Gentlemen, START YOUR ENGINES

 The sunrise was less than epic on this day, but the ground fog made up for it.  Fifty some years ago when I got my drivers license, we had fog most every morning in the winter.  Of course there were a lot less houses and a lot more farmland since our politicians had not yet sold our water down the river to Los Angeles.  I actually learned how to drive everything in the fog, including our WWII Jeep. 

Gathering cattle on horseback in the fog was a chore no one wanted to do.  Just when you thought the job was done, you would hear a bawl from the south corner, meaning you had to ride all the way back and sweep the field again.  We always came back soaking wet.  

It was easier to take the Jeep, but then you risked hitting the irrigation boxes ... a big NO-NO for which you were sufficiently yelled at.  

This is the first ground fog I've seen in ages, mostly because this 50 acre field is empty and wet from the rain.  

Breakfast was that of Champions.  I'm trying to clean out my freezer from food I did not take on my last trip.  These bowls are cast iron and heavy as can be.  There's no way I was taking a chance of a broken foot when it fell out of the cupboard.  

Turkey pot pie it is ... without the biscuit.  I can't believe I made this, it tastes so good!!

Then it was on to that cauliflower that's been sitting there for a week.  I love cauliflower if you put enough cheese on it.  This is a simple scalloped recipe ... cream cheese, mayo, and every block of leftover cheese in the fridge makes up this one.  It's so hearty that you don't even need meat for dinner.

While that was cooking, I watched the end of Extreme Bulls in Texas before turning on the Daytona 500.   It seems like they went from racing cars to Destruction Derby.  It started off nice enough, but then the rains came down.

They closed the track and brought out their fire breathing pickup trucks to dry it out.  While waiting, I think they interviewed almost every driver.  It worked pretty well since they all got to put on new tires and fuel up.  

Break time ... I went outside, only to discover greenery trying to take over the entire back yard.  I hate weeds.  I pulled what I could, throwing them on the lawn ... or what pretends to be a lawn ... so the gardener can mow them along with the grass.  I finally whipped up a batch of weed killer in my way-too-big-for-me backpack and sprayed the rest.  I'm not sure it will work since it's been so wet.

Back to the race, is this a gorgeous sunset or what??  The president showed up at the speedway (with his granddaughter) to the resounding applause of the audience, but left when the race was rained out.  Four hours later, with this beautiful sunset in the background, they started off once again.  

One more quick rain stop and they were finally out of the woods.  With very few laps to go, these guys got crazy.

It turned out to be a total destruction derby.  One big wreck took out most of the leaders, giving the next guys a chance.  But wait ... on like lap 498 they started pushing each others cars out of the way, causing another big wreck of the leaders.  I guess that guy thought if he pushed that car out of the way, he would win.  You could tell the car in front was losing it ... why would you do that?  I'm pretty sure everyone on the track hates him now!!!

The winner who was in the back of the pack, slipped through the wreckage and won for the second year in a row, just by being patient.  

Yes, believe it or not, I was actually involved in these races many moons ago at two levels down.  One of our truck driving friends was a race car driver ... and a good one.  Our construction company bought many sets of tires so he could race.  We spent many an hour in the pits, building and rebuilding his engine, duct taping the fenders back on and generally having a good greasy dirty time.  He won that year, and so we got to attend the big trophy ceremony.  It was fun times.

So much for that .... I went back to watching RODEO!!  Dinner was going to be epic ... tasty onion gravy meatballs over mashed potatoes.  How could I go wrong?  Here's what it SHOULD look like.

I admit, I was a little surprised when it said to BURN the peas.  Really?  I tossed them in a frying pan with a little butter and turned the heat up.  My tip of the day is NEVER TURN YOUR BACK.  In two seconds something flew over my head and landed at my feet.  What?  Those peas were exploding like you wouldn't believe ... all over the kitchen floor!!  YIKES!!

As I was on the floor cleaning up THAT mess, the potatoes boiled over.  Of course they would.  Thankfully the meatballs in the oven did NOT catch on fire.  

Here's the AFTER picture.  There's enough food here for four meals ... a plus in my book.  I have to admit it was quite tasty, even with the burned peas.  I'm not sure what flavor that was supposed to add, but I couldn't really taste them anyway.  

Today is "test the infernal machine once again" day, just to be sure it isn't holding its breath for tomorrow's Bingo night.  I'm pretty sure I will be okay since there is no full moon.  Here's hoping there are no more surprises!!!