Seems we are enduring another 100 degree day. I can hear the central air and feel it blowing on my legs. Makes me wonder what we did back home on Strong Street. I do not even remember us having a fan. I can remember going to Bull Creek and wading. I can remember running down a sandy road to a sand pit somewhere. I knew how to swim up until the time I was 15 years old and I fell over an underground ledge in Sterling Lake and had to be resuscitated. No more swimming for me. I did go to the YWCA and take swimming lessons just long enough to learn how to save myself. I have never overcome my fear of water, but I have learned how to live with it. I do not get myself into a situation where I am going to need to do the roll over on my back and float technique. I just stay out of the water.
So what did my dear mother do to cool off on hot days? Back in those days she cleaned houses for ladies in town. She walked to work and then walked home. Pretty sure she did not stop off at the sand pit for a dip. I can recall laying by the window and hoping for a breeze. That did not happen often. I remember in 7th grade she had a hysterectomy and she had a bed in the front room. Seems back then if you were ailing or had an operation you could not recuperate in your bed, but had to be in the front room in case company came. You never entertained in your bedroom. It was for sleeping, not visiting.
For those of you who do not know, Kansas and Colorado are different in the way the temperatures fluctuate. See, here in Colorado, when it starts getting evening and then night, the temperature goes down. Colorado is not real humid so nights are cool. In Kansas, the only thing that happens at night is it gets dark. If it was 90 in the daylight, it is 90 in the dark And humid! On a hot day you can climb out of the shower and never know when you got dry. And that towel you use might as well be tossed in the hamper because it will be sour before it ever air drys.
We cooked on a wood stove so that was added heat. We did heat the wash water outside in a 3 legged kettle. When we moved to the big city, that thing was left behind because we were going where there was hot and cold running water and we would never need that again. Man I wish I had one of those today! Don't know why, just wish I did.
We did not have dogs growing up. I know we had a cat because momma had a canary and the cat ate it. A chirping canary can still send me into flashbacks.
I do remember setting on the front porch a lot. We had two big Catalpa trees out front that shaded the house and gave us something to climb. The bottom branches were worn smooth from our climbing. Besides that the beans were what we used for cigarettes when we were playing movie stars. That and climbing on top of the pig sty's next door and jumping from one to the other was our sole entertainment. Momma had a fit when she found out we were doing that. She told us in no uncertain terms that we were probably going to be "et by a hog." But we weren't. Would I do that today? Hell no! And there was a BlackWidow Spider that lived behind the door of the chicken house. That could have bit us, too. We did learn to recognize the web which crackles when you poke it with a stick. The male is small and the female eats him or feeds him to her babies. That is creepy. Oh, and when the Preying Mantis mates, she eats his head. Learn a lot growing up country. Glad I never picked up any of those habit.
For now.....
So what did my dear mother do to cool off on hot days? Back in those days she cleaned houses for ladies in town. She walked to work and then walked home. Pretty sure she did not stop off at the sand pit for a dip. I can recall laying by the window and hoping for a breeze. That did not happen often. I remember in 7th grade she had a hysterectomy and she had a bed in the front room. Seems back then if you were ailing or had an operation you could not recuperate in your bed, but had to be in the front room in case company came. You never entertained in your bedroom. It was for sleeping, not visiting.
For those of you who do not know, Kansas and Colorado are different in the way the temperatures fluctuate. See, here in Colorado, when it starts getting evening and then night, the temperature goes down. Colorado is not real humid so nights are cool. In Kansas, the only thing that happens at night is it gets dark. If it was 90 in the daylight, it is 90 in the dark And humid! On a hot day you can climb out of the shower and never know when you got dry. And that towel you use might as well be tossed in the hamper because it will be sour before it ever air drys.
We cooked on a wood stove so that was added heat. We did heat the wash water outside in a 3 legged kettle. When we moved to the big city, that thing was left behind because we were going where there was hot and cold running water and we would never need that again. Man I wish I had one of those today! Don't know why, just wish I did.
We did not have dogs growing up. I know we had a cat because momma had a canary and the cat ate it. A chirping canary can still send me into flashbacks.
I do remember setting on the front porch a lot. We had two big Catalpa trees out front that shaded the house and gave us something to climb. The bottom branches were worn smooth from our climbing. Besides that the beans were what we used for cigarettes when we were playing movie stars. That and climbing on top of the pig sty's next door and jumping from one to the other was our sole entertainment. Momma had a fit when she found out we were doing that. She told us in no uncertain terms that we were probably going to be "et by a hog." But we weren't. Would I do that today? Hell no! And there was a BlackWidow Spider that lived behind the door of the chicken house. That could have bit us, too. We did learn to recognize the web which crackles when you poke it with a stick. The male is small and the female eats him or feeds him to her babies. That is creepy. Oh, and when the Preying Mantis mates, she eats his head. Learn a lot growing up country. Glad I never picked up any of those habit.
For now.....
