Nature or Nurture

[rinso]

Do you know what may have started your interest in appliances and household equipment? I'd like to hear from fellow appliance affecionados to see if there is some sort of common link that may have triggered the interest. Of course, it may just be that we were all born this way.

 

[DADoES]

All's I know is, my mother claims I've been hooked since the time I was left for babysitting at the paternal grandparents, and the (step)grandmother held me up to take a look at the 1957 Whirlpool Imperial while it was running.

 

[pulsator]

My mom tells me that our 80's BD Whirlpool used to put me to sleep when I was a newborn. I guess the whining and sloshing are just comforting, that's the way I feel now, if I am scared or unhappy or something, watchin a washer vid makes it all better!!!

 

[lavamat_jon]

Same as Jamie- my mum used to sit me in front of our square door Hoover, and I used to fall asleep while watching it (this would have been at the tender age of 1 or so). Of course I soon woke up in the loud spin cycle those machines had . Been crazy about washers, laundry, and other appliances ever since!!

Jon

 

[toggleswitch]

I'd love to know if it is in some sort of common-thread in our astrological charts.

The other "nature vs. nurture" common-thread & common-bond, that seems to pertain to many of us here, can also be seen in astrological charts.

 

[rinso]

I'm a Saggitarius myself. I think I've always had the predisposition for my interest in appliances. I can remember laundry day (Monday) and my mother washing in our Maytag wringer washer next to the two rinse tubs. Clothes were hung in the basement in the winter or outside in the summer. I can still smell the clean smell of detergent and bleach permeating the house. After having my pelvic region injured when I fell out of a moving car with a defective door latch, I had frequent bedwetting accidents until my teens. I know, I know, TMI. But my parents were very understanding and mom taught me how to take care of the ensuing laundry that resulted. I was so humiliated and embarrassed, I think doing the laundry gave me a cathartic feeling I still experience to this day.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Well I'm Aquarius - which is the water star sign... maybe a link there

 

[agiflow]

I was very young also when my interest started, about 1yrs. old.
I still remember pushing a chair next to my mom's KM 60 series machine and climbing up to get an "aerial" view of the machine washing. I fell off the chair and nearly bit my tongue completely off. OUCH!!!

That didn't deter me though from having a fascination though. To me the sounds of a bd whirlymore bring me back to those very early times.

Pat

 

[jaxsunst]

I don't remember a time that I wasn't facinated with watching the washer. But, I am also facinated with all mechanical automated devices. My second love is old jukeboxes.

 

[foraloysius]

Another Saggitarius here!

 

[geextrarinse]

Grandma started it all!

I too was of the variety that my parents would work and so i went to my grandma's to be bbabysat - she didn't have too many toys so she said - come down stairs while I wash a load of clothes - you can help. Her '64 GE didn't have a lid switch so I could watch everything if i promised to close the lid for the spin cycle. I loved going to grandma's and weather I slept over and had clothes to wash the next mornning or she'd just give me some towels to keep me busy - it was great.

Now the sounds of a GE make me so very comfortable and remind me of a much easier time. This is why I also think I collect Vintage Christmas ornaments. They also remind me of Christmases which are far less dramatic and far more magical than today...

 

[bosch2460]

I cant ever remember a time when i didnt love washing machines. My mom has pictures of me when i was barely 2 years old watching our old green Whilpool Imperial. One of my first words was "agitator". Guess that sould have tipped someone off a long time ago...... Anyway, I used to get lost in stores cause I would sneak off and look at the washers......got my ass beat a lot in Sears. lol. Washing to this day gives me comfort....and ok ya'll........I love my Bosch, But there is nothing more soothing than to hear a belt drive washer just chugging away. I dont care if its a Whirlpool, Hotpoint, Filter Flo, or on old center dial Maytag. As i sit here and type, I can still hear each one........

