I'm checking in here with a cold, jet-lag, and a serious case of feeling like the high grass, weeds, laundry, and general post-vacation disorder are going to do me in.
I didn't tell you we were going anywhere, because here at chez Casa Maison LMLD we try to be aware that bad guys could stalk us and steal our very identities, not to mention our valuable thrifted spray-painted articles, while we are gone.
They would be sadly mistaken to try, because our house is actually like a kind of booby-trapped bunker run by special forces gurus, with high-powered automatic weaponry and attack dogs ready to rip you to pieces if you threaten us.
But we still take ordinary precautions like not announcing on social media that we are about to vacate the premises.
The rest of you should do likewise.
Please stop telling all your “friends” that your husband is going far away to unreachable regions and that you are alone with the baby. It makes Auntie Leila nervous.
Fortunately, just before we left for Ireland (which I will work on telling you all about, because it's kind of a funny story — when I feel a bit better), I asked the Chief to put up the drying line posts he had so kindly made me when we first moved here, over a decade ago.
Shortly after we moved in and he made them, I realized that there wasn't a good place to put them. The yard is either too wet underfoot most of the time (we live on the side of a hill with a high water table — there are ponds above us), too close to stupid pines that shed dirty needles, too close to pear trees that harbor pooping birds, or too far from the washer.
I agonized over this issue for years. I cursed myself for putting sheets in the dryer on sunny hot days. I missed my handy clothesline in our old house like crazy.
Just before we left I decided that I just have to have a clothesline or bust. He looked awfully crestfallen at the idea of ditching the posts and getting one of those umbrella lines, so I resigned myself to the fact that next to the asparagus bed is the only place for them.
I will have to wear Wellies in the spring, and birds are still going to be a problem, but it just has to be.
So today I put out my first real loads of clothes, and I'm happy despite feeling like my head is going to explode.
Hanging laundry is just great therapy on a dry July day.
And for today's link I want to show you a sweet basement drying line that fills my make-do soul with warmth. If you have a nice dry basement (naturally, I do not), you should work something like this out, and do check out the shelves and whitewashed walls in the background as well. Thanks, Heather at Beauty That Moves and Simple Green Frugal Co-op!
womanofthehouse says
Ireland! Oh, I'm jealous!
My mom had a clothesline in her basement when I was growing up and still does. We have a basement, but it is so icky down there that I manage to avoid it altogether most of the time. I think I make two trips down there a year. Besides, I'd have to lug laundry up two flights of stairs. A drying line in the attic, however~~now that's an idea!
Kimberly says
So funny you're posting about your clothes line because that was my very first post on my own blog. I love my clothes line and use it almost daily. It is truly theraputic!
GinnySheller says
I hope you had a great trip!
I've been buggin Jonny for a new clothesline too. Ours rotted years ago.
And…I tried to be vague about Jonny's absence recently, but I still felt like you were talking to me when i just read this… 🙂
I waited to post details until I was leaving to pick him up!
margo says
oh, ooops. I like to pretend that no one knows where I live/who I am on my blog, but I take your warning!
Just to comfort: my yard is all over shade in the afternoon due to the big trees and only occasionally does my laundry get pooped on. I have a long line that I use for sheets and then a really big umbrella dryer that my dad gave me. I bet I could get 4-5 loads on that baby, but the laundry dries faster when I space it out and only do 3.
Glad you're back and can't wait to hear about Ireland! Take melatonin at bedtime to help with the jet lag 🙂
Leila says
Once and only once I took about 1/16th of a dose of melatonin. After about 24 hours of feeling like I had eaten a particularly young persimmon or been licking the floor of the Mojave desert, I never tried it again. I also didn't sleep!
Connie says
Not too many things smell better than line dried clothes!
Good words of advice about not telling the world the house is vacant or you're the only one at home!
Robin says
The advice I've received about the stiffness is to give any articles that might be a problem a quick (10 min) trip through the dryer. That will pull out a lot of wrinkles from dress shirts and things, and will somewhat soften everything else. Then line dry. Or you could tack the trip to the end (dry on the line, then run through the dryer) to “beat” things up a bit. You might lose some of that lovely smell, but you'll not spend too much running your dryer!
Theresa says
I am missing my clothes line, but with two Boxers running through the backyard daily, I know without a doubt that I would find them playing tug-of-war with my un-mentionables one day. LOL AMEN on the not posting ones where-abouts on blogs. I also cringe when people post pictures of their young children and give their real names and their kids fave things etc. The perverted evil creeps of the world must love stuff like that.
Love your blog!
Kathleen Jaeger says
I must say that I love that you say it has been 10 years since he made them & trying to decide where to put them. It so encourages me to keep on keeping on with all the things that have taken a long time to do. Not a lot of people report that it has taken that long to finally do something!! Thanks for that kind of encouragement.
Also the reminder to be careful about where we are…I mentioned a blog break on my blog but didn't think I'd said I was away from my home. But I think I will be even more careful.
Our Red House says
I am glad you now have an outside clothesline. In Australia that's how we dry all our clothes, year round (weather permitting).
Kate
Mrs. Mobunny says
I have a clothesline, but it is humid where we live. I have to time things just right to get *dry* clothes off of the line and into the house. Where we live there are no basements, so I have the drying racks in the washroom. I truly save my dryer for a rainy day! I love to dry things for free, just like my mom. She lives in Kansas where the dry winds blow and SHE has a basement!
Sue says
I am glad that you are so happy with your clothesline. I just wish I could always be that happy without a dryer option! :o) The weather is so humid that I have to take the clothes off the line and then hang them all over the house to finish drying. I feel like I am buried in never ending laundry!