After a cooler than normal spring in these parts, the Associated Press reported on Friday that scientists had calculated July would be the hottest month globally on record and likely the warmest human civilization has ever seen. And the scientists were so sure of their findings, this report was released several days before the end of July.
Last week when the mercury topped 105 degrees, I asked social media friends what they were doing to cope with the heat. Some of their replies follow;
Gary Crook: “115 degrees here today in Arizona.” He didn’t tell us how he was coping with the heat but I suspect Gary didn’t play golf that day. Katherine didn’t play tennis though both are activities I know they enjoy.
Pam Dirschka: “I’m trying to think back for stories about dealing with heat. Growing up in Iowa there were plenty of hot days. As a pre-teen I detassled corn. We started our days early to avoid the hottest part of the day, but seemed like we just worked longer days. My strongest memories are based around snow and ice. As a young adult, I found the best way to cool off was to stay wet at a beach. A certain newspaper man introduced our family to Windsurfing which became my passion for many years. It was a wonderful way to cool off!”
I’ll agree with Pam. Back in the 70s I sailed at Lovewell with Pam and her siblings several times a week. Even went on days in March and October when we nearly froze.
Susan Scarborough: “When my dad bought a window air conditioner (I was going into the eighth grade) he put it into the barber shop for the comfort of his customers. So my sister and I continued to sweat it out in the apartment above for another year or two. We took some relief by sleeping on the barber shop floor during the hottest nights.”
Alice Kinsey: “We had a window water cooler in the living room. It made a lot of noise but kept that one room reasonably cool. The nights were open windows and small fans. I don’t remember being extremely hot. Guess we just got along with what we had and didn’t complain.”
Joe Snyder: “Many a summer day on the Republican and down on Butler’s bottom land hanging out in the irrigation transfer pool.”
Ferne Butler: ”On the farm we had a screened in porch so Dad would cool it down with a hose and we could sleep on the porch.”
Gwen Porter: “We had fans. The kitchen was sweltering. Mom and I cooked for hired men and that made the kitchen even hotter. At night I had the south window to sleep by and it gave a little breeze. As I got older, my parents put electricity upstairs and I had fans! That was heaven!”
Todd Hoyer: “I slept outside on the flat roof of the well house most of the summer. Kept me out of the dew most mornings, by not sleeping right on the ground. If there was a decent rain chance or I woke to see a potential storm coming, I headed to the basement and slept on the floor.”
Mark Jordan: “My school had evaporative coolers in Glendale, Arizona. They never drained the water when they turned off at the beginning of the summer. So in the heat all kinds of fungus and other junk grew in the water during the hot summer. I got sick when they turned them on at the end of summer, and always missed the first week of school every year. I do not have a good opinion of evaporative coolers.”
Before we close this week’s entries in the notebook, I will share some of my memories.
My parents first attempt at an evaporative cooler was a homemade affair that vented into the living room. During World War II, my dad had been an instructor at the Yuma Army Air Corps base and mother worked on base. They were impressed with what the evaporative coolers did but with the higher humidity here they were not effective.
One of my warmest memories is associated with visiting the Badlands of South Dakota on a triple digit day. There were five of us in the family automobile but it could have been worse. The Ford had an air conditioner of sorts. A little evaporative cooler (Dad called it a swamp cooler) hung on the passenger side window. Dad filled the tank every morning with water and as the car moved, air was forced through the unit and cooled by the evaporating water.
The swamp cooler may have helped cool the person riding in the passenger’s seat but didn’t do much for us in the back seat.
I was curious to see if swamp coolers are still made and found a new one made of fiberglass. That cooler can by purchased for $325 plus $70 shipping from Portugal or there was a restored vintage Montgomery & Ward brand available for $909.
Had our noon lunch that day in a crowded cafe that lacked air conditioning. After the hot cafe, the free ice water at the Wall Drug Store was appreciated.
For drinking water on the trip, my father hung a canvas bag on our automobile’s front bumper. He called it a Dessert Bag and had new ones for sale at his filling station. The water seeping through the bag and evaporating was supposed to cool the contents. I’m told they worked well and were a marvelous invention. Some people claim to have liked the taste of the water coming out of the bags on a hot day. While they were popular and frequently used by long distance travellers in the summer, I didn’t like the taste of the water.
Farmers of that time often used the brown crockery jugs wrapped in burlap gunny sacks. The sacks were soaked in water and the jugs left in the shade near the edge of the fields being worked.
The best part of the trip to South Dakota was getting to go to a municipal swimming pool in one of the towns. It was my first zero entry pool and I thought it was great after a sweltering day riding in the back seat between my grandparents. I laid in the shallow water and if humans can pant, I panted like a dog.
On that trip, I got to stay one night in an air conditioned motel. It was the first time, I ever slept in air conditioning. For the privilege of having cool air, I didn’t mind the noise of the window unit.
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