Shoe by Gary Brookins and Susie MacNelly for May 30, 2021

…..and I’ll bring the matches.

And I’ll ring the fire brigade.

And then take a step back. About a mile.

He’s out beat Tim Taylor’s record for highest altitude of a BBQ grill.

Don’t burn the treehouse down.

Use alcohol or acetone in a spray bottle set to Stream. Gets the fire going and don’t stink or give off smoke.

When I was a kid, we had an electric heating loop element to get the charcoal started. A nearby basement window allowed an extension cord out to power it.

I know that stuff USED to come in metal cans, but they were never THAT big….

so, whacha both want on your pizzas?

In the 50s, my dad used charcoal lighter, and hooked up the vacuum to blow onto the charcoal to intensify the flames until they were glowing just right. In my early efforts at grilling I did the same, until I learned about chimney starters—nowadays, my Weber chimney starter makes getting perfectly glowing hot coals almost hands-off and effortless, without the chemical smell, or ashes getting blown everywhere … or the risk of the whole thing blowing up in my face ala “Crankshaft”!

Is Crankshaft near by?

A charcoal chimney would probably cheaper than that big can of lighter fluid. And the food wouldn’t taste like petroleum.

I use newspaper but I have a Belgian barbecue which lights easily.

giving a whole new twist to ‘getting lit’ at the bbq…

What’s he looking so cranky for? He bought the can.

My neighborhood reeks of “charcoal lighter fluid” on any warm evening. Those hydrocarbons are a harmful pollutant. If you can’t figure out how to work a “chimney starter”, get an electric starter. It only consumes electricity for a few minutes and cuts down on pollution.

Seems about the right ratio to me…..

We were camping at one of our favorite places in New Hampshire one year when the guy at the site across the road was pouring about half a can of lighter fluid on his fire. The flames were about 8 feet high. To add to the problem, he took the can of insect repellent that his wife was spraying and emptied it into the fire because some of it had sparked when it accidentally hit the flames. He thought it looked "pretty ". His final act of stupidity was to throw the empty can into the fire. We watched, horrified, but none of us wanted to get any closer.

A small container of lighter fluid?

Carcinogens for all!

Gonna need a new house.

Should have used a Chimney no lighter fluid coals get white hot in 30 minutes

This is the 21st century. Start that grill in 2 seconds.

https://youtu.be/AjuXrxHcFfg?t=108

Grampa had a grill that had a hand crank blower attached to the side to provide enough air flow to start the grill using a little crumpled paper under the charcoal. He never used lighter fluid. Don’t know if the grill came like that or he made the blower. I was under 6 so I wasn’t allowed near the grill, even when it was cold.

Skyler is Pancho to Cosmo’s Don Quixote.