Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Monday, October 3, 2011

The Summer of My Dryer Discontent

You have no idea how happy I am that the summer of my dryer discontent is now OVER. Sheesh!

A few days ago we took a drive into the hinterlands and picked up a new-to-us dryer. For $30. Around here $30 buys you a lot of love.

We've been dryer-less since the end of May and I tell you the truth - I've hated every single second. My friend, Eliza, asked me why she didn't know about my angst... but really, I've tried very hard not to complain. But now that we have an old workhorse of a dryer downstairs happily fluffing my underpants... I'll tell you all about it.

I hate when appliances don't work so when our good old dryer finally went belly up it was a total shock.  I assume some kind of appliance fairy is gonna show up and fix it. But that never happens so I usually take matters into my own hands - generally by throwing the old appliance out in the yard. I'm not even kidding. One time my husband drove in to see an ill-behaved dishwasher in the front yard - on its side with all its guts hanging out. He took one look at the murderous glare in my eye and two days later victoriously drove home with a new dishwasher strapped to the back of the truck. Happy wife, happy life - ain't that right.

Unfortunately the dryer situation didn't work out so smoothly. We really weren't in the right place to run right out and buy a new one, and we didn't have any luck with craigslist....apparently folks won't split up a washer/dryer set. And I was momentarily brainwashed by the soft cooings of dryer-less fanatics who swore I'd "never go back" once I starting hanging my unmentionables out in the yard for all the world to see.

There's about a million reasons why I don't like to line dry laundry - most of them are logistical. First, I'm short - so the line has to be pretty darn low. But then the sheets hang pretty close to the ground...and when you have all these large male dogs who pee on anything new. Well, you can do the math on that one.

Next, I'm allergic to everything so having all my clothes out there doing nothing but flappin' in the breeze and catching all the pollen... well.. doesn't really help anyone but the folks who make Claritin.

Then, no matter what I had to walk up a set of stairs to get outside to that stupid clothesline. Carrying an unwieldy laundry basket was just awkward. And then there's all the tripping over cats inside...and chickens outside. By the time I got to the stupid clothesline I was battered and bruised and half the clothes needed to be washed again.

Not to mention that I could really one do about one load of clothes a day - this summer was so wet that everything took forever to dry. So unless I started really early a weeks worth of laundry took a week to do, instead of a day.

But now... now the sweet sound of the dryer going round is taking the edge off my appliance rage. And I don't even care that I'm wasting all that electricity. My goal is to use up all the electric in the county today - in fact, I'm pretty sure the president of our co-op is gonna roll up in his limo and shake my hand for increasing demand and sending prices sky high.

That's right fellow Farm Pirates, I'm perfectly happy to raise our own food and live by the "use it up, make do or do without" motto.... but dontcha try and get me to give my up dryer. Ain't no way, no how I'm doing this again. Now if you excuse me I'm gonna get my third load of laundry going today. I should be caught up on a summer's worth of wash by this afternoon.

Happy Monday everyone! Anybody else got clothesline rage?

10 comments:

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

When I was younger having the clothes line was
the rage if you lived in the city. Living in the country the clothes line was the rage :o) funny how things change.
Now that I'm older..I don't want to carry baskets of clothes to a line..but..I would still like to have one to air some things..

Robin said...

No, I haven't had a clothes line in 30 years! Back then I was hanging my son's cloth diapers out to dry!!

Since "The Italian" does most of the every day laundry, I don't think that a clothes line would make around these parts!

Carolyn said...

I can't say I have clothesline rage for the same reason you do. I can't hang out my laundry (which I do enjoy) because the stupid buck goat is in rut and it smells like something rolled in roadkill ate a skunk then died while vomiting and pissing on itself.
So I've got the opposite problem you have....I CAN'T use my clothesline and MUST use my dryer! Hopefully the smelly goat will be moved to farther quarters very, very soon.

Veggie PAK said...

You have all that built-up electricity you have to use!! Happy for you that you got a
new-to-you dryer! In our earlier years, we got a new to us washer for $50 and we used it every day for 12 years!!! 12 years! Try that with a new one!

You left the berry-eating birds off your list of why you don't like line drying...

NancyDe said...

We just started hanging our laundry to save money. It takes three darn days to dry anything in this rain forest and with several teens in the house laundry takes all week - we did save a good $70 on the electric bill, though, so although I miss my dryer, I guess we'll persist.

Cindy said...

I miss line drying in Texas summers. Generally I would hang lighter weight items first. By the time I emptied the basket, the first few things were ready to fold and stash. I miss the crispness of air dried clothing and sheets (OK, not towels so much). Apartment living, dryers are the only option.

Mary Ann said...

I love our dryer too! I KNOW I'm supposed to love hanging clothes out... but I am all for time-saving!

Dave @ HappyAcres said...

Someone down the road from us had TWO dryers sitting in the front yard with '4 sale' signs on them. They wanted more than 30 bucks though. Not sure what kind of story they had!

Ohiofarmgirl said...

Ginny - I hated carrying the stupid baskets!

Robin - TBM is barred from doing laundry...alth he sometimes sneaks in there...and then shhh.. I have to re-do it.
;-)

Carolyn, I'm late in responding to these comments but I've been laughing about your buck stankin' up the laundry for a couple days. My golly!

VPak - for $50 you got your moneys worth for sure. And dont get me started on how all the poultry "helped" with the laundry. ha!

NancyDe - I laughed alot about this - we dont have that bad of humidity but it took plenty long enough here.

Mary Ann - One of my pals reminded me that time is a valuable resource too... I'm all for using technology especially when it moves things along.

Villager - we laughed because the folks who we bought this "new" dryer from also had another one for sale! We couldnt believe we missed it - but we think we got the better end of the deal. This one will last forever.

Tracey said...

We moved to our place in March with no washer or dryer, ugh. I broke down and bought a washboard (can't afford a washer or dryer right now) thinking, ok, in the 'olden days' people made due...At first I felt like I could stay on top of it but the laundry soon piled up (literally)and trying to do large items is very awkward. Going to the laundromat is very expensive (coulda bought a used washer and dryer already from what we spent). Craigslist hasn't produced anything yet. First on my wishlist would be the washer I think. I can predict the rain around here by my wash days. Soon as I hang something out, it rains. I remember my neighbor when I was a kid had a wringer for her laundry, been thinking of getting one but now they are antiques so I am sure the cost will be outrageous. This wanting to live off the grid (not completely by choice) is very challenging.

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