It has been hot in Brasstown! Seems like only yesterday I was wondering when summer and hot weather would ever get here…well it’s finally here.
As I’ve gotten older I’ve become what Pap called soft. I’m so used to being able to sit in the air conditioned house when it’s hot that I can’t fathom how we were able to stand the heat when I was a girl.
Pap and Granny never had air conditioning when I was growing up. The Deer Hunter and I didn’t have it in our house either until we’d lived here about five years.
In those days we used fans and opened all the windows at night to get what ever cool air we could.
Most of our cars didn’t have air conditioning either. As I got older I hated it because if the windows were all rolled down it messed my hair up 🙂
Yesterday The Deer Hunter’s truck showed 104 when we were out and about. I’m sure it was elevated some and guess the actual air temp was in the 90s.
The heat makes me think of all the old hot sayings I’ve heard and read.
- Hotter than hades
- Hotter than the hinges of hell
- Hotter than a frying pan
- Hotter than an oven; feels like an oven
- Hot enough to fry eggs
- Hotter than a two dollar pistol
- Hotter than a little red wagon
- Hot enough to pop corn on the stalk
- Hotter than blue blazes
- It’s so hot that two trees were fighting over a dog
- Hotter than a cat on a hot tin roof
- Its so hot that the dog was chasing the cat and they were both walking
- It’s so hot that the hens are laying hard boiled eggs
- It’s hotter than 7 hells
- It’s hotter than the devil’s armpit
And then there’s the one The Deer Hunter uses: It’s hotter than torment.
Hope you’ll add to the list of hot sayings and tell us how hot it is at your house!
Last night’s video: Q&A 3.
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I told my husband this week that I didn’t think it was this hot back when we were in the “ backer patch”of course that was close to 50 years ago!
We grew up with one window a/c unit in the kitchen & my sister & I would beg for mama or daddy to turn it on at night. They did on the hottest nights but always turned it off at bedtime. Then it was fans & window screens. That was in the 1960s & do you know my mom still uses that a/c today. Still cools as good as ever!
I have heard many of those sayings about the heat. The only one I have to add is “hotter than 40 hells”.
Give granny a hug and let her know we are praying for her.
Hot as blue blazes and hot as hell were the two I most remember but all were heard over the years around here in Alabama. Same time of year I would hear about mosquitoes so big they could stand flat footed and kiss a turkey.
Tipper, I had to go into Franklin yesterday & couldn’t believe it when the temp in my car read 96! I got back up the mountain & it was 81 here. I really don’t remember it ever being this hot this long up here. Plus there’s humidity which we generally don’t have. I’m ready for Fall.
Tipper,
It’s been really hot here and very dry. We never had A/C growing up. We too used fans. There used to be a Chef on one of the PBS stations, his name was Justin Wilson, his favourite saying, regarding summer heat, was” it’s hotter than 400 yards of hell.” We’ve been up to high 90’s.
I hate hot! We didn’t have air conditioning in the house I grew up in just a fan in the kitchen window set to “exhaust” apparently that was supposed to blow around the house and come in the open windows. Not sure that ever worked but I always slept with my head at the foot of my bed in the summer because that is where my window was!
Hotter than a firecracker was our “go to” saying when it got so hot outside. We didn’t have AC in our home until I was in High School & our cars did not have AC. The schools did not have AC & all the windows stayed open with the wind blowing our class papers on our desks. We had to not only deal with the heat but also with the humidity. Summers were miserable but we got through them just fine.
Spring has sprung. Fall has fell. Summer’s here and it’s hot as usual.
My husband was a mailman for 40 yrs and finally retired bc of the winters….haha He never complained about the heat. 104 and he’d just say “beats 24* any day!” Funny how we’re all so different isn’t it. He cuts wood on these hot days, preparing to stay warm from the cold. So glad you included “hotter than blue blazes” bc that’s what 98 yr old Grandpa Carl always said!
I worked out in the yard today and it was too hot! I don’t know what was worse though, the heat or the gnats. I am in Clay county, NC. Anyone else deal with gnats?
