Summer Haze: 2010

Kids are spoiled these days.

I know, I've become my mother - she said the same thing about my generation.  Likely, every parent has said this about their child since the beginning of time.  Even Adam and Eve must have said of Cain and Abel, "Oh quit fighting! When I was your age - and I was never your age - I didn't have anybody to play with!"

I'm betting the temperature in the Garden of Eden was at a nicely controlled 80-degrees Fahrenheit, though, warm enough to grow things during the day, and dipping down to a nice 72-degree Fahrenheit at night, for sleeping.  I suppose the temperature got too warm one day though, and after demanding air conditioning, Adam and Eve were banned from the Garden.

Most kids where I live have air conditioning.  They can't imagine a life without the air conditioning running from the first hot day of summer until the first cool blast of fall.  Even the schools have air conditioning now.  Remember in the dark ages, when schools had air conditioning only in the office, if they had it at all?  In elementary school, we'd spend time on hot days making accordian-pleat fans out of lined paper.  We'd flip and fold and flip and fold, no doubt driving our teachers and fellow classmates to distraction in our efforts to dispel the heat.  All the same, we couldn't wait to get outside in that heat for after-lunch recess.

My kids can't imagine a life without air conditioning. I'll admit I'm spoiled, too, and don't want to imagine a life without it. 

As a kid, though, air conditioning was something you encountered at the stores, or rich people's houses.  Nobody had central air in their home.  A few people might have a window-unit air conditioner, but most of us depended on open windows, screen doors, and box fans. 

Smart people would follow the sun around the house (no, not literally!) and close curtains or pull shades to keep out the sun, thus cooling that part of the house just a little bit.  As the sun moved, the curtains would be opened. 

In early morning, windows would be thrown open to let in the cooler morning air.  By mid-morning, shades and curtains would be pulled, fans would be running.  Anything that required an appliance to run would be done early in the morning, so as to avoid heating up the house.  About the only exception was if it was a birthday - then the oven would be on to bake the cake. 

In the evening, as the sun lowered, windows would open again to let in cooler air.  Your box fan would be placed in the window, and if the air was cool enough, you pointed it inward so it would pull in cool air from outside and cool off the room.  If it was hot in your room, you'd point the fan outward, to pull the hot air outside.  If it was raining though, you had to take the fan out of the window or risk electrocution. 

Anyone from the generation pictured on the right remembers it being hot enough to roll down your stockings.  Some of you might remember grandmas who wore nothing but dresses, ever, even after it became fashionable for women to wear slacks and shorts.  My grandma was one such woman.  I doubt she'd have ever rolled down her stockings, either, even if it was 95 degrees with a 100-degree Fahrenheit heat index. 

I'm sure, though, during a private moment in the course of the day, the ladies of the generation pictured at the right may have paused for tea. They'd need a break after washing clothes with the wringer-washer, and hanging them on the line.  Baking bread and putting on a meal without the help of boxed foods or frozen foods was a real chore - or labor of love!  Scrubbing floors and ironing were jobs better left for a cool day, but who knew when that would happen?  Quick - the kids are outside and busy. Maybe there are five minutes just for me!  They'd have sat with their dresses slightly above the knee, stockings rolled down, with the rotating fan placed strategically so their legs could be cooled. 

It's no wonder many women of a certain era  had "the vapors" and had to rest during the day.  Can you imagine wearing as much fabric as the woman on the right, on a 90 degree day?  Oh, and don't forget the corset, either, and the multiple petticoats.  And don't you dare show your ankles.

Of course, today's women can dress much more casually for hot weather, like our bathing beauties in the left-hand photo.

Regardless, my kids have a hard time imagining a home without air conditioning.  They barely remember our first house, which had a window unit for the summer.   That was placed in the master bedroom, and fans were placed strategically in the hallway to blow the cooler air throughout the rest of the house.  I followed the sun, closing curtains and creating a cave-like effect indoors.  A dehumidifier completed the summer ensemble, and gradually our home would be a few degrees cooler than the hot outdoors.  Ceiling fans helped circulate the still air.  Still, doors would swell, tempers would be short, and sleep would be but a fleeting dream during the really hot days.

Anyone old enough to remember riding in the back seat of one of these, pictured at left, as a kid?  Remember those vinyl seats?  Most cars "back in the day" didn't have air conditioning, either.  When the car was locked, we left the windows rolled down a crack to let air in, but when it was time to leave the parking lot, there was no fast way to cool down the car except to roll the windows down all the way.  This didn't do much for those wonderful vinyl seats which were heated to just the right temperature to scorch bare legs.

There was also no such thing as "keyless entry," or automatic locking and unlocking of doors, or automatic popping open of a trunk, either.  Nor could you start the car from a distance - you actually  had to be sitting in the seat, turning the key in the ignition, and pushing down on the gas.  What a concept.

My husband and I always laugh about car trips when we were kids, in the days before air conditioning.  If there were more than two in the back seat, it was an extra sticky trip because not only did you stick to the vinyl seat, but you stuck to each other.  Yes, cars were roomier "back then" - ok, 1970s - but you know how kids are:  "SHE'S ON MY SIDE!"  we'd whine, if a sibling crossed that invisible line we drew down the seat in order to keep from touching each other.

We could unroll our windows a little bit, with permission, but most car windows in the back seat didn't open more than half-way, anyway.  Up front, though, the windows had these little triangular windows that could be tilted outward to let in air.  If you look closely at the car on the left, you can see the triangular-shaped window (still closed).  As the car sped along at 55 mph, all you could hear was this "fffffffff   ffffffffff" sound of wind through the gap of that triangular window.  Then, my husband and I laugh, it wasn't cool enough, so the window would be unrolled just a crack and along with "fffffff" we'd hear "FFFFFFFF    WHoooooooshUFFFffffffffff WHOOOOOOshUFFFFffffff."  Inevitably, dad would turn on AM radio to hear a game, and because AM radio rarely comes in clear, there would be lots of static to go along with the "ffffFFFFFFfffff" of the windows.   

Regardless, car trips in the summer were hot.  But, not ever having had air conditioning, we didn't know any different.  We didn't know any different when it came to sleeping in hot rooms with box fans in the window, either.

One day though, air conditioning became more affordable (I'm guessing) and pretty soon everybody had it.  We didn't need to escape to shopping malls or to the beach for relief from the heat.  Cars got air conditioning as just a normal part of a basic package deal, no longer one of the expensive options. 

About the only time we experience any great degree of discomfort is if the power goes out, and we can't use the air conditioning.  Should that happen this summer, I hope you remember how to make your pleated fans out of paper - it's a life skill you might have to teach your kids.