The Beauty of a Clothesline

We finally got our new washing machine after living in our own house since September. We decided long ago not to buy a dryer since that simple appliance is the second greatest energy sucker in the typical household. We'd rather not pay that much for hot air that won't warm our house. I was amazed when doing research that there wasn't an Energy Star version of a dryer. I am still not sure why but am thankful for that because we chose to go with classic clothes drying rather than the hi-tech option. The washer is of course Energy Star but sadly not front load. The space we have available for the laundry set up is so small that a front loader wouldn't fit.

So the most exciting part of our laundry adventure has been the construction and installation of a clothesline. We had leftover 4x4s from our old chicken coop and decided to use them for the posts and just had to buy some hardware to finish. As you can see from the photo, the posts are not set in concrete and therefore are leaning a bit. We intentionally chose to not set them in concrete yet because we wanted to make sure that the place we put the clothesline is really where we want it to be for years.Despite having 9 acres of land the placement of the clothesline is strategic. Too far from the house would be inconvienent and might be an excuse we use to buy a dryer. Placing it too close to the barn could create piggy or goaty smelling clothes. Too close to the chicken coop could also mean stinky clothes. Near the road will mean dusty clothes. There is no easy access to the back yard so that wasn't an option. The back side of the garage gets way too much shade.

 So we were left with the front yard. I had to face my issues with appearances of the house. I wondered if the clothesline would be too ugly in the front yard and if it would bug me to look at it while sitting in the yard. I got over that real quick and we dug the holes and put up the line. We will most likely be leaving it here and eventually set the posts in concrete this summer.

Even with our attempt at making the line taught, we still have too much slack. That is a combination of tilting posts and heavy wire line. We will be working on a solution next weekend. Despite the less than perfect construction I am loving having a clothesline again. As a child, when my folks bought a house, we had a clothesline in the backyard and I learned about the beauty of air/sun dried laundry. They smell so good and provide a time to get outside in the sunshine to do something that is somewhat meditative. I am sure I didn't think that as a child when I had to hang laundry but today as a grown-up I can see the beauty in simple things in life.