Sometimes, Conserving Energy is Messy

For much of my younger life, my mother hung her clothes out to dry in the backyard.  That was after she washed them in a wringer washing machine.  My younger readers may not even know what one looks like unless they have been to a museum.  Here is one similar to what I can remember:

I remember how happy I was the day we got a new washer and later a new dryer.  No more hanging the clothes out to dry on the line.  No more worrying about rain if the clothes were out and you left home for any reason.  No more worrying about birds on the line and having to rewash clothes.  Yuck.

I thought about this yesterday after a friend mentioned that she is thinking of going back to hanging out her laundry.  Personally, I can make better use of my time and energy spent hanging out clothes, than actually saving a few pennies on running my gas dryer.

But that is not the least of my objections.  It is the birds.  Everything in my yard is covered with bird doo (sp?).  Light fixtures, downspouts, mailbox, deck, furniture, well, you get the idea.  Here is a photo of a statue in my front yard:

Imagine that on your nice shirt.  Ewww!  I'll stick to the modern convenience.