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Show J. //25, p.~ Brother Juniper 's l'wo Cents: From time to time we have mentioned our "open-air laundry". If the weather always stayed fair and warm, and i f Joan were able to stay at her desk in her downstair s "office" to cope with requests to use the washing machines, the lavatory, the shower, this would be fine -- but we are at a 5,000 ft elevation and the cold wind does blow, and Joan has work upstai rs to do. The machines are of the wringer type, which means that hands get very cold. Through the kindness of friends we have enough funds to start to put up a shelter for four machines and a shower, plus space to sort the laundry. This shelter will be L-shaped. I t is being built onto the stomGe rooms and around the pump house. The diagmm below will give you an idea of how it will look. Some of the material we have salvaged from other buildings, but the greater part of it l-li11 have to be new. $500 has already been given towards the funds needed to put up and furnish the new wash house, but the wiring, plumbing, shower, water heater and room heater remain to be paid for. The Navajo :families contribute a dollar for a famHy washing to help rri th the upkeep on the machines. This worked out fairly well Hhen we could buy second-hand wringer machines for about the same price as the cost of repairing bu~~t-out motors - family washes sometimes take all day and the women natu~~lly try to get their washing done as fast as possible, and the machines are often overloaded; hence, the burnt-out motors. But it is harder nowadays to f ind second-hand machines, and their price has gone up to $75 , . o 3 o 3 o J and $100. l;ew machi nes cost in the neighborhood of $270. The new building will hold four machines, and we hope that will spread out the loads so the machines will last longer. vlell, there's no charge for hoping! Sunday is a favorite day for washing, as we transport people to Hass, some from over ten miles away. They bring their laundry and make a day of it. There's a little competition involved to see whether Helen's carload or Joan's carload arrive first - whichever does, claims the washing machines for first "go"! One Sunday in June the first people arrived at 9:)0 a.m. for the 11 o'clock service. At about 10:15 a.m. Helen arrived back from Narrow Canyon with about 20 people and their laundry! Except for Nass tLlle, about an hour and a half, the machines were Going continuously until about 7:00 that evening. 1. Toolshop 5. Shower You may wonder about the shower. Out here the clothes dry fast when spread out on the f ence, and after the second or third load comes the request, "Can 1 take a shower?" We have let them use the bathtub on the ground floor, near Joan's office. One night we heard shrieks and laughter, and Joan went down to see what all the noise was about, and 2. Pump house ). fiiachines 4. Wash tub 8. Doors 6. Shelving 7. Wafi~Iter Scale: 11+ " = l' found 5 kids in the bathtub being washed and having a grand time. There won't be room for a tub in the new wash house, but we can manage the shower. Work is proceeding slowly, as the best carpenters have full-time jobs, but two of them have managed a few hours in the evening and on Saturdays. "Stop-press" news! One of our two machines has suffered the same fate as its predecessors - burnt-out motor due to overloading and excessive use. We can only hope and pray that the remaining machine will last at least long enough to inaugurate the new building! And from Joan: Hello ther~once again! And you must blame me for the long lapse in getting out our Messages this year. I've been trying to transfer over 2000 names from unwieldy labels to Addressogmph stencils, and I have to confess that the job would not be done now were it not for ~ very, very wonderful friend in Page, Arizona. Dear Joan Staveley, Director of the Chamber of Commerce in Page, Arizona, please stand up and take a bow! She and her assistant, on their own time, bashed away at those stencils until almost all were done. I can't even express my gratitude! God bless you. I am still working on address corrections, but hope to have them done before thi~ Message is returned from the printer's. My stencils aren't so good because my typewriter is the smaller (Elite) type, but I'm trying! Anyone know of an electric typewriter with Pica type that wants a ~ood home? |
