EUREKA!!!

RRP

Thanks to all you fine folks who offered ideas yesterday. Last night I buried the needle! I'm not sure whether it was due to a visit by the BFE fairy or what, but I cleaned the fire box with a vacuum, put in a boat load of lump (which happens to be mostly small pieces about an inch wide and 2 inches long - the whole bag is like that) and fired her up. Imagine my amazement when I revisited it in 15 minutes and found the temp nearly 800 degrees! Thanks again to everyone...now all I have to figure out is how to get my wife's little Oreck vacuum cleaned up and snuck back in the house. 8^)

J Appledog

RRP, I can't imagine what my husband would do if he saw me cleaning the eggs with the vacuum cleaner. That could be why I do it when he's not around! JCA

mollyshark

RRP,
Invest in one of those small size shop vacs (wet dry). They have tiny ones at places like Home Despot and they work GREAT on egg cleaning![p]mShark

Cornfed

RRP,[p]Congrats! I'm telling you, we can talk fire theory all day, but every now and then when I'm going to insanity temps and it seems to stop at 600, I just stir the coals for a second and two and it's off to a zillion degrees![p]Welcome to the world of blue flames and "surface of the sun" cooking temps![p]Just stir it,
Cornfed