First laundry hung outside but what's with the clothespins?

The day began with a nice rainstorm and I assumed I wouldn't be hanging up any laundry outside after our guests left this morning.  But the rain stopped and there was no colorful radar showing in the area on the computer, so I put the first load in the wash, even though it was still pretty cloudy.

I hauled the laundry basket out with the clothespin bag (remember those?), and prepared to hang up the first (white) sheet.  I picked the first clothespin out of the bag and started to slide it over the corner of the sheet...and then I remembered where those clothespins have been for the last almost 25 years--either in an old dusty basement or out hanging in the old garage.  I g-e-n-t-l-y just touched it to the corner of the damp sheet and saw that it was going to leave a dirty mark on it.  Glad I checked!  So I brought the bag of clothespins inside and dumped them all in a laundry tub full of water and soap, and they soaked all day!  Luckily we had an unopened package of clothespins, probably meant for some craft project like the clothespin reindeer.  You all know about clothespin reindeer, don't you?  

So here are some of them drying after soaking all day.  The water was the color of coffee so, yuck!  Notice those with the reinforcing wire around them.  Those are really old!  And there aren't many of the kind with the spring that you pinch onto the line.  My mother's hands always were so arthritic so she could never use that kind.  Funny how those things come back while doing something mindless like this.  It was kind of a Zen activity!

So I got two loads washed and hung up. But, alas, just when I was feeling so good about NOT using the dryer today for two 40-minute drying times, a little mist in the air late this afternoon convinced me to bring in the still-damp clothes inside and, you guessed it, finish them off in the dryer.  As my mother would have said, "It wasn't a very good drying day!"