When I do a load of wash, I hang heavy things like towels, throw rugs, and jeans outdoors to dry, even if it's only an hour befoire sundown. ( I refuse to let things hang overnight because that's when bugs and spiders come out.) Anyway, then I take the stuff indoors and put it through the dryer it for as little as ten minutes. Everything comes out nice and soft. I hate scratchy towels.

Last week I hung a load of wash on the line about Tuesday ...

... rains, etc. and not getting home till after damp of dew was on it ...

... meant that it hung on the line till about Fri. before it was dry.

Most of the critters that might have got on it were gone.

Any that were not gone previously didn't choose to stick around when I began the clothes removal operation ... or at least while it was going on.

Haven't yet found any critters inhabiting the clothes basket yet when I am folding the stuff to put it away.

With so much of our North American population having gotten used to living in semi-sterile environments (encouraged by the soap/diasinfecting companies) for the last generation or so ...

... what kind of trouble will be be in when some difficult contagion hits?

And our coddled bodies won't have gotten used to fighting off various nefarious elements?

ole joyful

Is that why our predessors lived so long? Because birds pooped on their clothes hanging up to dry? :-)
Besides if I did that, the minute I let the boys out to frollick in the yard, they would pull it down and then I 'd have to chase them all over and pry the now muddy and torn clothes from their mouths. And my HOA regulations prohibit it. So I'm stuck with using a dryer.

I am scared of spiders and snakes. Came from my ancestors. Fear of venom and sickness.

It has been so hot here that it only takes about an hour on the line. Usually DD and I both hang out our laundry, as we are too cheap to run the dryer. The smell of the "sun" on the towels and clothes is wonderful. It has been weeks since we have had rain, so if it gets left out overnight it is not a big deal. We put in a bit of vinegar for fabric softner during the rinse cycle. Some things, like my nice work clothes, I just hand them on hangers and make sure the hanger is between 2 clothes pins, so they don't "go anywhere". Then I don't even have to hang and fold them before they get stuck in the closet. Hanging out clothes is good therapy for me too. For some reason it is just a nice peaceful activity. Never have I found any critters or bird poop... so far this year!

Every time I hang clothes out I forget about them and they end up being out there too long. The hot Texas sun will bleach the color right out of them. We live in the boonies and have a lot of trees here (Live Oaks) which are very messy and "home" to many critters. Some of the critters are nice, but some I don't care to ever see, like Fire Ants, Brown Recluse and Black Widow Spiders, scorpions, and 9" long centipedes...OH MY! Okay, I'm a big chicken.

I do like to hang bedding outside though for an hour or two and nothing freshens up pillows like an hour or two in the sun.

I live on a farm - nearest neighbour about 1/4 mile away. No Home Owners Assoc'n. to make rules about clothes drying.

But in the heat wave of the last few days, our local electricity agencies have been begging us to find ways to use less power - they've had record usage. Buying from other jurisdictions at up to 26 cents per Kw. To operate people's air conditioners. I have a couple at home, one of which doesn't work, and haven't a handy place to install the other (in case it works).

With energy supplies running out, and prices going up, it seems to me foolish that we have this rule in many areas that refuse to allow people to dry their washing in the simplest, most energy-efficient way - letting the sun and wind do it, either on a long line, or an umbrella type.

I recommend that people living in such areas lobby their associations to change the rule - and their legislators to pass laws that, forthcomng energy shortages being what we can expect, that such restrictions are not permitted.

Perhaps some of you read over on KT of my little adventure the other day - en route home from returning daughter's canine (being female, it isn't strictly the three-letter word, but he five-letter one that rhymes with "itch") I was driving on the freeway downhill on a long bridge over a river when I saw a scoop shovel lying beside the roadway.

Stopped at the bottom of the hill, found the aluminum scoop shovel (that farmers use for moving grain) was pretty well intact,and picked up a few pop cans and a couple of beer cans on the return trip to the car.

One was rather heavy, tipped it down to drain liquid, no result.

Shook it, as often there's a snail in them (but this was as heavy as three or four smails) - no rattle.

Must be mud, I guess.

Noticing that the flap was pretty well shut, I pushed it open with a finger.

Out shot a thing like an arrow or a piece of rope, at high speed!

Splotchy!

A snake - one of the harmless little garter snakes, no doubt. There was quite a lot of vegetation there, and I was startled, so did not track its progress.

It was in no mood to stick around and become better adcquainted!

But ... if you'd been shut up in a tiny, hot prison cell, then had the deuce shaken out of you - when someone opened the cell door - you'd waste no time in gettig out of there, either, I'm sure!

Just glad that I could help him/her get on with life - likely it had pushed the flap shut after entering: possibly it would have been unable to have opened it, on its own. So just possibly I saved its life.

Maybe one day someone's generosity may save mine - who knows?

Like leaving your clothes in the washed for a while, to get partly dry ...

... when you're planning a joke, do you let it gestate for a while - and then have your humour come out rather dry?

Well, half-dry, maybe! (Not all wet, at least).

ole joyful

9" long centipedes! I would have a heart attack! I hate the things and the 11/2 inch ones we get up here terrify me. Maybe there's something to be said to living in the sub-arctic where the -30 degrees celsius kills most of them off

quircky,

I hear ya. My 3 dogs would find them great fun to pull down. The pup I got last Dec can't be trusted at all.

OJ,

Wonderful snake story...I'll remember that every time I go on trash patrol in my rural neighborhood. It's amazing how much litter there is in just a weeks time.

floozie,

You aren't too cheap to run the dryer, but instead too frugal and smart

Sue

I went back to using the dryer many years ago when DS took a pair of jeans off the line and put them on; there was a wasp in one of the pant legs and got him good. I guess at that time I was just looking for an excuse to use the dryer again and that sure did it. But now, I hang outside as much as possible. Nothing beats that fresh air smell!

want to retire ...

... did,

I'll bet your son felt that a wasp in the pants was ...

... a pain in the butt??

If there's one thing to be said about the humour around here - it could be dry-er.

Hope you're all having a great eek.

o j

Move to Arizona in June/July/August. When I used to have a clothes line I would start hanging up and by the time I got the whole load hung up I could go back to the beginning and start taking it down - it was dry!