My husband likes to say ( or maybe wants to say but doesn’t) to people when they state how hot it is or complain about the heat,” Well it is July” or “It is August” in NC. Usually this occurs on the golf course. He, I think, is used to heat and it doesn’t bother him as much because most of the jobs he has had in his life required him to be outside a lot. One summer as a college student, he worked for a company that put down asphalt. That was a hot job for sure!
it’s 95 here in Murphy, even with shade on the house and A/C running I’m miserable
Hotter than the poor soul on the last rung of Hell’s ladder. I’ve heard that several times since moving to Texas. But, Texas has heat in Summer. This year was nice until the 4th week in June. It’s been over a 100 about every day since. It was a 100 at 9:15 one night last week. Weather forecasters see no end in the near future. The heat is onerous but the drought is wicked deadly. Here where I live we are under extreme drought conditions. Unless this Fall is exceptionally wet, we aren’t likely to make it up.
2011 was the worst for heat that I’ve experienced in TX. There were 93 days – more than a fourth of the year – with temps above 100 and 68 of them were in a row. If I remember correctly, one of those days was 118. Still, the hottest weather I remember was when I worked in Spain in 1991. Temperature is reported in Celsius over there, but I can tell you that 55 degrees is HOT. We saw that several times on time and temperature clocks. If I did the math right, it was about 130 degrees F and Madrid is about the same latitude and New York City.
I was grown before we had AC. It was retrofitted to our house in ’65. Before that we relied on open windows and window fans. I grew up in an old house built in 1911 or so. It had 12 foot ceilings. The reason they made such high ceilings even in modest houses was to allow heat to rise. My daughter has 11′ ceilings and her house stays more comfortable than those with 8′ ceilings. I never spent a day in an air conditioned classroom until I took a summer class at UNC in 1988. Again, high ceilings made that more tolerable.
God’s Blessings to all and especially to Miss Louzine . . .
“Hot as hades” or “hotter than the blue blazes” often come out of my mouth. But here in the NW Piedmont of North Carolina, a hint of tepid breeze brushed my face as I took my morning walk today, reminding me that there’s hope! Those cooler days and nights will come!!
When we kids would run in the house during the summer my grandma would hug us and say we were “hot as a pancake.”
I really enjoyed your Q&A video last night. My hubby even laughed at Matt’s childhood antics. You two were so funny! It’s about 84 here this afternoon in the mountains of West Virginia. There’s a nice little breeze wafting through and a chance of a thunderstorm later on. I worked in the garden a while this morning and my cucumbers look like they could use a drink—so a little rain would be quite welcome. I grew up without AC, and we didn’t have it when my kids were growing up either. We do install a little window AC when summer starts getting too hot. I love to leave the front door open all day and feel a breeze through the screen door. We have a small log cabin and it cools easily. It does feel good to come into a cool house on those hot, humid days, so I am grateful for air conditioning now. I pray everyone stays cool and has a wonderful rest of your day.
I loved the phrase hotter than a cat on a tin roof. I laughed. we say Hotter than I don’t know what.. prayers for granny. love her heart.
I promise to try and shut up after this, but this about me when I was about 5 years old and our our old un A/C church building. The Sunday School rooms had been added on to the auditorium and the unscreened windows in these rooms were low to the ground. My lifelong claim to fame will be climbing out these widows and running around in the church cemetery. If mother came to get me, it was sure to be a whupping, I had a 50/50 chance with daddy, a lot of times he would stay and walk around with me, I guess he didn’t like Sunday School any better than I did. I also like to watch the wasp flying around in the auditorium during the preaching service and hoped one would land on some of those bald heads and maybe sting one of them. Back then men did not wear hats in the auditorium under no circumstances even if it was during the week and they were doing some type of work. I know, I was a young hetheren Can’t spell it. I was old enough to shave before I figured out I didn’t go to church to just get a whupping. I was talking and laughing with a dear friend Sunday about this and she said her mother would carry a switch from home with her and prop it by the church’s front room. At least I had company at church with me.
Randy, I love your stories.
It’s definitely hot. I feel so bad for my husband and his roofing crew during the summer. He says it’s always at least 10 degrees hotter on the roof than the ground, if not more. It’s about hot enough to go jump in sunburst so that’s pretty dern hot in my book. You burn slap up sitting on the creek bank but it usually only takes sticking a pinky toe in up there and you’ll be froze to death lol
Hotter than Paddy’s (an Irish policeman) pistol. : )
Hot here also. We didn’t have air conditioning until I was a teenager. We slept with the windows raised, and I remember fanning with one of those funeral home fans until I fell asleep. Loved last night’s Q&A. Matt is a cut up for sure. You both had me laughing and thank you for sharing your lives with us. Hope you will do another one soon. Have a blessed day everyone and stay cool!!
