Hanging out to dry

I was able to pull Bryce away from the fence for a few hours to install a post for my clothesline. I bought it last year, its a retractable clothesline with 5 lines. I was thinking about being "green" and wanted to save energy by not using my dryer quite as much, but last summer we couldn't figure out where to put it. As you all know, I had a baby this year. I figured out that it costs somewhere between $2000 and $3000 to diaper a baby in disposable diapers. I also wanted to avoid adding to the landfills with disposable diapers so I convinced Bryce that we were going to give cloth diapers a try (he was totally willing!). We were very spoiled when Bryce's Grandma and Aunt went together and bought us 6 weeks of a diaper service. We added to it and had the diaper service for about 10 weeks. The diaper service dropped off clean cloth diapers and all we had to do was put the dirty ones on the porch once a week and they were magically replaced with clean ones! It was so easy and awesome.

But then we did our budget again and decided that since we had been given many cloth diapers at our baby showers we could easily learn to wash them ourselves. So we cancelled the service and I started doing diapers myself this week. (For anyone who is interested the service costs about $80 a month, this is pretty similar to the cost of disposable diapers so if you were going to do that anyway and you have a diaper service in your area you could choose that instead for the same cost!) In reading about care of your cloth diapers they suggest hanging them to dry, because it saves energy and the sun helps to bleach them out. So Bryce put in my line and it has been working great. It's so fun to go outside and be in the warm air hanging up the diapers. Plus they look so cute on the line!

I remember reading this poem about clotheslines a long time ago and I just found it again today:

The Clothesline Said So Much

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 on the line;

You'd see the company table clothes

With intricate design.

The line announced a baby's birth

To 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 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 gray,

As neighbors raised their brows,

And looked disgustedly away.

But clotheslines now are of the past

For dryers make work 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!

Author: Marilyn K. Walker