When I was little my dad's parents didn't have indoor plumbing. In order to have water, you'd have to lower a long water tube down their well from a pulley and rope. The echo of the tube hitting the water is still fresh in my mind; never heard that sound after they got indoor plumbing many years later. You'd pull the tube out of the well and over to the bucket, pull the release voila a fresh bucket of cold water. Grandma D. had a little cabinet just inside the back door where the bucket sat and above it hung the water dipper. A water dipper was an enamel cup with a long, long handle which everyone used for drinking, even our city cousins. Yes, we all drank from the same dipper - not a glass, just that dipper without regard to germs. I don't remember us being sicker than people are today. Just a great tasting drink of water.
OK, back to the dishes. Grandma D. had two galvanized pans that she would place on the table because she didn't have cabinets, just a couple of pie safes. One held hot soapy water and the other was empty where she would place the dishes to rinse. She'd pour hot boiling water from the teakettle over each dish, moving them around until she covered each dish. Not a drop of water wasted. I wonder how many dishes had soap residual on them.....?? I could write a book about Grandma D. and how much she meant to me.
My mom's parents on the other hand, had indoor plumbing as far back as I can recall. Grandma T. had a large white farm sink and the back when up the back of the wall where the faucets were. I can only imagine how many people would pay big money to have that sink today. Grandma T. had a dishwasher, but not the kind you would think....Grandpa! In fact my mom said that her mother retired as it were when she was 50 letting others take care of her but that is another story.
Mom had 5 dishwashers, wait..only 4 since I don't ever remember my brother washing a dish. We had two pans just like my Grandma D. only we didn't pour the water over the dishes to rinse, we had a sink, and we could get hot water from the faucet, but water was a precious commodity for us, too (again another story). We had a pan of clean rinse water where we would dip each dish before placing it in the dish drainer. Do you remember how high we could stack those dishes before we dried them? I was champ at piling dishes in the drainer. If we were really sly we could let them drain until they dried on their own.
During the first year of my marriage someone gave us a portable dishwasher. It was already an older model, but since we didn't have one we thought we had gotten a real prize. The wooden top would have been handy for chopping, but we never used it for that. It opened from the top and you would have to remove the top rack to load the plates. Then you'd have to roll it over the sink and hook up the hose to the faucet. The dishes may or may not be clean - just like gambling every time you started it. That thing was the biggest waste of space in our tiny house. Needless to say, it lasted about two months.
For years I have been using a built-in dishwasher. Never want to get rid of it, but every once in a while when not all dishes will fit I am forced to relax a little with my hands in warm soapy water, a lot cheaper than Zoloft or therapy and I feel like I have accomplished something.
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