Welcome back, brethren. Got more pictures to show you. Now where were we? Oh, yeah. After a couple hours, someone noticed that the wood that Pat stuck between the wheels of his smoker and the firebox were smoking so badly, they looked about ready to burst into flames.
Believe me when I tell you the other one was no better. Pat went into Roger's trailer and came back with a couple of the disposable aluminum pans and used those to block the heat.
All day long, Roger tried to keep an eye on the two temperature gauges on his smoker. He had told Hogbreath's daughter, Maddie, that he'd give her a dollar if she'd go check the temperatures for him. So little Maddie dutifully went and checked on them every once in a while, and reported back to Roger with whatever she found. Well, every time she did that, the rest of the crew would say, "hey Roger! you owe Maddie another buck!" Roger maintained that he said he'd pay her a dollar that first time, but didn't say anything about all the other times. But nobody wanted to let him off the hook. By the end of the evening when Hogbreath had Maddie bedded down for the night in the truck, the farkers were all proud to announce that Maddie's college education has been completely paid for by Roger. We're all so proud! :wink:
Roger, Bandit, Kevin, and Mike. The only time all day that I was able to catch all four of these guys sitting down at the same time. Come to think of it, this is the only time I remember seeing Bandit sit down the whole time I was there. :noidea:
This is Curt, aka cmcadams, in the red shirt, and his wife sitting next to him. Then on Curt's other side, I think his name is Neil? Somebody help me here. The fellow behind them in the blue shirt... I don't know his name, or whether he's with the church or one of the farkers. I didn't know a lot of these folks, so if I get one wrong, or can't name them and you know who they are, sing out. Maybe Curt could help me there. He's the only one who would know just about everyone, I think.
I don't know the two fellows on the left, but the tall guy in the baseball cap is Pat, aka "Matchlight". Little Maddie is in the background. Pat is checking out his smoking smoker. :smile:
I need help with this gentleman, too. Don't know his name, but he's with the church, I think. Pat is all smiles, taking the smoking smoker in stride. I was amazed that he wasn't upset about his wheels almost melting off the brand new smoker, but he let it roll off his back like water off a duck. He was the picture of serenity. :smile:
"hurry up and take the danged picture, girl! This thing is hot!" Roger, holding the MOINK balls, fresh off the smoker. :hungry:
Here's all the guys standing around listening to Hogbreath tell one tall tale or another. Must have been a fish story. "It was this big!" :grin:
Still standing around waiting for the next little treat to come off a smoker. We had a little bit of everything, and it just continued through the night. MOINK balls, ABTs (that were bangin', I might add. Kevin made 'em), backstrap wrapped in bacon, deer chili, hot wings, ribs, fatties, smoked baloney sticks, brisket (which I didn't hang around for), and I'm sure there's some stuff I'm forgetting... oh, there was a really good peach cobbler that somebody made. Did I hear Maddie made it? I wouldn't be surprised. Very talented kid. :thumb:
Back to Pat's smoker... at this point, it had smoke coming out of everywhere. We all ribbed him mercilessly, but we couldn't get a rise out of him, no matter what. Talk about your grace under pressure. :smile:
SMOKIN'!!!
Here's Maddie, the pro, on the pork butt prep assembly line. This kid can rub a butt! Here, she's actually doing some of the ribs that were supposed to be for the cops, who never showed up! But that's ok. We ate 'em instead. But Maddie was rubbing everything in sight. She should make her own instructional videos. Move over Big Mista. :smile:
Everybody had a job. Someone would take the butts from the cooler, and pile them on the prep table. Someone would cut them open, and remove the excess fat. Someone would pass the butts down to the other end of the table, where more folks were waiting to dust them with rub, pat 'em down, and then someone would take the finished butts and pile them on a tray. Then Bandit would take the filled tray, and try to find space for them on one of the smokers. The second he'd take the tray, someone else would replace it with an empty tray, and the process would start all over again.
Here's everyone doing their job. That's Curt down at the end of the table taking pictures. We tried to document everything the best we could. What I didn't catch, Curt did. Hogbreath was also taking pictures, I think. Between everyone's shots, you ought to get a pretty good idea of just how the event progressed.
Prepped butts waiting for Bob to come get 'em. :smile:
There were 66 butts to be prepped, and we got them all prepped and on the smokers in record time. I wish I knew how many bottles of rub we went through. It was a lot, but we had enough to do the job. :thumb:
Sometimes you'd be rubbing a butt, and all of a sudden you'd run out of rub. So you just picked up a different bottle and started rubbing again. But I'm sure some of those butts were one flavor on one side, and a completely different flavor on the other side. :doh: lol Variety is the spice of life! :grin:
There were butts....
.... and butts.....
.... and more butts.
That's a lotta butts! But we took our cue from our leader, Maddie. She wasn't phased in the least, smiled through the whole thing, and got the job done with style. :nod:
Once all those butts were prepped and on the smoker, everybody pretty much took a seat and just partied.... except for Bandit, of course. He just cruised right on until morning. Kevin, Pat, and Roger got up once in a while to take a peak in their smokers, but for the most part, it was party central. Unfortunately, the camera I was using wasn't doing so well with the night shots, so for everything after this point, you'll have to see Curt's pictures, or maybe Hogbreath's, if he posts them. I left to go back to my room just about 12:30 Sunday morning. I hadn't slept since Thursday night, so I needed to crash before the 7 hour trip home. It was great, though, and I don't think I ever laughed so hard in my entire life. Definitely want to try and move heaven and earth to do this again next year. Thanks, everybody! :grin:
Believe me when I tell you the other one was no better. Pat went into Roger's trailer and came back with a couple of the disposable aluminum pans and used those to block the heat.
