No, the first style is the right one, but I'm pretty sure that's the same brand I bought, which seems to be a) splintery, b) weak, and c) prone to popping apart in alarming ways. I have a few really old clothespins from when I lived in the mission house, and they are smooth (probably from wear) and much sturdier, possibly made from harder woods. The spring is much smoother action, and never slips.

I love the fact that you're picky about your clothespins. I love the fact that you're familiar enough about clothespins and their use to *be* picky. Good luck with your search.

Our neighborhood prohibits clotheslines. I do not miss pinning up individual socks for four people on a 20-degree day, taking them down freeze-dried. But I do miss sun-dried sheets.

ETA a sense-making "up"

Apropos of this conversation, I just hung a load of laundry on the clothesline to dry. And the towels are in the dryer.

Now I need to wash dishes, walk the dog, clean the bathroom, mop the kitchen floor, and make a batch of granola. Sheesh.

Unrelatedly, I am an awesome girlfriend who got the geekiest birthday present EVER for Tim (his birthday is in November): I made a donation to the Let's Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum campaign in his name and got him the cool-ass t-shirt.

I seem to be starting a trend of getting him geeky t-shirts for major gift-giving events (I got him the Take It Apart Wondermark t-shirt for Christmas, although that was really so I could get the Tinkerer's Handbook with it [you can't buy the Tinkerer's Handbook on it's own; you can only add it to something else you buy]), but he wears the hell out of the Take It Apart shirt, so I must be doing something right.

How does the freeze drying work? I always wondered about it when they talked about freeze drying the wash during The Long Winter. Doesn't it just melt when it gets warm, making the clothes wet again?

Ooh, this is the business. I bet that's someone's late grandmother's bag and pins.

I'll have to ask my mom what clothespins she prefers. I know she has opinions (and actual clothespins, though I also know she won't part with them). I hope it's not that she's just managed to hold onto the good ones over the years...

I am a lazy bum who doesn't even have a clothesline, but I have cheap-ass wooden clothespins to hold my outgoing mail on my mailslot cover.

Eta: Pink Gingham FTW!

13 Little-Known Punctuation Marks We Should Be Using - Mental Floss

2. Percontation Point or Rhetorical Question Mark

The backward question mark was proposed by Henry Denham in 1580 as an end to a rhetorical question, and was used until the early 1600s.

3. Irony Mark

It looks a lot like the percontation point, but the irony mark’s location is a bit different, as it is smaller, elevated, and precedes a statement to indicate its intent before it is read. Alcanter de Brahm introduced the idea in the 19th century, and in 1966 French author Hervé Bazin proposed a similar glyph in his book, Plumons l’Oiseau, along with 5 other innovative marks.

I was hoping there'd be a sarcasm mark.

The SarcMark (short for “sarcasm mark”) was invented, copyrighted and trademarked by Paul Sak, and while it hasn’t seen widespread use, Sak markets it as “The official, easy-to-use punctuation mark to emphasize a sarcastic phrase, sentence or message.” Because half the fun of sarcasm is pointing it out [SarcMark].

And there's a snark mark!

I don't normally have that many loads to do, but my T-shirts and towels are clearly way out of control. I have no idea what "regular" looks like. My laundry sorts out into hard and soft, whites and colours, and I'll do a bag of whichever as soon as the need manifests, or a bagful has accumulated. I very rarely do All The Laundry.

Freeze dried clothes are still damp when they thaw, but whapping the cat with a frozen sock is one of the perks of winter. Though that sometimes results in a snapped sock.

edit: Yes, I have snapped socks. Not in two, but the fibers were compromised enough that several snapped when frozen, resulting in unwearable socks.

Desperately craving egg custard, no idea why.

I have no idea what this is. Apparently I have never had one.