Friday, April 15, 2011

Back away from that clothesline, lady

For some reason, our fondest childhood memories are about food.

In my case, my favorite dishes (made at home by my mother) were broiled cheeseburgers, tapioca pudding, Spam with cloves, cucumbers with onions, pie crust strips with jam, caramel rolls with nuts, rhubarb pie, devils food cake with thick rich chocolate frosting, and Hungarian goulash.

When I was 6, I discovered Hamm’s beer, but that’s a story for another time.

In addition to the taste of my favorite dishes, there are also fond memories of the SMELLS of my childhood - freshly baked bread, the morning cup of Folger’s coffee, and the fresh smell of clothes just off the backyard clothesline.



Today, political correctness has caused thousands of communities across the country to BAN outdoor clotheslines, because clotheslines are considered to be “unsightly, offensive, and a detriment to property values”.

what does Doonesbury have to say about that?

Since clothes dryers consume roughly 10% of a household’s total energy use, it seems entirely logical to revert back to “the old fashioned way” of drying clothes. When I lived in China, I discovered that very few people HAD clothes dryers, and virtually all the high rise apartments in Guangzhou always had undergarments flapping in the breeze on the outside balcony.

Sharon and I have been “house-sitting” for one of our neighbors just up the street while he is on a humanitarian mission in India. Since April 14th was sunny and breezy, I used his washing machine, and his OUTSIDE CLOTHES LINE to do my laundry.

Strange as it may seem, the fragrance of the clothes that I pulled off the line later on in the day was almost intoxicating because my clothes smelled THAT GOOD.

In recent years, there has been a growing trend to doing just about everything “the natural way”. As part of that trend, more and more people are “joining the fight to legalize clotheslines” (I’m not making this up.)

Believe it or not, there are people who make a living as professional clothesline installers. If you feel handy enough to try it yourself, the clip below from The Needham Channel will make it easier for you:

string ‘em up, Harry

There are six states that have "right to dry" laws (Florida, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, and Vermont). Florida was the first state to pass such a law, which overrides any HOA laws that prohibit clotheslines. 

https://www.sightline.org/2012/02/21/clothesline-bans-void-in-19-states/


In addition to Oregon, there are solar access laws in Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. They all delineate a homeowner’s right to install a “solar energy system,” “solar energy device,” “solar collector,” “system for obtaining solar energy” or “solar energy collection device.” The legal terminology varies, but the letter and spirit of these laws has one overarching message: homeowners may utilize the power of the sun.

Since the purpose of solar access laws is to permit homeowners to take advantage of energy from the sun, it is illogical to ban clotheslines, which do precisely that. 


What’s the most cost-effective way to save home energy costs and capture the benefits of solar energy?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld6fAO4idaI

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind

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