First, let me explain how laundry works during the field season: doing laundry is kind of a strange ritual, because ten minutes of being out in the field and your clothes are already disgusting. They will always look disgusting, but that does not warrant washing them. The deciding factor of when to wash your clothes is when they smell disgusting. Not just, "man, this shirt kind of smells a little". No. When even you can't stand the smell of your own clothing, then it's time to wash them. As a result, I wear the same field clothing for many days in a row - longer, if it's my favorite pair of pants that we're talking about. Last week I was getting ready to retire my favorite pants to the oh-god-get-this-smell-off-of-me pile when I took a moment to appreciate all the crap (figuratively and literally) that was on them:
- Dirt
- Grass stains
- Blood
- Dead bugs
- Live bug
- Snot
- Cow feces
- Sweat
- Twigs (in the pockets)
- Char (from burnt wood)
- Clay
- Water
- Rust (from hopping barbed wire fences)
- Burs
- Pencil lead
Next time you think your clothing is dirty, think again!
No comments:
Post a Comment