• Wednesday-What'sUP May 19 - 08:00 am

When our son bought a house in a California neighborhood, one of the stipulations was no hanging clothes outside to dry. I was taken aback by that one, since that’s something I look forward to every spring. The scent of Copper Country air permeating the line-dried clothes, especially the sheets. Joe Kirkish has been photographing clotheslines for a while now and said he’s working on making a coffee table book that would be nothing but clotheslines. He’s even tossing around a few possible titles for it, such as: “America On Line” or “Coming Clean.” What a grand idea. I’ll be first in line to get a copy when the project is complete! :->

As a kid we use to run between the sheets as they were hanging on the line to dry.

I think I should have said as 'kids' we use to run between the sheets OR as a kid 'I' use to run between the sheets....

I'm hanging laundry out on the line today!

There's nothing like hopping into your bed and taking in the sweet aroma the sheets have from hanging out on the line. I've loved that since I was a kid, and I picked up where my mom left off. I can't imagine being told you can't do that.

Love the pictures today!!

The laundry, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The laundry is blowin’ in the wind.

Love the clothes line pictures and even as a kid growing up, until mom would get us out in the back yard and "beat the rugs" with a large wiskbroom. Mom and her sisters made the throw rugs out of old workclothes, jeans and anything else that would now get thrown out. What were these rugs called???

I can't believe I'm really seeing this! I've been thinking for a few years about doing a collection of clothesline pictures from the U.P. Joe and I certainly think alike! I got the idea ever since I saw a clothesline in the countryside of Chassell that had nothing on it but red union suits!

Hi
Eddyfitz, I believe they are called, logically enough, rag rugs. You can still buy rugs called that in some stores, though I'm not sure they use actual rags anymore.

Like a couple of other folks above, I can't imagine not being able to use a closeline. I don't understand why some people would consider that offensive. They see clothes on people, and in display in stores (including underpants).

I can't believe that either...not allowed to hang clothes out? Holy Wha Man!

That last picture looks like the evolution of Men's undies! :D

Good morning everyone. Doing some spring cleaning today. Will be hanging drapes out to dry, like the smell. Have a great day!

When we were looking for a house, our realtor told us that having clotheslines in the yard brought down the values of surrounding homes. I couldn't believe it either. Made no sense! I would think that an energy efficiency minded community would allow values to go up. :) Both our neighbors have clotheslines - we don't really have the right kind of spot for one. On towel & sheet day, I'm tempted to ask if I can borrow a line or few.

Was debating this morning if I should hang out the clothes to dry, but weather wasn't cooperating. However, will do so all summer. Have no laws in W. Hancock about not drying clothes outside...besides the lines are in the backyard where noone can see the clothes. Nothing beats the "freshness" of clothes hung outside! Neat pics!

My mom hung out curtains and sheets even in the freezing southern Michigan winter, and when the wind blew, they'd crackle with stiffness. All was well until our young dog decided he liked the sound of the crackling fabric and ripped her favorite curtains to shreds. He was really in the doghouse--literally!

Wasn't there a book or story about red long johns hanging out to dry or just hanging out on a line?

Oh, forgot...can't wait for Joe's book to come out on this subject! Great idea!

Sigh...wished we had a clothesline here at the retirement apartments. The fresh smell of sheets is pure heaven next to smell of lilacs and lillies of the valley. Recalled one time I counted how many socks I had hung. With hubby and six kids I hung 96 socks! :>) Ran out of clothespins.There was just such a good feeling of accomplishment seeing the clothing flying in the breese. Do miss that too.

Eddyfitz I had an older neighbor who made "rag" rugs out of bread wrappers cut in strips that really help up well.

Eddyfitz (Eddyfitz):
"What were these [rag] rugs called?"

I may be way off on this but I seem to recall them referred to as "raijat" (Finnish, plural). That was probably genuine "Finnglish"/"Yooper Finn" term, as I don't think that word would have been used in Finland.

I hang laundry outside even though it's against our neighborhood covenants. Another family does it also. A good web site for information about fighting the right to dry outside is http://www.laundrylist.org.

Rag rugs and clotheslines. Yup only ours wasn't a whisk broom thingy. It was metal with 2 or 3 circles and a baseball bat length handle. Then Gram changed to those fancy SEARS plastic ones.
We had to haul those outside and beat on them, too. I asked why we couldn't use a hose instead...didn't get to go swimming that afternoon.

Good one Alex; reminds me of why I'm posting so late today. Nat and I, for our anniversary gift to each other, went to see Bon Jovi last night and it was absolutely amazing!!!!!!

Our neighborhood gestapo won't let us hang clothes outside either according to their silly rules. I do see a few people hang clothes in the backyard however, out of sight of the street out front.

Line dry my clothes all year long here in Socal.

I like our California weather but my heart is still in the UP after 60 years. I remember mom hanging wool underward outside, in Nisula during the winter, freeze dried like a surf board.

OH how I wish I could hang our clothes out to dry! I have been begging for years for clotheslines... Nothing smells sweeter!! And to think of all the energy we would save!

Eddy
Do lake boats have bow thrusters?
We just watched the Manistee back out of Grand Haven and turn south. It looked like bow thrusters were being used when it backed out.

Been hanging the sheets and towels out. You can't buy that scent of fresh, clean air anywhere. Only in "Pure Michigan".

I love my solar dryer and have had one since we moved here in 74.

I think you should be able to have a clothesline anywhere you live, and you should get a tax credit every year for using an energy efficient "appliance". You can't get more energy efficient than that.

Great idea for a book of pictures.

You can't buy that scent of fresh, clean air anywhere. Only in "Pure Michigan".

Oh, I could think of a few other places to get that scent.... ;-)

FrNash--I remember that Finnish or Finnglish name as well. My
aunts and my mother used it.

Mom used to hang clothes out in the attic when we lived in Hubbell. Only during rain or winter times. She was happy to get a dryer when we moved to Royal Oak. Precious still uses the clothes line between our house and the neighbors. Can't see it from either of the roads we are on. Being on a corner makes it hard to hide things from the city inspector. My rv has a clotes line in the bedroom and one under the awning on the side of the rv.

I still have a rag rug my mom made of my old clothes when I went into the Army. She called them braided rugs also.

We use the dryer for most of our laundry, but we hang the blankets from the bed and couch on the line every so often to freshen them up. They sure do smell nice. Maybe if we lived in a city, the air wouldn't make 'em smell very good. I used to have to beat the rugs with a beater like 3 circles and a good solid handle. That was work! I never liked those plastic bag 'rugs'. They don't absorb anything. People must be getting too hifalutin' to not want to see laundry hanging out in the breeze. What the 'hay'.

Yuppers are practical common sense people is what I've learned from my travels. Something the rest of the country needs badly.

My mom made hanging laundry a work of art. She very carefully grouped everything together, and hung is so neatly. She often would exclaim in distress when she would see laundry haphazardly hung on a line! In her lifetime, the house in Gay only had one electric dryer. The clothesline was the place to dry clothes!

Hey....was that first picture taken at the Grego Farm?