THOSE WASH DAY BLUES!
Doing the laundry was
something that never really bothered me. After all you just bundle it into
the machine, wait a while, and then take it out and dry it.
These days things have changed, there is hardly anything decent left to wash, let alone peg out to dry. The Villagers are beginning to think that we have fallen on 'hard times' as we are both reduced to wearing what amounts to little more than 'rags'! Before we go and replace our depleting wardrobe we are waiting for the culprit of all of this to 'mature', one big Tri English Setter who goes by the name of Smudge.
It is not only our clothes which are vanishing from the washing line - but towels numbers are also dwindling and tights are becoming an endangered species. If you can find a matching pair of socks then it must be your lucky day.
A walk into the field reveals where all this washing has gone to. It is like an outdoor jumble sale with clothes scattered everywhere. There are more socks out there than in a Sock Shop.
Smudge and Glen shredding something expensive
What the solution to this problem is, I have no idea. I already have a washing line which hoists up to about twenty feet with a prop the size a pole-vaulter would be proud of! I have also become expert at jumping up and down to reach the line. Pegs, or rather - the lack of - are another problem. Setters love to chew them to bits, the peg makers pay-packets must be bulging with all the overtime our dogs are putting their way.
Zoe and Ellie make short work of a shirt
Although Smudge is the instigator in all of this, he is never short of willing accomplices. Once he manages to grab something off the line, there are others all waiting to join in the fun, at the expense of my washing. Glen, and Ross soon join in making up the 'bad boys' trio and a sheet is quickly ripped in half as each they pull on it in different directions. Socks, can easily be stretched to the point where three setters can run around side by side each with a part of it in their mouth!
One morning I was standing talking to a neighbouring farmer's wife. 'Oh look! I do love to watch your dogs running about with those rags in their mouths', she said. I looked across into the field at the so called 'rag' they were playing with. Suddenly Smudge went one way and Ross another, both with a piece of it in their mouths. Yes, true it was a 'rag' now - but it had until a few minutes earlier been a perfectly good sheet!
Then I had a brainwave, if I stood the prop on a pile of bricks the washing would be out of Smudge's reach. This seemed to be working well and I was congratulating myself on such a simple solution. I was even thinking of going out to stock up on socks. No more going around looking like a down and out - hoorah!!
Over the next few days I kept a close eye on the situation. As I was watching from the kitchen window I noticed that the pile of bricks had been pushed out of line. As I stood and watched one of our 'new recruits' came and started to chew on the wooden prop - I couldn't believe my eyes. As he chewed the prop moved which caused the pile of bricks to wobble, which in turn made some of them fall over. In darted Smudge, and a pillow case vanished from the line in a blink of an eye! Back to square one.
Sock-stretching by Rolo & Don
Several months later I was
watching a nature program about squirrels and how they manage to steal the
bird nuts that people put out. The program went on to say that at last
someone had managed to develop a bird feeder that is squirrel proof.
I wonder, I, just wonder
if......