All day long, Roger tried to keep an eye on the two temperature gauges on his smoker. He had told Hogbreath's daughter, Maddie, that he'd give her a dollar if she'd go check the temperatures for him. So little Maddie dutifully went and checked on them every once in a while, and reported back to Roger with whatever she found. Well, every time she did that, the rest of the crew would say, "hey Roger! you owe Maddie another buck!" Roger maintained that he said he'd pay her a dollar that first time, but didn't say anything about all the other times. But nobody wanted to let him off the hook. By the end of the evening when Hogbreath had Maddie bedded down for the night in the truck, the farkers were all proud to announce that Maddie's college education has been completely paid for by Roger. We're all so proud! :wink:
Roger, Bandit, Kevin, and Mike. The only time all day that I was able to catch all four of these guys sitting down at the same time. Come to think of it, this is the only time I remember seeing Bandit sit down the whole time I was there. :noidea:
This is Curt, aka cmcadams, in the red shirt, and his wife sitting next to him. Then on Curt's other side, I think his name is Neil? Somebody help me here. The fellow behind them in the blue shirt... I don't know his name, or whether he's with the church or one of the farkers. I didn't know a lot of these folks, so if I get one wrong, or can't name them and you know who they are, sing out. Maybe Curt could help me there. He's the only one who would know just about everyone, I think.
I don't know the two fellows on the left, but the tall guy in the baseball cap is Pat, aka "Matchlight". Little Maddie is in the background. Pat is checking out his smoking smoker. :smile:
I need help with this gentleman, too. Don't know his name, but he's with the church, I think. Pat is all smiles, taking the smoking smoker in stride. I was amazed that he wasn't upset about his wheels almost melting off the brand new smoker, but he let it roll off his back like water off a duck. He was the picture of serenity. :smile:
"hurry up and take the danged picture, girl! This thing is hot!" Roger, holding the MOINK balls, fresh off the smoker. :hungry:
Here's all the guys standing around listening to Hogbreath tell one tall tale or another. Must have been a fish story. "It was this big!" :grin:
Still standing around waiting for the next little treat to come off a smoker. We had a little bit of everything, and it just continued through the night. MOINK balls, ABTs (that were bangin', I might add. Kevin made 'em), backstrap wrapped in bacon, deer chili, hot wings, ribs, fatties, smoked baloney sticks, brisket (which I didn't hang around for), and I'm sure there's some stuff I'm forgetting... oh, there was a really good peach cobbler that somebody made. Did I hear Maddie made it? I wouldn't be surprised. Very talented kid. :thumb:
Back to Pat's smoker... at this point, it had smoke coming out of everywhere. We all ribbed him mercilessly, but we couldn't get a rise out of him, no matter what. Talk about your grace under pressure. :smile:
SMOKIN'!!!
Here's Maddie, the pro, on the pork butt prep assembly line. This kid can rub a butt! Here, she's actually doing some of the ribs that were supposed to be for the cops, who never showed up! But that's ok. We ate 'em instead. But Maddie was rubbing everything in sight. She should make her own instructional videos. Move over Big Mista. :smile:
Everybody had a job. Someone would take the butts from the cooler, and pile them on the prep table. Someone would cut them open, and remove the excess fat. Someone would pass the butts down to the other end of the table, where more folks were waiting to dust them with rub, pat 'em down, and then someone would take the finished butts and pile them on a tray. Then Bandit would take the filled tray, and try to find space for them on one of the smokers. The second he'd take the tray, someone else would replace it with an empty tray, and the process would start all over again.
Here's everyone doing their job. That's Curt down at the end of the table taking pictures. We tried to document everything the best we could. What I didn't catch, Curt did. Hogbreath was also taking pictures, I think. Between everyone's shots, you ought to get a pretty good idea of just how the event progressed.
Prepped butts waiting for Bob to come get 'em. :smile:
There were 66 butts to be prepped, and we got them all prepped and on the smokers in record time. I wish I knew how many bottles of rub we went through. It was a lot, but we had enough to do the job. :thumb:
Sometimes you'd be rubbing a butt, and all of a sudden you'd run out of rub. So you just picked up a different bottle and started rubbing again. But I'm sure some of those butts were one flavor on one side, and a completely different flavor on the other side. :doh: lol Variety is the spice of life! :grin:
There were butts....
.... and butts.....
.... and more butts.
That's a lotta butts! But we took our cue from our leader, Maddie. She wasn't phased in the least, smiled through the whole thing, and got the job done with style. :nod:
Once all those butts were prepped and on the smoker, everybody pretty much took a seat and just partied.... except for Bandit, of course. He just cruised right on until morning. Kevin, Pat, and Roger got up once in a while to take a peak in their smokers, but for the most part, it was party central. Unfortunately, the camera I was using wasn't doing so well with the night shots, so for everything after this point, you'll have to see Curt's pictures, or maybe Hogbreath's, if he posts them. I left to go back to my room just about 12:30 Sunday morning. I hadn't slept since Thursday night, so I needed to crash before the 7 hour trip home. It was great, though, and I don't think I ever laughed so hard in my entire life. Definitely want to try and move heaven and earth to do this again next year. Thanks, everybody! :grin: