The Great Depression and Two De-Icers

                                Glad to Be Trained by a Depression-Era Mother and Grandma
        My maternal grandparents, Calvin Callcayah and Gladys Rainey Smith, were young adults with a preschooler when the stock market crashed in 1929. The childhoods of my parents were imprinted indelibly by the Great Depression. How unfathomable that my paternal grandparents, Edmund, Sr. and Mamie Tripp Gates, were faced with providing for six children when, as my third graders loved to say, “The Dirty 30s” struck the families in the Bend mercilessly!
       Seeing value in every item on the farm, no matter how old or used, was the norm in our multi-generational household. My grandmother, Gladys Smith, warned on a regular basis, “Take care of that. You will be without someday.” Mother never verbalized this dire prediction but, as my sister characterizes, she gets the “goody” out of everything.
       Fast forward 45 years - In December of 2017, my clumsiness got the heating element of the livestock water tank red de-icer on its cord, compromising its electrical safety. Chagrined at my mistake, I headed to Fairfax Feed Store and purchased a replacement. Under the influence of the Great Depression mindset, I stored the damaged red de-icer in a bag on a shelf on the enclosed back porch.
      Usually, I “dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s” - yet another faux pas. I never  cleaned and put away the “new” blue de-icer cleaned as the winter ended. When I realized my blunder, my primary focus was getting water run in the tank before the freezing weather of this winter was predicted to begin.The blue de-icer, that had not been cleaned and stored, thankfully worked…until the cold blast of February of 2019. Early that February morning, in a single-digit wind chill, I discovered the blue de-icer was cold as ice!

The older red de-icer now back in service.

         As I trudged up the incline to the house, I remembered my depression-era actions of June, about seven months earlier. In that summer month, as I cleaned the shelf of the back porch, I removed the older red de-icer. I thought, Now is the time to either throw this away or try to remedy its problem. I sat down and began encasing the damaged cord of the red de-icer in carefully-wrapped electrical tape. I surveyed the repaired cord of the de-icer, as this thought pervaded my mind, This might bail me out in an emergency. 
        As soon as I ate breakfast that bitterly cold February morning, I zipped down to the stock tank, gripping the “emergency” old red de-icer. I unplugged the inoperable blue de-icer. With painfully cold hands, I cut awkwardly the recycled old baling twine that held the cord of it securely. To get perspective on the icy cold atmosphere, I recalled stories Hubert Hutchens told of welding on the North Slope of Alaska. Those thoughts of Hube's endurance and my audible prayers warmed me as I tested the old red de-icer. Instantly, it heated! As I breathed a prayer of thanks to the Lord, I attached securely the cord of the old, but restored red de-icer using saved and repurposed bale twine from the days Tim Gates, my cousin, baled Dad’s hay.
         Plodding back to the house, I reasoned within myself, I’ll just put this useless blue de-icer on the back porch and throw it away after I warm up. Ironically, the next day, while it snowed, I reread the manual of the newer, but inoperable blue de-icer. A tiny spark of hope sprung up in my mind. Maybe I should try to clean the coil of the heating element. I collected some old rags and procured once-used, cleaning vinegar from Mother. (She periodically runs six cups of Heinz white vinegar through her coffee maker as maintenance to counteract the high lime content from our water. She recycles the cleaning vinegar.) After soaking the rags in vinegar, I wrapped the heating element in those pungent recycled strips of old towels and left it in an old metal dishpan for several hours. Late in the day, I unwrapped the coils of the heating element and rubbed them thoroughly of lime buildup.

The cleaned heating element of the newer blue
 de-icer

        The next morning, I grabbed the cold blue de-icer with clean coils and decided to test it while Mother prepared the old-fashioned oatmeal. What a sense of satisfaction and success when the newer blue de-icer (bound for the garbage) readily became super-hot! Now I once again had a spare de-icer – thanks to the persistent training of my grandma and mother!

Listen to your father who gave you life; don't despise your elderly mother. Proverbs 23:22 (CEB)

         Frequently, generational differences create clashes in approaches to problem solving, spending money, and making life decisions. No matter the generation label society attaches to us, foundational godly principles for a productive, healthy life that positively impacts those we love remain timeless. They span all ages, embracing every age group, creating a strong bond of love, support and nurture for each one - from the youngest to the oldest.