What Will They Think of Next?

An article in today's paper discussed several people who are using the latest in laundry technology -- solar dryers. Some of you old enough may remember these things. They consist of the sun, a clothesline, and some clothes pins...

I'm intimately acquainted with solar dryers. My mom sprained her ankle pretty badly when I was ten (Let your fingers do the walking) and I was suddenly required to do the dishes and my own laundry. (Shortly thereafter I discovered that if you break enough dishes, they stop making you wash them...) I have a vague feeling that we owned a dryer but that we only used it for "special occasions". That was the deal with the dishwasher at least. We owned one, but used it only at Thanksgiving and Christmas. By this logic, I'm surprised we were allowed to use the oven or the indoor plumbing every day.

The clothesline was attached just outside the back door and was one of those "fancy" ones that had pulleys at each end so we could stand on the back stoop, attach the article of clothing, and send it on its way. There were also these little gizmos you had to add every so often to keep the two opposing lines together so that the clothes didn't cause the bottom line to droop down to the ground. Fascinating stuff, I know, but I still have two weeks of NaBloPoMo to go!

I wasn't a huge fan of the outdoor drying as the clothes always came back erect and scratchy. Down the shore was an entirely different situation. I would gladly dry myself with sandpaper towels today if they smelled of the ocean. And as sick as it sounds, one of my fondest memories was going outside to retrieve my father's crunchy jock strap from the clothesline! Listen, you have your cherished childhood memories, I have mine. He wore an athletic supporter under his bathing suit while bodysurfing. And no, I don't know why, but let's just keep it that way, shall we?

Where was I?

I'm kind of intrigued by the prospect of line drying today. I have the perfect, sunny yard for it, but I'm not sure I could pull it off. I live on a corner and my back yard is wide open. I also have a bunch of teens walking by my place at all hours of the day and night. I'm just assuming I'd be missing some clothes at the end of the day. My other problem is the berry tree. I have a feeling my stuff would be covered in bird berry sh*t more often than not. It's a tough call -- help save the environment and save some money vs. lost clothes and bird sh*t.

Unless I move closer to the ocean, it looks like I may be sticking with the gas dryer...

Wake up, Mrs. Schmidt!

Wow. When I search "Steve Schmidt" in the news now, the first few stories are about random guys in Alabama, Ohio, and Arkansas...