Clotheslined

So, our clothes dryer died and I've never been happier to be in the middle of summer.

Line drying clothes is more labor intensive and time consuming than using a dryer, but it's not impossible and is preferable, in some ways.

My clothes are never wrinkled if I forget about them on the line. We use less electricity. I get a little exercise putting the clothes up and taking them down, and it's an excuse to putter around outside, which is almost always good for me.

But, on my bad days, the extra labor makes laundry that much harder to tackle. Reaching to hang and retrieve from the line, bending into the hamper, the sunshine peeking from behind the trees at me when I least expect it, and the negotiation of our often treacherous hillside all require a certain level of physical and mental stamina that migraines can take away very easily, and suddenly.

And once winter comes, I don't think line drying will work very well at all. Our shady, often damp section of the forest isn't at all ideal for line-drying, because even in the middle of summer, it takes about 12 hours to dry cotton t-shirts, and often more than 24 for jeans. Once the temperature dips a few degrees, or the rains hit, I have no idea how I'm going to get our clothes dry. I've got my eye on craigslist, so hopefully a used dryer will pop up before then.

In the mean time, I'm counting myself lucky that it wasn't the washing machine that went out. Or the dishwasher. I love you guys, don't ever leave me.