The past couple of weeks have seen highs in the upper 90s. It’s the kind of weather that makes me want to knock down the door at the local swimming pool and tell them I don’t care if there’s a lifeguard on duty or not – it’s HOT. These are also the days that call for cold eats. Popsicles, ice cream, sandwiches, string cheese…

I purposely plan meals that I can either do on the grill outside or don’t require heat because turning on an oven will just make it even hotter and the A/C is having trouble keeping up.

Back in the days before gas and electric stoves, my grandpa and his family used to have a cob house where they stored corn cobs after they’d been shelled. You can almost guess – those cobs were used for fuel in the kitchen stove. Grandpa says his mother baked a lot of (good!) bread in the heat of the summer. I know she had tougher skin than me.

Listen here as grandpa recalls the story about using corn cobs to start the kitchen stove fire – and keep listening because grandma (even though she doesn’t want to be recorded) shares HER adventure with the stove. I was still recording and this was just too good not to share.

Until we walk again …