The Stove

Do you all remember the huge stove in Grandma's basement?

It had a 6 burners and a warmer on top, two ovens and a broiler that steak houses would envy. It was really very nice. One of "the boys" bought it used to replace the stove that was down there. The downstairs stove was where the canning was done in the summer, lard was rendered, and where should would bake bread (as she made like 50 loaves and a few pizzas per "batch;" all the ovens, upstairs and down, were busy).

The thing is, this stove was really big, how big you all failed to realize until it was in the driveway. There was no way this mammoth cooker was going down the basement steps.

So over a weekend in combination, Morris, Nick, Blackie, Joe, Pete and I think I remember Gary in the mix as well, deconstructed the basement stairs lowered the behemoth down into the basement, installed it (and new freezer) and rebuilt the stairs (re-using the same wood!)

I can't adequately put into words what I witnessed that weekend. The highlight being Nick, Blackie and Pete working side by side in that cramped basement. Priceless!

That's the weekend I learned how to swear....