Cloudy, once more, lots and lots of rain off shore and east of here for my morning coffee muses.

Firing up the smoker for day two. I need to get the ribs on shortly. And I’ve got a few links, and hot dogs for the kids. We’ll be celebrating tomorrow this afternoon. Just the way we roll around here.

The smell of wood smoke permeates everything this morning. And the smell of barbecue fills the house from the brisket holding in the low oven overnight. I’ll pull it out and look at it in a bit to decide if I want to put it back in the smoker to finish or just let it hang…

I can hear blue jays off in the distance. Jaying their displeasure at the world.

The air is still. Smoke drifts up losing itself against the gray clouds. And a woodpecker calls.

The smoker is slow at coming to temperature. But I’d rather it be slow at rising than overheat and having to wait for it to come back down. And mourning doves coo coo coo.

The smoke from the chimney is looking clear now. Just barely tinted blue. The thermometer is at 195° and climbing slowly.

It’s 5 1/2 hours till show time. Catch you on the other side…