Eggs eggs eggs!

The eggs, all 25,000 of them, are brought in by horse trailer.

A gritty gray steam lifts from a row of military-issue stove pipes set in garbage cans, each boiling wire basket full of eggs, each emitting the acrid odor of scorched calcite and broiled albumin.

Stacks of empty grade AA egg cartons lay on tables and on the tarp that covers the back yard. The tarp itself is soiled by a watery egg sap, a farm-fresh mud and greasy dye tracked around by the 50 or so volunteers who've answered the Easter Bunny's call to color.

Easter egg cook Ed Smith skims the froth from the surface of a steaming bucket so he can see "what's going on down there."

This is his fifth year cooking eggs for the annual Jaycees Easter egg hunt, the largest single hunt in the state of Nevada.

He explains the assembly-line process, pointing to the different stations with a large, grease-covered egg spoon.

The eggs go from the truck to a group set up at a picnic table who take the eggs out of the cartons and put them into boiling baskets. After 20 minutes in the boilers, the eggs are taken out and placed in one of two iridescent, industrial-sized tubs of dye.

Dripping with color, they are taken to a repackaging station and then re-assembled into the original cartons. The cartons are boxed back up into their cases and labeled by color and age group.

"It's a full-circle process," says Smith, checking for more scum.

Scott Fletcher has been working on the egg hunt for 20 years. "Make sure you get there early," he advises participants. "It goes off at exactly 1 p.m. and the whole thing is over in like 30 seconds."

Fletcher admits he has a hard time looking at eggs for quite a while after the dyeing marathon. "Also," he quips, "I was a breakfast cook for 10 years."

Sarah Ellington, 14, and Stephanie Troklus, 13, sit behind tubs of dye. Their pants are rolled up, their hands stained an inky yellow. The scent of vinegar wafts from the tubs. The two arrived around 9 a.m. and planned to stay until 4 p.m.

"I had an egg this morning," says Troklus. "After this, I probably won't want to see any more eggs for a while," she laughs, checking her eggs for color.

Somebody yells "Empty basket!"

Jaycees president, Wendy Keller-Smith, paces the tarp like a field general.

"The operation is going pretty smoothly," she decides.

"The secret is to use small eggs. The AA's. One year we used medium and were working until midnight."

"We never did that again," she says.

Service Airman Terrence Sterba is one of the Nevada National Guard members who volunteer for the operation. He brought his wife, Malinda, and daughter, Gabriel, to help.

"It's a great family weekend," he says.

The annual Jaycees Easter egg hunt begins promptly at 1 p.m. at Governor's Field.

n Contact reporter Peter Thompson at pthompson@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1215.

Thrill of the hunt

What: Jaycee's Easter Egg Hunt

When: Today; 11 a.m. for special-needs children, 1 p.m. for general population

Where: Governor's Field