This extreme heat made me think of the "good old days" of my grandparents and how they must have had some very bad days. I also think about how the livestock bore the heat when trees were so sparse in early Oklahoma. I do know daddy shut down all farm work at noon, until it got cooler in the late afternoon. He also removed the harness and took off the bridle for the comfort of his team of horses. I felt good watching him do that and it taught me a lesson about caring about the comfort of animals as well as humans. Our animals always had plenty of fresh cool water. We hand, or should I say foot pumped, water each evening. My dad had a contraption that he invented and used on top of the pump. It was like a teeter-totter. One could climb on top and rock back and forth with our feet while standing on the board plank he had attached to the pump and handle. This took so little effort. My sister Lila and I loved to pump the water that way. We actually fought for turns. Daddy was often on the foot board with us. � When it was really hot, we slept out in the yard on a set of springs with a mattress on top. My grandmother Clover had the whole bed outside. Many a time a shower or rain made us scurry to get the bedding inside before it got wet. There is nothing better than sleeping outside where you have a sky full of beautiful stars and a big full moon for a ceiling and the cool night breeze for your fan. We had no electricity, so this was a treat for us. We lived a long way from any traveled road, so never had to worry about onlookers. I could imagine the old cowboys doing close to this out on the prairie, only they used their saddle for a pillow. My bachelor Uncle, Lloyd Caywood made a screen house to sleep in during the hot summer nights. So he was not bothered by the insects like we were. He lived by a well traveled road, but was an early riser, so privacy was no problem for him either. Great memories, but I still prefer my air-conditioned bedroom. Lois Caywood Guffy