A spread of homemade and locally purchased dishes will make your backyard cookout a big success. (Hal B. Klein/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS) Hal B. Klein TNS

PITTSBURGH - Good luck to August vacationers who still need to find a bathing suit or plastic bucket to keep the kids happy at the beach. Stores have already switched into back-to-school mode, making summer accoutrements nearly impossible to find.

All those aisles filled with pencils, backpacks and other school supplies also serve as a reminder: If you're going to celebrate summer with a cookout or barbecue, time is wasting.

We get it. It's been pretty hot and humid in Pittsburgh this summer, and we've also had more than our share of crazy rainstorms. Mosquitoes also seem to be particularly abundant this year. All these conspire

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