Blowin' in the wind

Now that our trees are smaller and trimmed up nicely, there is a lot more sunshine and breezes in the back yard. This means on nice days I can use my absolute favorite appliance -- my solar clothes dryer, a.k.a. the clothes line.  This sounds pathetically commonplace until you realize how few people dry any of their clothes outside anymore.  Some suburban HOAs even have rules against using them, claiming it makes the neighborhood look too "ghetto" (this is not how they say it, but c'mon, you know it's what they mean). The average electric indoor clothes dryer is one of the biggest energy hogs in a household, second only to the television and air conditioner.  And when you're drying clothes for a family of five like I do, that adds up to a lot of kilowatt hours. Seriously, go outside (to wherever your electric meter is) sometime and then have someone inside start the dryer. The little energy use wheel on your meter will begin whirling around faster than an over-caffeinated spin aerobics instructor. If we weren't moving soon I'd definitely be looking into solar panels, but for now we'll take Mr. Sun's warming rays for all we can, using what we currently have.