Pink Asparagus

Friday was the sort of weather that I wish would last all summer. It was warm, but not hot. Breezy but not windy. Perfect for hanging clothes, and a kitty, out on the line.

I like hanging our laundry out on the line. But not in the winter. The idea of frozen stiff blue jeans doesn’t appeal to me. For half a year our dryer gets a break. It makes up for our A/C use, keeping our electric consumption pretty steady throughout the year.

Also, it’s a few minutes outside by myself. No kids want to come with me because they know they’ll be put to work. It also keeps the laundry sane for me. You can’t do marathon laundry when you hang clothes on a line. There are only so many clothes pin and so much line.

Last year when we decided to get a clothes line I read and read about hanging clothes out. There’s one thing everyone agrees on: use fabric softener. Your ass will thank you when your underwear don’t feel like sandpaper. I use a fairly standard “tops from the bottom, bottoms from the top” approach. Few of our clothes require ironing after hanging out. I think our clothes launder better too. The sun helps bleach our whites. And since I have to touch each article as its being hung, I can see which shirts of Audrey’s need to be re-washed. (How is it the girl child stains more shirts than her brother ever did?)

A laundry line is good for the environment, our clothes, our electric bill and my sanity. I’m glad we do it. I’m glad our neighbor with the split rail fence tolerates it. And I’m glad I live in an HOA-free neighborhood. It feels good to do something simple. Simply.