Clothes-Dryer Blues

Can you tell where I spent some time yesterday afternoon? My shadow hasn’t darkened the door of such a place for many, many years, as I had no need to go there. That changed on Tuesday when my clothes-dryer took a negative turn and went kaput. Wouldn’t you know it, we’re currently in a rainy spell, too, preventing the hanging of laundry outdoors on the clothesline. There are lines in the basement, but its damp down there, making for a poor drying environment.

Yesterday over lunch, Husband mentioned that he needed some items from the Farm & Fleet store at Cedar Falls. The gears in my mind began to work. I had three baskets of wet laundry sitting in the basement……maybe we could take them along to Cedar Falls and find a laundromat. I checked the phone book, but could find no listings for laundromats in CF. Then I did a Google search and found the address of one right near the route to Farm & Fleet. Good deal.

When I was growing up, all the small towns in our area had laundromats, but they don’t anymore. I recall going with my mom to the one in Dunkerton a few times, probably when our washer was on the blink. This laundromat in Cedar Falls yesterday was clean and well-cared-for. Husband helped carry the laundry in and then he went on to Farm & Fleet. The laundromat manager was the only one in the premises; she was polishing the tops of washing machines. She showed me how to operate the dryers……25 cents for each 8 minutes of drying time. I filled three dryers with laundry and pressed the buttons to start the clothes a-tumbling.

The manager and I chatted for awhile……she was very talkative and interesting. She told me about her house being ruined in the flood last summer, and moving into a newly-built home just a few weeks ago. The FEMA trailer she and her husband had lived in for many months was being removed from their property on this very day! She talked about the frustrating mix-ups and rigamarole they had dealt with in the flood’s aftermath, while trying to get needed help. At some point, I mentioned the old laundromat that used to be in Dunkerton and she nodded and said yes she remembered it, too, and she was quite sure it had succombed to the flood of 1993 when Crane Creek invaded Dunkerton’s downtown.

Our conversation waned when another customer came in. I sat down to read and soon discovered that the laundromat is a perfect place for that and wished I could spend the whole afternoon there. The droning hum of the washers and dryers was relaxing, almost hypnotic.

At some point, two men came in, filled and started two washing machines, and then left again. The manager and another woman customer talked for quite awhile…..about cemeteries, surgeries, and families who don’t eat supper together. The manager also mentioned an upcoming trip she was planning to another town where she would most definitely stop and see the “laundry-mat”, as she called it.

I enjoyed reading my book about the four forces of nature: gravity, electromagnetism, and strong and weak nuclear forces. (Go ahead and think I’m nuts, but this stuff is really interesting.) These four forces work together in perfect balance to keep the universe running. The relationship between these forces is “so finely tuned as to allow for things to be just as they are, from the smallest to the largest objects, governed by laws that keep things in a cohesive state. One minor tweak and it would be utter chaos.” Fascinating, eh?! One minor tweak…….

Later, when Husband and I were driving along in rush hour traffic in Cedar Falls and Waterloo, I was thinking of what an alien being would see if he were gazing down on the city from high up above. He would see the lines of traffic, flowing in an organized manner. He might wonder, “How does that happen? How does it all stay organized?” Over time, if he studied the situation more closely and deeply, he would discover that there are laws governing the way the traffic moves. Just as scientists have learned about the laws of nature over the centuries.

In this next photo are tools near and dear to my heart……my laundry baskets!! (I had to be discreet and keep a low profile while taking these photos. I didn’t want the manager to see me using the camera. What kind of person would take pictures in a laundromat??)

Too soon, my laundry loads were dry and ready to be folded. By then, Husband had returned and he helped fold the towels and clothes…….that has got to be a first!!

Our disabled dryer at home will not be repaired until late NEXT week. Oh, my. I hope the sun comes out pretty soon or I may be making another trip to this laundromat, which I probably wouldn’t mind at all, considering the pleasant time I enjoyed there yesterday.

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A nice surprise was in the mailbox when we arrived home…..the bars of goats’ milk soap I had ordered recently from http://anniesgoathill.blogspot.com/, in Ohio. Unless Mary is putting on a huge pretension as she writes her blogposts, it is apparent she dearly loves making goats’ milk soap. Her shop must smell heavenly, because these soaps have lovely scents and are making my house smell wonderful!

Have a great day!

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P.S. - If you decide to leave a comment.....please mention when you last were in a laundromat.

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