For 34 years this Maytag washer has kept clean cloths on my family. Well truth be told my better half and her partner Maytag have. And for this I say thanks and lament at the same time how things now just aren’t built to last like this anymore. I also think about the link to our family these represent. My mother and father in-law got these for us when we moved into our first home. My mom got the fridge for us which just went up after 31 years a short while ago.
They don’t make them like they used to, Maytag on the right.
Photo by Mike Hartley
Can you imagine that. Appliances that last 30-40 years. Hell I got a LG refrigerator (one of the “good ones”) and it lasted 2 1/2 years. What a piece of CRAP that was. But back to good old Maytag. We had to replace her this past week. I think I could almost hear the drier in pain in losing its old partner. And just like some older couples I don’t expect her to survive long after he bit the dust.
You should have seen the shock of the guys that came to haul the old one away and deliver the new one. They first said this is an oldie, but then they went right into guessing how old it was. The first guess was 20 years old. The second was 23 and when I told them 34 they were like in awe of it. One of these young boys actually said “good old steel”.
I’m told now that Maytag is built by Whirlpool. It almost caused me to look elsewhere but in truth, that brand of appliances have done us well also so we stuck with a Maytag as a new purchase. I really hope it does last as long because at that age I’ll be retired hopefully and won’t have the funds to replace it.
Comment – Something special happened last week. A thing that I can remember happening a lot in my youth. Olympic Events would sometimes bring society to a halt completely. And that happened at the Ravens football game when Michael Phelps swam for gold and won, big surprise there. They stopped an NFL game for this. Yeah it was a preseason game. But it was kind of special in the sense that it took me back in time when the Olympics really meant something more to the people who weren’t participating. Because we all know it means the same thing to the athletes that it did long ago. There was an excitement. There was a specific time that the event was being broadcast. Everyone was at the screen.
Sport is something that has flooded society. With technology sports have exploded to the point where we are saturated with them and that has dulled the Olympic spirit somewhat I feel. Yes I see where exposure to sports we never saw in our youth watching the Olympics because the broadcast was one channel not the 6-7 I see on my cable system (I’m sure you can get more). It wasn’t on all day long like they do now. Hell you had to get the schedule from the newspaper. You got together in groups to catch the action. Now its all individually streamed or on demand or on one of a dozen channels that is also rerun a few times a day so you can catch it when you can.
I can remember if you were in a store that the TV section would be standing room only watching it. People would just come to a stop and listen to a radio call of it if not in front of a TV.
No more groups of 10-20 people around a living room TV that was no bigger than most computer screens now. Yelling and screaming at the same time during a victory. No more of the air being sucked out of the room when your country’s competitor didn’t do as well. No more reliving those moments together.
Yes its wonderful to see these things now in abundance and around the clock. But the experience has changed for many of us. One of many UNIFYING experiences our society doesn’t get to experience anymore.
I was on 16th street in DC this morning. Not the best place given that Metro is trying out its new door to door service. And they say they have problems with trains. Here’s hoping nobody was hurt.
Accident on 16th Street NW this morning.
Photo by Mike Hartley
Holy crap, am I about to comment on politics? Well being this post lead off with things in the wash.- Why would anyone be surprised that Trump might be a bad loser when he is such and ungracious winner.
- I’m convinced the Republican party will not recover from this election for many years. They could have had my vote this year if they ran someone like Kasich up the flag pole. But I will never align myself with party that can’t speak up when something this wrong happens.
- Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been looking for someone else besides HRC also.
August 15, 2016 at 5:34 PM
I run into the same down here in Fla. I will come across water heaters that some how lasted 30 plus years. Todays water heaters are much more efficient, come with a 6 year warranty, some are available with longer warranties but I have replaced many heaters that do not even make it through the 6 years they are warrantied for. In many cases the owner is responsible for the re-installation charges, yes they get a new heater from the manufacturer but are stuck with a couple hundred dollar install fee. This does not cover any of the cost to damage that water may create. I also enjoyed many years of factory a/c in my GT Mustang, in fact over 20 years. We live in a throw away society, in the beginning of my plumbing career the focus on most of the plumbing repairs were just that, you repaired the components and today, you advise the client that in most cases the parts are not readily available so you install a new one.
Thank you for the photos of the storm damage in Ellicott City, I one worked at the bottom of the giant hill at a little gas station, and went to Jr. high school there. Keep up the with the great photos and your views on this and that. Take a picture of that new hot rod you just got. Perhaps I may bring my hot rod up and we can line them up, let the smoke show begin.
Thanks, Scott
Scott Briggs 772-461-3833 home 772-708-9749 cell