It has been really hot & humid here in Mississippi. We didn’t have a/c when I was a kid, so Mom would come into our bedrooms several times a night & bathe us down with cool water because it was so hot we couldn’t sleep. We had one small fan & Mom & Dad had it in their bedroom. There was no a/c in our schools, but some teachers would bring fans & just blow it on themselves. I don’t know how any of us learned a thing suffering in that heat. I graduated in 1969 & they still didn’t have a/c. My grandparents would say “it’s hotter than two Jalapeños dancing in the sun.” Another saying of their’s was, “eat hot peppers tonight & set the woods on fire in the morning.” I was grown before I realized what that saying really meant. Has anyone ever heard that saying? My Dad & I were the hot natured ones in our family & we suffered the most, so he got a car with a/c & a house with a/c as soon as he could afford it. In the hot Mississippi Summers my Dad often said he wished he was naked flying over the glaciers on a broom. Even in my old age I like Fall & Winter the best. I can’t remember the medical term, but I have a condition whereas I can’t sweat except a tad over my lip & forehead. Therefore, I can’t cool off & could easily have a heat stroke. Had that condition since I was a child & my daughter has it, too. I have so many things I need to do in the yard, but I can’t work but about 15 minutes at a time or I overheat, blood pressure goes up & I get a terrible headache. Tipper, would you please get Matt to tell us more funny stories about what he did as a child? Prayers going up for Granny & your whole family. Stay cool, folks!
Folks I have just came back into my a/c double wide mobile home after being outside for about an hour and quickly came to this conclusion- when it comes to a/c , I like being spoiled rotten a whole heap better than being tough. Already 90 degrees but feels like mid 90’s.
Ha ha! That was a funny one Randy, and also very true! We are at 88 degrees and counting, and a nice 75 degrees inside with air conditioning! Stay cool!
When my central air went out more than a decade ago I didn’t get it fixed. I just stuck a window unit in the dining room window got a little fan to blow some of the cool air down the hall. There was only two of us at the time so we couldn’t occupy more than two spaces at one time. Since my wife died in 2018 it’s been only me. Why heat up or cool 6 rooms when you can only be in one?
I fire up my air conditioner when the temperature in the house gets to 80º. Right now it is at 79º and I have the ceiling fan on. I’m comfortable! When my kids come it’s “Whew, why do you have it so hot in here?” Me “I’m fine. If I had known when you was coming I would have turned on the air.”
As we get older our bodies lose more and more or their ability to regulate our temperature. Our core temperature is at or close to 98.6º. If the ambient temperature is anything less than that, our inactive bodies can still cool themselves to some degree. At or above 98.6º we can no longer “handle the heat” without an external aid. It seems that in the past five decades people have accustomed themselves to an artificially low temperature in summer and a higher one in winter and can no longer adjust naturally. Kids can, if we let them. Too many kids these days are forced to live in a regulated environment from birth.
There is a family living across the road from me who have about five kids. The kids only come outside to carry groceries in the house (or at least that’s all I see). They wear hoodies all the time. The other day they came out to help carry “food and drinks” in about 5 o’clock. It was in the mid-90’s, I was in the shade and sweating in a pair of shorts. They appeared in their hoodies for about 5 minutes then disappeared again until next grocery day. I’m not nosey but I do like to know what’s going on around me. I’ve never been in their house or even met one of them except an old man who shows up on weekends and holidays. He’s a welder, I think. I met him at the mailbox and he didn’t have much to say. I respect people’s privacy but them kids, unless they have a medical condition that prohibits it, need to be out in the fresh air and sunshine.
I usually say…Hot enough for ya?…
It’s predicted to be over 90 degrees here in south eastern Pa for the next 3 days. The weather people say if that happens “it’s a heat wave”.
We didn’t have an air conditioner in our house until the 1980’s. I remember we bought a small window unit and put it in our bedroom. At night all the children would sleep in our room with their blankets and pillows. Our house now has central air. It’s such a blssing.
