The Maiden Voyage

This year, Scottie got a new smoker for his birthday.  The thing is a beast- it's HUGE!!!  Since we had nice weather, we decided it was time to kick off the back yard BBQ season!  We invited family and Scottie got some ribs and a pork shoulder to smoke.  He actually started with the brining the night before, and by 7:00 AM, he already smelled like the smoker when he would walk into the bedroom.  I prefer things to smell like coffee at that hour, but the hubs was on a mission- I like to call it the Meat Debut!

Every time I look at it, the song Space Oddity (ground control to Major Tom...) pops into my head, since it looks like a space pod of some sort, but again, I digress.

My mom and my brothers came to join us that afternoon while things were still slowly smoking.  We sat on the patio and just enjoyed being able to socialize outside.  My brother brought over my sister's 4 month old yellow lab, Buster.  He's one of the biggest "puppies" I've ever seen, weighing in around 50 lbs at only 4 months.  Needless to say, Vader was not pleased.  He thinks he wears the pants in the family, but despite his name, he's kind of a sissy.  He was not interested in a playful puppy 3 times his size and spent the bulk of the day guarding his territory from this yellow rogue.  He likes to guard from the inside, though- with a lot of talk and an occasional strut across the patio.

Vader guarding his castle

This is how Vader spent the afternoon- half in, half out, monitoring the situation and voicing his general displeasure.

Bertha, however, was a little more gracious.  She tolerated Buster a little better and even tried to play with him until she discovered, most unceremoniously, that Buster's paws are as big as her head.  After that, she ended up mostly hanging out in someone's lap or under the chair.  But she was plotting... laying in wait. Atta girl, Bertha!

Bertha creepin'

We also tried our hand at a smoked/baked mac & cheese casserole, that the fellas liked, but I did not (I could taste the flour in the "cheese sauce"-ugh!).  We feasted well, then decided to break in the fire pit!  We spent several hours laughing, joking and planning our next camping trip around the fire. We had a fantastic time living the springtime dream!  Happy Friday Everyone!