Yesterday was hot. The temperature here reached 102 degrees, breaking the record for that date. Walking out of the house felt like stepping into a steam bath. A thick haze that made it just miserable outside had replaced the sky. I retreated into my cool air-conditioned house and wondered how people survived before air-conditioning.
Actually I do remember hot summer days before air-conditioning. My grandparents lived in Texas and every summer we loaded up the car, left California, and headed into the heat. We always stopped in Needles, California at the edge of the Mojave Desert. There we got a big burlap bag that was designed to hang in front of the car’s radiator. It was filled with water and when the wind passed through the water bag and cooled the car’s engine. We didn’t want the radiator to boil over in the desert. Dad also rented a window cooler. It was a device that hung in the passenger window. It had a water tank that the wind passed through and blew cool, moist air into the car. It all actually worked rather well.
We arrived in the sweltering heat of the Texas summer and ran into my grandmother’s kitchen. She had a large fan in the window with a shelf built in front of it. The shelf held a block of ice that was replaced daily. The fan blowing over the ice kept her kitchen quite comfortable. The rest of the house was like an oven. We had fans that moved the air, but it was always hot. I remember wonderful summers spent in the hot backyard. We drank enormous amounts of iced tea and Dr Pepper. We ate watermelon fresh from the field. My cousins and I played and ran through the sprinkler. The heat was just part of life. The picture was taken in Texas when I was eight years old. In the back row are my grandparents and Aunt Dot. My parents are in the middle row flanked by my two older brothers. In the front row is my cousin Kenny and me.
5 comments:
I remember those burlap bags and the window cooler too!!! We also would stop to check wheel bearings to be sure they didn't overheat. I remember summers in Virginia being so hot my cousin and I would lay on the floor with wet towels in front of the screen door to sleep. Did your folks have a Coke cooler with the snap handle top? We kept lunch in one with dry ice.
I love hearing about the way everyone used to deal with life. We wonder often here in Texas how they used to cope with the heat...now I know a little more.
The one my grnadmother had in Stephenville, TX was liked that. She called it a swamp cooler. She had it mounted in her kitchen wall. I never heard of the burlap bags or window coolers for the cars but then we came from the east coast to visit Texas. Watermelon til you got sick. Water dipped from the gutter cistern. Trees were planted very specifically with shaded in mind.
Ah yes...life before air conditioners. I can still remember our window fans and how little relief they gave us. Yet, we would stand in front of them for hours trying to get what little breeze they provided.
Holly Cow! Your 4th grade granddaughter looks just like you!
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