A long time ago

[dryheat]

There used to be an old saying; 'got his tail caught in the wringer.'

[Mark in Ottawa]

I remember the wringer washers very well. When I was about 11 years old, my mother got a new one that, unlike our old one, had a pressure release so that if you caught your arm in the wringer, the top would release and you wouldn't break a bone - a major safety improvement.

[RED]

Do you remember blueing?

I was 4 years old on the back porch when my mother was washing clothes in a wringer washing machine. There were other tubs with rinsing water, blueing water, and bleaching water. I was playing when I ran into a red wasp nest and they stung me dozens of times. We lived in Cass, AR (look it up) and we were isolated. My mother doctored me. She used turpentine, mixed with sugar and baking soda. I regained consciousness after 3 hours or so.

No big deal! How many of todays mothers would know what to do?

[Allen]

Do you remember blueing?

I was 4 years old on the back porch when my mother was washing clothes in a wringer washing machine. There were other tubs with rinsing water, blueing water, and bleaching water. I was playing when I ran into a red wasp nest and they stung me dozens of times. We lived in Cass, AR (look it up) and we were isolated. My mother doctored me. She used turpentine, mixed with sugar and baking soda. I regained consciousness after 3 hours or so.

No big deal! How many of todays mothers would know what to do?

When I was very young I was stung by something, probably a wasp. One of my Grandmother's friends took a cigarette, opened it up and packed the loose tobacco on the sting wound. It, like the baking soda absorbed the wasp venom or whatever you want to call it. Decades later my brother was stung and I suggested the cigarette since he smoked. He was amazed how well and quickly it worked.

Blueing I remember. I just don't remember any of my family ever using it. I think we just used bleach. Used to see the bars or tablets in stores for sale. It is still made and used in the tablet form and now the liquid form too.

Watching the History Channel it was mentioned that before people had refrigeration and meat and milk spoiled so quickly that sellers added laundry blueing to milk to make it look more fresh and attractive. Thank God we have laws now preventing such.

[lyman]

When I was very young I was stung by something, probably a wasp. One of my Grandmother's friends took a cigarette, opened it up and packed the loose tobacco on the sting wound. It, like the baking soda absorbed the wasp venom or whatever you want to call it. Decades later my brother was stung and I suggested the cigarette since he smoked. He was amazed how well and quickly it worked.

Blueing I remember. I just don't remember any of my family ever using it. I think we just used bleach. Used to see the bars or tablets in stores for sale. It is still made and used in the tablet form and now the liquid form too.

Watching the History Channel it was mentioned that before people had refrigeration and meat and milk spoiled so quickly that sellers added laundry blueing to milk to make it look more fresh and attractive. Thank God we have laws now preventing such.

go read up on what some ice cream was back in the day,



scary,


I have heard of , but not seen Blueing used,


my Maternal Grandma, when she wasn't doctoring on us (playing on a farm tended to get you bloody or bruised once in a while, ) always went for the Salve first,
not a clue who made it or what it was, guessing some first aid cream that looked almost like Vaseline, (probably a major component of it)
she would dip a finger in the jar, rub it on you and tell you to get back outside,

sometimes if we stubbed a toe etc, it got soaked in turpentine and hot water,

wasp and bee stings??

bee stings were followed by 'I told you to wear shoes'
wasp or hornet, were followed by , ' I told you to leave that nest alone, guessing you will next time'

[PWC]

go read up on what some ice cream was back in the day,



scary,


I have heard of , but not seen Blueing used,


my Maternal Grandma, when she wasn't doctoring on us (playing on a farm tended to get you bloody or bruised once in a while, ) always went for the Salve first,
not a clue who made it or what it was, guessing some first aid cream that looked almost like Vaseline, (probably a major component of it)
she would dip a finger in the jar, rub it on you and tell you to get back outside,

Bag Balm, I bet. Poor old cows would get their udder (bag) scratched, or cut by any number of things. G'pa and G'ma's hands, HARD working hands and fingers would crack open at the joint. Still available in drugstore under other names.

By the way how many kids today know what an "udder" is? Every youngster should learn how to milk a cow and have to reach under an old hen to get her eggs.

[lyman]

Bag Balm, I bet. Poor old cows would get their udder (bag) scratched, or cut by any number of things. G'pa and G'ma's hands, HARD working hands and fingers would crack open at the joint. Still available in drugstore under other names.

By the way how many kids today know what an "udder" is? Every youngster should learn how to milk a cow and have to reach under an old hen to get her eggs.

may have been, not sure, to long ago to remember a brand, and I have vague recollections of the top of the lid being worn, as in no way to read it anyway,


reaching under a het, been there, done that, even my city grandparents (Dad's side) had a hen house,


country grandma would be seen every now and again walking thru the yard, going from the hen house to the corn crib, carrying a black snake or garter by the tail,

she would not kill them, (unless they climbed a tree) but would relocate one so it ate rats and mice vs her eggs

[Allen]

may have been, not sure, to long ago to remember a brand, and I have vague recollections of the top of the lid being worn, as in no way to read it anyway,


reaching under a het, been there, done that, even my city grandparents (Dad's side) had a hen house,


country grandma would be seen every now and again walking thru the yard, going from the hen house to the corn crib, carrying a black snake or garter by the tail,

she would not kill them, (unless they climbed a tree) but would relocate one so it ate rats and mice vs her eggs

My grandparents, the ones who lived where I live now, had chickens. My grandmother would reach under the hens every day for the egg. One day she pulled out a large corn snake. These snakes eat eggs but this one we think was enjoying the warmth under the hen.

[SDigger]

Can still remember the bluing used in the old wash tubs 50’s & recall the name (Reckitts crown Blue) as the product nana used.

[Art]

My mother was born in 1912 and, until age 12 lived on a working cattle ranch. In 1924, when they sold the place, there was no electricity, no gas and no running water, but at least, I understand there was a pump in the kitchen. Obviously my mom was a big fan of the Roosevelt era rural electrification program. When they sold the place and moved to town in 1924 all those amenities became available. There was one heater in the house, a gas unit in the living room. In any other room you adjusted temperature by taking off or adding clothes or covers if you were in bed. There was one of those ancient refrigerators in the kitchen with the motor/compressor on top. The freezer would hold a couple of ice trays and maybe a couple of pork chops. I don't recall a wringer washer in that house but I'm sure there was one at some time. At that time, 1950s & 60s you still saw plenty of wringer washers though and they were usually on a porch; classier people kept them on the back porch . The "drier" for, for any below the upper middle class clothes were clothes lines. Every house I lived in up until I got out of high school had clothes line poles in the back yard. I grew up in southeast Texas and south central Louisiana where the heat in the summer is brutal but we didn't have air conditioning until I was a senior in high school. My father had it better, his family immigrated to the US from France (Alsace) in the 1840s and landed in New Orleans where they stayed so they were the they at least had indoor plumbing and electricity as soon as it became available.

In the late1970s when we moved into the house we're still in the association covenant had a ban on outdoor clotheslines that were visible from the street in any direction....