The mystery shirt

I was drying laundry the other day, which consists of hanging shirts from a shirt rack Don made me, and hanging the rest of the laundry on a drying rack.

One shirt in particular has become one of Don's favorites. It's his dress shirt, and he'll often wear it to church or other nicer occasions. This shirt is of a far higher quality than Don normally buys (especially since we always shop in thrift stores).

"I wonder what the story is behind this shirt," I remarked as I hung it to dry.

That's because this shirt didn't come from a thrift store. It was found in a parking lot during our second honeymoon last year.

To recap, on the fifth day of our second honeymoon trip, we were on our way to Zion National Park when we impulsively pulled over at a tourist attraction called "Fort Zion."

Clearly it was meant for children, since it had all kinds of campy attractions.

The facility was closed at the time we passed through (it was fairly early in the day), but we walked around the outside and noted some of the amenities. Along one edge of the parking lot, I photographed this lethal row of prickly pear cacti.

It was here, in the empty parking lot by the row of cacti, that Don found a crumpled shirt on the ground. I don't know why he picked it up, but the moment he did, he recognized the quality. "I'm taking this home," he said, and stuffed the shirt somewhere into the car.

After our trip ended and we were doing the mountains of laundry that tends to accumulate on such trips, he washed the shirt and it became part of his regular repertoire of clothing.

But every so often we wonder just why such a nice shirt was left behind in the parking lot of a kiddie tourist trap outside of Zion National Park. We joke that it was a critical piece of evidence in a crime scene, and the crime remains unsolved because he picked up the shirt.

So that's the mystery shirt. Regardless of its past, it certainly is a nice dress shirt.

Clothes-drying racks

Many years ago, I found an antique clothes-drying rack at one of those "Ye Olde Junke Shoppe"-type places. I absolutely stinkin' adore this clothes-drying rack and use it constantly.

Don's had to repair it once or twice when a gust of wind (or a "gust of dog") knocked it over and cracked it...

... but the repairs have held up faithfully and I've continued to use the rack two or three times a week.

I have a second clothes-drying rack, but it's far less sturdy and not as well made. (I got it at a hardware store.) However it's been in the back of my mind that get a couple of spare clothes-drying racks because, well, because.

But I couldn't find anything to match the sturdiness of my antique rack. I found something online at Home Depot that seemed interesting, but frankly it looked flimsy.

Finally I had a head-clunk moment and decided to look on Etsy. Why give money to a huge corporation for an inferior product when I could buy a better item and support a small family business? I know there are hordes of clever people making all kinds of clever clothes racks. Perhaps I could find one similar to my beloved antique rack?

Well, I found it. A business called Pennsylvania Woodworks had just what I was looking for.

I ordered two racks similar in size to my existing rack. They arrived yesterday.

I'm thrilled! They're beautifully made of solid maple and are actually sturdier than my antique rack. They're also wider and a touch taller.

The configuration is similar to my old rack too.

This is the tag that came attached to each unit.

Service from Pennsylvania Woodworks was prompt and efficient, and the workmanship of the racks is superb. I anticipate many years of heavy use from these racks. If anyone is in need of an excellent-quality laundry product, I can highly recommend these.

One of those days

Have you ever had one of those days when you're incredibly productive? Yeah, today was that kind of day.

My work week starts on Thursday (I work an online job Thursday through Saturday). They're usually eleven or twelve-hour days, so I'm pretty tuckered by the end of  them. I've learned, therefore, to do chores on Wednesday, simply because it's nice to start the work week with a clean house.

Additionally, we've had a stretch of absolutely beautiful weather, with sunny days and temps in the low 70s. The birds are singing, the trees are budding, the grass is greening. Spring is here!

Sort of. Weather moves back in tonight and we have about a week of rain (and even a small chance of snow), so we enjoyed the sunshine while we could.

I started by washing our flannel sheets, and hanging them outside to dry. Drying flannel sheets indoors on drying racks is kinda awkward, but it's what I do all winter. Being able to hang them outdoors is a luxury indeed.

