4th of July Weekend

This 4th of July was pretty awesome. Last week I went to Lowe's and bought myself a smoker. They had it listed in two spots for two prices, and when I asked about the price difference, they said that the higher price was the real price. Of course. But I got it at the lower price... about 20% lower. So that was cool. I also went to Costco and got a few racks of pork back ribs. I didn't realize that they take the membrane off for you before they package it, so I think I spent about 10 minutes trying to get the non-existent membrane off before the BBQ. But now I know, and knowing is half the battle. I think that I will always get my ribs from Costco now. Plus they were cheap. So on the 4th, I went over to my mom's house with my cousin David. We brought the smoker and my grill box and the 7 racks of ribs and 4 lbs of pork tenderloin that I was going to cook. I prepared the ribs in three different ways, and then put all but one rack on my smoker. I just couldn't fit the last one, so it had to go on the gas grill. No smoke for that rack. But I smoked them for about four hours.... Awesome! Then we went to the Indian Reservation to buy our $300 worth of fireworks. I only buy the artillery shells and big cakes anymore. But David convinced me that we should get some smaller stuff too, and I'm glad we did. Got some party poppers and pop its and sparklers for the little kids, and some bottle rockets and roman candles for the bigger kids. I just can't compete with those neighbors. Not when they own their own fireworks stand. They always 1 up me (or 2 or 3 up). But we had a lot of fun.