Table Talk

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 regularity, which was spot-on when they found without in my adult life, a clothesline Mom’s hair, served as boundary markers themselves directly aligned with whatever was on would rank high on the list of things I for other backyard games and even was the clothesline. wish I had back. the skeleton for a good fort. I’m not a fan of having to wash something I’ve just

A clothesline is like a chocolate cake; you A clothesline can put the ‘fun’ in ‘func- washed. don’t think anything of it when it’s there, but after it’s gone you panic a little, then wonder what you are going to do now. tional.’ When I had a family of my own, we had a clothesline and I used it often as the 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

As a kid, our very long triple-decker TABLE TALK children were growing up. This time it adding to my angst. It’s hard to stay ahead of that clothesline dried a ton of clothes for a family of nine. Mom’s homemade clothespin apron held the thousands of clothespins it took to hang a department store’s clothing section out in the farm breeze (which wasn’t always pleasant). By Karen was my job to lug the clothes out of the basement and out to the clothesline. The line worked like a dream with a good south breeze and earned its place among laundry day royalty … and it also made me look like I may have needed to visit the orthodontist. Schwaller 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

I’m pretty sure that when I was a child I drew pic- It used to be so satisfying to hang the diapers out. them, fold it all and put it away. And yet, it was one tures of Mom with clothespins in her mouth, because The sunshine kept them as white as you could keep of my favorite sights out of our kitchen window. I saw her that way so much. But with my artistic prowess, I’m also sure the teacher must have wondered if my mother should pay a visit an orthodontist. Mom would often tell us girls to bring the clothes in off the line. It seemed such a daunting task, but it was my first experience with the futuristic notion of “off-line” as a kid. By the time she was finished with wash day, I’m pretty sure Mom felt like she had run herself through the wringer. And she still had supper to make. Without a microwave. My sister and I became our high school badminton champions from our constant volleying back and forth over the clothesline. It helped us dream of diapers, and just the thought of saving so much money on the disposable kind kept me okay with washing and folding them. The trade-off was that nose hairs are now just a memory for us after the bleach and ammonia assaulted them every week in our tiny house. Occasionally, when the south breeze wouldn’t try to blow our cats away, folding jeans turned into hand-to-hand combat, and our towels had better posture than we did. Now and again as I would hang out the sheets or clothing, we would be visited by bird doo-doo fairies. You know them — they would keep your wash day on their calendar and proved most boastful of their 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

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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