Tillamook Has Come To Town

I didn't really have any plans yesterday, but it got busy none-the-less.  The first order of business was FOOD!!  I found a recipe for meatloaf cooked in a dutch oven.  I know, I'm getting WAY beyond my skill set here, but since I still have lots of room in the cemetery, I figured to give it a shot.

Ice cream has nothing to do with that at all.  In fact, it's clear on the far end of the store, but I cruised down the aisle anyway, just to look.  What should I see but those beautiful yellow boxes of Tillabars!!  From Tillamook ... OREGON!!  Not only that, but there was an entire shelf of Tillamook ice cream.  So much for the diet I was trying to stick to!!

Right next door were these Magnum bars.  Unfortunately, they also have a magnum price tag attached.  Just for kicks, I looked for Ben and Jerry's, hoping they had disappeared off the planet.  Their new business plan, which includes telling Hershey Chocolate how to run THEIR company, has resulted in their imminent demise.  Their entire refrigerator case has been reduced to one small shelf. You just shouldn't mess with a good thing.  

I did have a small problem selecting ground beef for the dutch oven meatloaf.  At $8.96 a pound ... I kid you NOT ... the lean beef left a lot to be desired.  I ended up with plain old ground beef at $4.96 a pound.  When did hamburger get that pricey???   Somebody is making a killing.  We used to sell our beef for $.75 a pound.  That's a pretty big markup, don't you think??

I figured the cheap stuff would be good for the oven, since I knew how much grease was going to be left over.  I thought it would take more than an hour to cook, which means more briquets.  Someone needs to redesign the lid on those lighter fluid cans.  I could have set the world on fire.  My concrete now has a nice little black spot.

With the second can ablaze, I checked the meatloaf.  Done!!  Oh NO ... what do I do with this can of fire??  I set it on the barbecue, but it was entirely too close to the house.  I moved it to my metal patio table, but figured the can would melt into a big puddle, so I finally emptied it into the metal pan the oven was in, which warped nicely.  No one tells you about this stuff ahead of time!!

I certainly don't get any points for pretty.  Guess I better work on that part.  Tasty however, was the word of the day.  Best meatloaf I've ever made!!  And HUGE!!  This will last a week or two.  Half went in the freezer and the rest I'll eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  About all that grease?  An inch in the bottom of the oven required a burial site, deep enough that the dogs wouldn't dig it up. A quick wash in hot water and an even quicker re-seasoning and the oven is good to go.

I had two great videos to show you, but unfortunately can't get either one to load.  The first was a train-truck accident that happened about a mile from my house.  A tractor trailer rig somehow got stuck as he made a turn crossing the train tracks.  I'm pretty sure he had his head where it was really dark.  I've driven over those tracks in my rig many a time.  Maybe the engine died?  Maybe the front bumper got stuck on the curb?  

He got out ... and you can see the CHP Officer who happened by, running away as the train hit the trailer, sending parts and pieces flying everywhere!!  It was a freight train ... and he couldn't even slow down.  Can you imagine being the Engineer on that one??  You can probably just go on Facebook and look up Anthony Zambrano.  Anthony says a bad word at the end, so close your ears.   

The other video was a slo-mo of Cooper running with his ball.  Cutest thing ever!!  I've had this phone for almost a year and never knew I could take slow motion pictures.  Pretty fun!!

I spent the rest of the day doing a boring Audit at the Elks Lodge.  I'll finish that paperwork before tromping off to the Pumpkin Patch this morning!  At least that's what I HOPE to do!!