Tuesday, March 23, 2010

My desire for a clothesline has occupied the majority of my thoughts today. Sadly, that desire, and all those thoughts aren't materializing into anything on their own.

There are a few things that have been slowing me down, not the least of which is where it should go. My initial idea was to put it in the backyard where we had one when I was a child.  It would get good sun and there are no trees in the way, but I think the animals would pose a significant problem. 

The goats are rather easily contained in their own yard, a sizable subdivision of the backyard, but to take advantage of their weeding abilities and to fill their bellies, we often let them graze in the acres behind the house. I am certain that given the chance they would do their best to tear clothes from the line and who knows what else.

I do not really want to shuffle goats from yard to yard every time a load comes out of the wash, but I can.  What I cannot do, nor do I care to, is control the movement of my dear chickens. They are truly free range and that means that all corners of the property (and some of the neighbors' as well) are theirs for the roaming. I am quite confident that my sweet birds would think a clothesline was the perfect place to take a rest in the afternoon, and where they rest they poop. That is not an environment I care to hang clean clothes in.

At this point somewhere in the front yard is seeming like my best option. The chickens are able to get in the front yard but they do it rarely. Our neighbor's flock spends more time there than ours do but I'm not too concerned with them, they pretty much only come over to eat and generally keep to themselves.

I don't typically get too bothered with appearances but something about something so conspicuous in the front yard kind of troubles me. I did some light reading about setting up a clothes line today and stumbled upon the idea of a removable pole. Making it possible to quickly dismantle and stash in the garage in the event that I am overcome with vanity or some other such emergency, makes the front yard locale much easier for me to stomach.  I think this would be significantly more work but also well worth it. 

So now, I think I know where it should be and the manner in which it should be installed, leaving just one last stumbling block. Am I at all capable of such a project?

I'll keep you posted.

5 comments:

  1. Hello Laural,
    I have two suggestions. If you have an open porch or patio, you could string lines and small pulleys from above, like they do in Europe. Or you could get a Stewi Rotary dryer. The Lady Plus is retractable, very light weight aluminumn. It is supported by a ground socket and you just pull out the dryer and store when not in use. I have one and love it. I got it from www.Stenicproducts.com, shopped on line, and it was delivered to my home. Good Luck and Happy Line Drying!

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  2. I know that you are more than capable!

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  3. Thank you Angela! Shelby suggested just running line from tree to tree or post to post and the more I think about it the more it appeals to me. I have the square clothesline from when I was a kid and I know that it needs a few repairs but is otherwise fine and large enough for two or three loads at once.
    For the last month or so I've been using a colapsable clotes drying rack from Ikea for diapers, it works great but only for about ten diapers at a time, it's much too small and too low to the ground for a load of clothes.

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  4. I'm pretty sure you're capable of anything you set out to do. You've demonstrated it again and again throughout your life. I'm a believer!

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  5. Thanks for the support ladies! Friday night I put up the old clothes line in the front yard. I opted against using cement so if I start to hate the look of it I can just take it down. So far it's great, and not nearly as visually offensive as I thought it might be.

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