The Wide, Wild World of Hangers
Hanger tips
A non-ode to the wire hanger.
(at left: “Automatic Drawing: Coat Hangers IV” by Ellsworth Kelly)
Vintage wooden hangers
Pros: They have great provenance, often with the name of the tailors or hotel destination imprinted in some way on them. They lend an air of authenticity to any vintage coatrack or closet.
Cons: The acid content of the wood can be very high, so has the potential to damage garments being stored for the season, collected for later, or otherwise not in high rotation.
Use Them: For items that receive heavy rotation in your wardrobe. Put them in the front hall/guest closet. Guests usually have their coats their for an evening or just a week at a time, and the extra touch might impress them!
Plastic “Crystal Hangers
Pros: Plastic is a smooth, relatively sanitary material. Storage on a plastic hanger won’t contribute to the deterioration of an item, as long as hung correctly
Cons: They do break if stepped on by accident! They are sometimes wide so not for use with children’s or some ladies clothing with very narrow shoulders.
Fabric Covered Hangers
Pros: The padding is gentle on clothing
Cons: If the fabric is not clean or has been just stored for awhile itself, it can trap
dustmites, or more so absorb/retransfer garment odors. There are scented available as well, but watch for acide content.
Use For: These are great for garment transport of delicate items such as antique garments, wedding gowns, and the like. These are also apropriate for garments that will be in rotation, or to match a decor, but to know when to clean, or replace them.
Wire Hangers:
Pros: You can retrieve your keys sitting on your car seat if you leave your car windwo cracked open but lock your keys in your car. They are lightweight. They are free from your drycleaners with a clearning.
Cons: They can puncture clothing, and can cause rust spots.
Use them: To bring your clothes home from the cleaners and then take them off. But, BEWARE - they multiply like rabbits!
Yes its true…
They arrive at least in groups of 3-5 every week from the drycleaner. There are a few that are kept with the shirts, but the rest just end up in the worst places.
I, at first, just left them hung up, empty, in the closet. Then they started taking up too much room. So I had to move them aside. I put them on the chair in the bedroom, thinking that I would think of something to do with them. They quickly spread out. Then I gathered them up and put them in a paper bag. I hate to clog up a landfill and throw them away. I kept one “just in case”. If I am ever walking down the street and drop my keys down a drain, I can take a wire hanger, bend it oragami style and suddenly, I am MacGyver. Only, he would have been able to do it with a twist tie and a gum wrapper. Since I no longer live in one of America’s major cities like I used to and have to learn to leave that mindset behind…there just is less of a possibility of something like that happening anyhow.
I cannot see myself fashioning them into hangers for wind chimes. I could stretch them out, drive out to a farm and replace a barbed wire fence with hanger wire. But that might not be a good idea either. It would certainly be dangerous. Or i could twist them into a hook and be really lazy and never reach over to pick another thing off of the ground again. And then there is the wire candelabra idea. Those the candles would slowly dip south by the flimsiness of it all. And who needs 105 candelabras of questionable fire code compliance? For the time being, I will just sit and contemplate my bag o’ hangers.
And by the way, the drycleaner won’t take them back. They will have been USED and they wouldn’t have come with those paper sleeves on them (which actually, our drycleaner doesn’t even use. They like the hangers au natural with a cumbersome cardboard insert popped between them and the garment.
You never know, they could finally make it to the garage this time, so they are out of site. Until I go out in the garage that is. But I can’t do that. Then they would be rusty. And NOBODY would want them then!
I stumbled across a site where people have a wire hanger exchange. At the moment there is someone in New York that actually WANTS them in large quantity. I don’t know if this unassuming soul knew what they were in for when they dispatched the request. They may just end up with a U-Haul’s worth from my state.
Until Next Time,
Baseball for Indoor People
In my day, there were no “indoor children.” We went outside and played with our friends. Before you say “oh, not all kids are athletic,” know that there was no need to be. If you couldn’t run, you were probably good at figuring out how to more efficiently look for frogs. But if you were a sore loser, there wasn’t much that could help you. We didn’t read about baseball on the computer, we played it. Well, perhaps a modified version with our own made up rules but we were getting out.
My somewhat old fashioned mind is just blown away with the concept of people and their Fantasy Baseball Leagues. But come to find out, there are people that are more serious about it then they are, it seems, about the real games. I never understood it thoroughly until I read up on it on FantasySportsProphet.com (plus being schooled for my ignorance by an old coworker.)
You start with making your draft picks at the beginning of the season:
Then you go through the whole entire season and your team wins or loses based on how the real players do that year. I always wondered what the rules are. We made up our own baseball rules, so wouldn’t that be what is happening here? Apparently, you take the stats of the players you pick from real life. For example, if a real player you chose for your team gets three runs in their game with Team X, they have three runs on your team. But the other teammates on your team could be all spread out on different real baseball teams throughout the league, and you need to just incorporate all those stats.
The software has all sorts of predictive features to help you pick and manage your roster, injury reports and more. The pay off for using the intuitive software is the strong likelihood that you will win your league. You can access it right from the web form anywhere at all.
Right now, there is a coupon for readers who would like to try it. Coupon code BMC200 gets you $10.00 off the membership fee.
As for me, I am always a bit behind the curve and will probably not be doing this sort of thing until 2035. I can tell you my nephew, who is actually only 15 years my junior probably already is a member. Maybe by then, they will come out with a version with familiar players for people who are afraid of change. Like Ty Cobb or maybe Reggie Jackson if you really are feeling contemporary.