When I was a girl in the 1950’s my Nanna’s sister use to….”It’s hellish hot”.
We’re having our first really hot spell in Richmond, Virginia. We’ve had some days in the 90s, but nothing like this week. Next week is supposed to be in the 80s. 1954, the summer I was a baby, is one of the hottest summers on record. I asked Mama how they managed with me as a baby. She said they just did.
I was born on Feb.20, 1954 so I guess I was a summer baby too. I don’t know about that year’s summer. Mother never failed to tell me on my birthday about the bad thunderstorms on the night I was born and daddy never could figure out how the country doctor outran the ambulance from Belton to the Anderson, SC hospital. They thought there might be trouble and I did almost die before me mother had several miscarriages and one stillborn.
It is so hot here in the capital city of North Carolina. Thankfully we have had some good rain and things are still green. But, as my husband says it is July. I don’t realize it but my family says in the hot weather I say “I’m about to burn up” and in the winter I say, “I’m about to freeze”. I didn’t grow up with AC – but I am spoiled now. Really enjoyed the Q & A video. I just love to see you and Matt together. Matt is and I guess has always been a real character!!! Go quietly on and trust Jesus. Prayers for all. Take care and God bless ❤️
I live in northern Michigan, and we all say that Michiganders melt past 75 degrees. Personally, I melt past 80 degrees. We can take the cold and 4 feet of snow all day long, but when it gets hot, we all melt into puddles.
Nancy, are you a yupper or a troll? by living in the north I think you we be a yupper. We a have an older man and wife that comes to our church, that we call Mr and Mrs Zigg, none of us can pronounce their last name. He says he was a yupper and is also no longer a Yankee because he now eats grits. They are dearly loved by everyone. The bigger problem in the south is humidity, I looked before writing this it is 89 degrees with 62% humidity making it feel like 95 degrees.
“Michiganders melt past 75 degrees” Does that mean we could use Michiganders as fusible links?
It’s been mighty hot here in Florida as you would expect. This is our fourth summer here and the hottest one yet. It’s consistently in the 90s but the hottest heat index I’ve seen so far is 125.
I’ve only heard two of them sayings, Hotter than hades and Hotter than blue blazes. The rest are humorous. I have enjoyed all the Q&A videos and I do believe last nights Q&A was the funniest so far. They all have funny things in them, but last night I laughed out loud many times, which made my husband look at me like I was crazy. While my husband watched news channels last night, I had my ear buds in to listen to your video on YouTuber using my IPad. He can’t hear what I’m listening to so when I burst out laughing I finally had to explain what was so funny. He’s not into watching YouTube channels. I actually prefer watching YouTube channels because I like to learn and laugh without hearing or seeing vulgar language or content. That’s why I love y’all’s channels, I learn from them, I laugh, as a bonus I am reminded of my people and I am inspired because we share the same faith in God through His Son Jesus Christ. Granny has been on my heart and in my prayers since Miss Cindy passed. I had noticed we hadn’t seen much of her but I thought it was because she had lost her dear friend and extended family member Miss Cindy. I wasn’t expecting to learn she was sick. I was happy to see her make an appearance on the Christmas in July video, she is so precious, with such a sweet personality, a caring heart and a talented crafter. Prayers are continuing for Granny and please tell her how much we all care and praying for her.
My grandfather used to say that it was hotter than a firecracker lit at both ends.
It’s been hotter than a pepper sprout here in Spartanburg SC. High 90’s with humidity of course. My mom and dad talk about not having air conditioning growing up for a while and how all the kids would sleep on the screened in porch. They say it was good memories.
Its so hot, I heard that Penguins are looking for ice in the Antarctic. For Aust, and I suspect many other places, found the inland a more arid and dry heat, still need to hydrate and take care, much more pleasant than the draining humidity of the temperate and coastal regions. In SW Sydney, Summer, Jan 2017, left office at 4.30PM, a nice 70F; to open the main door to the carpark, a less than nice 111F, it does take the breath away.
Hot enough to fry an egg is something my late husband use to say. Praying for Granny.
Hotter than a firecracker lit at both ends. Remember what Johnny Cash said, “ hotter than a pepper sprout” but he went on to Jackson!