 

[bostonwash]

I had a toy box on wheels that was shaped like a miniature washer the neighbors gave me. It was painted gray and had a piece of cove molding at the back on top that made a quint little control panel. The top opened like a washer lid too. The neighbors and made it out of plywood. it was painted all typed of wierd striped water colors which I discovered easily washed off. I washed all down to the gray base accept for 3 small "buttons" on the "control panel". One was green, one yellow and one red. This was symbolize cold, warm and hot. I even put on a piece of rubber hose about 3 feet long and put a piece of stiff wire on the inside and bent the rubber into a hook end to make it look like a washer drain hose. I must have been 6 or 7.
I am a water sign I think it may be an astological thing as I was also interested in the dishwasher and the workings of the fishtank and water softner and even the rain gutter downspouts.

We should all be grateful we are acknowledging our interest and not in washing machine denial. Yes, tell your neighbors and friends to let there washing machine interests out of the closet. Even if there washer is in the basement or garage.

 

[geextrarinse]

I'm a Cancer - a water sign

and I too was always fascinated by water! - I loved Fish tanks - I had 8 - Swiming Pool Filters, Sump Pumps, and Yes even played with the water from the rain gutters too! Also the Dishwasher and Garbage Disposal, could replumb or just fiix any broken toilet and one christmas my sister got a drum set - by the next spring I had taken the bass drum and turned it on its side, ripped off one of the sides and filled it with the hose, next I put an old agitator in and whatever towels from the pool I had lyinng around - next thing -we were all doing a wash!

Maybe it is the water signs...

 

[westytoploader]

I can't remember a time when I didn't like washers, dishwashers, or vacuums either.

As soon as I was tall enough, I would stand and watch our White-Westinghouse top-loader through wash and rinse, and try to force the lid open (which would cause a buzzing sound) during spin so I could get a peek of that as well. I was excited when we bought a new washer and dryer...a "Plastic GE" set! This was 1996...couldn't wait for school to end (I was in 1st grade) so I could check it out! I couldn't believe that it agitated so fast, that the top part of the agitator only went in one direction, and that the tub didn't move around during wash. I also remember pushing the "springy" start button on our WCI Montgomery Ward gas dryer, and pushing the door switch in so I could watch the clothes tumble around. Although they didn't get dry that way!!! Our Jenn-Air (GE design) dishwasher was another object of interest, and I would constantly spin the spray arms and listen to it while it was running...I remember hearing the drain valve "pop". When I was 10, the plastic GE washer gave up the ghost rather early, and we bought a Kenmore. Finally, a machine where I didn't have to put my finger in the switch to watch! Although I had become used to seeing a Dual-Action agitator, I always wondered why it didn't neutral drain after you lifted the lid and interrupted it...it went into spin instead...that interesting DD transmission. I was too young for anyone in our family to have a 1-18 though so I don't remember any Jet Action!

I posted the vacuum story with the red & blue Eurekas in another thread in the Sandbox, so everyone pretty much knows that one!

 

[westytoploader]

As for my "sign", I'm a Virgo. Don't think it has anything to do with my obsession...LOL

 

[DADoES]

I am a water sign. Wasn't fully cognizant of it 'til I checked just now.

 

[spankomatic]

My first memory of a washing machine was when I was 3 years old. My mother had me sitting on top of the whirlpool washer when she started it. The phone rang and she left me sitting on top of the washing machine. I started unscrewing the agitator as it was going (lucky I did not fall in. I liked them ever since.

 

[toggleswitch]

Hi Jim!

See..... and I don't remember the first agitator I touched.
Did the machine progress to the spin cycle?
That may explain a few things...

My first word was said to be the Greek word "BRIZA" (outlet).
[BTW ==> Seems this word was "borrowed" from French/Italian and or Spanish.] Brits would know this as a power-point.

This is a word most Greek-Americans (such as my parent's friends) did not know. They kept asking what I was saying.....

Ddouble-entendres even at that age.. LOL