A Highly Biased History of Washing Machines

Posted on September 14, 2011 | 6 comments

Good morning All!

Ugg

In the beginning, humans wore animal skins for clothes.  After some indefinite period of time, but probably not too very long afterwards, Ugg, the caveman, noticed that his clothes had gathered both dirt and smells over time, and so he directed Uggette, his wife, to fix the problem, since he didn’t feel like killing another animal that day.  Uggette, who was busy tending the several little Uggs and Uggettes they had been blessed with, was having a bad day anyhow, so she told Ugg to shove off, and to demonstrate the point, pushed him into the nearby running stream.  When Ugg recovered from his shock, and got back out of the stream, he noticed two things:  1) he was very wet and 2) his clothes looked and smelled better then they did before he was pushed into the stream.  At that moment, laundry was born.

Uggette's Descendants, Washing Laundry in a Stream

Well, things rocked on for thousands of years and while inventors were busy inventing things like better stone weapons, then better bronze weapons, then better iron weapons and better stone ploughs, then better bronze ploughs, then better iron ploughs, Uggette’s female descendants were still hauling clothes to nearby streams to wash them.  They would wet the clothes in the water course, and then while the clothes were in the water, bang the clothes between rocks or place the clothes on a rock and bang them with a stick.  Not only did the banging help remove more dirt and stains than water flowing over clothes would do on its own, it also allowed Uggette’s descendants to release their pent-up hostility toward Uggette for not choosing a kinder, gentler way of telling Ugg that she really wasn’t in the mood to deal with clothing that day.

Antique Hand Iron

Things continued to rock on for thousands of years, and while new fabrics (most of which wrinkled exceedingly well, requiring the invention of ironing, as if laundry didn’t take up enough time on its own) were invented, not much was down on the laundry side until the invention first of soap, then of the washboard.  No one is really sure when washboards were invented or who invented them, but basically a washboard is a board with ridges on it.  A person lays the clothes on the washboard, and rubs a bar of soap vigorously over the clothes on the washboard.  What is certain is that the first metal washboard was invented in 1833, when Stephen Rust of Manlius, NY who either did his own laundry or loved his wife (or both) patented a “Wash Board” with a piece of “fluted tin, sheet, iron, copper or zink” on it.  In addition, someone else also invented the “wringer” which allowed the clothes, once scrubbed and rinsed, to be wrung free of water better than a person could do with their own hands.  This allowed the clothes to dry more quickly on the clothesline.  (No one is quite certain when the clothesline was invented.  I suspect one of Uggette’s little tykes was bored one day, and decided to take some of the newly washed clothes when Uggette wasn’t looking and threw them over a tree branch to be funny.  Although not amused, Uggette did notice once she found the clothes that they had dried more quickly then the clothes that had not been thrown onto a tree branch and so the idea of hanging things out to dry had been born.)

Advertisements for hand-washing implements

After waiting as long as possible, wasting their time inventing things like the steam engine, electric power generators, the light bulb, the riding lawn mower, the car, airplanes and radio, in 1908, inventors finally abandoned the grudge handed down through the generations for Uggette’s historic dumping of Ugg in the stream, and invented the first electric-powered washing machine, the Thor, changing laundry forever.

The Patent for the Mighty Thor

I suppose, if it took tens of thousands of years for the electric washing machine to be invented, I will just have to hope that my great-great-great granddaughter will live to see the day of the automatic sorter-washer-dryer-folder.  Patience is, after all, a virtue – Uggette’s story proved that!

We've come a long way but still have miles to go!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Posted in On the Home Front, working mom

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Sink and Sleep (or the Lack Thereof!)

Posted on September 13, 2011 | 8 comments

Good morning Everyone!

  • Sink

Sunday evening, as I was working on supper, Kayla walked by the kitchen and announced, “Mom, you don’t want to ask what I’m doing in the bathroom.”  I, of course, gave the only logical response, which is, “What are you doing?”  Answer:  “Mom, you don’t want to know.”  After two more rounds, I did the only thing a parent could do, which was to enter her bathroom to see what was happening.

Kayla’s sink was full of water, and she had one of her big bath towels in it soaking.  I started to have a conniption took a deep breath and looked at her for an explanation, and she, grinning proudly, announced that she had decided that she was going to help me out by washing her own clothes.  Her plan was to wash them in the sink every night, then hang them on her shower rod to let them dry.

I told her I appreciated the thought, but that it would work out better to use the washing machine to clean her clothes.  Then I had to figure out how to transfer the completely saturated towel to the washing machine without getting water all over the floor.  At least she was trying!

