Wash Day

When My mom did Laundry it was a MAJOR chore. She would catch water in two #3 Washtubs. She would start a fire for the washpot. (Washpot being a huge, cast iron black tub looking thing with handles on the side.) After the fire was hot, someone would help her put the pot on the fire, with huge pieces of dowling. The hot water was used to heat the wringer washer water. The remainder was used to boil my Dads and brothers jeans. They were usually really dirty. Greasy is more like it.
The wringer washer had a huge tub like the tubs you see in your washer. It would agitate the clothes, then Mama would put them through the wringer and squeeze the water out. The wringer could be dangerous, if you got your hand too close with it running. I, at one time, got my arm in it, It pulls you through. Thank goodness Mama was watching, It kind of mashed my arm but nothing serious. Just a very scared kid.
Mama would rinse the clothes in the tubs and run them through the wringer again, then she hung them on the clothes line. It was a full days work, after all she was doing laundry for 8 children. I cant recall anyone helping her with the laundry but they must have. I know I did help some but I was pretty little. The clothes line was too tall for me to reach it, so I know I didn't hang out clothes. We had 4 or more lines strung at least 50 feet each, Then Mama would hang the heavy items, on fences if the lines were full.
IN Arkansas the weather is not conducive to drying clothes on the line, but we had no options. More than once I recall her running to bring clothes in before a rain hit. Laundry was done rain or shine, freezing or warm. It had to be done, as Mama would not hear of us having dirty clothes on for school or church. I am sure she must have hung clothes on the back porch when the weather was bad. Our back porch was screened in, and enclosed half way up.
After laundry the tubs were used for bath tubs. The second rinse water was usually pretty clear so if we needed a bath we took one in that water. Mid day or whatever.
Or hair was usually washed with rain water. We put those tubs under the corner eaves of the house to catch the water. That saved a lot of drawing water from the well. That too was an experience I did not enjoy. I hated to look into the well, It was deep and scary. You could hear the bucket hit the water and we could tell how low the water table was by how much rope was used. It was not good when we used all the rope. That meant poor quality water.
Do you know what a wiggle tail is? Well, it is a real something. I guess you would call it a worm. I know over the years you have heard me say, you are such a wiggle tail, LOL and I wasn't calling you a worm, just wiggled a lot.
When the water table was low, we would get wiggle tails in the water. They are little worms that live in water, and wiggle a lot, tiny and black.
We had to use the water but it was boiled and strained before food or drink use.
Sounds sick huh/ But that was life and you accepted it and never thought more of it.
So today as I was putting my laundry in a nice washer and dryer, Having good water at my disposal, and running water too, I had to thank God for his blessings, And recall a woman that was so thankful for her first automatic washer. She used to stand and watch the dial move from wash to spin to rinse.
The floor in her house was not really level and the washer wanted to bounce around. We often had to sit on the washer to hold it down and it was fun. Mama used to say to us, "Go sit on that washer it is wanting to dance all over the kitchen".
The only time it wasn't fun was when a boy was visiting and you had to sit there and visit, with your voice breaking from the jostle of the spin cycle.