Letting it all hang out.

As promised, I lugged my folding drying rack out to the back deck this morning, and after a good sweep and some rearranging of patio furniture, I had it set up in the sunniest spot I could find, which was not particularly sunny. I hefted the damp laundry up from the basement, and for the first time really and truly appreciated how much water the spin cycle of my washer can remove. A full load of wet clothes should have weighed more, I thought.  The little things, and things I did not wish the random neighbor to see, were hung low and on the inside of the accordion style rack, while longer heavier things we placed on the outer rungs in hopes that they’d take in what little sun was available to them. Soon the rack was leaning under the weight of several pairs of jeans, pants, tee shirts, and the like.  I need a bigger rack.

 I was able to bring in most of the items by 5pm when I was done with work, though some of the heavier things are still damp near the pockets or seams. What I couldn’t fold and put away was moved back with the rack to the basement to dry overnight.  While I enjoyed the process of putting the laundry out and listening to the squirrels scamper through the trees as I arranged my unmentionables, I do have a few concerns. To start with,  even on a warm day the clothes didn’t dry very quickly. I’m guessing this has more to do with the fact that my poor little clothes rack was doing triple duty and less to do with the actual temperature. This leads me to believe that I do need another rack- but where will I get a used one? And where on earth on my postage stamp sized deck will it go?  I know I could hop in my car and find a second rack at Wal-Mart or Target or some other large store, and for a low price too, but I would prefer to do the sustainable thing and adopt one from someone.  If this were the end of a school year that might not be so hard, as there are plenty of small colleges around and students tend to dump what doesn’t fit in the car at the end of the year. It is only the beginning, however, and I will need a second one before May.  So I will put the word out with friends and family, and check freecycle and craigslist with reckless abandon, and maybe I’ll get lucky. Keep your fingers crossed!