21 inches of snow, 10 pounds of pork butt, 2 racks of ribs, and the AFC East in the Pear Tree

stike

i went against elder ward's fire-building specs the other day by hurriedly dumping a bag of royal oak into the BGE during the height of a snowstorm (we got 21 inches officially). it was 25 or so degrees and 25 to 30 mile-an-hour winds. it blew continuously where i was from Friday at 4 pm til sunday at 4 pm (actually, til the end of the half!).[p]went lo-and-slo all night saturday. my kids have been sick the past few days and waking us at night, so i figured i'd be up plenty enough to monitor the egg.[p]nope. they both slept through. figures, the one time i NEEDED to be awakened the little guys snooze soundly...[p]i woke with a start at 4:30 am and got out of bed to find the egg pegged at 200 degrees (which is what i set it at when i went to bed). there was the slightest encroachment of a snowdrift creeping towards my lower vent. i brushed it back from the vent with my hand and hit the sack. the snow was drifting from ground level in front of the egg (where i shovelled before bed) to about four feet high a couple feet away. the wind was pretty well howling, and it served to scour the ground in front of the egg pretty bare, relatively. looking good.[p]
when i woke again for good at 6:30 and peeked out through a snowcovered window, i could barely see the egg. the snow was magically melted away from the gg for about 2 inches all-round. i had to force my door open against the snow and shovel a path to the egg through about 16 inches of snow. when i scraped the ice of the thermometer, the egg was still at 200, and there was a nice chugging bit of smoke coming out the top.[p]my plan was to add two racks of pork spares (which i'd never done, but just might be my new fave) at 11 a.m., pulling all of it around 4 p.m. for the Patriots Game. we had two other people coming over. Big crock of baked beans and 15 pounds of barbecue for four.[p]the fire grew cool at about 1 p.m. AAAAARGHH! credit my hurried fire-building. i reserved a little lump for a later steak cook this week, but i could have used it. it was the first time a fire has ever burned-out on me.[p]well. the butt was closing in on 185 (i prefer to pull at 200), and it had absorbed as much smoke as it probably could, so i put it in a 200 degree oven for the remainder. i cursed myself briefly, removed the ribds, REBUILT a fire with the paltry remaing fresh lump, and put the ribs on again.
the guests were late, so the ribs timed-out perfectly.[p]they were the BEST ribs so far. finally did ribs like i've been aiming too. the pulled pork was good too (as always).
one of my guests was a hard-core barbecue fanatic, and he was out of his MIND with the BGE. said he is going to get one.[p]when i told him i had it going all weekend, his jaw dropped.[p]i've egged colder, but never in worse conditions. [p]

mad max beyond eggdome

stike,
great story. . . i only shoveled 5 inches of snow off my egg saturday night to cook chicken thighs. . .[p]forget the 'wave', forget the 'terrible towels'. .. i thought that scene at new england yesterday with everybody throwing snow up in the air after the touchdown may have been the coolest thing i have ever seen at a football game. . .it looked like firework fountains going off all over the stadium. . .that and the shots of people climbing to their seats, looked like they may as well have been climbing mt. everest ...[p]this is why football is meant to be played outside. . . i still think minnesota gave up one of the 2 or 3 best home field advantages in football when they moved indoors 20 years ago. . .. [p]way to go pats. . ..!!!

ToyCollector

stike,[p]I used to live in Taxachusetts up until 3 years ago. Your post reminds why I do not miss the weather up there.