In the or early 50's at my grandpas house----! Summertime was kinda rough on the old folks back then. No a/c's, swamp coolers or even fans were available. In the "dog days" of August the temps inside the houses would get almost unbearable without anykind of manmade relief. A friend named Bert [Bert the blacksmith, in archives]lived with my grandparents and was a handy guy when it came to build'n stuff. He was a crack blacksmith. Usin a fanblade from an old Ford 2 ton truck late 40's vintage-an electric motor and some angle iron. The "coolin device" was completed in short order and carried inside the house-set on top of the old Fridigaire. No switch, no guard. This unit was built for WORK! It did-and real well too! Why--when you plugged that raskel in it sounded like a helicopter. Talk about movin air! Almost as good as modernday air conditioning!! When ya'll went to the Fridigaire to get some iced T that Bert kept onhand all the time--you had to watch out. That big steel fanblade a spinnin close to ya'lls old haid was something to be concerned about! Granny had a pet parakeet whose name I've since forgotton so let us just call him "Cliff"-after Berts exwife's new husband. That little old dude, the bird [ not cliff the man] had free run of the house. Result? The first time that big fan was turned on and "Cliff" was out crusin around the house-------a bunch of blue feathers! There wasn't even enough of that little bird to burry!

That fan was used for several years without any, shall we say--"refinments". No guard, no switch--still it done it's job of helpin alleviate the unbearable conditions inside the house. In the livin room stood the big Forance coal stove used for heatin that old drafty house. Grandpap would set with his feet up on the skirt of the stove and smoke his Old Hillside bakker in the cob pipe of his.

All of those old folks are gone now, the house long gone and about the only thing left is the original blacksmith shop that Bert worked in. When we leave this place for eternity it would be nice to leave a good name in the process. Bert, Grandpa and Grandma are walkin the streets of pure gold. They were all gems in my opinion. Jesus is fix'n to call His own shortly. Are you listenin for the Trump of God? Matt.24:44

-- hoot (hoot@pcinetwork.com), June 01, 2001