Cook Outs

Summer nights meant cook-outs when I was young. My father, never one for convention, liked to use an electric frying pan for his culinary endeavors. He even went so far as to install an electrical outlet on the rear of our house, where he could plug in that pan and "grill" pork chops to his hearts content. Of course, this attracted the neighborhood urchins, especially the Koska kids, who evidently didn't get much to eat at home.

I had my fifth birthday party outdoors, with all the neighborhood kids in attendance. My father (with his frying pan cooking the hot dogs) was in charge. My dad never knew when to quit. Arlen Koska, who must have never tasted ice cream before, ate so much of it that he had to get his stomach pumped. I guess it really isn't a complete kid's birthday party if someone doesn't get sick.

One particularly memorable dinner outdoors was after an afternoon thundershower. The big clouds had moved east, into Wisconsin, and a beautiful double rainbow arched in front of those thunderheads. My dad told me that a rainbow is God's promise to Noah not to have any more great floods. I guess that's true, depending on where you live.