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I grew up in NC in the 40s and 50s. I don't remember being overly hot during the day. At night it seemed a lot stuffer. We'd close all the windows. A box fan was put in one window, blowing out. At the other end of the house one window in each bedroom was opened just a couple of inches. The hot air was blown out and wonderful, cooler air wafted across our beds all night. Our only problem was less than sufficient window screens let in a mosquito or two that hummed around aggravating you to no end. But, heat just wasn't a big deal for me as a kid. I did the same thing as an adult with kids in the 60/70s. Now, the cold was a different story - lol!!
Did anyone else's mom make kool aid popsicles in their ice cube trays?
Cannot recall, but do remember those frozen slushy ices that came in a clear long plastic tube type thing. They were sold under various names but usually were some sort of liquid you put into the freezer and voila! You had ices.
Some how or way my mother got the old man to spring for a freezer plan and we had a big ole freezer in the basement full of stuff. The cuts of meat weren't on our radar as kids, but the ice cream, ices and aforementioned frozen icy sticks were. Sadly for us Mom was *very* good at math and not only would ration things out but knew at once if someone had been in "her" freezer. *LOL*
On the cruel flip side everything the Good Humor man or any other ice cream vendor came down the street we kids would run in begging our parents for money. They would usually say "we have ice cream in the freezer". Well yeah *we* do, but how can I get at it?
That's what you get for living on the East Side. I raised 3 kids in the Tri-Cities, we had an evaporative cooler. Most people have never seen one, but they have been around for a long time.
When my ex and I lived in inland Riverside county, Ca, we tried a large swamp cooler, and it worked so well sometimes it got too cold. It also cleaned the air of the smog, (area is still the worse in the nation for smog). There was a fire and we had smoke outside which was strong, and none reached inside, though the cooler panels had to be pulled out and washed. Then the shift toward wetter air started and it worked less and less. When I moved it didn't do a lot of good since it had gotten so humid in the summer.
People still use them in areas where its dry, but they don't do much with moist air. At least where I live now I save on winter heating with one gas furnace which has a thermostat. It's shut off completely once its warm enough. When ac becomes needed, I run two of them all the time, but at 78, and use air flow fans to distribute it.
My parents didn't install air conditioning until sometime in the late 80s. We didn't even have window fans. The double hung windows were open at the top and bottom.
Oh yeah, those windows that would open not only on the bottom but at the top too. You were supposed to open the top to let the heat OUT (heat rises) and at the bottom to let the cool air in.
In school it was no problem in the earlier grades because the schools were old and had tall windows that opened (can't remember how) and also had some sort of shade that the teacher could pull down, I think. But our high school was one of those new, modern, flat roofed things with huge windows all over the place. Windows that only opened with a narrow slanted panel at the very bottom. The heat just blasted in.
Girls were required to wear dresses and nylons, no sandals. The boys had to wear nice pants and decent button type shirts. By June it was impossible to pay attention. The sweat was dripping off and the books and papers were even drenched in sweat.
It's funny how many of us escaped to the library and read books during the summer to stay cool. (Maybe that's how we got so smart?)
It was horrible when I was in junior high, even elementary the last year, when we went back in September. It was no cooler than summer then. The population had exploded and half the school was bunglaoos with windows you couldn't open. I remember one math class the teacher opened the doors, and drew a picture of a melting icecube on the board, and said to look at it and think of cold ice. It kinda sorta helped but it was over a hundred and he knew none of us were going to be able to concentrate on math.
The reverse is true, too. Artificial heat dries everything up, our skin, our hair. Comb your hair and it's static electricity (we heat with very expensive electricity)
My heater is gas and its designed where the heat spread via moisture. It works very well too, though I never turn it up high enought to take off the inside coat since it saves a bit. I also use fans to break up the concentrations. When I was out visiting someone with forced air, I felt TOO warm, and it was nice to be home and layered up. But I also noticed how drying it was.
I lived in a tiny apartment in midtown Manhattan with no cross ventilation and no a/c, and a ceiling fan in the bedroom and one in the living room really did the job.
I use window ac's but without ceiling fans and air flow fans they wouldn't do much good. I paid for the fans with the longer blades and they work even better than the cheaper and shorther ones. Without it, the living room and bedroom would be good, the rest of the house, extra toasty.
The worse place was the apartment I had before I moved here. The windows, two of them, both faced the sun all day. The ac unit in the apartment did nothing. I had my swamp cooler in the middle of the room and numerous fans to force the circulation. The computer had a fan blowing on the bottom of it all the time it was on.
One factor where I live now in an almost 80 year old house is really thick outer walls. They do make a difference. The laundry room is an add on and its always hotter than the rest of the house in the summer.
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