I was away watching football and having dinner with friends on Sunday, when I checked my e-mail when I got home, I found this note from my friend Rollie Schmitten: “Dave, I have a small crisis. I washed, scored, and brined for 6 hours; then dried for 12 hours to get the patina and glaze, 4 racks of the rainbow that we caught and the balance of sockeye from this season. I went to preheat the smoker and it was out of service. Take that to mean totally shot. So here is my offer, if you could smoke them, I would give you half. I have smoke alder in sawdust or plugs. Are you around?” I fired off a note saying I would be at his home the following morning at 8 to pick up the fish and get it done for him. Rollie and I had discussed how we like our fish smoked when we were at Rufus Woods last Tuesday, and we had the same tastes. I fired up my smoker and got the fish done and he picked up the finished product on Tuesday morning. I think it got it done the way he likes it. Whew. Crisis avoided!