My Clothesline

Giving Thanks Challenge Day Number 28

I am Thankful for my Clothesline.

I enjoy hanging my clothes outside.

I love to see them blowing gently in the breeze.

And you just can't bottle that smell. : )

I am also Thankful and Happy that

we have won the Clothesline Battle.

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A pretty mild morning for my walk today.  It was 47 degrees when i started out and already 55 when i got back home.  No wind at all and it was cloudy.  The sunrise was beautiful today.  It is amazing how fast the color comes and goes in the sky, changing from one minute to the next.
A nice walk around the lake this morning.  More than the usual amount of people out walking and running for a Monday.  Maybe they were trying to take off those few extra pounds from Thanksgiving!
I saw three deer, all males.  One had only one antler.  I wonder if it broke off or he was shedding his a bit early, but wonder also if they shed them both together or one at a time.  I'll have to do a little research.  Anyone know anything  about deer and their antlers?

I was amused to see this on a tree trunk this morning.  

The turkey that got away! : )

I also saw a couple of Blue Birds.  They didn't sit still long enough for me to get a picture.
Great to be out early this morning and walking.
I walked 6.6 miles.

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Did i get you to wondering at the beginning of this post about the Clothesline Battle?  

Those of you who have been reading my blog know i like hanging my clothes outside.  I live in a townhouse with no back yard and the only place i can hang my clothes is on our deck.  It is off the kitchen up on the second floor.  I live on an end unit and there are sections of privacy fence on both sides of the deck.  Ken has taken blocks of wood and put big hooks in the ends and attached clothes line rope to the other ends.  The hooks fit perfectly over the top of the fence sections.  I have three of these lines.  I only put them up when clothes are out on the line.  When the clothes are dry i take them in right away and then take down the lines.  It works perfectly for me.  I have been doing this the whole time we've lived here (almost three years).

A lot of neighborhood associations have rules about clotheslines being prohibited.  I didn't think we had such a rule in our small townhouse complex, but apparently i was wrong even though no one has said anything for the years i've been doing it.  

A few weeks ago we got a letter saying we were in violation of the clothes line rule which really pissed me off!!!  

Now comes the good part!!! : )

Last year Maryland passed a law in October of 2010 stating that neighborhood associations CAN'T PROHIBIT the use of clotheslines.  YAY!!  So Ken wrote a very nice, calm, logical letter telling them this and enclosed a copy of the law that we found on line.

Then we waited.  In the meantime i kept hanging my clothes out as usual.

Then last week another letter arrived for us stating that he was not aware of the that law!!  So there is nothing that the association can do to stop us from having a clothesline.  They can enforce restrictions but i can't think of any that i am not doing already.  I take it up and down as needed and i always take in the clothes as soon as they are dried.  I'm really glad that this worked out because there was no way i was NOT going to hang my clothes outside.  So i guess you won't be seeing the crazy lady and her clothesline on the news!!!

I really just don't understand what some people find so offensive about clothes drying out on a line!!   I even hang my underwear on the inside line so no one can't see it!! : )

So anyway, I am extremely happy to have my clothesline!!

I can't help but wonder who complained.

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I'll be at home all day today getting some much needed housework done.  Hopefully i'll get some fun time in at the end of the day too.

Hope your day is a good one.

A smile from me to you.

Happyone : )

The Clothesline Poem

~ Author Unknown

A clothesline was a news forecast

To neighbors passing by.

There were no secrets you could keep

When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link

For neighbors always knew

If company has stopped on by

To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the "fancy sheets"

And towels upon the lines;

You'd see the "company table cloths"

With intricate designs.

The line announced a baby's birth

From folks who live inside

As brand new infant clothes were hung,

So carefully with pride.

The ages of the children could

So readily be known.

By watching how the sizes changed,

You'd know how much they'd grown!

It also told when illness struck,

As extra sheets were hung;

Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,

Haphazardly were strung.

It also said, "Gone on vacation now."

When lines hung limp and bare.

It told,

"We're back!" when full lines sagged,

With not an inch to spare!

But

Clotheslines now are of the past,

For dryers make work much less.

Now what goes on inside a home 

Is anybody's guess!

I really miss that way of life.

It was a friendly sign.

When neighbors knew each other best

By what hung on the line.