Learning a new trade

It is ninteyfrigginhot (O.K...95) degrees this afternoon and I've made a quick trip home to grab some stuff I've forgot. Earlier, I learned how to send posts from my CrackBerry to here which is a nice treat. However, that's not what I've learned this afternoon. The reason I'm writing this is to take a bit to cool off (really to see if I've got a sunburn) and to say that I am learning a new trade. Today I am learning (at work of all places!) how to smoke.

GOTCHA! No...not tobacco! You can pick your jaw up off the ground now. Perhaps most people would associate what I am doing as barbecue. The REAL barbecue.

Tomorrow is our volunteer appreciation picnic which gives us a chance to thank our storm spotters, cooperative observers, and other folks we work with for all the weather information they pass on to us. We had someone BBQ brisket last year but they have moved so we were trying to figure out what to do. Fortunately, a coworker/friend had picked up a smoker/grill from his father-in-law and I had some oak from my Hill Country home that we are using to generate smoke. I am learning the intricacies of seasoning the brisket, maintaining the proper fire in the smoke box to keep the proper temperature, and how time consuming smoking meat truly is. Besides the meat we are smoking for the picnic, I've also got two chickens in the smoker with some fine Texas Shiner Bock up their butt so include learning how to do Beer Butt Chicken (get your mind out of the gutter...look it up on google) to the list. Tomorrow will be burgers, sausage, and chicken legs plus a pot of beans on the smoke box griddle. When I left to come home, I started drooling like Pavlov's dogs smelling the sweet aroma of smoking meat wafting from the cooker.

Matter of fact, I should get out there before someone snags my chicken and calls it their own. Back to the heat, chiggers, and other assortments of flying insects...