Saturday, February 25, 2012

Remembering Mom's Clothesline

Remembering Mom's Clothesline
There is one thing that's left out, a long wooden pole (clothes pole) that was used to push the clotheslines up so that longer items (sheets/pants/etc.) didn't brush the ground and get dirty.
THE BASIC RULES FOR CLOTHESLINES:
1. You had to hang the socks by the toes... NOT the top.
2. You hung pants by the BOTTOM/cuffs... NOT the waistbands.
3. You had to WASH the clothesline(s) before hanging any clothes - walk the entire length of each line with a damp cloth around the lines.
4. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, and always hang "whites" with "whites," and hang them first.
5. You NEVER hung a shirt by the shoulders - always by the tail! What would the neighbors think?
6. Wash day on a Monday! NEVER hang clothes on the weekend, or on Sunday, for Heaven's sake!
7. Hang the sheets and towels on the OUTSIDE lines so you could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle (perverts & busybodies, y'know!)
8. It didn't matter if it was sub-zero weather... clothes would "freeze-dry."
9. ALWAYS gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes! Pins left on the lines were "tacky"!
10. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.
11. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.
12. IRONED???!! Well, that's a whole OTHER subject!

And now a POEM ...
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 had stopped on by, To spend a night or two.
For then you'd see the "fancy sheets", And towels upon the line;
You'd see the "company table cloths", With intricate designs.
The line announced a baby's birth, From folks who lived 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, "On vacation now", When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged, With not an inch to spare!
New folks in town were scorned upon, If wash was dingy and gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows, And looked the other way.
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 out on that line.

Girl Dead from Running, What are your thoughts?

     In the local news and across America there was a 9 year old little girl who died on February 17 from running.  If you haven't heard the story she had some kind of bladder condition in which she wasn't allowed to eat chocolate!  However while on the bus ride home she in fact consumed some chocolate and then LIED to her Stepmother and Grandmother about it!  Her punishment was to run around the yard.  Now with this being said to this point it isn't so bad however what we don't know is how big is this yard, and how many laps was she to run?  At least these were my questions.

     After running for 3 hours the 9 year old little girl dies.  She was not allowed to stop and get any water, go to the bathroom, or to take a break.  Needless to say after 3 hours she fell out and was having seizures.  The little girl Savannah died days later.  What are your thoughts on this situation?



     As a parent of a tough little 7 year old I tried really hard to understand this situation.  In fact my daughter Hailey is ADHD and ODD.  After she continued to lie to both me and her father her punishment was to run.  Spanking, standing in corner, in time out, none of these things seem to work for her so we tried running laps around our single wide mobile home!  My mother was convinced that she was going to rupture her appendix. So to get verification on this I researched online, and even talked to my family doctor about her running LAPS!  According to my doctor it was fine the way we were doing it.  The most laps Hailey has ever had to run was 50 and she was told you have all day to run them but they must be done.  You can run 10 and take a 30 minute break or you can do all 50 at one time.  I allowed her to decide when she felt she needed to stop and take a break.  So again I ask my readers to please share this story and I would greatly appreciate any feedback!  This little girl was not given a number of laps but time to run with no break, where I set a number of laps and give plenty of breaks.