Montgomery Ward 1914…and a Story…

We found this Montgomery Ward sewing machine at a private thrift store awhile back. (Yes, I am behind in my sewing machine repair.) We asked if she had any sewing machines, and she did, but she said it did not have a foot control.

I figured out what connection it needed, and ordered a foot control for it.

It took me awhile for find a manual that would work for it, as I could not find the exact model, but finally found one online that would work, in a pdf format to download and print.

I have had it for awhile, and finally got it out to work on. I heard something rattling and rolling around in the bottom. Oh oh! Oh, never fear…it was only the retractable spool pin. The plastic piece that holds the clip in place was broken, and it fell all the way through. I removed the bottom of the machine and retrieved it, but it couldn’t be re-attached, so I took a plastic spool pin out to hubby’s shop and ground a little off it all the way around on the bottom and pushed it into the spool pin hole. The only problem with that, is that it will have to be removed before the handle of the machine can be used. Small price to pay, I guess.

It does sew some pretty nice stitches.

So I have a little story to tell about the day we picked up this machine. The store was along a busy street with no parking in front. We didn’t want to park in back of the store, as it was attached to an alley, and I didn’t feel real comfortable with the neighborhood. There was a SHELL gas station very near, like practically right next door, so we parked in the lot, next to the building, on the side, away from the pumps. Louie went inside to buy a Diet Rite Soda, but they didn’t have any. (We wanted to buy something since we were parking in their lot.)

When we found the sewing machine, we did not have any cash, and she did not take debit or credit cards, or checks. Louie walked back to the SHELL station to withdraw cash from the ATM machine IN THE SHELL STATION. He came back, paid for the machine, and we walked back across the SHELL station lot to our van. There was a SHELL fuel delivery truck parked right behind us, blocking us in and not allowing us to move from our parking space.

(Not actual truck)

This truck had JUST pulled in, but he saw us walking across the lot, and not coming out of the store. I said, ‘Oh oh’, and he said, in a NOT very nice voice, ‘THAT’S why the sign says PARKING FOR SHELL CUSTOMERS ONLY’.

Louie told him that he indeed had gone into the store and he WAS a customer, and had used the ATM machine. He never said another word, but proceeded to uncover the hole in the cement to start filling the gas storage tanks. He could have backed up a very small way and let us out, but he chose NOT to.

We sat in the van and we never said another word to him. We ran the van to stay cool with the air conditioner, and we just waited. I messed with my phone, and so did Louie. A couple times, I looked to see what he was doing, and he was standing at the rear of his truck, leaning on it, and STARING at us. I looked again after about 10 minutes, and the pumps were removed, but he still did not let us out. OH I see! He was now filling the storage tanks on the OTHER side of his truck. Ok. So I looked another time or two, and he was at his post again, just staring at us. FINALLY, after 30 minutes, he was finished, and he backed up his truck about 6 foot so we could leave.

I hope he felt like a BIG man, and I hope he got a lot of satisfaction out of punishing us. I guess he thought we needed to be taught a lesson, and I guess we learned that lesson.  I just KNOW he wanted us to argue with him, and make a big deal of it, but we refused, so I guess his little plan backfired!

I hope he slept well that night after showing such negative behavior. We slept great, by not playing his game. We decided he was definitely not a happy person, or he could have handled that situation a whole lot differently.