The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
10-22-2008-Column
I love to read the farmer profiles in the beginning section of the Dairy Star. I am always curious as to what is their favorite tool on the farm.
I would have a hard time narrowing it down to just one tool. There are portable/cordless tools that are wonderful because nothing ever breaks down in front of the machine shed where the tools are stored! I love pliers with flat head and phillips head screwdrivers on the handle ends. And it is amazing what can be jimmy-rigged to work with duck tape and baling twine.
On the farm it would be difficult to pick just one favorite tool, but in the house, it’s easy.
Heavy-duty front load washing machine. I never realized how much I depended upon this machine, until it broke. You know it just can’t be good news when the kids wake you up in the middle of the night.
At 1 AM, Jonathon slipped into our bedroom and told me that his ceiling crashed and water was everywhere. I had put a load of very, very dirty farm pants in the washer to soak and wash overnight. We went straight to the laundry room and discovered a lake of dirty, yellow-green water all over the floor. We grabbed towels to start soaking up the mess.
At first I thought that the drain hose must have plugged. We moved the machine from the wall and checked the hoses. Everything seemed to be ok.
I turned on the machine and there is was…water gushing out from the bottom of the machine and a terrible banging noise. Not good news.
After cleaning up the floor in the laundry room, we headed down to Jonathon and Michael’s bedroom. One ceiling tile was disintegrated on floor.
Another one was sagging from all the water it was holding. It too came tumbling down and finally woke up Michael with splashes of water.
Jonathon grabbed the wet/dry vac and started sucking up the dirty water from the carpet. I was so glad that the boys had picked up their clothes that day and the water wasn’t going into their closet.
We put the dehumidifier in their room and headed back to bed. There wasn’t much more we could do until later in the morning.
The funny thing to point out is that I never hear Mark’s alarm go off in the morning, yet he wakes up at the first ring of the telephone.
Jonathon and I had lights on, banging around with the washing machine down the hall, running the wet/dry vac and talking. Mark never even knew there was a problem until the repair man came later that day!
It appeared that something slipped between the washing drum and the outer layer. The “G” forces of the spin cycle pushed the object through the wall and the water followed. It would take about a week to order parts and have my machine running again. I looked at the huge pile of clothes on the floor and knew I was headed to town.
It has been several years since I’ve been to the laundry mat.
When Mark and I were first married, the water and drain pipes in the laundry room of our old house froze. It wasn’t a big deal to go to town with laundry for two people. Six people is a different story.
I stopped by the bank and picked up two rolls of quarters. I figured $20 would cover the job.
When I got to St. Cloud, I couldn’t believe all the people at the laundry mat on a Wednesday. I had to park on the far side of the lot. I opened the van doors and started shaking and sorting dirty clothes into piles in the parking lot. I figured no one was going to walk off with any of these dirty clothes.
I started hauling loads into the laundry mat and when I finished, I had filled 5 large capacity and 2 normal size washers. Once the machines were filled is when I realized I was in trouble. The machines don’t take quarters anymore! No wonder. They couldn’t make enough slots for all the coins that are needed to run one machine today. Luckily there was a nice college student on duty that swiped his card and got me started.
I forgot how quickly you can do laundry with several machines. It was free dryer day and I was able to dry a couple loads of socks, towels and sheets. I packed up the sweatshirts and 25 pairs of farm pants in plastic bags to hang on the line at home.
In two hours I was able to do 2 days worth of laundry. Not bad, but I soon realized how much I depend upon my washing machine every day.
The boys had their final football game on Wednesday night.
The next morning I was hand scrubbing grass, dirt and helmet paint stains from their uniforms. At least they won the game!
Since it was MEA weekend and the kids were home from school, we were going to wash the barn. This meant another 6 sets of wet, dirty farm clothes. The part for my washer wasn’t going to get here soon enough.
The service man called Monday morning to ask if he could come put in my parts. You betcha’!
By noon I was doing laundry at home again.
I never realized how much I would miss my washing machine.
Now what am I going to do with all those quarters?
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As their 4 children pursue dairy careers off the farm, Natalie and Mark are starting a new adventure of milking registered Holsteins just because they like good cows on their Minnesota farm. (Natalie grew up in Stronghurst, the daughter of Becky and the late Larry Dowell.)
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