Here’s a funny example of a commodity in a barter economy.
I posted the apology below, and then went the sink where a bunch of stump socks were soaking. I wear thick wool socks on the stump of my left leg, and they must be changed daily and they must be kept clean or I get sores you don’t want to hear about. So I hand-wash them regularly to ensure a good supply in every weather. But the water here is very hard. My stump socks haven’t been machine-washed in soft water for over a year. They’re not one of the sensual joys of my life.
My neighbors D&L, as I have mentioned, are building a big straw bale/earth bag house. They’ve been working on it for years, and will move in this year. And so they recently installed appliances like their water heaters, and a big-ass water softener. I helped them move their washing machine into their new laundry room just a few weeks ago, and may have mentioned in passing that while hot showers in soft water must be nice, what would be absolutely heavenly would be clean sweatshirts and stump socks.
So this morning I’m elbow-deep in wash water when my cellphone rings. “Hey, Joel! Why don’t you bring your sweatshirts over tomorrow morning, around eight? And while you’re waiting, I’m planning to pull the shop stovepipe down and clean it…”
Sold, a bargain.
Oh, I’m so glad for you! I washed in incredibly hard water most of my life, and know what it does to underwear! And regular “softener” doesn’t help a whole lot either.
We used to make soft water by adding plain ole sodium hexametaphosphate (fun to say and the principal ingredient in Calgon water softener) to the wash/rinse water which allowed us to use hippie-friendly soap flakes instead of Gaia-hating detergent. We bought it from a chemical supply house via snailmail as there weren’t no internet then. The minerals precipitate out as a gray sludge in the bottom of the basin. Works good to minimize scaling in boilers, too. Sorry, don’t remember amount needed or price.
OT, please be diligent in yer cataract/glaucoma treatment. I was sightless for a while and, though no fun, it was surprisingly less sucky than I expected. The intertube has enough grumpy old guys with poor vision and I’m already filling that position so you don’t have to do it. Hang in there.