I also hung a regular load of laundry, parking the drying racks in the sun to take advantage of the warmth.

I steeped some sun tea.

Next I started a burn barrel. While that was happening, I started raking up all the fallen willow branches from the windy storms earlier this month, starting with the front and side yards. Willows are very pretty trees, but man they shed a lot.

I dumped everything next to the burn pit in the back yard so I could burn it. Darcy, intrigued by all the sticks I was conveniently providing, was a big help.

While the fire burned and Darcy chewed on sticks...

...I raked up the willow branches from the back yard and fed them into the fire. (The photo makes it seem like the fire had spread everywhere; I assure you it didn't.)

After this, I rooted around in the potato bin and pulled out 96 smallish potatoes for planting.

I wanted to plant six beds of potatoes, and figured 16 seed potatoes per bed.

I had prepped the beds yesterday, so they were easy to plant. Space, lever the dirt aside with a shovel, drop the potato in, voila.

It's a bit early to plant potatoes, but I'm willing to take my chances. Any excuse to get a jumpstart on the garden. I'll mulch them in a couple of weeks with straw.

Next I hauled in another load of firewood to add to the stash on the porch, to see us through the upcoming rainy weather.

We were low on kindling for the woodstove, so I collected some thin leftover slats from the shop...

...cut them on the bandsaw...

...and brought them up to the porch. Likely this will be enough kindling to see us through the remainder of the spring.

I emptied the ash bucket in the woodstove.

Then I did a small organizational chore that had been bugging me. In the pantry I keep a box where I store miscellaneous canning rings and assorted lids. It was over-full and hard to find canning rings when I needed them. Just one of those irksome things.

So I cleaned out the box and separated regular and wide-mouth rings into piles.

Then I threaded the rings onto string fastened with a shower clip for easy access.

I hung these in the pantry. I should have done this years ago.

Now my lid box has lots of room.

Next chore: Vacuuming the house (and cleaning the bird cage).

In the evening, I filled a tub with firewood...

...and watched the sky darken with incoming weather.

The very last thing I did today was put up this blog post. Whew, I'm bushed, but at least I have the satisfaction of knowing I got stuff done today.

Betty is doing great!

I caught up on laundry the other day.

While the second load was starting and I was hanging the first load, Don exclaimed, "It is so nice to have a washing machine that can do more than a load of laundry a day! And do a better job of it, too."

He was referencing the strained relationship we had with the fancy whiz-bang Maytag washing machine (and dryer) that came with the house when we bought it.

This machine did not, to put it charitably, do a good job washing clothes – plus it took on average two hours per cycle to ... not get the clothes clean. When I expressed my frustration here on the blog, many of you suggested looking for a Speed Queen. One of these marvels came up for sale locally and we snapped it up in a heartbeat, then offloaded the Maytag as quick as we could. We affectionately nicknamed the new Speed Queen "Betty."

That was a year ago October, so Betty has been working for us for fifteen months now with nary a complaint. She does her job with fabulous efficiency. We couldn't be more pleased to have Betty a permanent part of our household.

We've never had a Speed Queen before, but I tell ya ... we're sold.

Surest sign of spring

Along with the rest of the country, we've been feeling restless and cooped up. Spring is on its way, and at this stage we get a lot of "teaser" weather: beautiful one day, cold and rainy another, usually with bursts of snow for good measure.

But the spring birds are returning, and I'm documenting them as I see or hear them.

On March 4, I heard the first robin.

On March 6, it was the first killdeer.

On March 13,  the first evening grosbeaks descended en masse on the feeder.

But the surest sign of spring? I hung some laundry outside to dry.

Yes, really. It was a minor thrill to hang the flannel sheets outside rather than draping them over the indoor clothes racks and waiting a day or two for them to dry.

At 58F, it took them all day. But still, it's a promise of things to come.

Yep, spring is on its way.