Covert Laundry

Today is such a beautiful day that it makes me want to do laundry.

Since I was a little girl, I have loved hanging laundry.
I love the smell of sheets dried in the breeze. I loved to hear the snap of the sheets in the wind. I loved the stiffness of my sheets that my mother had just brought in from the line.

At our first home, we had lots of trees and I had two long lines that I hung laundry on. I am not hard core at laundry hanging. My neighbor while we lived in our little house was. She hung every article of clothing that they owned 365 days a year. I will never forget her rows of jeans hanging stiffly in freezing temperatures. I discovered late that they hung all of their clothes because they did not own a dryer. When I heard of a free dryer, I got it for her and she was so pleased even though she wasn't sure they would be able to hook it up.

Last spring, with rising energy costs, people were talking a lot about line drying. That coupled with a few visits to my mother's house where she line dries in the warm weather urged me to seek out the bylaws of my neighborhood. About this same time, I saw someone line drying down the street. I looked and lo and behold, the bylaws did not prohibit line drying. They said that I could erect a line directly behind my house. I decided then to ponder this a bit more. In the meanwhile, there were messages flying back and forth about whether you were allowed to line dry or not. Someone on the board sent an email saying that the bylaws prohibit line drying. By this time, I had decided that I was going to purchase an umbrella dryer so in order to keep a low profile, I decided not to dispute what I felt was erroneous information.

Not long after, I arrived home with my brand new umbrella dryer. I line dried all summer and I ended up keeping up much more with my laundry. However, I made a few rules for myself in order to keep attention away from my laundry. So, this is what I do:

1) I only dry during the week and be sure to have all laundry in by 5pm.
2) If I hang underwear, I only hang it on the inside of my dryer -- I know that people who find line drying offensive usually are the ones who don't want to see undies hanging around. I usually have some jeans which I dry in the dryer, so undies and socks get thrown in with those for simplicity
3) I take my umbrella in every night -- this saves on wear and tear on my dryer as well
4) My dryer anchor is directly behind my house as per neighborhood bylaws

I figure that if I don't make a big stink about it, I can dry my clothes in happiness. If anyone ever questioned me, I would point them to the statement in the bylaws. I just don't want to raise a fuss. BTW, I got my umbrella at Home Depot and while I wouldn't trust it with jeans, I have hung sweatpants, sweaters, sweatshirts, and twin comforters. I don't think that I could fit 4 loads of laundry on it, though.The funny thing is, that I have maybe four or five houses that could see me. My neighbor on one side works 9-5. My other neighbor is home most of the time, but there is a line of trees between us, so there is no clear view. There is a house diagonal to me that I rarely see people at during the day. But someone must be there. Not long after I began line drying, they erected a line as well. Maybe I will start a trend. Until then, I will enjoy my covert laundry drying.

Guess what I'm doing today?!?!?