Saturday, August 23, 2008

How Do You Get These Clothes Clean?

As my husband and I got to know each other while we were dating, I found that I had to dispel a lot of myths about what it is to be a rancher. I thought ranchers wore cowboy hats. My husband prefers baseball caps. I thought ranchers wore cowboy boots. My husband has some but say they pinch his toes and likes work boots better. I thought ranchers liked to ride horses. My husband says they're too unpredictable and likes riding his motorcycle much more. (Fortunately one of his brothers likes riding so can take care of that part of the operation.) 

One thing I never thought about was how dirty ranchers get.

Here's my dear husband after a normal day of work. His boots are muddy, his jeans are filthy, his shirt has a big grease spot on it, and his face is dark with dirt. Usually as soon as he comes home in the evening he changes his clothes so he can play with Desert Boy. A couple times a week I wash these stained clothes. I've given up trying to get the stains out; they seem to be so meshed into the fabric that they will never leave. I guess that's what happens when you're under farm machinery trying to fix it and then walk through manure and later go check hay. I just ask him to make sure he doesn't mix up his good clothes and his work clothes.  The stained clothes just keep getting more stained. Eventually they wear out and have to be replaced, and it's so strange seeing him go to work in a set of new work clothes. I know that in just one day they will be broken in, and his new work clothes will blend in with the rest.

6 comments:

  1. Looks like a really dirty job. You should consider giving Mike Rowe a call.

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  2. I have NO IDEA how to get those clothes clean! HA! I usually look like that when I'm done with the horses! I just buy new t-shirts! Let me know when you figure it out!

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  3. O.K., I will never complain about my laundry again! YIKES! (Oh, that part about me never complaining about laundry again...not true, I still will, but I'll think of you first!) ;)

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  4. I think that you should challenge the Tide and Oxyclean people to see who would win. Go for it!

    gs

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  5. My husband gets muddy and covered in grease too. I have developed that belief that his work clothes just don't matter. I wash them in a load all by themselves so they don't soil the other normal clothes and I don't even pre-treat to try to get out the stains anymore. It never works anyway:)

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  6. Wow, a post about dirty clothes gets more comments than just about any other blog post! This must be a subject very dear to many hearts :)

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