Everyone have a great day and stay hydrated.
it’s just plain hot! Living in central FL, there’s no other way around the fact. Be it climate change or God withdrawing. I recall the first summer here and it seemed I was taking a shower about every 20 minutes or so. All the fan did was blow hot air. This past week the heat index was recording between 111° & 118°. At my age, it’s dangerous to be out in it. My car’s a/c needs to visit the shop cause all it blows is hot air, kinda like some politians.
Almost regretted moving up from Miami and leaving our nice brick house. We didn’t have a/c but opening the front and back doors, a breeze from the ocean would come in and I would feel so much better. Here? Dead air space. 55 miles to the ocean to the east and 65 or so to the Gulf.
I remember being without air conditioning. I think we had a better attitude because we didn’t have a choice! Now that I do…. I’ll take the air!
Hey there everyone. An older man in Tennessee maybe 45 years ago always said “hotter than the hubs of hell”, meaning hub caps I’m sure. That’s the one I use. Growing up my mom always talked about dog days. Growing up by the California beach, gets hot and humid. We would come home and the taper candles would be bent over. Granny and all of you are in my prayers. Anna from Arkansas.
No the hubs get hotter. Any heat in the hubcaps would have to come from the hubs, through the wheel. If the hubcaps get hot you probably have a bad wheel bearing or CV joint.
I guess, if you are driving on a flat or the rims, the hubcaps could get hot without the hubs doing so, but who does that.
Hey Ed. Thanks for the clarification. Now I know what I’m talking about. Anna.
My family never thought it was right to compare hot days to hell, so they would say hot as blue blazes or some of other sayings that were mentioned. Last night I was talking with a friend and told him air conditioning had spoil us. Just as Tipper said no ac in homes, cars, work, church or most stores. The coolest place in the small town of Honea Path, SC was the Western Auto store, it had some type of cooling from a tall wooden box like structure behind the store that had water circulating through it, the other place was the ice plant. On Saturday afternoon, this town would be bustling with people shopping, a lot of the men would sit in the back room of the WA store and watch the Saturday afternoon baseball game on a TV that had been repaired. The owner had a old church pew for the men to sit on, some men would turn up wood coke cola crates and sit on them, all of them would be drinking the small 6oz cokes. My daddy worked on the top floor of a 6 story cotton mil that had no ac and had the windows sealed shut. When he came home in the afternoon his clothes would be soaked in sweat and his shoes would have water in them from sweating. The mill had containers of salt tablets for the workers to take. Think of the old time mule farmers working in the fields where the only hope of little shade would be for a buzzard to fly over them or the women cooking and canning on the wood cook stoves, yes most of us are spoiled rotten today. The forecast for for the next days is upper 90’s with the feel like temp around 110 and no rain. Anyone remember when us older ones were kids going barefoot and walking on the tar and gravel roads and it being so hot the tar would melt and stick to your feet?
I wrote too much already but the saying about cat on hot tin roof made me think of my daddy, he would often say “nervous as a cat on a tin roof hunting a sand pile”. I heard this said about being spoil, we live in ac homes, drive ac cars, work at ac jobs and then pay to go to a gym and sit in a sauna to sweat.
AC and TV are responsible for the loss of many things in our society. Both take people indoors where they, mostly, shut out the world beyond their families. It killed front porch sitting after supper which is where most kids learned the art of conversation and a lot about manners and lot about politics when they learned you had to listen to what the other fellow had to say to earn the right to speak yourself.
I don’t know which I regret more, TV or AC. I do know that they were not good for the generations that grew up with them.
Tipper, it’s been hotter than torment here in southern WV (3 miles to VA line!) I hate to say I’d like a bit of rain, but I sure would like it! If I was paid for watering hours, I’d be earning a good check right now. I cut up 4 bell peppers I grew and they smelled and looked so fresh I found myself really thankful! I found a red holly hock bloom last night and feel like a millionaire! Air conditioning in cars and homes wasn’t ever thought about much when we grew up. I need a shot of Freon right now in the house a/c and I’m just using fans. If it gets too hot, wet a dish towel really good and put it around your neck for instant a/c. I got nobody to impress ‘Cept a few cats… lol We are praying for you Miss Granny!!!
