a little laundry room at the back of the complex. Adjacent to the laundry room is a gravel yard with one of those old square rotating clotheslines. In that laundry room is a wringer washing machine - make and vintage uncertain. It still runs fine, but it leaks oil. There is an aluminum pie plate underneath it to catch the oil. When I first saw that wringer, I offered to bring her a modern automatic washer and dryer to use at that complex. Everyone could use it - surely they are all tired of wrestling clothes through that wringer. She however, set me straight. "Don't you dare", says she. "The wringer suits us fine. Those new machines are real nice, but they are done when they want to be done, and we'd have to get up from whatever we are doing to take the clothes out. The wringer just runs and runs until we are ready to take the clothes out - might be 10 minutes, might be two hours if we get to visitin'. Besides that, if you take away that wringer, Mrs. Jacobs will never see her son again." Huh? "Howz that, Granny?" "Mrs. Jacobs' son comes over for supper every Sunday afternoon. He's a real nice boy, (I met him - he's every bit of 60) and we all enjoy seeing him. He never misses a Sunday, and the reason is that he is the one responsible for dumping the oil out of that pie pan back in to the machine. If he didn't have to do that, he'd be taking his Sunday suppers somewhere else. I see... "Now don't you give that old washer another thought. Come on in and have a piece of pie. Mrs. Markowicz will be over directly, and she would like for you to have a look at her kitchen light switch". As far as I know, that wringer is still there.

Post# 172040 , Reply# 1 12/4/2006 at 00:54 (6,346 days old) by pturo (Syracuse, New York)
Checkrate/Likes I think that it is touching how old people cling to a routine, and having a senior parent to care for, I know he likes the old stuff and likes to see the laundry on the clothes line like his grandmother dried his undies. Old people are a treasure, a little used resource in our society. They need to come up with their own rap song, or something, to get a publicist.

Post# 172337 , Reply# 2 12/4/2006 at 21:11 (6,345 days old) by cehalstead (Charleston, WV)
Checkrate/Likes *a similar tale....* My partner's grandmother was 106 when she died at home, in her own bed, after having a full normal day of activity for her last day. One day when we were there, we asked her if there was anything she needed us to do. She replied that there were a "few chores" that needed done, but she would have one of the "kids" do it.....her youngest is 72...but they were still her kids..... (and btw....she had lived alone since her husband died in 1954....) I think it is great when the older folks among us can live alone, or at least in their own home with some to "look in" on them, as she had. I hope I am that lucky. We visited her often, and I was always amazed by some of her life stories. On 1-1-00, I remarked to her that she had lived in THREE centuries (and yes, I knew that the 21st century didn't really start until 1-1-01, but I went with the popular, but wrong, theory.) She grinned and remarked, "Well now, I guess I have." I then asked her what was the biggest change she had seen during her life and her answer was: electricity. Imagine the chores that were no longer backbreaking work (laundry is the first thing that comes to mind for me). She heated her house with wood until she was 100....and then said the wood was too heavy to carry. Last winter, when propane costs skyrocketed, she threatened to go back to wood for heat. One of her "kids" talked her out of it...he told her he was too old to carry the wood for her..... I miss her......

Post# 172350 , Reply# 3 12/4/2006 at 21:27 (6,345 days old) by frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)
Checkrate/Likes Two great stories; thanks for posting them!

Post# 172851 , Reply# 4 12/6/2006 at 06:52 (6,344 days old) by tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)
Checkrate/Likes It all depends on the person's health and attitude. If someone was never a happy person, they do not magically become a treasure when they reach a certain age.

Post# 172866 , Reply# 5 12/6/2006 at 07:35 (6,344 days old) by mayken4now (Panama City, Florida)
Checkrate/Likes Good story, and can side with your Grandmother on "she was done when they wanted to be done, not when the machine wanted to be done"! That is great. True story from 12/05/2006 (yesterday): My elderly neighbor has a 1971 GE Filter Flo. She wants a new washer now (you know where the filter flo's going) and is having trouble deciding what to get since there are no more "LINT FILTERS". It is driving her crazy. What should I do or suggest? Telling her that the lint is automatic now and goes down the drain does not work with her. Steve

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