To-do list: Buy a new grill cover

The original cover for my grill sits on the newly-finished deck, smoke wafting from the giant hole in the middle of a once-whole cover. Water puddles around the singed material with the water and cover both laying there useless.

The ashes remaining from the disintegrated towel and the scarred pan lid wait in the corner for their disposal.

Yet, the first thought in my head: Add "buy a new grill cover" to my never-ending to-do list.

The perpetual to-do list, along with multi-tasking, is what got me into this mess in the first place. I simply was trying to do too much at once. The addition of a chalkboard in my kitchen keeps the list front and center. As soon as one item is erased, the chalk is quickly picked up to add another chore. Whether you rely on a palm pilot, a note pad on the fridge or a running list on the back of your hand, the to-do list never goes away. As we try to do more and more, eventually the lists catch up -- good or bad -- with a person, such as my grill-cover case recently.

It all began with the tomatoes, which finally turned red. I had averted my gaze from the garden for at least a week, knowing I had to deal with the growing number of ripe tomatoes. It was on the to-do list, but wasn't getting erased.

Finally, I could not put it off any longer and the multi-day process of canning began. This is where the grill comes into play -- as an added burner to get an additional pot boiling. Now, with 20/20 hindsight, a towel used as a hot-pad was not my best idea, which I quickly learned after singeing it on the burner. I doused "most of it" in the pot's water and set the slightly-burned towel aside. (That last concept was pretty important, I realized later, so remember it.)

As the morning progressed with pot after pot of tomatoes, jars and lids boiling, I began to tackle other items on the to-do list. I put in the third of the infinite loads of laundry into the washing machine. I headed outside to hang up load No. 2 on the laundry line because it was a nice windy day and the clothes would dry quickly. (Concept No. 2 which should be noted for future reference.)

Plopping the basket down in the grass, the phone rang inside. Answering the phone was not on the to-do list, but I decided to break from convention and ran inside to answer it.

With the phone in hand, I noticed two of my boys had taken a cat into their bedroom. As the phone conversation continued, a pair of howls came from their bedroom. I looked over to see the cat's jaw clamped around the three-year-old's wrist, both the cat and my son screaming.

Hanging up on my caller without so much as a good-bye, I discovered the cat's tail wedged between the toy box and its' lid. Unable to move either the tail or the lid, the cat bit harder and the boy screamed louder. After one final tug, the cat came free and fled the scene. The boy, however, needed a few Band-Aids for his hand and a popsicle for his disposition.

As we wandered through the kitchen on the way to Band-Aid central, I noticed a lot of smoke in the area of the grill. That's funny. Boiling water shouldn't be giving off that much steam, I thought to myself as I continued on to the bathroom. After covering up every puncture and scrape visible, I rang back my previous caller and headed outside to check the "steam."

Emerging onto the deck, the flames behind the grill immediately caught my attention. Dashing back inside for a bowl of water, the fire was quickly extinguished. As I picked up the charred pieces of material, I noticed remnants of a towel which obviously had been blown off the grill and onto the cover laying on the deck.

Fortunately no one was hurt and the house remained untouched. All that was lost was a grill cover and a dish towel, as well as a black spot to mark the experience.

So what did I learn from this episode? While I'd like to say it was "Don't try to do too many things at once," the realistic answer is "Don't plant a garden; you'll just have to buy a new grill cover" or "Teach your children that cats don't like toy boxes or plan to invest in Band-Aids."

-- Ronda Graff refuses to can another single tomato and will not add it to her to-do list; she simply doesn't look in the direction of her garden anymore.