  • Sleep, or the Lack Thereof!

Sunday night, I only managed to get about two hours of sleep.  I really don’t know why, but I just couldn’t get to sleep.  Needless to say, on Monday, I wasn’t exactly full of sweetness and light but I did try to muddle through without being too terrible to be around.  After supper though, I started to clean the kitchen, snapped at Kayla about something, snapped at Mark about something, and then dropped a TV tray on my foot.  It fell sideways where its thin edge fell directly on the bone on the top of my foot and it hurt.  I yelled something like, “Ouch!” or “Verily, verily, I hath dropped a tray on my foot and it hurteth” except on a grander scale, and Mark, coming into the kitchen to check on me, told me to leave the kitchen until tomorrow and sent me to bed, 10 minutes before Kayla’s bedtime.  I didn’t argue, either.

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Posted in Just stuff..., working mom

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A Bassett Hound/Siberian Husky Mix

Posted on September 12, 2011 | 153 comments

Good morning everyone!

Mandy, Our Husky-Basset Hound Mix

This is Mandy, a cross between a Bassett Hound and a Siberian Husky.  She is, we believe, unique.  However, at least 17 times since I started this blog someone has found my blog through search engines with queries such as “Bassett Hound/Husky mix.”  Today’s post is for the unnamed people out there who are making such an unusual search.  I only ask one thing in return – please, please put me out of my misery and tell me why you are searching this term!  The suspense is killing me.

But I digress – We usually put the Bassett Hound first when we describe Mandy  because of the shape of her body, which is the distinctive low, looooooong, basset hound shape.

Mandy demonstrating her body length, ie., cruising counters looking for food

Her long body is set upon four very short legs, the front two of which are pigeon-toed.

Mandy sleeping with our old dog, Wooflesnort

Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of Mandy in what I call her “pageant pose” which is where she is standing up straight facing you head on, one pigeon-toed foot slightly in front of the other, but she is quite lady-like when she does that.

Mandy and Mark in the Morning

Her Siberian Husky heritage shows up in her coloring, and her fur.  She has the grey, white and black fur that some Siberian Huskies have.  She also has the softest fur of any dog I have ever petted.  Another Husky feature is her eyes:  she has one blue eye and one brown eye.  Kayla got the best picture of Mandy’s eyes we have so far.

Mandy's close-up

If you look very carefully at her brown eye, you will see that there is a small patch of blue on the left side of the eye.

We acquired Mandy from the Humane Society in a nearby city.  I have told this story in another post (See, The Day Mandy Came Home), but to make a long story short, I was sent with Kayla to get a labrador retriever or golden retriever mix, but Mandy was who I came home with.  She entered our family by way of leading me on three separate chases, with me wearing my Sunday best and heels, inlcuding one exciting chase across a crowded parking lot, before we ever got her home.

Mandy, shortly after we brought her home

She is sweet-tempered and harmless to everyone except possibly Darwin, her erstwhile partner in crime, when he tries to eat her food.  She is incredibly independent and stubborn.  I always attributed that to the Bassett Hound in her, until I learned yesterday that Siberian Huskies are stubborn and independent unless training starts with them at any early age, so she has a double dose.  She also possesses an almost indescribable joie de vivre, an irrepressible joy in just being alive and around us that keeps you smiling (unless you just discovered that she is chewing something important, like your new shoes).

Mandy laughing

Mandy was found by the Humane Society in a dumpster at McDonald’s, foraging for food, and because of that background, we have to keep a close watch on counters, food and trash cans at all times.  She and Darwin between them have scored raw pork chops, cooked steak, bread, ravioli and many other things off of counters and from trashcans.

Mandy and Darwin

She can run like a bat out of h  greased lightn very, very fast.  She escaped twice from our house before she decided she was going to stick with us as her new pack, and once she gets a full head of steam up, she is gone.  I have never seen a dog run so fast.  That speed comes from the Husky side, I guess.  I have never heard of Bassett Hounds doing a lot of running, but I may be wrong.

Mandy with Kayla's Flip-Flops ready to chew!

Because of her independent streak, she really doesn’t care too much what you think of her; therefore one of the nicknames that she has earned is “Bad Dog.”  If you catch Mandy chewing something and take it away and tell her “bad dog,” she looks at you steadily, as if to say, “That is an interesting point of view, but I’d rather have the handkerchief back, please.”

Mandy: Caught with a handkerchief

Those are some of the characteristics of our Bassett Hound/Husky mix.  Please, if you have one of your own, tell us about him or her.  I would be interested to know if there are any others out there and what they are like.  And for heaven’s sake, if you come across this post in response to a search you are making about Bassett Hound/Husky mixes, please leave a comment and let me know why you are interested!  My curiosity will be forever indebted to you.

