North Idaho Janna

Last spring I was showing property to a 30ish couple.  One property had a retractable clothesline on the side of the house near the deck.  You could see across the way to where you would fasten it to a fixture on the fence about 15 feet away.  It was actually pretty slick.  My buyer studied it for a moment and then gave up trying to guess what it was.  Huh?  It's a clothesline!  She shook her head and seemed amused by the thought that anyone would actually CHOOSE to use a contraption like that! 

The clothesline was once a common sight.  After WWII, when Americans embraced labor saving appliances, clotheslines eventually became somewhat of a stigma - associated with not being able to afford a dryer.  Nowadays, clotheslines are outlawed in most neighborhoods with an HOA for being an eyesore.  Clotheslines are now making a comeback as more of us embrace green living.  Using a clothesline to dry your clothing can save households about 6 percent of their annual energy usage. That equates to about $80 per year.

Being old enough to be my buyer's mother I had my own memories of using a clothesline, and actually preferred it for some things.  At the International Homebuilders Show in Orlando last year I stumbled across a cool, environmentally progressive "clothesline" that I would love to have, called a Breeze Dry Indoor Drying Cabinet. You can hang your clothes to dry in a built-in cabinet indoors, choosing to circulate air for drying from indoors or outdoors. Everything old is new again!

Here's a cute poem circulating online, which sure took me back to the day.  Enjoy!

A Clothesline Poem

A clothesline was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped by
To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the "fancy" sheets
And towels upon the line;
You'd see the "company" tablecloths
With intricate design.

The line announced a baby's birth
To folks who lived inside
As brand new infant clothes were hung
So carefully with pride.

The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed
You'd know how much they'd grown.

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung.
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It said "Gone on vacation now"
When the line hung limp and bare.
It told "We're back!" when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare.

New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way.

But clotheslines now are of the past
For dryers make work less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody's guess.

I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line.

Janna Rankin Scharf, AB, GRI, CSP, CLHMS, provides a superior level of real estate services to home buyers and sellers in Coeur d'Alene and Kootenai County, Idaho. Visit www.JannaScharf.com to search for homes in the Coeur d'Alene MLS for anywhere in spectacular North Idaho.

Janna Rankin Scharf, 208.651.9700  NorthIdahoJanna@gmail.com