THE REAL ICE BOX

Hello Neighbor. Glad you stopped by.

The other day my daughter-in-law got some ice from her refrigerator.  All she did was stick a glass in the little opening in the refrigerator door and push and out came the ice cubes.  Today's "ice boxes" sure have come a long way.  Not all refrigerators do that.  Some, like ours, have a unit in the freezer part that makes ice cubes automatically and then dumps them into the basket.  Then there were those where you had to fill this little tray with dividers in it and put it in the freezer and wait for the water to freeze  and have to get the ice cubes out of the tray. Keeping a refrigerator cold to keep food good is not much of a task today, as long as you pay the electric bill.

I remember days when it was a whole different thing.  I was quite a little girl then and don't remember all the ins and outs or was I particularly concerned with it. The one thing I do remember was the ice house.  I did realize that the men had to somehow get the ice blocks to put in the ice house. I never saw it done and barely remember what I was told but I think it went something like this.

First you had to wait for the winter weather got cold enough so the water on the pond would freeze down deep into the water, about 12" to 14" I would guess (after seeing the block of ice).  There was some kind of special hand saw that they used to cut through the ice to cut out the blocks.  Then there was the need of some kind of truck or trailer to bring the ice home. It must have been quite a chore to handle those cold ice cubes up on the trucks  or trailers. When they got them home that's when I got interested in "ice blocks".

What I remember is the ice house. That was one of the three little shed like buildings along one side of the barn.  Dad or U. Jr. would lay out a layer of ice blocks with spaces between each one. Next they would cover the whole thing with sawdust, the top and the spaces. Then lay out another layer and repeat the process until all the ice had been layered and covered.  I wonder how they knew how much would be needed to cover us for a year until the next winter freeze. And what happened if the weather did not cooperate and freeze the pond hard enough to get out there and cut the ice. Well, be what it may, we did get the ice.  I remember my sister and  going into the ice house when it was full of ice and climbing on the top of the sawdust.

Well the reason for all this hard work was the "ice box" that was up in the front porch of my grandmother's house.  I wish I had, as a child, paid more attention to that gadget on the porch. Maybe I would remember what it looked like.  I just remember getting the ice from the ice house up to the farm house. My U. Jr. I expect was the one that did it during the time we were just little kids. But it was always a treat for us when we saw the ice block coming up the hill.  There was a big pair of tongs with pointed ends that was sharp enough to grab a hold of the ice and be carried or dragged up the lawn.  The ice block would be cover with sawdust.  It had to be washed off as best as could be and then out came the ice pick to chip off the sawdust that was not washed off. This is what my sister, Mary, and i  were waiting for.  We would pick up the little ice chips and suck on them.  That was what interested us.  Not where the ice block went in the old "ice box".

That;s my story and I am sticking with it.    Stop by again and we'll have another story.