Lou, last week of April is about the earliest they are out.

Moldy, the birds here have been very active for about 2 weeks. Last year we watched a hawk pair raise a chick about 15 feet above ground level. It was great, we called him Ethan.

We were hoping they nest same spot every year but that doesn't appear to be the case.

 

Sure liking my coffee this morning, have 2 cup mugs, and I crave another one already. Didn't have enough breakfast, either, crave some more, might be time for another batch of bacon.

 

I usually run the first couple of hours on smoke only which makes the temp in the 120° range. After that I will turn it up to 225-250° to get the heat up to break down the fibers. I pull and wrap in butcher paper at around 160° To make sure I stay out of the stall range. I will pull it off around 200° to rest it for an hour. I expect this 12 pound to take about 8 hours.

 

Untrimmed with the fat side up, Russ?

 

Is there any other way? Just added the jalapeño sausage, yum.

 

Never heard of an eagle taking out another predator bird before. Mick, I had a hawk set up house in one of the back yard trees several years ago, really liked that bird, wasn't a rabbit or squirrel to be seen all summer, but he didn't come back the next year. Oddly enough, that didn't seem to have any effect on the big variety of birds I usually have in the garden. Last year most of the time there wasn't a single bird to be seen, and about the most at any one time was 2 or 3, no idea why, hope that isn't a trend. Wasn't just my place either, several folks around here noticed that, too.

 

Morning Mike.

 

First time I'd seen it too moldy. Was at the dairy at school. Very cool! Bald eagles are rare but they are around.

 

Only in the TOAK is there mixed dialogue of Julia Childs and Wild Kingdom......

 

They're not here in the burbs often, but I've seen a lot of them along the Mississippi River and lakes up north. Can see several at a time at some of those lakes that aren't so easy to get to.