Grudgingly and ever so slowly, winter is losing its grip on the Pacific Northwest. We saw the first bloom on my Camellia tree this morning when I let Mugs out for his morning patrol of the ranch. That first flower is my second spring signal that the cookers need some sprucin’ up and the deck needs some straightin’ up.



The primary sign of spring is when the driveway is first lined with trucks loadin’ up with BBQ wood…and this past Sunday heralded the beginning of what hopes to be another summer of smoke…the guys and gals were eager to stock up so they could fire up.



An impromptu discussion on pits, woods, charcoals, meats, spices and most everything else BBQ kept it lively. An industrial sized jug of Jack was passed around for some test “pulls” and after a couple of hours…deemed “safe for human consumption and certified BBQ ready” You can’t be too careful nowadays…with all them contamination warnings we read about. The contents of that jug after all are a main ingredient to a good BBQ sauce.

I would like to thank those volunteers who put their taste buds on the line to determine that particular jug is BBQ ready. You guys are the best!

If this looks like your house…you had better get busy, only a couple of weeks till spring!