For the first 17 years of my life, my family had only a clothesline for drying the laundry. Dryers certainly were not unknown at that time, but they were not ubiquitous, as they are today. That clothesline seemed such an unremarkable strand in the fabric of our existence, but, looking back, it’s astonishing how much sheer labor was involved. (I should admit now, that labor rarely fell to me.) A heavy basket of wet wash had to be lugged from the back door of our home to the line, which wasn’t exactly adjacent to the house. We had a big yard. Then, each item had to be pinned to the line. Several return trips usually were required, to accumulate the lighter items that dried first. One could forget about it until one was certain everything was dry, but one did that at one’s own peril. The less the laundry was exposed to birds, the better. And rain was disastrous. We moved from that old house when I was in high school. I still remember the beatific look on my mother’s face as she contemplated her new laundry room, complete with electric clothes dryer.
(Cartoonist’s note: I apologize for not updating yesterday, but I was traveling.)
65 responses to “Dry Humor”
Apparently the girls dig these not-so-subtle displays. Occasionally, these guys scuffle. So there!
https://explore.org/livecams/birds/sage-grouse-lek-camhttps://explore.org/livecams/birds/sage-grouse-lek-cam
Peace,
P.S. Today is Elaine’s and my anniversary. OB, hope that bodes well for pending 1115 surgery. I do lots of such wishes/prayers at SBH’s family-waiting post on Tuesdays, but HIPPA.
/ the anniversary, MPR announcer Steve Staruch will probably play a favorite in memory after 1800 CDT on his 1500-1900 “Friday Favorites”: 3rd movement, LV Beethoven’s str. quartet 18[5], one Elaine and I called Beethoven’s “surprise” or “resurrection” quartet, though LVB didn’t split. Whole program is worthwhile, / insight into what we classics nerds favor, and sometimes why. E.g., “This overture, w/ Sir Thos. Beecham conducting the RSO in 1953, is what turned me onto classical at age 12.” Little did the pre-teen Brit know that a certain Yank 1st was up in the Royal Festival Hall balcony, maybe.
Peace,
One hazard of the clothesline you didn’t mention, Jimmy. Crawling things that would attach to the clothes and then appear when you took it inside. Our family members could have served as models for Janis running from various creepy-crawlies as they made their presence known.
Happy anniversary, EMB. Glad you have those good memories to relive.
Growing up in northern Indiana, we had a clothesline, but we also had an electric dryer. Clothes might freeze to the line in January. I don’t recall creepy things attaching to the wash, but my Mom always shook the clothes as she put them in the basket.
But the smell…. I really miss the smell. And my Mom.
…Ah ha…guess who’s back…don’t know for how long, but too much to go back through…later…. oh, and we had three clothes lines and our dog ran those clothes of course, it was a different story come laundry day!!!
Oh, and happy belated “Women’s Day” :}
Welcome back, indeed. Glad to hear from you after a long absence.
Hey stranger. Hope all is well. It is wonderful to see you name her today.
here today. JJ has to get us an “edit” button!
So glad you are back! Now, don’t be a stranger – you hear?
While drying laundry was a difficult task, the washing part was not a walk on the beach either. I’m of the age where my mother did both manually. Once washed and dried, many items had to be ironed as well. Growing up in Florida before air conditioning was the norm, the ironing part might have been the most taxing. That said, the rush to gather the dried or drying laundry from the line at the first clap of thunder from as quickly appearing rain storm could be the cause of an adrenaline rush.
I live in a community now that, by covenant, prohibits clotheslines. Now that I think about it, drying outside is a solar energy use. Florida law disallows any use of solar energy from being prohibited by HOA deed restrictions. Hmm, maybe we can have nice smelling sheets and towels after all!
My mom lived to 106 spanning a century that started with carrying coal up four flights of stairs to stoke the fire that heated the water that washed the clothes to having the convenience of water heater, washer and dryer.
I have no warm and fuzzy memories about clothes lines as much of labor fell to me. Like men NEVER had to do laundry! Sexist division of labor.
We had multiple lines in back yard that when not hosting sheets doubled as deer hanging racks to bleed and skin multiple deer during season or hanging other dead critters from cross posts.
During inclement weather we had metal clothes lines we used for drying clothes all around our porches which as Ghost pointed out lent a distinctive ambience to decor.
Since everything was both starched AND ironed by same women, one removed and folded clean clothes promptly and folded neatly.
Left to men they got rained on or froze.
I have definitely got memories about freezing weather and frozen clothes, washing inside and drying inside. I was in my teens when we acquired an electric washer in house.
I can remember back when I was a pre-schooler, Mom had a folding rack of wooden dowels that she used to hang up laundry on rainy days. Don’t know what she did after I started school, because wash day was a weekday.
Thank you, Jimmy, for giving me an uproarious laugh at the clothesline-I’ll-get-to-it cartoon! Exactly, exactly, exactly! How many times I file it away, don’t speak of it, and wait for the wheel to come around so I can fix the problem, even though it will take years. And it can. And it does. But that doesn’t mean those around me know that’s what I’m doing. Marriage, marriage, marriage!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMsRElqSupM
My brother and I, once we were tall enough, took over the clothes hanging duties. And folded. From the age of 12 we did our own laundry and cooked breakfast. When we moved into a house in town with a dryer, we were thrilled to give up the clothesline… but delighted in helping our grandmother with her clothesline when we visited. She finally got a dryer when I reached college age.
