Big Bass

That sounds great, Emily.

Big Bass

That is her witch’s hat.

padremike Loc: Phenix City, Al

Once upon a time we were a hearty, ruggedly independent people. Today, 75% of our youth can't qualify for military service.

Ginny_Dandy Loc: Pacific Northwest

Swamp coolers is what they used in Arizona. They attracted yellow jackets.

Turtle keeper

My dad built a sheet metal pan and a floor standing fan. We had that pan in the living room with the fan behind it. My mom and dad would go to the ice house in the West bottoms and get an 80 pound block of ice. He would put it in the pan and turn the fan on. We all sat around and felt the cool air blowing through the room. At night we had a window fan. We had 3 windows open one in each bedroom. I slept right in front of the window in my bedroom. Today kids that sleep in the window like I did have a great chance of getting snatched. I remember in was warm but I slept ok.

Turtle keeper

I grew up in Kansas and I had forgotten about swamp coolers!!!! My grandmother had one of those.

F.D.R.

You're correct. I grew up in a house built in the 1890's. I remember waking up winter mornings with 4"of snow on my window sill - that's on the inside ! The only heat was from the kitchen stove. During winter my mom would lay our cloths out in front of the open oven door and call me and my sister out separately to get dressed in front of the oven. Baths were on Saturday and my mom would boil pots of water on the stove and carry them to the bathroom and pour them into the tub then top off with cold water. My sister always got to wash first then mom would add more hot water into the used tub water for me. On the hottest days of summer we had a small window fan for the bedrooms. The fan was about 6" and came with an expandable screen frame. There were no window screens in the house back then but since that's all we knew and were accustomed to we were fine. I move to South Florida 35 yrs ago because I love the heat, to me a great day is 90*. I get a kick out of people who move down here 'for the weather' then lock themselves inside with the a/c set on freeze and scream the minute it stops working like its the end of the world.

F.D.R.

You're correct, "It's a convenience" but it's NOT a necessity ! It's something that people could do without, just like cell phones.

Ginny_Dandy Loc: Pacific Northwest

For me, a A/C is a necessity. I finally got used to the cold weather up here, so when the temperatures start reaching triple digits and humid, like it did last week, I needed the A/C.

Sonny Magoo Loc: Where pot pie is boiled in a kettle

I worked in an abattoir for about 18 months. I hated summer and loved winter.
The temperature shock in the summer was nasty.

Cuda2020

If we didn't have air conditioning, they layout of the land would be much different today, forget about places like Las Vegas.
Places like Vancouver where most don't have air conditioning saw and estimate of 600 people die in last years heat wave. 231 people died in a single day on June 29 — nearly 10 people every hour.

Ginny_Dandy Loc: Pacific Northwest

Vancouver, Canada or Vancouver, WA?

Mikeyavelli

In Ohio, we had 455 air conditioning in our cars. Not as good as your 480. The cops didn't like that really good air conditioning.

CarryOn

I am old and could be misremembering .... but either way, it was cooler if you were moving. 😄😄😄

son of witless

Back in the good old days if you were old, an infant, or someone with a medical condition, you died when it got too hot. Back in the good old days you didn't have people working in sky scrapers in Southern cities in the summer.