My Case for a Clothes Line

I had the same washer and dryer for over 15 years. It was a good set but old. Good enough to sell with the house in Henderson. Then JD and I moved to Dallas and we decided it wast time for a new set. We didn't spare any expense and bought the best and latest in new technology where these appliances are concerned. They were great! I loved the new set. I could wash more clothes in one load than I could accumulate in one week. I couldn't believe how much faster things were washed and dried. Less time, less water, less soap, less energy. It was a beautiful thing. And silly as it is, they were beautiful to look at as well. We obviously kept these little beauties when we moved to CA and my love affair continued. Then we moved to this house and the honeymoon was over. 

The first load out of the dryer that should've been dry in less than 40 minutes was more than damp. So I thought maybe something happened to the dryer during the move. I called an appliance guy. For the price of $35 he informed that there was nothing wrong with my dryer. The problem was in the vent. He said it was too long and he said it was probably clogged. I needed to call a different company to come clean out the dryer vent. Great! I obviously couldn't do anything about the construction of the vent but I could get someone to come and clean it out. 

So I call an air conditioner company who says in its ad that they also do dyer vents. I explain to the people that the vent is really long. It's the entire width of the garage and if they need to bring anything special to reach that they should. Of course that information was lost in translation and when they guys get here they claim if they had known it was going to be that long they would've brought the air compressor. Great! They do the best they can with what they have but while they're pulling the dryer away from the wall they break the hose from the dryer into the wall that then goes through the wall out to the garage and down the wall through the wall to the outside. Great! So now I have to get a new hose from Home Depot and JD will install that later. Great! Anyway, they get a lot of crap out of the vent run but are pretty sure they're going to have to come back with the air compressor. Will I do a few loads of laundry and let them know. Yep. They leave. I do a load to see. Not fixed. Need air compressor. Great!

In the meantime, I have to get laundry done. The dryer will dry things eventually but it requires more time than before on the highest heat the dryer has. Even after 65 minutes, they are just barely dry. So things like jeans, towels, sheets, etc NEVER get dry. So I decide to get creative and hang those types of things outside on the chairs of my outside table. What I discover is that in the morning sun the jeans will dry in less than 30 minutes, towels will dry in an hour, and sheets will dry in about 20 minutes. GREAT! So although my problem isn't solved a solution, temporary or otherwise has been found. So I delay in calling for the air compressor to come out. 

The longer it went along and the more loads that the sun dried, the more I liked the idea of an "outside dryer". It saved energy and it worked faster and better than the dryer ever did even on its best day. Also, the smell of sheets from the outside was so great. The jeans didn't need starch anymore, just a hot iron and they were better than if you'd have picked them up at the cleaners. Great!

Now, most of you have met my husband. You know and if you don't I'm going to tell you; he is very particular about several things. Aesthetically pleasing is of most importance to him. Things have an order. Color matters. Texture is important. Flow of a room, theme of color, ideas of decor all matter. The outside is just as important. So you can imagine his chagrin to see our laundry hanging in the backyard. It probably wouldn't be so bad except we back up to a golf course and the whole golfing community can see our sheets blowing in the breeze. This mortifies my husband people. Mortifies him. While he appreciates clean, dry, ironed clothes he doesn't want the rest of the world to know our clothes get dirty. That's private. So, for my husband's sake, I keep the clothes that go outside to just sheets, towels, jeans and shirts. No undies, pajamas, or unmentionables. Those toss around in the dryer for over 65 minutes just to get barely dry. Exhausting.

I, on the other hand, don't give a rip. I don't care what people think. I don't care if they not only see sheets but underwear, bras, swimsuits, whatever. I don't care. If it were up to me the entire wash would be out on a line....a clothes line with clothes pins. We live in the land of eternal sunshine. It doesn't get cold and with the morning sun in our backyard, we could dry clothes outside all year around. I ponder this, think about this, and decide to present my case for a clothes line to JD. I did my research. I know without ever asking that he's not going to "install" a clothes line that stretches across the yard. Whatever I present must be removable. It has to be able to disappear from the sight of the world because for JD a clothes line with clothes hanging on it is just plain tacky white trash and he's not going there. 

So after planting the seed in JD's brain and watering it and nurturing it and looking for a long time to find the perfect solution, I find an umbrella clothes line that folds up and goes away when not in use. The base that's in the ground is the only thing "permanent". I pulled it up on the computer for him to look at and asked him to really consider this. He literally, went up the screen, glanced at the picture (didn't even sit down), backed up and shook his head and said emphatically, "No!" This was not just a simple "no", this was a "Hell NO! Not in a million years, not as long as I'm alive, ain't no way this will ever be in my back yard!" kind of no.So I put it to you, the reader, the objective, the unattached, the people who have dryers, the people who have dirty clothes, the people who believe in saving energy for the sake of our planet. If I'm going to put the clothes out regardless, shouldn't I be allowed to have a tool that accomplishes the goal better? Doesn't it make sense to utilize the technology available to our benefit? Don't you like clothes off the line? If it's a removable line, wouldn't it make sense? I do the laundry. I care for our clothes. I deal with the dryer problem. I've found a great way to save energy. I should have the line outside. I think laying the clothes on the table chairs is tacky. I think hanging the clothes on a line designed to hang clothes is smart. I don't care if the golfers can see it. And I'm pretty sure they don't care either. I rest my case. 

By the way, I did call for the company to bring the air compressor and finish the job. They set an appointment and didn't show. And I also think that even if they did come out, it wouldn't solve the problem. The problem is the old vent is 20 feet long, made of metal and holds the heat therefore, shuts the thermostat off on the dryer to prevent a fire. At least that's my theory.