Friday, September 26, 2008

The Laundry is Greener

This week our laundry has gone green, and I must confess not by my choosing! Over the weekend the dryer light blew taking the starter switch with it. The repair guy says that the parts will be here NEXT week. I did not kill the messenger although I was sorely tempted.

So, faced with the choice of taking baskets of wet clothes and two small children to the laundromat or hanging a clothesline, I chose the later. Wednesday afternoon Ray hung a nine-foot retractable clothesline catty-corner along the fence in the backyard. Lesson No. 1: nine feet is not enough. Now I know why my Aunt Linda had a double clothesline that was probably 20 feet long. Lesson No. 2: there's no need to completely fill my front-loading super-big washer. Lesson No. 3: wash the clothes that are going to take the longest to dry first.

All grousing aside, it is kind of peaceful to hang clothes out and then take them back in. And the weather is absolutely gorgeous right now. It's probably the perfect weather for hanging out clothes - sunny with just enough wind.

While I'm hanging out the clothes, I feel connected to women who have come before me and raised children and took care of their families with far less than I have. Of course, will I be thrilled when the dryer is finally fixed? You betcha!