Making a trip for ice

Most of the little bits I put down for the amusement of my readers usually have a portion devoted to the weather. It is something we all share.

We have all been chilled and discomfited by some grand meteorological headache. Some places get a high percentage of days with sun and fair winds, but we are in Central New York, which has sufficient cloudy, drizzly, snowy, and icy conditions to make the few glorious, sunny days greatly appreciated and enjoyed by one and all.

How many times do you hear someone say, “Darn, it’s a sunny day again! I am just pining for overcast and drizzle and I just can’t stand any more good weather, because I might get addicted to it.”

Being a redhead, I have had some horrendous run-ins with Mr. Sun over the years.

One of the worst was the day that I mastered the tiny outboard motor that drove our Merrimack River Punt. It made the boat go just as fast as a good rower could stroke it along. It was a bit noisy, but it was tireless. I drove the boat for two or three hours in the sun and severely burned the tops of my legs.

My family chugged to the village about three times a week when we managed to be here in Skaneateles during WWII. The purpose of these trips was to bring back a chunk of ice from Steve Weeks’ icehouse. A friend would bring it to the bridge and load it into the boat so we could have some cooling in our icebox

It seems strange that we didn’t have an electric refrigerator until after WWII. Usually Steve Weeks delivered the ice to the ice box and installed the new chunk. He also emptied the drip pan. A 50 pound chunk would last half a week as I recall, unless you chipped too much of it away for cold drinks. If you were entertaining, you needed a good-sized chunk for even a modest event.

Finally, sometime in 1945 or 46, Mom found a fridge with a unit on top and we upgraded to mechanical cooling. It sort of worked and it was better than hustling two or three 50 pound chunks of ice each week. I had a fraternity brother in college, whose family owned the Georgia Ice Company in Atlanta.

He said they had a big mechanical fridge hidden in the basement, but used an icebox in the kitchen. They did not want to encourage mechanical cooling, as the delivery of ice to folks homes, rich or poor, was the basis of the family business for many years.

It must have been difficult to figure out when to start selling mechanical refrigerators and how long to keep the ice chunk side of the business going. I think it took three or four years to finally get changed over.

Surprisingly, many folks did not like the fridge very much because it dried out the food stored inside. An icebox just cooled the air and didn’t dry it.

The melting of the ice evaporated water into the air rather than condensing the water out of the air with mechanically cooled coils. Ice boxes replenished the moisture in the air and kept the veggies and other things in great shape.

Refrigerators try to combat the dry air feature by having drawers and/or compartments to isolate the veggies and other foods to help keep them in good condition for longer storage times. Air tight storage containers also help prevent the moisture from fleeing to the sub cold cooling coils.

The main use of refrigeration at summer camps was to provide a continuously cold environment for soda pop and beer. Iceman delivered to the camps and village homes prior to WWII, but deliveries were eliminated by rationing and you had to pick up your ice in the village.

You had to keep track of how fast it was being used and how to stay ahead of the warm air. There was big trouble ahead if some child did not close the cooler securely the last time at night. In the morning there would be an overflowing drip pan and stuff warming up in the fridge.

This was a big deal because you had to call Skaneateles and arrange for ice. If they couldn’t meet you at the bridge, you might have to use the car, which was the equivalent of about three or four boat trips worth of gas.

Stuff was just not readily available, even if you had the cash and the desire to spend it. Maybe a bit of scarcity for a month every now and then would be a good thing, just to train the minds of our population.

It is hard for the children today to understand what it’s like for folks in other parts of the world who live with poverty and shortages. I think it might be helpful for all of us to understand that there isn’t an endless of supply of goods and resources and that we should not consume as if they are unlimited.