Susan Taylor, 55-year-old mother and part-time nurse, had just done something that people had been doing for decades: hang her clothes to dry. But with that, she became a renegade:
The regulations of the subdivision in which Ms. Taylor lives effectively prohibit outdoor clotheslines. In a move that has torn apart this otherwise tranquil community, the development's managers have threatened legal action. To the developer and many residents, clotheslines evoke the urban blight they sought to avoid by settling in the Oregon mountains.
"This bombards the senses," interior designer Joan Grundeman says of her neighbor's clothesline. "It can't possibly increase property values and make people think this is a nice neighborhood."
But Susan's fighting back - in fact, she's laying it all on the line:
Ms. Taylor and her supporters argue that clotheslines are one way to fight climate change, using the sun and wind instead of electricity. "Days like this, I can do multiple loads, and within two hours, it's done," said Ms. Taylor. "It smells good, and it feels different than when it comes out of the dryer."
The battle of Awbrey Butte is an unanticipated consequence of increasing environmental consciousness, pitting the burgeoning right-to-dry movement against community standards across the country.
They'd look smashing.
Gotta agree with may that interior designers come over all queezy when confronted with a line full of wooly's.Perhaps if the hanger learned to colour co-ordinate or make a feature out of her old socks or something....