Hanging Out the Wash

I love my washline!  Hanging out my sheets on a breezy sunny day is heaven!

You don't see many wash lines anymore and some have told me, they are not aloud to have them in their neighborhoods due to zoning laws!!!!  That is preposterous!   I mean, with everyone trying to help save the planet, zoning worrying so much about  your yard (that most of us own by the way..isn't this a free country?  don't we own our own property?)

Here is a cute poem about wash lines that I got from a group I am in the other day.

 A  POEM

             A clothesline was a news forecast
              To neighbors passing by,
              There were no secrets you could keep
              When clothes were hung to dry.

             It also was a friendly link
              For neighbors always knew
              If company had stopped on by
              To spend a night or two.

             For then you'd see the "fancy sheets"
              And towels upon the line;
              You'd see the "company table cloths"
              With intricate designs.

             The line announced a baby's birth
              From folks who lived inside -
              As brand new infant clothes were hung,
              So carefully with pride!

             The ages of the children could
              So readily be known
              By watching how the sizes changed,
              You'd know how much they'd grown!

             It also told when illness struck,
              As extra sheets were hung;
              Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
              Haphazardly were strung.

             It also said, "Gone on vacation now"
              When lines hung limp and bare.
              It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged
              With not an inch to spare!

             New folks in town were scorned upon
              If wash was dingy and gray,
              As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
              And looked the other way .. . .

             But clotheslines now are of the past,
              For dryers make work much less.
              Now what goes on inside a home
              Is anybody's guess!

             I really miss that way of life.
              It was a friendly sign
              When neighbors knew each other best

              By what hung on the line.

You have to be a certain age to appreciate this.  I can hear my mother now ...

THE BASIC RULES FOR CLOTHESLINES:  (if you don't know what clotheslines are, better skip this)

1.  You had to wash the clothes line before hanging any clothes - walk the entire lengths of each line with a damp cloth around the lines.

2.  You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, and always hang "whites" with "whites," and hang them first.

3.  You never hung a shirt by the shoulders  - always by the tail!. What would the neighbors think?

4..  Wash day on a Monday! . .. . Never hang clothes on the weekend, or Sunday, for Heaven's sake!

5.  Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle (perverts & busybodies, y'know!)

6.   It didn't matter if it was sub zero weather  ... clothes would "freeze-dry. "

7.  Always gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes!  Pins left on the lines were "tacky!"

8.  If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.

9.  Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.

10. IRONED?!  Well, that's a whole other subject!