How serious are you about this? Things to consider: are you going to use this four seasons? If so, you need to know where sun shines in winter (it's different patterns of shade between summer and winter, and drying in winter takes longer, but it helps if there's sunlight hitting the clothesline.) Do you have a rainy season? If you have moist grass that stays moist, you might be better off putting the clothes line over a driveway, patio or even over carefully spaced pavers. You'd rather have the clothes line where there are no trees overhanging because of bird droppings. The closer to your washing machine, the more likely you are to use the clothes line. In some climates, I've found that sheets line dry faster than dryers do the job.

Without seeing a picture or having a more detailed description, I can only guess that you've been blessed with the presence of Potter's wasps. They are predatory insects, capturing caterpillars, grubs, spiders, etc., paralyzing them with a sting, then stuffing them inside those little mud pots with a single wasp egg. The wasp larvae will have fresh caterpillar to feed on as it develops into a mature Potter's wasp. Take a look at the attached link. Let us know if the images hit the mark or not. If not, we'll need an improved description. Here is a link that might be useful: Is this what you have?

ME and I have had one ever since we moved out of the city 32 years ago. Through two apartments (in old houses with yards) and now this house. I used to hang wash from a 5 person family all winter, outside, but since my oldest daughter moved out I have hung 2 lines the length of her bedroom & we now hang clothes on hangers on these, in winter. The lines are easily removed when the room is needed for people! They run from the window trim to the closet trim. I hang everything except our cotton undies & boxers (don't want the neighbors to have to look at them) and towels, on the lines outside in good weather. All year round. OP, we have a big eyebolt in the corner posts of the wood frame house, at the house end of the lines, and the other ends of the lines are tied snugly around the trunks of two hemlock trees. There are two lines outside running from the house to the trees. They take 2 full loads of laundry. They are nylon clotheslines. They do eventually fray from the sun exposure but only after some years and they are inexpensive to replace. As to saving money, Dave--we bought this house in 1984 and the dryer in the kitchen, which we moved to the basement, was probably around 10-15 years old (based on the avocado green) -- it is a Westinghouse. It has had a couple of belt replacements but only last month did it begin to have trouble with the heating element. 2013 - 1970-74 = 39 to 44 years out of that machine. I think we got our money's worth. How many dryers have you bought in 40 years, Dave, and what did you pay for them all? And how much electricity have you been buying to run them? My electric bill runs around $100/month for an 8 room house.

Some ways around HOA restrictions..... I have 6 lines in the basement in one of the unfinished rooms we don't need/use. We installed a ceiling fan to move the air and I line-dry all the laundry in the basement. There is a 6-foot clothes rod permanently installed on one wall and we hang wet clothes on wooden or plastic Tide hangers to dry on the rod. Everything that normally hangs on a hanger in the closet is hung on a hanger to dry, which saves a lot of space on the lines. The clothes dried on hangers go directly from the basement to the closet. I do have one tip for drying slacks/pants. I hang them by the bottom of the pants legs, one leg on one line, and the other leg on the line in front of it (keeping seams together so I get a crease in the leg). This way you get the benefit of the heavy wet body of the pants pulling down so they get a nice crease in the legs. Let gravity help you out. This method allows the crotch to dry faster, which tends to stay damp if you hang them from the waist. In fact, with today's fast spinning washers, it's beneficial to leave a little more moisture in your clothes when you line-dry them. Those 1000 rpm (or faster) spin cycles are beneficial when you use a dryer, but only set wrinkles in clothes destined to dry on a line, so try a slower spin. The additional moisture = weight + gravity will help pull wrinkles out of the fabric naturally. I have a special spin hold cycle on my washer that is designed for hand washables or line drying. It leaves them a little wetter and fewer wrinkles. What wrinkles are there can be quickly smoothed out with your hand. Other great benefits from an indoor clothesline...... -No bird "bombs". -No bugs/bees/wasps hiding in the pant legs or sleeves. -No allergens from the air clinging to the fabrics. -No sun fading colors and destroying the fabrics. -No sun destroying elastic. -Don't have to worry if there is an unexpected rain shower, soot in the air if someone burns a wheat stubble field and you get flecks of black debris on your clothes, and many other problems solved. -No fabric-destroying wind whipping and snapping the ends of clothes. -Clothes last soooooooo much longer than when you hang them outside OR use a dryer. I read where one inventive gal raised the hinge pins on the door hinge of a little-used guest bedroom just enough to put a clothes line around it from the door to the door on the closet hinge pin, to a hook located by a window, then back to the door, so she had 3 lines in that room. When we first moved into this home and before we had our landscape done and the clothesline courtyard finished with the umbrella-style clothes line, I strung 2 long lines in the garage between the car bays and turned on a high-speed fan hubby keeps in the garage. Where there's a will, there's a way. ;-) -Grainlady