We mowed our back yard today and took down the wires of our clothesline. Elaine has used them very sparingly during the past couple years and they were low enough that I had to walk around the back yard with my head bowed. It was time for them to go. (The posts are still in with the wire coiled and hanging on a post so they can be put back up in 5 minutes). Clotheslines have been an important part of our marriage. One of my first projects when we bought our first house was to build clotheslines. When we got our 5th street house it was also necessary to build new lines. During those years we often had 2 kids in diapers so you can imagine the need for extra line room. Our Lincoln house had good clotheslines and our house in Virginia let us get by with a "fold-up" line. We had a "clothes rack" at the farm but really appreciated the nice lines that were here when we bought this house. As is evident in the picture, they were put to good use. Elaine would complain at times about bugs, etc. on her clean laundry but I always countered with the saving of electricity and how nice they smelled by being hung out in the fresh air. Clotheslines are just an illustration of things that can now be done "easier", "faster", and perhaps "better" than the way things were done 50 years ago. However, most of the "improvements" involve "purchased energy" at the expense of "human exercise".
No comments:
Post a Comment