Phone Conversations

Older Son and I are like two peas in a pod. We are so much alike, and we always have been. We clashed sometimes when he was a kid, just because of being so much alike. Now that he's an adult, you should hear us when we're around each other. We feed off of each other like crazy, and it takes no time at all for him to have me in stitches.


To set the stage for the first phone conversation I want to share, here are a couple of pictures. This first one is from a couple years ago, and you can see how the laundry really makes the lines go down. Now when I was at home, we had wires for our clotheslines, and there wasn't much give, so we didn't have the sagging problem. I've had lots of lines that were wires.


I have thoroughly enjoyed having a clothesline back, as there wasn't one here when we moved in. Have I mentioned before that I LOVE CLOTHESLINES? The wires we put on this one here at first, which you can see in the photo, were WIRE, with a green plastic coating. They were fastened with c-clamps/nuts and bolts at the ends. Well, somehow they would stretch a little, then we would undo the clamps, tighten the wire, and re-tighten the clamps. In the photo it's not sagging too bad, but believe me it would GET bad eventually. This irritated me. I don't want my laundry dragging the dirt and everything looking saggy.


Well.


One day, I had a bunch of stuff out, and all of a sudden ... >>SNAP!!!<< ... a line broke. What???? How could that sturdy wire stuff break??? Well, when the clamps were moved around on the wire, the previous spot of being clamped was weakened, and couldn't hold up under the weight. And it was in the loop part of fastening to the pole, so that wire was DONE.





So, I went to wallyworld. I got some white, woven clothesline rope, that would not require clamps and wouldn't "snap" under pressure. I strung it where the one line was down, and tied it good, where it was tight, but I could re-do the knots if it stretched. You can see in the next photo two saggy wires on the left, and the new one on the right, with the broken one hanging by one end. I'm not going to tell you how long that broken wire hung there. (Hey, no big deal, as long as I didn't walk down there and get my feet all tangled up in it and practically fall down. *ahem*)




But wow, does that woven rope SAG, no matter how tight I pull it at first. Big time. It can start out tight, but with the weight of the laundry, down down down it goes. I re-stretch it for all it's worth, and tie it good ... next time ... sag, sag, sag. I had hubby's work clothes nearly dragging the ground the other day!


So with this state of affairs, here's the FIRST PHONE CONVERSATION with Older Son this morning, as he had gone over to the nearby big town on errands. While he was there, one stop he made was where he works at an ag supply store, and he called me telling me about the clothesline/rope choices they had on hand, in case I wanted to get some.


Son: "Hey, Mom? I'm over here looking at clothesline rope for you, in case you want to get some."
Me: "OK."
Son: "Here's some plastic stuff that's 'low-stretch.' "
Me: "OK."
Son: "Here's some 3/16th ... here's some 3/4-inch rope ..."
Me: "The clothespins wouldn't fit on that!!!"
Son: "Well, here's some more stuff ... (and he list what-all he sees). We could just get wire."
Me: "I've had a lot of wire clotheslines before, they're OK."
Son: "Well, this is really thick, like aircraft cable."
Me: "That won't do!" (Lauging.)
Son: "We could just get some all-thread." (That's a huge, long metal rod with threads cut in it all over.)
Me: "There ya go, that would be sturdy for sure!"
Son: "Yeah, we could use that to dry beef on." (Hanging jerky or beef strips to dry.)


NEVER A DULL MOMENT AROUND US TWO.



SECOND CONVERSATION, a bit later:


Son calls.
Me: "Hello?"
Son: "Hey, Mom? Set the oven for 375, and I'll be home in a bit."
Me: "To what?" (I wasn't sure I heard how high to set it.)
Son: "The OVEN." (He thought I said "Do what?")
Me: "TO WHAT?"
Son: "THE OVEN!!! You know, the thing we have that you put FOOD in and BAKE???"
Me: "TO ... WHAT ...???!!!!!" (Emphasizing the words to make sure he heard me right.)
Son: "Oh, 375."


I won't relate the ensuing incident where he brought home a 16" frozen pizza from the wallyworld deli, and we didn't have a big enough pan, so he put a flat cookie sheet and an upside-down shallow pan together to fit underneath the pizza and then I had to help haul it out of the oven, and then it was a feat of undertaking to cut said pizza but we got 'er done.


Welcome to my world! I wouldn't trade it for anything. :)