Vaporizer Cures

I feel like I'm catching a late fall cold.   That reminds me of the vaporizer cure:

My parents believed greatly in the value for fighting colds of keeping things moist and humid; and I agree.  So when I got one of those kid colds where you cough and cough and cough all night, they brought out the old vaporizer.

In those days, these were made out of glass  and had a removable plug with two big round prongs.  They tended to have a very fine line between not making steam, so you added salt, and spitting burning hot water threatening to burn you.  I believe the brand was Kaz.

Now the Becker vaporizer treatment only began with the vaporizer.   Objective  number 2, was to get the thing as close to my night time breathing zone as could be.   So the thing was always next to my bed on a chair or stool or other prop.....and I was always afraid I'd knock it over.

Objective #3 was the "tent."   In order to concentrate the steam on me, my father would build a tent out of a sheet.   Since my head was in a corner of the room, the "tent" could be tacked onto the wall on three sides.   For the fourth, my dad would use a badminton pole setup (more of that later.)

Wow it got like a steam bath in there.   But it felt really good.   The gentle sound of the vaporizer steaming away (if it wasn't spitting) and the warmth and enclosure of the steam filled tent.   How could I not get better.   I remember one particularly  night I got sick in the middle of the night and my dad got up from his sleep and built the tent and whole setup.  I was  (and am) aware that this wasn't fun for him.   I felt truly nurtured.   What better way to heal and get better?

I've used vaporizers for myself and sometimes the kids for colds.   I've never built a tent.   Oh well!

OK.  The fourth corner pole:   I lived in Newark and somehow got the idea that I wanted to play badminton.   We had no dirt to stick poles into.   My dad guided me in building self standing wooden poles with bottoms built out of crossed two by fours.   I had no skill to notch these out, so they just crossed one over the other.   I believe I attached the vertical stand with those stainless steal angles.   The thing worked......kinda.  The poles stood up, but could waggle back and forth since the cross pieces did not provide a flat base.   Still we played.....and I built it myself.