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Dear Editor:
Ours is probably be the last generation that will remember what a clothesline was.
The basic rules:
1. Wash the clothesline with a damp cloth before hanging clothes.
2. Use a long wooden pole to push up the clothesline so that longer items don't touch the ground.
3. Wash on a Monday. Never hang clothes on the weekend.
4. Be efficient. Line up each item so that it shares one clothes pin with the next washed item.
5. Hang in a certain order and always whites with whites first.
6. Hang sheets and towels on the outside lines to hide unmentionables in the middle.
7. Hang socks by the toes, not the top.
8. Hang pants by the bottom/cuffs, not the waistband.
9. Hang shirts by the tail, never the shoulders.
10. No matter if the weather is sub-zero, clothes will freeze-dry.
11. Always gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes; pins left on the line - tacky.
12. Clothes off the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed (now that's a word you don't hear very often).
Eileen Z. Fitzsimons
Dodgeville