Monday afternoon the temperature gauge inched up towards the high 90s with predictions of reaching up into the 100s. Guess we could say it’s a typical Kansas-Nebraska August day for sure. It was so hot an egg could be fried on the sidewalk. It was as hot as a pistol! It was as hot as a fire cracker! It was roasting hot! I’m sure there are many more sayings that relate to a hot day.
A radio announcer suggested with the swimming pools closing with the beginning of school, it would be a good day to hit the pool. I remember as a youth going to the swimming pools during the hot summer months, but living on the farm, sometimes other duties came first for our mother and she couldn’t take us to the pool so we did the next best thing. We got the garden hose, hooked it up to a sprinkler and ran back and forth through the cold well water. Sometimes my sister and I would take it one step further and get small buckets. We’d fill the buckets with the cold water and run around the yard trying to dump the water on each other.
My parents didn’t have an air conditioned house until I was a teenager but most of the other homes didn’t have that luxury either so we didn’t know the difference. Our large two story farmhouse was opened for the night time and into the cool morning but when the temperatures heated up, all the windows and doors were closed and the noisy metal fans were turned on to circulate the air. I don’t remember staying in the house just because it was hot outside. My sister and I would head outside with our dolls and sheets. We’d make our tent houses under the tree branches.
My sister and I shared an upstairs bedroom. At bedtime, the heat would certainly be noticed. There were two windows on one side of the bedroom. We’d argue who would get to sleep on the side of the bed closest to the open windows. In the summer months, we’d stay as far from each other while trying to sleep. But in the winter, it was a different story. We’d sleep close together to remain warm.
We are spoiled today with our central air conditioning. With a turn of a dial our house cools down in a matter of minutes. Farmers and most heavy equipment operators have air conditioned equipment. Stores, business places, church buildings and schools are all air conditioned. Boy, do we complain when they don’t work as expected! Our cars and trucks now keep us comfortable on our travels. I’m not going to complain as the temperature travels upwards. I’m happy and blessed to be able to be nice and cool in our comfy air conditioned house.
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