Washing Machine

A FEW days ago provided one of the few opportunities living in Baltimore allows us to indulge in one of life's little pleasures: hanging out laundry to dry. The rains had let up, Baltimore's famous humidity had dropped, and the clear, dry air provided ideal drying conditions.I've done the family laundry for many years; it's one of the few domestic skills I possess. Laundry is one job I've always been interested in, and many of my early memories are of watching my grandmother do the wash.She had an old wringer washing machine and double laundry tubs, and I used to love to watch her fill the water and throw it into gear, and then I would stand and follow the swirling, pulsing action in the soapy water.

North Calvert Street 2700 block, between 2 and 5:30 p.m. Feb. 13. Garmin GPS stolen from vehicle. North Charles Street 3000 block, between 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Feb. 14. Handicap placard stolen from vehicle. Falls Road 3800 block, between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. Feb. 16. Tan purse with cash, Maryland driver's license, Wells Fargo Bank check book stolen from vehicle. Gilman Terrace 3300 block at 7:50 p.m. Feb. 17. Someone tried to steal motor scooter.

POLICE LOG* Elkridge: 6200 block of Fairbourne Court: A thief cut the lock off a home's shed door and took a washing machine during the weekend. Police said someone cut another shed's door lock during the same period, but nothing was taken.

The production of Caroline, or Change currently running at Center Stage sears the audience's hearts like a hot iron. First, this show pulls and warps the delicate tissue. Then, it leaves a scorch mark. Finally, it burns clean through. And, like all such traumas, there's a slight, delayed reaction before we start to sting. We're so taken by the playfulness of the singing appliances (such as a washing machine, dryer and radio), so entranced by the humor, so swept up by the loveliness of the performers' voices, that we don't notice until the next day, that there is a spot in our hearts that is alive with sensation, and that is tender when pressed.

Keeping the washing machine happy is my responsibility.I care about its innards and its outards. Lately I've even had flashes of interest in its product, clean clothes. My curiosity in the clean-clothes area has been confined to strategic theories of fighting lint.I was recently introduced to the concept of classifying laundry either as "lint giving" or "lint receiving." These two groups must be kept apart.This concept has given me a whole new way of viewing the world. And it keeps me amused in my many idle moments.

It is hard enough to face your birthday without having your house remind you that when old things get old they fall apart. But for me the reminder of the ill effects of aging was right down in the laundry room. The old family washing machine tub had suddenly lost its ability to spin.Birthdays are supposed to be time for celebrating and reflecting, not fixing broken appliances. But pouting about my bad luck wasn't going to get the clothes washed. So I spent part of my birthday tinkering with the washing machine innards.

ROCKVILLE (AP) -- Montgomery County Council member Isiah Leggett has testified that he never had sex with a female former aide who claims he made her his "sex slave." Mr. Leggett offered an alibi for their alleged first encounter."No, sir," Mr. Leggett said Friday when his lawyer, Roger Titus, asked if he had ever had sex or desired sex with Anne Renee Colbert.Ms. Colbert had said they had sex on Aug. 23, 1987, in Mr. Leggett's garage by the washing machine at his Burtonsville home.Mr. Leggett said his washing machine was in his laundry room.

They're called a "dream team" - new leaders in France, Britain and Germany who just might restore greater unity within Europe and with the United States. That lineup has the potential to bring fresh inspiration to stale global problems, even as the U.S. moves closer to choosing its new leader. This has happened in transatlantic relations before. The 1980s was dominated by a new set of leaders: Britain's Margaret Thatcher, Germany's Helmut Kohl, France's Francois Mitterrand and America's Ronald Reagan.

Grasping both the silliness and tragedy of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last week about clean water in Rapanos vs. United States requires some imagination: Imagine you have nine family members and all are home for a holiday. The old washing machine springs a leak. Four family members try to find the leak and patch it up. Four other family members stand around and complain that it wasn't a good washing machine when you bought it in 1972 and that it wasn't fixed properly in 1977. The ninth member of the family can't make up his mind whether he is going to whine or help.

150 years ago in The SunApril 1: Tippett's Centrifugal Steam Washing Machine -- The inventor of this ingenious piece of machinery yesterday drew up his carriage in front of our office and after getting the steam up commenced exhibiting the work of the apparatus to quite a large concourse of citizens. It looked as if clean clothes could be ground out of it with considerable rapidity.100 years ago in The SunApril 1: The rumor was spread yesterday that the committee having the selection in charge had decided upon the lot at the corner of Charles Street and Mount Royal Avenue on one side and Maryland Avenue and Oliver Street on the other as a site for the new armory for the Fifth Regiment.

