The old Clothes Line

I sure wish I had a picture of the old close line and I am sure very few folks even know what that is but let me tell you a few memories about clothes lines.  But first let me tell you where the term in football "clotheslined" someone comes from.  You see a clothesline is a wire between two posts and typically it comes in threes but if someone is running and for some reason they don't see the clothesline they will almost get their head taken off.  The correlation to football is when someone is running along and you stick out your arm and catch them right under the chin or on the neck their feet will come out from under them and they will land flat on their back, thus clotheslined.  It is an awful thing to happen to a person but as a past football player I thought it was cool seeing it done or doing it to someone.  I never wanted to hurt them but it was fun seeing them land flat on their back.  Boys are different than girls, at least it seems that way to me.

Back to the story.

washing machine with wringer, electric even

First you have to know that a clothes line is where in your back yard there are two steel posts, T shaped,   painted silver about 40 feet or more apart with three smooth steel wires between them all spaced evenly apart.  That is where we hung our clothes once they were washed and put through the wringer.  If you don't know what a ringer is take a look at the attached picture.  We use to call them Maytag's and they originally were not electric like this one.  If you look at the top left of the picture you will see two rollers which you place shirts and pants and everything else through to squeeze out the water, thus a wringer because it wrings out the water.  Get it?  Now when you hear someone say that they got their butt in a wringer you know that they are in serious trouble because the wringer can break an arm or hurt like crazy at the least if you get caught in it.  The next step once you have a basket full of clothes you take them outside in hot or freezing cold weather and hang them on the wires between the two posts to dry out.  If it is raining outside don't be stupid and ask what do you do then.  OK, YOU WAIT.  Anyway the clothes pen at the left was for attaching the clothes to the wire so they would not fall.

The second picture is the modern day clothespin which was a wonderful improvement over the old one.  

I don't know about you but I thought clothes smelled better when dried outside prior to the clothes dryer.  I remember how excited Dad was when he purchased a clothes dryer for Mom so she would not have to go outside in all kinds of weather to either gather the clothes or put them out, especially in freezing weather or even just cold weather during the winter.  Dad just loved Mom and I think his greatest joy was when he thought he could do something for her.  It was a good lesson on how to treat a lady.  I think they call that mentoring or teaching a son how to treat a lady.  Kind of cool if you ask me.

Well I have one last story about clotheslines and if you like cats or don't like cruelty to animals you might want to stop reading. 

I am not going to mention names so there will be no ramifications on "who dun it".  Anyway one time there was a couple of young boys who tied two cats together and threw them over the clothesline.  Fur was flying and it was an awful sight to behold.  All I can say about this is that we are lucky God is a loving and forgiving God because those boys lost every chance of making it into heaven based on works because there is no way to make up for such a horrible deed.  Before you argue with me you should read the Bible and then ask questions.  I am always amazed at how folks are experts on something they do not read.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• Respect and love for a lady
• Change can be good but memories of the good old days are what gives spice to this life
• I really love cats 

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com