NAKED IN THE 40’S WITHOUT AC

There probably aren’t many people In the USA who remember the days before air conditioning. However, the recent storms that caused power outages were an uncomfortable reminder of those days when there wasn’t any. What in the world did people do during heat waves ? How did they ever make it through the notorious summer of 1936, for example. I was a baby then, and the depression had sent sent us scurrying back to Grandpa’s Indiana farm from New York City. Some people went naked in the 40’s without AC.

NAKED IN THE 40'S WITHOUT During a heat wave, some didn't wear clothes. — NAKED IN THE 40’S WITHOUT AC. Having a heat wave called for shedding one’s clothes.

A lot of people walked around in their undies if they were in a place where they wouldn’t be arrested for indecent exposure. In the early 1940’s 30% of people lived on farms. Some farmers stripped naked when coming in from the fields on a sweltering day. The wife might show a little more modesty by stripping down to her underpants. Most city people didn’t go quite that far. They closed their shades and turned on their fans. But the women wore halter tops that showed as much as a pin up girl on a WWII poster. And men who went bare chested while mowing the lawn weren’t considered indecent.

Kids had an easier time keeping cool. They could run outside in their bathing suits and turn on the hose. And if it began to thunder, they didn’t worry about getting struck by lightening. They played in the rain, and it wasn’t considered negligence on the part of the parent. I would imagine there were some bad accidents that took place, but I didn’t know a single kid who got struck by lightening. Even more fun was floating homemade “boats” of twigs and leaves in the rainwater flowing down the gutters on the side of the street.

The ice man came every few days , and we kids rode the back of his truck to sneak slivers of ice. Electric refrigerators were a luxury so the average homeowner had an ice box. Most everyone had large window fans , maybe blowing over a bowl of ice. Almost every house had a front porch. You could sit outside and enjoy the cool evening breezes as the sun went down. Close neighbors would talk and visit, while others parked their bicycles to stop by for a chat.

If you lived anywhere near a creek, lake, or ocean, you headed to the beach hoping for enough privacy to skinny dip. Many people spent the night sleeping on the sand. Not sure if they had bug spray then, so mosquito bites must have been a problem.

So now , If your power goes out, just remember all of your ancestors from the beginning of time who didn’t have air conditioning. If they could make it through, so can you.

We having a heat wave

August 12, 2020August 12, 2020

LESSONS LEARNED FROM DERECHO

Derecho storm 2020 swept through our city on Monday night, downing trees and wreaking havoc with electric power lines. Some neighborhoods have more trees than others, so power outages are sporadic. We live on the outskirts of the city, surrounded by great big old trees. Usually a blessing, but not during this latest wind/rain storm that barreled across the Midwest at 90 miles per hour. We got through an 18 hour power outage, but as octogenarians, it was tough. Here are the lessons learned from Derecho.

Morning coffee is a necessity. But if the power’s off, you’re not going to have any. Unless, of course, you are a camper or someone who has the foresight to have a battery operated coffee maker. We don’t do any camping these days, so we were out of luck.

Lessons learned from Derecho. Have battery operated devices. — Lessons learned from Derecho. Remember the Scout motto: Be Prepared!

Learn how to open garage door by hand. Years ago, we sold a vintage Volkswagen convertible and spent the proceeds on an electric garage door. There’s just one problem. It doesn’t work in a power outage. We were told at the time how to open the door manually, but we forgot. Consequently, we weren’t able to get to our car to go searching for someplace selling coffee until after we could get in touch with the garage door company. This is after 10 o‘clock. Hey, there’s a little hand pull that unlocks the door. Then you push it up by hand, folks. Simple? Yes. How could we have been so dumb? By that time, we’d made an emergency call to our son who went scouting around the city and found us some coffee at a McDonalds. That’s pretty good coffee, by the way.

You may need some sleep aids. The power went off at 6:30 p.m. No TV, no internet. Fortunately, we had several flashlights and candles to light our path. We drank wine, ate some gifted chocolate candy, and talked for hours. I can’t remember much of our conversation. I guess we solved all the problems of the world.

By this time, we’re wired. Still waiting for power. Finally decided to go to bed and sleep though the whole thing. That didn’t work. We’re both waking every hour, wondering if /or when the power is going back on. Our next door neighbors said they had the same experience. Looking back, I think I would have taken a Benadryl or whatever you keep in your medicine cabinet to help you get to sleep when you’re upset.

Heating/cooling system stops working. In our case, it had been 90 degrees outside. After the storm, we opened the windows, but the house was still hot and stuffy. We got to wondering about a winter power outage. We have an all electric home. This power outage lasted 18 hours, but at least we were warm. What if it happens again in January? Again, we need some camping equipment. We’re going to buy some camping heaters ASAP, before we forget what it’s like when the power goes out. Might even invest in a coffee maker.

Ditch the damned diet. It’s hard to eat healthy at a time like this. You don’t want to keep opening and closing the refrigerator and freezer doors. Can’t make smoothies because the blender doesn’t work. No soup, because you can’t heat it. Grab some peanut butter and crackers. Cheese. Junk food, if you have it stashed in the cupboard. Maybe some chocolate bars. No restaurants for us during this pandemic. So, it’s drive-through hamburgers and French fries for dinner. Don’t weigh yourself when it’s over.

Remember the boy scout motto before the next Derecho: Be prepared!

July 10, 2019July 10, 2019

WHEN THE ICEMAN CAME

There’s an old saying: you never miss the water until the well runs dry. Earthquake, floods, and other natural disasters have thrown millions of homes without power all over the country. Many young people have never faced a prolonged loss of electricity, and may wonder what they would do without ice if the outage became widespread. Actually, ice was available without electricity in the early 20th century, but it was hard to come by. This is what happened when the iceman came, circa 1940:

Kids loved it when the ice truck came,and they could suck on free slivers of ice — ALL THE KIDS LOVED FOLLOWING THE ICEMAN’S TRUCK, SO THEY COULD SUCK ON FREE SLIVERS OF ICE

Although my parents had an electric refrigerator, most of our neighbors in the middle class neighborhood where I grew up had an ice box. Ditto my country cousins. The iceman’s truck was a welcome sight on a hot summer morning for kids playing outside. He moved slowly between deliveries, giving we children a chance to hop on the back of his truck and find slivers of ice to suck on. It tasted wonderful to the tongue: smooth, cold, refreshing. Sometimes, we “rode” the truck; other times we waited until he was parked for a delivery.

The ice didn’t do a very good job of keeping things cool; a 50 pound block only lasted 2 or 3 days during the long hot summers without air conditioning. The neighbors’ ice boxes looked pretty much like our refrigerator from the outside. The top section was for the ice, the lower for the food. At the bottom was a drip pan which needed to be emptied often, as the ice melted.

Where did the ice come from? My Nebraska-raised husband can tell you, because he helped his grandfather with the ice harvest. In the dead of winter, they would drive down to the Blue River, cut huge blocks of ice, bring them back on a horse drawn wagon to a wooden ice house insulated with hay, and cover the ice with sawdust. Miraculously, the ice–clear and cool–was still intact months later. Grandpa Sinn didn’t deliver the ice back in those days, but farmers could buy a chunk by stopping by his filling station. It was a good business, then

Ice harvesting, as done in the old days, could make a comeback if we're facing a national disaster — ICE HARVESTING WAS BIG BUSINESS BEFORE WORLD WAR II

http://www.drinkingcup.net/1850-ice-harvesting-storage-techniques-and-tools/

What would happen if we experienced long periods without electricity, due to terrorism or natural disasters? Many people throughout this planet could probably tell you. And I have to think we might go back to harvesting ice.