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Cruise (Not!)

Posted on September 9, 2011 | 4 comments

Good morning everyone!

I called my mother the other day from the car, and since Kayla was with me, let her talk.  Kayla was in a chatty mood, so she and Mom chattered away while I was driving.  It reminded me of the first time I can remember them having a lengthy conversation on the phone.

From Print Shop Professional 2.0

It was back during Kayla’s kindergarten year, when we had already moved to where we live now, but were still going to church back in our old town.  On the 30 minute drive back from Wednesday night choir practice and GA’s, I called Mom and let Kayla talk for a while too.  Eventually, Kayla brought the subject around to spending the night at my Mom’s house sometime.  Kayla said something like, “We’ll have to figure out what to do with my Mom and Dad.  I know!  I’ll send them on a cruise.”  I asked how much money she had to use for said cruise, and she proudly told me that she had a dollar she would use.

From Print Shop Professional 2.0

Well, I let Mom and Kayla build castles in the air for a little while, but about the time Kayla started telling Mom what she would bring to wear “next Saturday” when she came over, I felt compelled to interrupt so that Kayla understood this sleep-over was not something that could happen right away.  (Mom lives about a six-hour drive away from us.)  I said gently, while she was still on the phone, “Kayla, I’m sorry, but you can’t spend the night at Grandma Dottie’s this week.”  Without batting an eye, she turned to me, with the phone in her hand, and answered firmly, “Then you ain’t going on no cruise!” and turned her back on me to continue her conversation with my mother.

From Print Shop Professional 2.0

I laughed all the way home.

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Posted in Out of the mouths of babes...., working mom

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Deer and Lizards

Posted on September 8, 2011 | 8 comments

Good morning everyone!

Darwin, the look-out

Darwin found his mind this morning, which was a relief.  There is some debate between the three of us as to whether he found it for a little bit last night, too, but the consensus vote (2 to 0, with Kayla abstaining) is that he was just tired.  What caused him to find his mind?  Two deer at the end of the court.

These are not our deer, but they look very similar! Our fawn was not spotted.

We let the dogs out every morning and let them back in once the barking gets to the point we can’t stand it any more.  Today they were particularly vocal, so Mark looked out the door while he was letting them in.  There was a small baby buck standing at the edge of the woods at the court that our house overlooks.  Of course, once the buck heard our dogs barking, he instantly froze, which only made them bark more.  We got the dogs in, and Mark and I watched from inside the house, while Kayla went outside to watch.  As soon as they were inside, he started to move, but he kept looking back at the water.  I wondered if another dog was barking somewhere, but the answer was much more natural than that – his mother came from the lake up to him, led him caty-corner across the court, and then took him back into the woods.  Now, how do I know that this caused Darwin to find his mind?  Ever since then, he has periodically stopped at the back door, looking out to see if he can still see the deer.  Ergo, Darwin’s mind has made at least a brief reappearance!  I am pleased to know the deer are still with us; these are the first we have seen for a couple of years from our house.

From Print Shop Professional 2.0

I went to pick Kayla up from dance yesterday (it was the first lesson of the year), and was greeted by a crowd of people leaving the studio.  Kayla’s friend, Rebecca, rushed up to me and said, “Your daughter caught a lizard and she still has it!”  I said hello to Rebecca and her mother, but ignored the lizard comment since I knew my daughter knew better than to try to bring a lizard home with her.

I was wrong.

She greeted me at the door of the studio with something wrapped in a small piece of paper and told me that she had caught a lizard and the dance teacher had told her she could keep it.  I told her there was no way a lizard was coming into the house, and made her let it go.  It was such a small lizard that at first I thought it was a cricket, but a baby black lizard it was.  She wasn’t too happy about it, but I told her that I didn’t “do” lizards, and only allowed certain mammals as a pet.  (Sorry, Stella!  I know you love your iguana Zorro.)

Kayla told me that the lizard was a mammal, but even she knew that wasn’t right.  I reminded her that it was a reptile.  She thought for a moment, then said, “Well, I’ll cover it in fur and then it will be a mammal!”  Between you and me, I think the lizard is better off in the wild.

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

FN.  My friend, Stella DeLeuze, owns an iguana whom she has named Zorro.  She writes a blog which contains interesting writing tips as well as stories about her trials and tribulations with Zorro.  If you are interested, look up her site at http://wordsbystelladeleuze.blogspot.com

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Posted in dogs, working mom

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Lost!