They're called a "dream team" - new leaders in France, Britain and Germany who just might restore greater unity within Europe and with the United States. That lineup has the potential to bring fresh inspiration to stale global problems, even as the U.S. moves closer to choosing its new leader. This has happened in transatlantic relations before. The 1980s was dominated by a new set of leaders: Britain's Margaret Thatcher, Germany's Helmut Kohl, France's Francois Mitterrand and America's Ronald Reagan.

One of the perks of this column is the chance to try out electronic gadgets -- especially during the holidays, when gadget shopping reaches the frenzy stage. After all these years, however, it takes a pretty good gadget to get my attention. Here are a couple that passed the test this year because (a) they solve real, if not terribly important, problems, and (b) they're fun to use. By coincidence, each costs $299, which seems to be a popular limit for impulse-buying these days. Verizon G'zOne Type-V Rugged Phone.

Grasping both the silliness and tragedy of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last week about clean water in Rapanos vs. United States requires some imagination: Imagine you have nine family members and all are home for a holiday. The old washing machine springs a leak. Four family members try to find the leak and patch it up. Four other family members stand around and complain that it wasn't a good washing machine when you bought it in 1972 and that it wasn't fixed properly in 1977. The ninth member of the family can't make up his mind whether he is going to whine or help.

How best to describe Dizzy Issie's, an agreeably ramshackle bar and restaurant wedged onto a corner of Remington Avenue and 30th Street, near Johns Hopkins? Perhaps a partial listing of the decor will paint a picture. Downstairs, customers will find two extremely worn barbershop chairs, a Charlie McCarthy doll suspended near the front door, plastic hearts dangling in the windows, and Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe. The ceilings are stamped tin, painted a rust color, the floors are gray linoleum.

A common college dilemma: You're down to your last T-shirt and need to do laundry. But the only idle machine has a load of wet clothes in it, the owner of which is nowhere to be found. Do you take the clothes out of the washer, grabbing a mysterious lump that potentially contains gym shorts, old socks and who knows what? Or do you sit and wait? That problem may go the way of the VCR at Goucher, Villa Julie and other colleges that have replaced coin-operated washers and dryers with swipe-card models that send students an e-mail when their load is done.

When it opens a $19.5 million research and training institute in South Baltimore today, the National Federation of the Blind hopes to usher in a new era of empowerment for the blind -- training more teachers of blind children, offering new employment programs and reversing a decline in the use of Braille. The institute, a 170,000- square-foot structure of brick and seafoam glass next to the federation's national headquarters, will house math and science summer camps where blind teen-agers will learn from National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists.

Who says your shoes have to match? Not the Majorcan shoe company Camper, which features a funky line of asymmetrical footwear called Twins. These shoes are perfect couples, different yet complementary. For example, a pair of flip-flops pictures whole fruit on the bottom of one shoe and halved fruit on the other, or a pair has a design or phrase that carries from one shoe to the other (She loves me ... She loves me not.) If you're tired of scuffing about in the same plain summer sandals, these are sure to add a surprise to your wardrobe.

It could have been me.That's the first thing that came to mind when I read about a guy named Guy who was arrested in Chippewa Falls, Wis., for shooting his washing machine.Seems old Guy got in some kind of a beef with the machine, which escalated to the point where he pushed it down a flight of stairs, into the driveway, pulled out a gun and shot it three times.The story didn't say what the spat was over, who started it, what condition the washer is in or if this type of thing goes on a lot in Chippewa Falls.

I have a recurring nightmare: I'm leaving on a big trip, and I haven't finished packing. I need to do a load of laundry, water the plants, eat something and take a shower. I don't know where my binoculars are, and I forgot to get cash. The clock is ticking; my boss calls; the cab comes. I wake in tangled sheets. It's surprising that I should be so haunted, because I'm an experienced traveler and by nature organized. I rarely forget anything important. Still, the more you travel, the easier it is to get blase.

They're the household equivalent of slouching and chewing with your mouth open. They're bad home habits, things we do without a second thought. Unlike elbows on the table, though, these bad habits could harm more than our images. They could jeopardize our homes, possessions and even our lives. With the help of a few professionals who have to deal regularly with the consequences of our boneheadedness, we've compiled a list of some of the worst home habits. A few are habits you might not have realized were potential problems.