Keep Cool!

This excessive hear this past week has made me think about the old days, BC that is.  Now that wasn't a mistake. I'm old but I really didn't experience the years Before Christ.  I am talking about the years Before air Conditioning.  Now I am old enough to remember those days and some how we survived them.  I remember the long nights when as a youngster I used to take my pillow and sprawl on the floor in front of the open screen door to our side porch, just hoping to catch a breeze.  I recall trips in our car when all the windows were open in order to attempt to cool off.  And I am sure that I've also forgotten many days and nights of agony trying to survive the heat.  How did we do it?  When we were married one of the first things that we purchased was a window fan and for many years we used that fan to try to pull in cool breezes from windows throughout the house.  My father never lived in a home that had central air.  In his later years he finally did buy a window unit for his bedroom and one for his dining room.  And using those and a fan he survived into his 90's.  
     Growing up I don't remember homes having central air but I guess there were some - those who could afford this luxury.  I guess it might have been the early 1980's when we could finally afford a window unit for our bedroom.  Then in the early 1990's we finally arrived and had central air installed. About a decade later we had problems with the unit and had to replace it with one that was supposed to be more energy efficient and better for the environment.  It uses puron and unfortunately puron doesn't seem to cool like the previous ingredients.  We have it set at 73 and 73 with puron is not nearly as cool as it was at 73 before.  But it is still great.  
     Now my worst experience living without ac came in the months of August, September, May and June for about 30 years of teaching.  Our math classrooms were located on the third level of a building with a flat roof. My classroom and my office were usually on the east side - the sun side.  There was almost no cross ventilation.  It would be 90 when we arrived in the morning and it just never cooled off.  I wanted the district to install big ventilation fans, but they never did.  A service club did buy box fans for each of our math classrooms, but there wasn't much more than hot air to move around.  I don't know how any student learned anything during those months.  It was very exhausting for all of us. Today I don't think parents would even allow their kids to work in such conditions - but we did. I almost felt like I was in heaven when they finally built our new building and we had ac.  
     Now I do not remember when they first began to put ac in automobiles, but that was a luxury and only available to those who were "rich".  Open car windows were the only solution for many years for the rest of us.  I don't remember when we first could afford a car with ac, but it certainly wasn't until after many years of marriage.  Now I can't seem to drive anywhere in the summer without having the ac shooting out cold air.  In fact, the ac is broken in our Intrepid, so what do we do?  We just let it sit when the weather is hot.  I never thought that we would ever reach the place in life where we could even make such a choice.  PTL, we've come a long way.  
     I realized how "spoiled" I had become when we went to Pinebrook a few weeks ago.  For many years we stayed there without ac and survived with a big fan.  However, several years ago they finally installed ac.  But this time ours wasn't working.  I didn't know if I could even stay there without the ac I've learned to depend upon.  But finally they found a hole in the line and fortunately it was quickly repaired.  Have I become that spoiled?  I began to think that this must be the case.  But then, yesterday when the real temperature was about 98 and the humidity made it feel like 105, I went out to get the mail.  And I was shocked to see a young man quickly jogging past our house, with his ear phones on, not even breaking a sweat.  That answered my question.  Yes I am spoiled, but I am also old!  Keep cool!