Posted on September 7, 2011 | 6 comments

Good morning everyone!

LOST:

Yes, today he is even crazier than he was in this picture!

The mind of one large, black Labrador Retriever/Great Dane mix named Darwin.  The mind was last seen functioning on Friday morning, September 2, immediately before he was dropped off at the kennel.  It was first noticed missing yesterday, September 6 after he was returned from the kennel.  The kennel does not have said mind, so we can only assume it was lost somewhere in transit. 

If you find Darwin’s mind, please return it immediately.  Doing so will greatly aid the survival of said Darwin, as he is mercilessly harassing both his sisters to play with him, running around the house like crazy, crashing into furniture as he tries to clear corners with paws and legs too big to give him good traction on the wooden floor, chewing everything he can get his mouth on, investigating counters for left-over food and just generally being a nuisance.  At this time, no reward is being offered as we are not sure of the size or effectiveness of said mind should it ever be recovered.

 Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Have a great day everyone!

 Nancy

6 Comments

Posted in dogs, On the Home Front, working mom

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Shampoo

Posted on September 6, 2011 | 10 comments

Good morning everyone!

When all's said and done, nothing's better than taking a minute to hug our dog!

I hope all of you had a great weekend, and, for those of us here in the United States, a great Labor Day weekend.

From Print Shop Professional 2.0

Thursday night I went shampoo shopping with Kayla.  I normally do this about once or twice a year to remind myself why I don’t normally do this.  We were in the drug store, and two aisles of hair care products was a bit much for her to process.  I watched her carefully read each label, looking for something, so after about five minutes, I asked her what she was looking for.  She told me she was looking for a shampoo that could make her hair longer.  I explained that there was shampoo that could make your hair curlier, straighter, shinier or fluffier but not longer.  (A lady at the end of the aisle was dying laughing at our conversation.)  FN. 1.

From PrintShop Professional 2.0

Kayla nodded acknowledgement of my words of wisdom, and continued to look.  The first two sets of shampoo and conditioner she picked out were from the left side of the aisle (the “premium hair care products” side.)  I told her to put those back; she asked me why; I explained that I wasn’t going to pay $20 a bottle (each) for shampoo and conditioner.  The third time we had this conversation, I gently picked her up from the floor where she was sitting cross-legged, rotated her 180 degrees and told her that the right side of the aisle was where she needed to look.  That demonstration finally got the point across to her, but she was happy to review the right side of the aisle as thoroughly as she had the left side.

I got excited twice when it appeared we were close to a decision, but then she changed her mind.  It took 30 minutes for her to make her selection.  (For the record, I did let her get a more expensive “premium hair care” product that was a spray on styling aid to reduce frizz.)

From Print Shop Professional 2.0

On the way out, she decided she wanted to try rolling her hair, so we also picked up a set of foam rubber curlers and I promised to roll her hair for her that night after she washed it.  As proof to my friends and family who find it inconceivable that I would ever put a child of mine in curlers, here is the final “wound-up” product.  FN 2.

Kayla investigating moths on the outside window

Front Curlers

I really didn’t expect the curlers to make it through the night, but they did.  She got up earlier than normal to pull them out, and got mad at me when I started brushing through them because it looked like I was pulling the curl out.  I told her to wait a minute, and I would show her some magic.  I pulled the top layer of her hair back into a ponytail, leaving the bottom loose, which revealed a lot of curls, and she was happy.

Final Outcome

This latest round of hair care products better last a while now; I don’t think I’m up for another such excursion for quite a while.

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

FN1.  “To die laughing” is a Southern colloquialism meaning “to laugh as hard as you can.”

FN2.  I had her permission to take the pictures of her in curlers; it seemed fair to ask her before posting them.

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Posted in On the Home Front, Out of the mouths of babes...., working mom

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Odds and Ends

Posted on September 1, 2011 | 8 comments

Good morning everyone!

I just have a little bit of this and a little bit of that to share this morning, so we will be jumping around some.

  • How do you know if you’re absent-minded?

I was, unfortunately, presented with two unmistakable signs this morning that I am, indeed, prone to be absent-minded.  The first was when, after trying on her own for about five minutes, Kayla came to me for help in finding the peanut butter.  After checking behind her on the counter and in the pantry, I suggested that she try the refrigerator, since every once in a while when I am not paying attention to what I am doing, I put the peanut butter in there.  See, Peanut Butter in the Refrigerator.  Sure enough, there it was, on the top shelf.

