Monday, October 25, 2010

My new solar clothes dryer!

Shortly after moving out here, we put up a clothesline for drying clothes. It was behind the mobile home that was here at the time. We were thinking about where to build our new home and did not like any of the options very much, and then this big storm came through, and when we woke up in the morning, we saw that there was no longer a tree in our backyard. The enormous hickory tree, whose trunk was about two feet in diameter, had been blown down in the storm -- luckily in the opposite direction from the house. The clothesline was completely demolished, but it was certainly preferable to our home being crushed by the tree. It wasn't very long after the tree went down that a light bulb went on, and I realized that the space between the mobile home and the pond was the perfect place for our new home. We simply had never considered it before then, because there was a big, beautiful tree there, which we didn't want to cut down.

I can't believe it's taken us six years to get another clothesline up, but we live on a dusty gravel road, and when we've gone a few weeks without rain (as we just did), a big cloud of dust blows towards us when cars drive past. Luckily, not too many cars drive past, but I didn't see the point in putting up a clothes line if our clothes would be dirtier after drying than they were before washing.

After Mike finished the wood shed a couple months ago, it clicked! Let's put the clothesline south of the wood shed. Then another light bulb went on, and we realized that we could attach one end of the clothesline to the wood shed. So, now our clothesline is an extension of our local fuel preservation station.

7 comments:

SkippyMom said...

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, smells better than line dried clothing. We live in an HOA sanctioned area, but I can sneak my little clothes rack onto the back porch for sweaters and stuff because my neighbors are cool and we are surrounded by trees.

I would love to have what you have tho'! No elec. no gas bill -woot!

Deborah Niemann said...

Yeah, my husband watches the electric meter, so he's been very excited for the past week. He keeps telling me how much slower it's moving!

I love the way the clothes smell, and I love how rough the towels are -- it's like drying off with a giant loofah! It feels so good!

Chef E said...

Oh I just read about Little Man, how sad- now there is where me and having animals butt heads, after having to bring kittens back to life and such, I just do not see myself so attached anymore...I grew up with clothes lines and wrote a poem about open yards and the clothes blowing on the lines! The fresh air smell is wonderful when you fall into bed!

LindaG said...

An appropriate addition. :)

Mary Q Contrarie said...

I love the great use of local resources like your local fuel preservation systems. I also live in an area that is dusty. I have gotten myself a clothes drying rack and now dry most of the time over night in the living room and kitchen. Usually by morning everything is dry and I can simply put it away with no dust at all on my clothes.

Anonymous said...

My grandma had a line from her back door...across the garden...all the way to the back of her yard. She had a pully system and stood on her raised porch and hung clothes a long ways away. Of course this is Nevada and its dry out west so the clothes dried faster.
Just a thought.
I love your blogs..no ready for the nowhereland yet but almost.
GMMixerRs@aol.com

Glenda said...

My Nana had a closeline connected to the house and strung ab0ve the gsrden pretty high to a pole on the other side.Papa was a smart cabinet maker and put pulleys on both ends. So you could put clothes on at the back door and push them out. The same way to bring them in. Of course, your starting area had to be a bit off the ground. I will use this method.
rwngwacko2@aol.com

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