it's too narrow for bed sheets

Kate XXXXXX wrote: The gold is just where the freckles have joined up!

Lucky you!!!

Well actually one was taught it simply wasn't done to hang one's "body linen" out on the line for God and the neigbors to see. Undergarments are and should always be hung on the line in a manner that concels them from public view. Indeed there is an art and manner to hanging all wash on the line. Properly hung laundry not only dries faster, but is easier to take in without wrinkling and large flatwork like sheets and tablecloths can either be folded ready for putting away or sprinkling before ironing.

Any good vintage housekeeping manual will have instructions.

Candide

Undergarments

That is not always an option, ya know. Sometimes moving is impossible or so difficult to accomplish that it might as well be.

You're right. For most people, that's not an option. The key is to read the fine print before buying. HOAs are sold as being good for the buyer, but owners are finding that they can be used against the less popular, or people who "just don't fit in" -- "aren't our kind." There was an X-file episode where violators were terminated with extreme prejudice. Yes, I know that's fiction, but sometimes what I see or read about makes me wonder...

I did not suggest anyone should "move". Simply don't buy in the first place if you don't like the rules of the neighborhood.

Beverly

Sometimes the HOA's come after the fact not before. My daughter bought the house she rented for several years. The entire street had been townhouse rentals and then sold off as individual units. The neighbors then formed a HOA. It didn't bother her but there had to be people who would have preferred it otherwise. In the City of Poughkeepsie the rule didn't come until last month. As I said in an earlier post, the city has far worse problems than laundry hanging in sight. Street gangs, graffiti, dirty streets, drug problems frequent murders. I don't think an ordinance to hang laundry out of sight is going to do much to cure those ills. Juno

I don't know if some of the problems you mention are related to illegal aliens but they are here. Hanging laundry all over is one of the things sometimes done by these folks. The law probably is used to discourage and keep them out of the areas (or at least had that intention). It seems kind of wacky but it is sometimes the little stupid rules like that that code enforcement need to use to clean up bad 'hood. Taria

Juno wrote:

Illegal Aliens are in the area and every other area of the US. The people who are hanging laundry are also the elderly, the infirm and people who have lived in the area for many years. I worked in the inner city for many years as a nurse in the schools and got to know many of the families, legal and illegal. This is an area my husband came from, People were hanging laundry on the front porch

50 years ago when I first met him. It's not a new phenomenon. So you see it's not just "these folks" it's many folks. You don't clean up a city by fining people who hang laundry on a front porch line. You clean up a city by cleaning out the ones who are responsible for the crime in the area. Enforcement should be focused on crime and criminals, not people who have no other place to put up a laundry line.I have watched the city disintegrate over the past 25 years and it's sad. Juno

We used to talk about going down to the beach to see the red, white, and blue yankees.

(Red from the sun, blue from the cold.)

Yes!! Silly people, weren't they? Getting their money's worth for their vacation. I remember going to the beach in the evening, after the adults got home from work. Having a barbeque, enjoying the surf without the broiling sun. It stayed light for a long time in the summer, and the ocean breezes felt so good.

The modesty trick with the rotary line is to hang the 'smalls' in the middle on the short bits, and sheets and towels round the outside like curtains. Everything dries better that way anyway.

I reckon if God wants to know what knickers I'm wearing/washing, He's welcome to look. All seeing has to be just that... ;) And I don't give a monkey's what the neighbours think! After all, I *could* care less about theirs, but I'd need to work hard to do so!

So true, but then when you have the person who has a change in mindset, they are sort of stuck.

What if you bought a number of years ago and then all of a sudden you see the light about line-drying? I sure didn't start doing it until I had lived here several years. Thankfully there are no restrictions here, but if there were...

Yup. I have owned a lot of different homes over the years, and only one of them was brand new when I bought it. I much prefer a house that has been previously owned and the neighborhood has matured some. The amount of work may be about the same, when you consider that new homes need window coverings, landscaping, shelves and hooks and paint and other things to turn it from a house to a home. A settled neighborhood is less likely to change rapidly. I feel sorry for people who buy a new house, only to learn that most of the other houses are being bought for investment rentals or to "flip."

...

Well said!

YIS

Mary

Afraid I'd be tempted to get a bit creative - hit the thrift stores for black lace, fishnet stockings, thongs -- not to wear, just to hang out. Could apply the "man on horseback" rule and employ the scissors strategically, creating some very naughty appearing items. :-D

+You're thinking like me again! :D