Pedal Power

Upon my moving from the big city with automatic washers and dryers abound to a rural house with no washing facilities, I proceeded to wash clothes by hand. I mean literally by hand (no wash board) just soap, water, a large galvanized round wash tub, my hands and knuckles, a clothesline, and clothespins. So in essence it was a solar/wind dryer and a manual (boy, was it ever manual!) washer (me). I continued to use this system after moving to the country.

After some searching, we obtained a Maytag wringer washer and ten speed bicycle. The washer was hooked up with a v-belt to the rear wheel of the bike and then to the Maytag. The washer was up a few steps to a porch and the bike was stabilized on the ground in the yard below. I hand dipped all the wash and rinse water from the creek, putting some water in the washer basin and the rest in the tub for rinsing. After putting the clothes in the washer I began pedaling for a half hour or so. Whew!

Pedaling the clothes and water was like going uphill with a “load” of resistance. I did this method for quite some time before I invited my friend to try a spin (lol) at a wash load. After he pedaled one load, all of a sudden we got a battery bank, hooked up to the Maytag motor and low and behold pedal power was a thing of the past, my past, until I am willing to pedal again, but this time on a stationary bike for pedal power producing electricity and recharging batteries.

The one downfall of the washer/bicycle system was its arrangement. The washer was up on the porch and I was below it pedaling, so I was never able to utilize the use of the wringer. I wrung all the laundry by hand until one day a neighbor loaned me her antique wooden wringers. I was so excited and my arms and wrists were equally excited about our new “toy”. Yes, it made washday a lot nicer. I also remember I was doing laundry using my wringer helper when city relatives visited. After displaying my excitement to them about my new toy, the husband said to his wife, “Look how excited that woman is over some old pieces of wood. I don’t ever want to hear you complain about doing laundry with your modern conveniences again”.

I do have some fond memories of washing clothes by pedaling outside. You always knew clothes would never be washed on a rainy day. Yes, I knew I wouldn’t melt in the rain, but still….why take the chance? Pedaling was a good form of exercise and being outside was a nice bonus. It allowed you to be at one with nature while biking and going nowhere was kind of nice in that you didn’t have to plan your trip route.

One day a pigeon visited me perching on the edge of a shed roof close to where I was washing/pedaling. It stayed there for quite a while, so I decided to feed it. I put a biscuit on the ground between me and the shed. The pigeon flew down to eat my offering when my dog decided she wanted in on it too. Poor pigeon few back on the roof and watched us. I proceeded to explain to my dog that the food was for our guest and she quickly backed off. (smart dog). Within moments the pigeon got back to eating her treat while my dog looked on.
That same shed was a spot for a huge hornets nest which became a family tradition for a few years. Tho it was close to me and the bike, the hornets left me alone the following years..

On another stinging subject…..one summer as I was taking down the dried clothes off the solar clothesline, unbeknownst to me, a wasp crawled out of the pants leg of a dried pair of jeans into the pants leg of the pair of jeans I was wearing. Whew, that was a sting I won’t forget.

Ahh…the memories of my first pedal power experiences.