I lied, your mentioned of a wet dish towel reminds me of something my grandaddy preached to me and I saw the older “mule farmers” do. They all wore long sleeve light colored cotton work shirts and overalls or cotton work pants-think Dickies and straw hats. It would not be long before their shirts would be soaked with sweat having the same effect as the wet wash cloth. As a young kid, I could not understand how he was cooler than I was when I was running around without a shirt.
Hotter than all get out!!
Hotter than a firecracker on the 4th of July!!!
…and hotter than a cowboy’s pistol on the 4th of July.
I like,” Hot enough to pop corn on a stalk”.
Great sayings!!! This heat wave is burning up everything here in Cherokee County GA. My garden is just about done.
Prayers for Granny.
Hotter than somewhat.
I had to laugh at that last as most of them I have either used or have heard of. The one about the two trees is a new one on me. Loved you Q&A especially Matt telling about the downspouts….I am still smiling as I can just see him beating them and then there is the icepick. Can you just see his eyes when is Dad realized what he had done and Matt trying to figure out how he knew, LOL. Please give Granny my best and please keep us up on how she is doing. God Bless you guys.
Hot here in my part of Appalachia too. We didn’t have a/c growing up either. Many nights too hot to sleep. I really enjoyed last night’s YouTube. Good laughs! I tried your father in law’s method of hearing canning jars in the oven and really liked it. Jars sealed immediately and it freed up a stove eye. Thanks again for your dedication.
Oven canning is not a safe practice. Canning jar manufacturers do not recommend using their jars in the oven. Not to can in, not to bake in, not even just to heat them up.
But there is an even more important reason this is unsafe.
Heating your jars in this way, there is a chance you will get a seal on your jars. But just because the jars seal that doesn’t mean the food inside is sterilized. That is where correct processing comes in.
With any low acid food, even if you get a seal on your jars, you are at risk of botulism. You must use a pressure canner if you want to be sure of safety.
Sealing does not indicate that botulism is not present.
Botulism is a type of food poisoning that can be very serious. You can not see or smell it in your food.
Botulism spores are harmless on fresh foods. When certain conditions exist, the spores will multiply and produce a toxin. It is this toxin that causes the type of food poisoning, botulism.
A pressure canner obtains the high level of heat necessary to kill botulism spores before they produce the deadly toxin. Oven processing will not do this.
There are other concerns with oven processing any foods: Oven temperatures are not reliable enough. The dry heat may not penetrate the food in the jars. There is a risk that your jars may break in the oven.
Cheryl-I’m sorry you misunderstood his comment 🙂 He wasn’t talking about canning in the oven. Robert was only referring to heating the jars in the oven to sterilize them before canning. Some folks use boiling water, some their dishwasher, and some like Papaw Tony use their oven to sterilize. I do understand using the oven doesn’t go along with current canning recommendations.
God bless you friends of Appalachia, God bless Granny and her family with love care and protection with healing and health in Jesus name
Matt’s comment on your post a few days ago really cracked me up. “Hotter’n two rats wrassling in a wool sock.”
I so truly enjoyed your question/answer #3 last evening as I was winding down! The love you and Matt have for each other is great to see and how you proclaim your faith! You both remind me of my hubby who passed in 2009, we were best friends and did everything together! I love the girls who are inspirtional also. I am a twin, my other half passed away in 2016. I watch everything the girls post as they remind me so very much of Ruby and I. We always enjoyed each others company and loved each other always. Thank you for sharing! Praying for Granny and all of you God bless you and yours❤❤
The one I know best is hotter than blue blazes. The one on your list that made me really laugh that I have never heard before was “its so hot two trees are fighting over a dog”. I like Matt’s hotter than torment. Happy Thursday.
Linda, I never heard this referring to being hot, I always heard this saying about it being dry. In the lower area of Greenville County, SC it is so dry it’s dangerous for a male dog to get out of his pen, he might get mugged by a tree. The upper areas have had some rain. I have a farmer friend that only planted 26,000 sweet potato plants this year tell me his potatoes and acres of watermelon and cantaloupes are all drying up. 2 tenths of an inch of rain since back in early June. Some of the farmers have begin to plow their crops up because they have dried or burned up.
I don’t have anything to add, but I said hotter than blue blazes just this week. My daughter looked at me funny because she had never heard it. It’s funny how we have so many expressions for things.