OH SO SAD, JACKIE IS GONE.

 First and foremost, I have some bad news.  I'm sure you've seen the pictures of the baby eaglets from Big Bear Valley in Southern California.  

Jackie (2012) and Shadow (2014) were a mated pair of bald eagles who lived near Big Bear Lake.  For all these years, their raising of babies has been followed on live cameras.

Oh so sadly, the Mom Jackie has passed away.  She was found on the ground and taken to the Wildlife Rehab facility, that did everything they possibly could to save her.  It was apparently anemia, but they could not come up with anything definite causing it.  Her mate for life is still hanging at the nest with the last two babies, who are now all grown up.  What a horrible loss for the community.  They have produced babies for many years.  Fly high Miss Jackie ... you were a GREAT Mom!!!

I got up at the normal 4:30, only to run outside to ALMOST see some nice color in the sky.  It was a hot 70 degrees, meaning we were looking at another 102 degree day.  UGH!!

I opened the smoker and stuck the thermometer in the biggest hunk of pork. Wasn't I surprised to find it was already 10 degrees hotter than it should be.  Oooohhhhh that's not good!!!  I quickly took it out and shut the smoker down.  

From that point on, I was so distracted by cutting it up that I completely forgot to take pictures.  There was no towel spa treatment ... it was overcooked.  I just chopped it up and stuffed it in baggies.  Of course the pork loin piece was dry as a bone, so I threw in a little apple juice for good measure.  

With nothing else going on, I went outside at 8:30 to lie in the sun for a bit.  Here I am looking through my hat at the brightness that was bringing the heat.  I lasted all of 20 minutes before hanging it up and heading inside.  

Truthfully, I did nothing the rest of the day.  Oh there was the panic phone call that we did not have a cashier for the Bingo Kitchen tonight.  The one on the schedule got her plane reservation cancelled due to weather.  She won't be back for two days.  We called three other people who all said no.  See -- it's easy to say NO.  People just do not want to volunteer any more.  

We finally convinced one gal to come in, if only to teach me that particular cash register.  It's completely different from mine.  That way I can con someone into running the infernal machine and I can cashier for the kitchen in emergencies.  I'm not sure what we will do when NO ONE volunteers.  Close it down I suppose.  Don't tell anyone, but I secretly yelled YES in my head!!!

Lunch was a pulled pork taco with what I had.  It was really quite tasty, but needed some "juice" to moisten it up.  

I wasn't feeling up to par on this day, a rarity for me, so I parked myself on the couch.  Amazon loves it when that happens.  

I did finally go out and replace my old faded raggedy flag with a new one from Walmart.  We shall see how long THIS one lasts.  

I did spend a couple of hours cleaning the barbecue.  I don't know what happened last time, but I forgot to clean up the bottom three pans.  What a JOY that was!  I had to use a heavy paint scraper to get the big stuff off, then soak it for over an hour.  

I have to say this is the best smoker I've ever used.  It's a Bradley electric that uses wood bisquettes that advance automatically.  I actually have another Masterbuilt smoker that is more difficult due to it having a tray for wood chips.  You are constantly refilling the wood chips from the outside, though you can't see the container, making it difficult to know WHEN to add more.  

I got this one on Amazon MANY years ago for half price on Prime Day.  Shipping was free.  I think back then it cost me $200.00.  They appear to be a little cheaper now, but maybe they are smaller.  This one is still going strong and I think it must be over ten years old. 

In case anyone is interested ... this is Pig Powder.  There is no substitute, though many have tried.  It was developed by an award winning smoker of everything pork, named Jim Tabb.  His daughter has now taken it over.  It's not exactly cheap, but I guarantee you will like the flavor.  It's won all the barbecue shows you see on TV and worth every penny in my book.  Great on pulled pork and better on ribs.  Just go to pigpowder.com.  I buy two of the regular 12oz size every time I get down to one bottle.  NOT the spicy.  I am not a spicy girl!!!

That's it for today.  Time to put on my armor and SHINE at Bingo!!!