line dry
line dry, originally uploaded by pinkyracer.
what have I been up to? Well, doing what I did best as a child. Degrading the property value of my parent's home. ;-) Today was very productive, not only did I actually apply for a job or two, I straightened up around the house, and installed this clothesline. And did the laundry to hang on it. I was calling it "The Clothesline Experiment" and then I recalled that I'm an old hand at line drying. Although, for Baywood, where the average home price is safely over 6 figures, it was certainly unusual.
Why, in Barcelona, that's all anybody did, unless they wanted to pay 4 euros for the (American) dryer in the laundromat. And instead of nice, expansive backyards to hang their clothes in, everyone had a rack hanging out the window. Sometimes on windy days, peoples clothes would blow onto my patio. I never knew quite what to do with them, and put them all in the hall, in case they came from someone in my building.
I never thought it would happen, but I'm actually homesick for Raval. Shitty neighborhood, but I do miss the city life. Even though I've been in San Francisco pretty much every evening since I arrived, it's still not enough.
So none of my clothes blew off, because I used plenty of clothespins. Tried the old-school ones, that are pure wood, no hinges, and discovered they can leave splinters, so the delicate clothes got the little curtain clips I bought for no good reason at IKEA in Barcelona. Which work great for this purpose.
Anyway, I was partly trying to conserve energy, partly trying to prevent undue wear on my clothes. My parents have a rather old washer and dryer, so they are a bit rough on the clothes. But I wussed out and did some things in the dryer, the things I knew would be better off there. So I technically did not save any energy. If anything, I wasted some, since the dryer wasn't full. Yes, this is one green strategy that should be all or nothing.
I think I'll talk dad into buying a Bosch energy star washer & dryer. Or whatever equivalent they sell at Costco, the store that can sell him ANYTHING.
It was a good experience for Valentino as well. I finally let him come outside for a minute. After so many years of me acting like the world was about to end every time he so much as looked at an open door or window, he was terrified, and ventured out very cautiously. Poor guy. I think it's time we got him a chip n collar so he can go play in the grass like a real cat.