Rocks to Agitators to No Agitators, Washing Machines

We bought this automatic washer a couple years ago when the last automatic washer died.  If I had known the old one was  an outdated antique, I would have opened the lid and taken a photo of the agitator inside.  The new washers don't have agitators.  They have a rotating tub.  The washer gets the clothes clean so I haven't bothered to figure out why.

As long as I can remember agitators were a part of top-loading washing machines.  They were a bit like a screw.  They rotated left, then right as the clothes were being washed.

I can remember that until I was four or five we had a washing machine  like the one below which I photographed at the Madison County Historical Museum in London, Ohio.  I don't remember all the details of operating it.  I do remember the soapy water was squeezed out of the clothes with the wringer.  The clothes were rinsed and then squeezed through the wringer again.

                      Madison County Historical Museum

There was a tub arrangement associated with the washer.  Someone reading this blog probably could tell me more about the whole system.

                        Madison County Historical Museum

When I was four, my twin sisters were born and shortly afterward, Dad bought an automatic washing machine, a great new invention.  It was a Bendix, with two inserts for the tub.  One was used if the machine was being used to wash clothes, the other if the machine was being used to wash dishes.

Tom's family didn't have indoor plumbing when he was four or five so his mother used an old way to wash clothes.  In the summer, this rack with a wringer in the middle  was placed outside close to the clothesline where the clothes were hung.  Tubs were placed on either side and filled with water, one tub with soapy water, one tub with rinse water.

We didn't see this in a museum but at the barber shop the last time Tom went to get his hair cut.  One of the barbers collects, buys and sells antiques. Here is a view of the wringer with the side benches folded up front and back.

                                                   Front view.

                                                           Side View

The patent on this model was given in 18?6.  I cannot read the third number.

Clothes were scrubbed on washboards.

                       Madison County Historical Museum

Washing clothes is much easier these days and I am thankful.

Earth Colors by Sarah Andrews, a Book Review

I read a lot of mysteries.  Sometimes, in the winter when the weather is bad, I will read as many as eight in a month.  Usually I get the books from the local library and that is where I found Earth Colors by Sarah Andrews.  I liked this book so much that I bought two copies, one for myself and one for my daughter who has a masters in geology.The mystery revolves around a Remington painting.  Is the painting authentic or a copy?   The sleuth is Em Hansen, a geologist looking for a subject for her master's thesis.

What, I , as a mystery reader, really want is a good entanglement where right triumphs over wrong in a few hundred pages.  Mysteries are an escape for me from the entanglements of real life where motives and solutions only evolve over years of a person's lifetime.  And Sarah Andrews provides this escape, along with interesting and believable characters, some of whom appear over and over in the series.

What makes this book different from most  mysteries is not only the amount of information Sarah Andrews incorporates about geology in general but also the history of pigments and their relationship to the geology of  Pennsylvania which she explores as the mystery progresses. Being an artist, I found that history  interesting as well as the information about analyzing those pigments which Em Hansen learns.

Sarah Andrew's thoughts on environmental issues are always interesting to me, too, and come up in other books of this series.  One of her characters in this book, Jenny, said something that impressed me so much I added it to my little book of inspiration to live by.

Jenny and Em, the geologist, are discussing how Jenny is able to maintain a happy attitude when she loses battles to preserve significant features of the landscape.  Jenny tells Em about the chestnut tree blight  that  destroyed all the chestnut trees in the eastern United States many years ago. There are still very old stumps sending up new sprouts.  The sprouts die when they reach a flowering age because the blight kills them.  These are wonderful trees, extremely rot resistant.  A person can still find barns and homes built with chestnut lumber.  Scientists have been working for years to find a way to counteract the blight.

Jenny tells Em,  "Nothing lasts forever in this world, not even blight.  So I think I'll just honor my roots and keep on sending up my sprouts."

Miami County Education Staff on the Job

October sixth was a beautiful day. After we voted, Tom drove to Charleston Falls.  He said he'd sit in the van and read while I hiked. 

When we arrived, we saw a group in one corner of the parking lot. They were the park education staff reviewing how the day had gone.
 

 

 

I didn't want to interrupt them so I took two quick photos and then started off on my hike down past the falls.

A jumble of erratics, rocks left behind by the glaciers, is not far down the trail. There I came across this heap of teaching materials. I recognized the station because I have videotaped students busy there in the past. There are hammers and goggles in the crate and boards behind it. This is where the students talk about the glaciers and then break open small geodes.

Now I knew the topic for the day, Rocks.
 

Further along the trail, I saw education staff members picking up the materials from another station.

Before they moved on to continue their pick-up detail, I snapped their picture.

They went on about their business and I continued toward the Thorny Badlands Lookout Tower. On the way, I came across another station waiting for pick up. This is where the students examine closely the composition of soil.

"How lucky these sixth grade students were today," I thought as I walked on. "They were officially "learning" and at the same time outside on a beautiful day, not in a stuffy classroom."

Happy Birthday, Ted

I pulled this photo from one of you and your dad at the wedding. As I was going through our photo collection I found this one. It is appropriate that you are wearing a shirt proclaiming "Navy".

What I remember most about you as a child was your curiosity. I think there was a cicada in the jar.

Given your curiosity about all things it is not surprising that I associate these two books with you. You wanted me to read I Can Count to 100, Can You? by Katherine Howard with pictures by Michael J. Smollin for about a month every time I saw you which was often. You loved to count.

Counting to twenty was easy.

And shortly afterward, you were counting further.

Another book you liked was The Holes in Your Nose by Genichiro Yagvu.

This was one of your favorite pages. Even boogers lined up neatly are dirty.

Whatever you are doing today, I hope you are happy.

Love, Grandma