Today was the hottest ever. The temps topped off at 93 degrees. We were warmer that Bossier City,LA where Leslie is from what I could see. But we were still cooler than the Lawton OK area where Bart is. The coolest of the kids to visit would be Bret in California. There is a 30 to 40 percent chance for rain tonight. Parts of Wisconsin are under a drought warning. The choir sang at the 10:30 Mass. Fr. Gene prayed for rain and we, the choir, sang Rain Down. We tried to shower heaven with requests for showers.

Mother and I were wondering how we ever stood the heat back in the days before air conditioning. She remembers hanging wet towels on screen doors to help cool any breeze that might come through. I guess that since there was no air, we just suffered. I do remember going to bed in that heat and lying in bed prickly with heat praying for sleep so I would not be so aware of it. Then by morning it would be at least bearable. Then in the winters, we faced waking up in the morning with the fire in the coal furnace burned down to about nothing and high tailing it to the kitchen which would be warm from the stove because Mom got up before we did to make it so.

This does make a person aware of the reason that many homes years ago had Summer Kitchens. That way, they did not have to heat the house while preparing meals or even heating water for washing. Yes, they had to heat water for washing. I remember commenting to Mother how hard it must have been to wash all our clothes and diapers in a wringer washing machine and Grandma Bowser said that she had had to do all that on a scrub board. Wow. Mother was born in 1916 so all of these wonders have occured in less than 100 year.

Have a cool Monday.

Mary