Cindy, You didn't sound like you were complaining. I just thought I'd take the opportunity to tease you a bit. I remember my grandmother had a ringer washer, but I don't remember much about it. It was just one of those oddities stuck back in a corner of the back porch. I'm not even sure why she still had it. No, Karen would not like having to use a washboard or ringer washer. Neither would I for that matter. Things sure are different now. I had a interview with GE's appliance division year before last to write softmware for their washers, dryers, and refrigerators. Gerald -----Original Message----- From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Cindy Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2005 8:39 PM To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bksvol-discuss] OT: Descriptions and the old days Oh, dear. I didn't mean to sound as if I were complaining. I was reminiscing about life before all these technological changes. I am in awe every time I send a fax. It amazes me that that something on a piece of paper can go through the air and end up somewhere else on another piece of paper. Somehow I find that stranger than that a voice can travel across wires or, now with cell phones, air, and reach another person's ears. Just think, Gerald, if your wife had to do laundry with a washboard and sink (for those of you to young to have ever seen or felt a washboard, it was/is a rippled piece of metal, as I recall, bounded by wood, probably two feet by four or larger? I'm not very good at measurements. I googled and found pictures of them of various sizes; apparently there are washboard bands nowadays). Or a ringer washer? When I lived in a rented house in Minnesota in my single days all we had was a wringer washer. I didn't get my breasts caught between between the wringers, as in a Stephen King short story (something was caught --maybe breasts are an urban legend) but I did carelessly get my hand caught. Fortunately I wasn't hurt. For those of you who have never experienced a wringer washer, it's a washtub on the top of which, attached by metal standards, are two rollers, made of wood or perhaps something softer (I've been looking at pictures online to refresh my memory -- Ours were wood, I think). One fed the clothes through the wringers to squeeze out the water before hanging clothes on the clothes line. Originally the wringers were operated by turning a handle by hand; then they advanced to being operated by electricity, pushing a button. I seem to remember ours was the former, but it was a long time ago. I suspect the phrase, "I've feel as if I've been put through the wringer" originated from that. Cindy __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/