Really Smoking For The First Time

Here I sit, shirtless, my nearly milky white flesh basking in the sun and I swear I truly am smoking for the first time ever. No not a cigarette, nor cigar nor joint and not me going up in smoke. I have a 6.25 pound leg of lamb on the Oklahoma Joe's smoker that Brendan left behind when he moved to AR. So I am smoking meat, in a real smoker, for the very first time. I will admit to having lightly smoked a leg of lamb once before in my regular BBQ grill with a small fire box containing woodchips that was sitting over or near one of the burners but that was and is not the same as what I am doing now. The smoker today has had smoke billowing from it ever since I added the first piece of wood maybe 1 or 1.5 hours after I had it going with just coals alone. This is the real deal.

Okay, it's been about 2 hours or a bit more since I wrote the above paragraph. My shirt has been back on for a long time now since I burn all to easily but the lamb is still cooking in the smoker. The temperature in that iron monstrosity has ranged anywhere from about 200 to 325, it reached the hotter temp when I added the first piece of wood. I have been trying to keep it at aruond 225 to 250. I finally got it figured out I think and the temp has been fairly steady in between 225 and 250 and maybe as high as 275; although, I just threw on a bit more charcoal and another small piece of hickory (first piece of wood on the coals was a quarter piece of I have no clue from our woodpile). By the time I go back outside to check again - who knows how high the temp will be.

A hefe weissbier to help pass the time.
The smoker is in background.

The lamb looked great last time I looked at it especially since it is encrusted with a mesquite flavored seasoning. I am trying to keep the smoke chamber end of the deal closed on advice of Brendan) so the temp remains steady but have opened it thrice now to turn the meat and to add a small bowl of water (the water bowl was also Brendan's advice). The lamb's been in there since 220 PM and it's 555 PM now so just over 3.5 hours.

Anyway, I just came inside to add a dram of vodka to the lemonade I have been drinking. Had two Paulaner Hefe Weissbiers earlier but want something a little lighter now. I had best get back outside to check the temp again. Would hate for it to get overcooked. I have a meat thermometer stuck into it and am going to consider it done once it reaches 135. I am bloody well hoping that means it will be dripping blood medium rare.

More later,
GB

"Without the Capitol Hill police it would have been a massacre,"

"Without the Capitol Hill police it would have been a massacre," were words reportedly spoken by Senator Rand Paul regarding the shooting of :Senator Steve Scalise who was wounded in the hip, an unknown number of congressional staffers and two U.S. Capitol Policemen (source). The shooting took place in Alexandria, VA near the end of practice for the annual congressional baseball game that is scheduled for later this month.

There is much reporting going on about it as I type but little real information being released. Right now they are saying that the shooter had been shot, possibly shot by one of Sen. Scalise's security detail from the U.S. Capitol Police. Senator Flake of AZ, reported that one of the security detail, an African-American male as he described him, had been shot in the leg but kept engaging the enemy and may have been the officer to bring him down (according to the video report, another witness said it was a female officer who brought down the bad guy). The shooter has reportedly died (cheers and much applause). Another congressman, Rep. Roger Williams, R-Tex, was also reportedly injured but from what I heard in a video Fox News report, he was injured diving into the dugout and was not shot.

Just before the shooting commenced, "Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., told Fox News he left just before the shooting. As he walked to his car, a man asked DeSantis if it was Republicans or Democrats practicing." The shooting started just a few minutes later. I am sure, like me, the world is wondering about who was the shooter, what were his motives and if he was the guy who asked that question. Not jumping to conclusions but it is seeming to me that the shooter was probably either a leftist who took Hillary Clintons advice to resist and who did s violently. That is just conjecture on my part it is not my conclusion. Of course, the shooter could have been a conservative who was sick and tired of the Republicans dragging their feet; he also could have been an Islamic extremist or some other sort of crazy. There is too little information being released to arrive at any sort of a conclusion.

I will comment on Senator Paul's statement that it would have been a massacre had the U.S. Capitol Police not been present. Yes it could have been and probably would have been a massacre as many of the congressmen and others present took shelter in one of the two dugouts while the shooter was reportedly firing from the other and or from the field. Folks, the great majority of us do not have the luxury of being able to afford an armed security detail to protect us and had that happened at a local little league practice it is likely many more people would have been shot. That is just another reason for you to go legally armed wherever you go and all the restrictions on going armed all the more reason to pressure congress to pass pro RKBA legislation.

All the best,
Glenn B