What a fun thread. Thank you all for wonderful recollections and stories. My mother also hung clothes on the line prior to getting a dried and then continued to hang out in warmer weather even after getting one. I still have clotheslines and use them whenever weather permits. I didn't know there were rules but we followed most of ones listed. My dad made the clothes poles from skinny tree (probably poplar) with a branch crotch near the top holding the line. I don't recall worrying about hiding the undies but then we didn't have neighbors close by (and I still don't). A funny story: a friend had a old Polish woman who lived next to her who thought my friend was just awful because she hung her undies on the line right next to her husbands. Shame on her, what would others think!