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greatauntoftriplets

(179,423 posts)

26. I lived four blocks from Lake Michigan.

Sun May 31, 2026, 01:02 AM

Sunday

My mother hated the beach, but a friend's mother loved it and would take us until we were old enough to go on our own. For the days we didn't go to the lake, there was the hose. When I was about 9, my parents bought a decently sized pool that my father took down in winter. It was about 3 feet deep and 8 feet wide so my friends and I swam in that often.

When I was in high school, my father joined the local Elks Club. It was in a beautiful district and a 10-minute bike ride from home. They had a great in-ground pool.

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debm55

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Memory Lane, How did you keep yourself cool in the hot summer heat? Running through a sprinkler? the inflatable 4 ring [View all] debm55 Saturday OP

Water hose. LoisB Saturday #1

Yup... that was about it. Occasionally my Mom would take us to a community pool. hlthe2b Saturday #3

Yep, that is right. hlthe2b. We didn't have a community pool. So it was the jumping through the sprinkler and the little debm55 Saturday #6

Yeah.. when I say "community" pool, not like an HOA-Subdivision pool, but a city pool 20 miles away... hlthe2b Saturday #22

Oh, I knew, but living in a Steel Mill town, did not give us a community pool. Carnegie Library in the little town had a debm55 Saturday #23

That was my life too. All the fans did was blow around hot air. If we were LoisB Saturday #21

Garden hose! johnp3907 Saturday #2

Thank you very much for sharing with us, johnp3907 debm55 Saturday #7

Picking mushrooms and going to the sinkholes. Big Dismal wasa favorite Lochloosa Saturday #4

Thank you very much for sharing with us, Lochloosa. debm55 Saturday #8

Ice True Dough Saturday #5

HAHAHAHHHAHAHAHHHAH. OMG. Thank you True Dough. debm55 Saturday #9

uhhhmmm...shrinkage. ret5hd Saturday #20

No way to keep cool. Just awful unc70 Saturday #10

Thank you very much for sharing with us, unc70, As a kid, we didn't have AC. I agree. , fans did nothing. My husband debm55 Saturday #11

There are cooling small towels : mucifer Saturday #12

Thank you very much , mucifer. I wil have to try. debm55 Saturday #13

As a kid, I didn't know a damned thing about thermodynamics, so what I did was pretty dumb. NNadir Saturday #14

Great post, NNadir. We have a Cape Cod house. ---two bedroom/attic upstairs. Even though, we have whole house AC. it is debm55 Saturday #15

That's what I grew up in, a "Cape Cod" house. NNadir Saturday #16

I remember sleeping outside as the house seemed to hold the heat.Never had AC in the car either . AC was a luxury that debm55 Saturday #18

I never had a house without AC. House of Roberts Saturday #17

Thank you very much for sharing with us, House of Roberts. Somehow the heat didn't bother me, during the day. but at debm55 Saturday #19

There was a playground, probably about a half mile from our apartment ... surrealAmerican Saturday #24

Loved those sprinklers at the playground. Thank you for sharing your memory with us.surrealAmerican. debm55 Sunday #32

slip n slide - great fun jgo Sunday #25

I loved that, jgo. Great fun and wonderful memories. debm55 Sunday #33

I lived four blocks from Lake Michigan. greatauntoftriplets Sunday #26

That sounds wonderful, greatauntoftriplets. Thank you For the memories. debm55 Sunday #34

Neighborhood pools open every day, and I was there most days.. Permanut Sunday #27

I am going to have to try that. Thank you very much for sharing, Permanut. debm55 Sunday #35

Sprinkler MIButterfly Sunday #28

Yes it was , Thank you very much,MIButterfly for sharing the memoring with us. debm55 Sunday #31

Most of July and August gladium et scutum Sunday #29

Thank you very much for sharing with us, gladium et scutum. I slept outside too. debm55 Sunday #30

I grew up on military posts mainly in the South. Aristus Sunday #36

Keeping cool wasn't a problem as a kid LogDog75 Sunday #37

Lay on the floor w a fan on high and a pan or pot filled w ice water. AllaN01Bear Sunday #38

We we hit triple-digit weather, i used to haul a folding chaise lounge from sporting goods to the frozen food isle... Brother Buzz Sunday #39