We like ’em
April 3, 2009 (Friday)
Of all the modern conveniences many of us enjoy these days, one that I really like is central heating and air conditioning. A flip of a switch, and you can change the weather in your house. Marvelous.
Growing up in Houston in the 1930’s and 1940’s, I saw various means of heating used. One of the most common was the little space heater with a flexible hose for the natural gas. You just slipped the heavy rubber end of the hose over the gas jet that protruded from the wall. Then you turned the handle, lit a match and held it near the burner in the heater, and you had heat. The larger heater was in the living room. Worked the same way as the small bathroom heater. Of course, they were very hot, and as a five or six year old, I stood too close one day, and created a large crescent scar. I’m not sure if it’s still visible, because I haven’t been able to see that part of my body for many years.
Over at my grandparents’ homes, one set of gp’s had a fireplace and the other had a pot belly wood burning stove. The old time devices were expected to heat the entire house, but actually did not even heat the room very well. My maternal grandparents also had a kerosene cook stove in the kitchen.
Air conditioning? What’s that? Not until I had moved away from home did any of my family have air conditioning, and when they finally got it, it was a window unit that cooled one room. But it was great. The room I had slept in was cooled with an attic fan, which sucked in outside air through partially open windows. Every once in a while, the air would be cool along about 2:00 a.m. But it was better than no fan at all.
I think about the pioneers of this land and the people on the frontiers who had none of those “modern” conveniences I just described. They were fortunate to live through the day. I look in the mirror and say, “Crybaby!”
I do, however, really enjoy the central heat and air whenever and wherever it’s available.