A year on, i thought i'd update.
My spruce tree is still not dead. I've planted a maple next to it, in the hopes that 10 years from now, when the spruce is dead and rotting, the maple will be large enough to replace it as an anchor. The bedrock is strong here in Ontario, anything soft was worn away by kilometers thick ice, so digging in it is more of a job for dynamite than hand tools. A free sugar maple, and 5 min wirh a shovel now, hopefully will save me hours of frustration later!
It's so humid here that even machine wrung clothing usually takes more than a single day to dry. It seems to work best to put it out one evening, and take it in the following afternoon, or sometimes the afternoon after that... Finding enough "good" drying weather was very difficult in the spring, so i have used my dryer occasionally.
I now have those metal wheeled spacers for the line, and a little table where i can rest my laundry basket.
I've also invested in another drying rack, which i unexpectedly LOVE. Got it on amazon to use indoors in the winter, but if i keep it in the lee of the house, it doesn't tip over, i think because the centre of gravity is quite low when loaded down, as my traditional style racks definitely flip. In the winter, it dried sheets and towels indoors nicely, and in the summer, i can hang shirts, sweaters, etc, on hangars, saving me a step when i bring things in, and saving space on the line when i end up doing 3 loads of laundry after weeks of damp! I've attached a picture from the Amazon listing, i have the longest version. I don't use it on windy days, but so far it's tipped only once when loaded. Occasionally a couple hangars do fly off it, but oh well. Better than the whole thing on the ground.
I've also discovered another option, which i might use if I hadn't bought the rack for indoors - a wall mounted umbrella style clothesline. If I suddenly lose my convenient spruce, i suspect that would be my solution!
