PAGE 6
www.thelandonline.com — “Where Farm and Family Meet”
THE LAND — NOVEMBER 13/NOVEMBER 20, 2020
Blowin’ in the wind: Mom’s clothesline had many functions When I think of things I have had to do Wimbledon participation, kept us out of without in my adult life, a clothesline Mom’s hair, served as boundary markers would rank high on the list of things I for other backyard games and even was wish I had back. the skeleton for a good fort. A clothesline is like a chocolate cake; you A clothesline can put the ‘fun’ in ‘funcdon’t think anything of it when it’s there, tional.’ but after it’s gone you panic a little, then When I had a family of my own, we had wonder what you are going to do now. a clothesline and I used it often as the As a kid, our very long triple-decker children were growing up. This time it TABLE TALK clothesline dried a ton of clothes for a was my job to lug the clothes out of the family of nine. Mom’s homemade clothes- By Karen Schwaller basement and out to the clothesline. The pin apron held the thousands of clothesline worked like a dream with a good pins it took to hang a department store’s south breeze and earned its place among clothing section out in the farm breeze (which laundry day royalty … and it also made me look wasn’t always pleasant). like I may have needed to visit the orthodontist. I’m pretty sure that when I was a child I drew picIt used to be so satisfying to hang the diapers out. tures of Mom with clothespins in her mouth, because The sunshine kept them as white as you could keep I saw her that way so much. But with my artistic diapers, and just the thought of saving so much prowess, I’m also sure the teacher must have wonmoney on the disposable kind kept me okay with dered if my mother should pay a visit an orthodontist. washing and folding them. The trade-off was that Mom would often tell us girls to bring the clothes nose hairs are now just a memory for us after the bleach and ammonia assaulted them every week in in off the line. It seemed such a daunting task, but it was my first experience with the futuristic notion our tiny house. of “off-line” as a kid. Occasionally, when the south breeze wouldn’t try to blow our cats away, folding jeans turned into By the time she was finished with wash day, I’m hand-to-hand combat, and our towels had better pretty sure Mom felt like she had run herself posture than we did. through the wringer. And she still had supper to make. Without a microwave. Now and again as I would hang out the sheets or clothing, we would be visited by bird doo-doo fairies. My sister and I became our high school badminton champions from our constant volleying back and You know them — they would keep your wash day on their calendar and proved most boastful of their forth over the clothesline. It helped us dream of
regularity, which was spot-on when they found themselves directly aligned with whatever was on the clothesline. I’m not a fan of having to wash something I’ve just washed. I have loaded my fair share of manure-covered clothing into the washing machine (as hog farm families do) — even without bird doo-doo fairies adding to my angst. It’s hard to stay ahead of that game when the manure falls out of the sky, too. A clothesline today is a window to the past … to an era when people had more time and less money to spend on the laundry. It was both exhausting and exhilarating to hang a clothesline full of clothes, and just as much so when it came time to remove them, fold it all and put it away. And yet, it was one of my favorite sights out of our kitchen window. Full lines meant we had been blessed with a family, that we all had clothes to wear, and also kept me active enough to avoid always having to wear those stretchy pants I normally would reserve for Thanksgiving Day. Our old clothesline no longer exists, and a clothesline doesn’t work where we live today because the south winds would pummel our newly-washed clothes full of gravel road dust. Pity, really, that those punctual and loose bird fairies probably also had to relocate. Karen Schwaller can be reached at kschwaller@ evertek.net. v
In troubled times, we all need to take on our nation’s hurt LAND MINDS, from pg. 2 The Land’s venerable Dick Hagen shared a few of his thoughts on Congress in general and I want to pass them along. As the ruminations of election day continue to
NOTICE
Early deadline for ads in The Land Due to the Christmas and New Year Holidays, The Land office will be closed on Friday, Dec. 25th and Friday, Jan. 1, 2021.
Deadline for Deadline for Deadline for The Land’s The Land’s The Land’s Dec. 25th issue is Jan. 1, 2021 issue is Jan. 8, 2021 issue is Tues., Dec. 15th Tues., Dec. 22th Tues., Dec. 29th at noon. at noon. at noon.
rumble and we collectively perhaps wonder even more ‘What now America’, Dick writes, my rumblings include these from Trump Rule’s Congressional Reform Act: No tenure, No pension. A Congressman/Woman collects salary while in office and receives no pay when they’re out of office. Congressman/Woman (past, present and future) participate in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional Retirement Fund move to Social Security immediately. All future funds low into the Social Security System and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. Congress much purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do. Congress will no longer vote themselves pay increases. Congressional pay will rise by the lower CPI or 3 percent. Congress’s current Healthcare System is terminated, and they participate in the same Healthcare System as the American people. Congress must abide by all the laws they impose on the American people
All contracts with past and present Congressman/ Woman are void. The American people did not make these contracts with Congressmen/Women. Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators serving their terms, then going home and back to work. All the freebies they have entitled to themselves should no longer be tolerated. As the 2020 election proved, social and political preferences are widespread — maybe really wide. Everyone likes to point the finger, telling us who is dangerous with all of their shortcomings. If those people could only be more like us everything would be okay. Well, everything is not going to be okay — at least for quite a while. It doesn’t play well on the campaign trail, but the United States (Republicans, Democrats, atheists and the Marijuana Party) is in for a period of hurt. Do we take on that hurt or do we blame those we don’t like? I say we take it on. It sounds like a plan. Paul Malchow is the managing editor of The Land. He may be reached at editor@TheLandOnline.com. v