The second was when I couldn’t find my glasses.  After roaming our bedroom and bathroom and the great room looking everywhere I could think of, I suddenly put my hands up to my face just to be sure I wasn’t looking for my glasses with them already on my face.  (I have done that before.)  To my immense relief, they weren’t there, but the fact that I had to check is very telling.

  •    Free Slushies

Kayla announced at the dinner table the other night that she would be excited when she got to middle school, where “they” have “free slushies for 75 cents.”  She offered to bring one home for each of us, too.

Slushy

  • Mandy

Mandy is still eating interminably slow.  While this is great for blogging in the mornings, it presents many other problems in terms of morning preparations, since she won’t eat unless I am sitting here at the table beside her and she is extremely prone to be distracted.  When Kayla comes out for breakfast, she stops eating.  If Kayla leans down to pet her, she stops eating.  If Tyra wanders by, she stops eating.  If she hears any noise in the kitchen, she stops eating.  I bet a butterfly landing on a branch on the other side of the world would be enough for her to stop eating.  The only saving grace is Darwin; if he is anywhere in the vicinity of her and her food, she will eat faster – apparently Tyra is allowed to take her food away if she chooses (it’s been a while since Tyra has done that), but Darwin, as the junior member of the pack, is decidedly not.  Since he’s asleep and snoring in the den right now, I don’t think she has anything to worry about.

Mandy and Darwin, but not while Mandy is eating!

Have a great day!

Nancy

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Posted in Out of the mouths of babes...., Pets, working mom

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A Butterfly Looks Back

Posted on August 31, 2011 | 14 comments

I wrote the short story called “A Butterfly Looks Back” on Yahoo Contributor.  I think many of you will find it has a very encouraging message.  Please read it, and forward it on to others who  might be encouraged also.

Here is the link:  A Butterfly Looks Back.

Thank you very much!

Nancy

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Posted in Reflection, Religion

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Inventions I Eagerly Await (Or Not) – Update

Posted on August 31, 2011 | 2 comments

Good morning everyone!

At the risk of being labeled a hopeless nerd (I can’t, unfortunately, qualify for geek because my technological level of expertise falls terribly short), I will confess that one of the magazines that I get on my Kindle is Technology Review, which is published by MIT every other month.  It covers technology breakthroughs, and by technology they are not limiting themselves to computers and cell phones, but include breakthroughs in medicine, energy, genetics, automobiles, physics, chemistry and anything else you can think of.  They also manage to present material in a way that a layperson can, for the most part, understand.  One section deals with new inventions, which may not be ready for mass production yet, but at least are up and running with prototypes.

Gadgets Galore!

In steadily working my way through June’s publication, I came across two inventions, one bewildering, one encouraging.

The Withings WIFI scale

We will start with bewildering first.  A company called Withings, whose website is located at www.withings.com, has invented a scale with WiFi capability.  That’s right, this scale will kindly, if you tell it to, post your weight, fat mass and body mass index on your Twitter or Facebook account for you.  To be quite frank, the very last place I wish to share that kind of information about me is on Twitter or Facebook!   Why you would even think that someone would want to do so is beyond me.

To be fair to Withings, the scale will, if you choose, discreetly post such information to more private places, like your smart phone or computer, where only you can see it; I can see some value in that.  Even better, if my doctor’s office would purchase such a scale and link it to my records electronically, I could go to the doctor without ever having to see what my weight is!  (I mean, face it folks, most of us know whether we need to lose weight or not; do we really wish to be constantly reminded every time we need to see the doctor for something like strep throat?)

One of Google's seven self-driving cars

The more encouraging invention is Google’s fleet of seven cars that it has equipped to be able to drive themselves.  It consists of six Toyota Prius’s and one Audi TT.  Some of you may recall that the self driving car is one of the inventions I am eagerly awaiting. ( See, Inventions I Eagerly Await.)  Google has at least managed to create prototypes, although currently they are nowhere near ready for mass production and still require a driver to be able to override the computer system in case it gets confused.  Still, Google has come a long way with these cars.  They have equipped them with video cameras, radar, laser sensors (and of course, Google’s navigation system) so that the computer guiding the car will have a 360 degree view of the road, and be able to orient itself to the direction it is traveling and figure out where it wants to go.  In over 140,000 miles of trials (I think – it may be more now), the cars have had only one accident – and that was when one of them was rear-ended by another car.  In those 140,000 miles, they did require minimum driver intervention once or twice, but at least we are getting closer.  I will watch the evolution of this invention closely so that as soon as they are available and affordable, I can own one.

There is, alas, no word out there regarding the driving vacuum cleaner.  See, Differences Between Men and Women.

Sunrise

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Posted in Technology, working mom

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