What style clothesline did each have? We had a center post with radial arms, a rope connecting the arms to form a hexagonal shape. More than one rope connected, so there were 3 or 4 concentric hexagons. Others I knew had a double line, linear, between two posts.
As far back as I can remember (early 1940s), the family did have a wash machine, but mom or grandma (who lived with us) still did some things on an old-fashioned washboard in the tub-like sink next to the washer.
Two T-posts with 4 lines. When I got big enough I would help grandmother by handing her the clothespins out of the bag that hung on the line, and put them away as she took the clothes down. Next stage was carrying the basket for her. The clothesline was at the back of the yard near some trees. I still love the smell of pines.
2 poles, four lines 🙂
We had the two T-post closelines, with 3-4 lines between. My favorite memory was going out when the bedsheets were hanging and cool down in the luxurious evaporation. That was before we had a house with central air conditioning. My Daddy and Mama had a window AC unit in their room for sleeping. The rest of us had the whole house attic fan to pull in cool air at night. Sometimes I slept on the screen porch for maximum cool.
The house we lived in longest had 2 poles, four lines. The other had the rotating hexagonal one.
In Japan we had clotheslines on the balcony.
PS: In inclement weather, mom/grandma hung the wet laundry on ropes strung around the basement. As I look back, I don’t suppose full loads were doable that way, so they may have done a few partial loads.
Close line with a pulley each end- out it went one piece at a time.
Had a thingy that held line together about half way.
Surgery went well.
WELCOME BACK DEBBE
HI, DEBBE! You have been missed much by many. Wonderful news, OB. Two poles, four lines. Basement in bad weather. First thing Mom did was wipe the lines with a damp cloth before she pinned up anything.
Medical news coming in a minute.
Jim and I both spent Monday night at the hospital. The bad news is that I had a sort of heart attack Monday night. The good news is that it was the kind of heart attack you can recover from. This was takotsubo syndrome, a condition where your heart muscle becomes suddenly weakened. The left ventricle gets larger and changes shape, so the heart no longer pumps blood efficiently. It’s also known as acute stress-induced cardiomyopathy, or “broken heart syndrome.” The stress can be physical, emotional, or even a happy event. In my case, the stress was a case of Norovirus (remember the cruise ships?) Jim and I both were vomiting and having diarrhea Monday night, and when I started also having chest pain, I called 911. Jim followed us to the hospital and was planning to go home when they said I would be there at least for the night, when he vomited again and passed out. So he also spent the night, but got to go home in the morning. I came home Wednesday afternoon. From the Internet: “For many people with takotsubo, your heart will begin to return to normal, and you’ll start to recover, within a couple of days, although it may take weeks or months. However, some people’s heart will permanently change shape and they may continue to experience symptoms such as tiredness, chest pain, and lack of energy.” I see my cardiologist on Tuesday and should know more after that. I feel okay but have little or no energy for anything physical. Just wanted to let my friends in the Village know.
Nancy…that sounds like what my best friend down the street had three weeks a am going to have her read your post…if you don’t mind…she’s a good woman and I don’t know how I Have made I through the last two years
thanks.
Even if the takotsubo damage isn’t immediately reversible on its own, doctors can do wonders with reshaping a damage heart. In my case my cardiomyopathy resulting in a dilated left ventricle was caused by a bad heart rhythm. The doctors slowed down my heart with beta blockers and corrected the arrhythmia with an implanted device. My ventricle shrank and regained its pumping power (ejection fraction) over the next few years.
“a damaged heart”
Wow, Nancy! That is something. Follow the doc’s orders to the letter and tell us what you can. I, for one, have not even heard of the problem mentioned.
And now for something completely different – well, maybe not so much different: We are to get another 5″ of snow tomorrow. Good grief! I’m only in N. Illinois, but our winter opened with a major snowfall more than 5.5 months ago. That makes almost a half-year of wintry stuff.
c x-p:
Welcome aboard. Was 31F here last night, and they’re expecting snow/slush in S MN.
Peace,
Wow, Nancy! That is not a Monday you want to repeat any time soon! Glad you are home.
Nancy, I hope you and your husband have swift recoveries from your respective illness. As a medical coder I have seen the term Takotsubo Syndrome fairly often. Most often the person is started on medication and released fairly quickly, as you were. Further treatment after that depends on your doctor’s findings. Good luck to you.
I had some good medical news yesterday. I had bloodwork drawn and saw my doctor at the VA clinic for a routine visit. He called me at home later and told me my A1C had measured out a little over 6 and my blood glucose was 103. He said my diabetes was now under excellent control and he wanted to let me know how well I was doing.
Mark, nicely done on the blood sugar managemen! Do you use the MyHealthVet website for access to your medical records and appointments? I also recently discovered the website https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits that gives easy access to a variety of things VA related.
Yes, I do use that site, David. It is very helpful. I like that I can send and receive secure messages to my primary care team, reorder prescriptions and even look at my lab results and records online. Very nicely done. Now if they could just work out some of the kinks between ordering something and getting it done. I asked for a blood test for proof of immunization against mumps, measles, and rubella because my employer has decided to make that mandatory now in light of the measles outbreak. The nurse put in an order for that, but when I got to the lab the phlebotomist started pulling out multiple vials. When I saw my doctor, he said it looked like the lab pulled the order for my annual tests which weren’t due till July. Did I ever say how much I hate needles and blood draws?