Is there a more agreeable outside activity than hanging out clothes? I'm thinking it that, for sure, it is high on my list. It makes you bend and stretch and take big breaths of fresh air. Nothing smells better than line dried clothes, especially towels. They become like giant fragrant loofahs that can scratch that hard to reach spot in the middle of your back. Breath deep...a smell like no other. They even sell softeners named "Fresh Air." When our sweet friend, Susie, lived in Nebraska we used to talk about the pleasures of scratchy towels and the fresh out-of-doors smelling laundry.
Another advantage is the fact that your whites are whiter without bleach when they are line dried. My line is hidden from the road by a nice bank of rosemary and this morning it overlooks a lake. Bob's follow the hose watering device, Nelson, (brand name) was left on over night and one arm of it's whirligig sprayer got caught in the ivy surrounding the hot tub. It sprayed in one place for part of the night giving us lake side property. Maggie, who thinks she is part Labrador Retriever, had the most wonderful time splashing about, all the time searching for lizards. Nelson looks like a John Deere tractor and is mesmerizing to watch. It's spray arms spin sending water in two large radiuses as it follows the layout of the hose. The rhythmic sound of the water slapping against anything it passes is peaceful much like that of the surf. It is like the feeling you get when you are in the company of a new baby. You are not sure why, but you catch yourself staring and marveling at it's existence.
As I reached to get a clothes pin, I found a beautiful yellow and black striped garden spider perched on the end of the bright red pin, happily sunning it self. After Bob and I watched it for a minute, I removed the clip from the line and sat it on the grass. It only took a second for the spider to head for cover with Maggie watching and ready to pounce. I'm glad that she responds to "Leave it!" She watched in her "curious" pose, her rump in the air and her front paws stretched out in front resembling a stink bug, but with her tail going a mile a minute. The spider escaped by disappearing under the cover of the grass.
You may wonder why I choose to hang out the clothes. It was by choice a few years ago when we first moved out here until the children decided we should have a drier and bought us one for Christmas. You fall into the habit of using it because it is convenient. Years passed and then one day about 3 months ago we smelled something funny and discovered a fire in the drier. Well, I can tell you with great authority that we were like Laural and Hardy. I had a crash course on handling a fire extinguisher and Bob hasn't moved that fast in a very long time. Flames tend to do that to a person. The fire was tamed into submission and Bob and I and the bathroom were covered in whatever compound is in an extinguisher. I will never ever leave home with the drier humming again.
I have always been a little anal about cleaning out and around the drier lint trap and vent. Cleaning underneath the refrigerator has been a priority, as well. Admittedly, I don't have many like priorities, but our dear friend, Eileen, had a bad kitchen fire from the dust and dog hair that had built up under the refrigerator. The motors in both appliances create a magnetic field that pulls the particles toward it. All it takes is a spark from the motor and anything under there is fair game. Sometimes you can prevent it, sometimes you can't. Case in point, our drier in March. At any rate, I find myself enjoying the fresh air and the pleasure of once again hanging out the laundry. We'll buy another drier eventually, (probably when Trisha is here on vacation in July-she will find the clothes line archaic!) But for right now, this pleases us, besides we wouldn't have seen the little spider sunning on the line would we?!
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