Summer’s Heat

The high temperatures, which have overwhelmed us lately, seem to be more intense and more enduring that I can remember. You notice, however, that those who work outside appear to be carrying on with a “business as usual” demeanor.

I watch roofers, construction and lawn maintenance workers, and farmers taking the heat in stride and realize that I have nothing to complain about as I stay inside with the comfort of air conditioning.

When I leave my house, it only takes two minutes to get to my car, which has been parked, for the most part, in the shade. It takes another three minutes to power my windows down to let the heat escape and in another minute or so, my car is pretty much cooled off.

When I park my car at the office, it takes no more than a minute to walk to my air-conditioned building. So, I, like so many, sleep-in air-conditioned comfort, I work in the same environment and return home at the end of the day with no more than ten minutes “outside.”

In the mornings when I take a walk, I manage that routine around 6:00 a.m., which means I am not bothered by the heat since that is a relatively cool time of the day.

I can remember the early part of my youth when the farmhouse I grew up in did not have a fan. We raised the windows, hoping for a breeze to improve the atmosphere and bring about brief contentment.

There were ceiling fans in some homes and businesses in town, but I cannot remember the first time I was introduced to an air-conditioned building. I can remember the summers when I would drive a tractor all day long, wearing nothing but apairofshorts. “Brownasaberry,”my grandmother would say about my condition. Fortunately, I never had any ill effects from all that exposure to “Old Sol.”

Every job I ever had was outdoors. In addition to working in the fields, which included picking cotton, I worked with the state highway department. We took our shirts off when we were conducting the surveying—our main assignment.

When I enrolled at the University of Georgia, the dormitories and the classrooms were not air-conditioned. In 1957 when the Georgia Center for Continuing Education opened its doors, it was the first building on the UGA campus with air conditioning.

I often would drop by that remarkable building, buy a Coke at the old coffee shop, and sip casually in air-conditioned comfort. By that time, many students bought electric fans to their dorm rooms and the more affluent kids put air conditioning units in their windows.

Nobody had air-conditioned cars to my recollection. When I first arrived in Athens and began watching football practice, I cannot remember seeing a water bucket on the field.

Vassa Cate, a highly regarded halfback in the late thirties, once told me about scrimmaging just outside the entrance to Sanford Stadium. He said on wide runs that would take him out of bounds, he would run all the way to Tanyard Creek and splash into the stream and lap up as much water as he could before returning to the huddle.

When Vince Dooley became Georgia’s head coach, things were beginning to change. I remember that the big thing was to take ice breaks. After a period of heavy contact work, he would blow his whistle, and the team would sit on the hillsides of Woodruff Field and with cups of ice. That was a breakthrough. Today athletes in all sports have all sorts of drinks to stay hydrated.

It took a long time for that to come about. Even so, you never heard of anybody dying of heat stroke in the old days. That would become an issue later. Unfortunately, it still happens While I appreciate being ensconced in conditioned air, I take my hat off to those who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, especially roofers. They are my heroes. In addition, not to be overlooked, haven’t those rain showers been a godsend!

Brysen Butler, Jaslynn Cerrillo , Kai Beall, Maddie Rose Wallis, Rocky Kim, Bella Hadley, and Maylen Warnock backstage at Southeastern Tech working on Franklinia Plalyhouse’s “Winnie the Pooh.”

Meredith Thigpen and Gracelyn Collins prepare for dress rehearsal for Franklinia Plalyhouse’s “Winnie the Pooh.”

Mia and Trinity Fontaine practicing for Franklinia Plalyhouse’s “Winnie the Pooh.”

By Loran Smith