Further Ramblings From Fernley, NV

Today, (Wednesday) is a much appreciated day off.  My normal shift has Wed, Sat. & Sun. off.  Mon, Tues, Thurs, & Fri. are 10 hour work days.  I worked last Sunday on overtime, so I had three days in a row.  Today is a good day for catching up on laundry, shopping, changing cat litter box, relaxing, etc.  Some snow on the mountains around us but none here yet.  I am waiting for the much anticipated temp drops to the 20’s which may happen this week. 

Haven’t had time for recipe experimentation.  I have been sticking to standards.  Meat Loaf, Peanut Chicken, Rice, Vegetable Medley.  I did make one batch of Melinda’s Corn Casserole.  I am making a Pumpkin Cobbler right now.  I am also going to smoke a pork loin this afternoon for dinner and pork sandwiches for work.  A lot of the cooking I do right now, makes great leftovers for “take your lunch” days. 

I am walking about 8 miles per day at work so as yet, weight is staying under control with increased food consumption. 

 Almost all of us here at Desert Rose RV Park, work at Amazon so it is like a Company town.  I have compared this lifestyle to the early day Fruit Tramps that I saw while living among the peach orchards of the Central California Valley.  Our living conditions are a LOT better, however.  Most of the people I have met here are Workcampers.  Some have worked at other Amazon centers, National Parks, Tour Bus drivers, WalMart, Post Office, etc. all as casual labor.  You see lots of country and make a few dollars in the process. 

 

 

 

BTW, if you like my blog, please spread the word!

Rogersramblings41.blogspot.com

                    You can email me: Roger@rogernickey.com

 

Still At Amazon. Heated Water Supply Hose

Sorry I haven't posted recipes or results for a while.  This is my second week here at Fernley, NV.  Working a regular job for a couple of months is a real culture shock.  Amazon is a totally different  working experience than any other job I have had.  It is an enormous facility on three levels.  Lots of conveyor belts, forklifts, people moving very fast and vast amounts of merchandise.  Extremely efficient operation.  I have been fascinated by the facility and process.  A great life experience.  I have a great space here at Desert Rose RV park.  Great neighbors and work mates.  Weather has been warm days and cool nights.  No sign of extreme cold temps, yet.  I installed thermostatically controlled electric heat tape on my water supply hose as a precaution against freezing.  Here is a heated hose that a lot of people have here.  Heated Supply Hose

Traeger Barbecue is set up and in use.

So far, I have made the Chili, Carrot Cake, a COUPLE of Smoked Turkey Meat Loaves, and Roasted Vegetable Medley.  Tonight (day off) will be grilled, marinated chicken breast, roasted vegetable medley, and Melinda's Corn Casserole.  Should be plenty of leftovers for work lunches.  I am thinking over a couple of pasta casseroles for the future. 

Bootsthekitty has adapted fairly well.  He seems to get lonesome during work days when I am gone, as he will not stay out of my lap when I get home. 

Balloon Fiesta, Amazon and Internet Connection

I didn't get much time to post as I was VERY busy with Balloon Fiesta and prep for the Amazon Camperforce experience.  I had several requests for my smoked meatloaf the first night at the Balloon Fiesta park.  Here in Albuquerque, Costco has the ground turkey in 1 1/2 pound packages instead of the 1 pound trays.  This ended up as a 3 1/2 pound monster!  Biggest ever.  It was gone before I could get seconds.  I also made a tray of roasted potatoes, carrots and onions.  It went just as fast. (no leftovers for eggs in the morning)

3 1/2 Pounds!  Biggest Ever.

Below is a picture of the balloons over our camping area.  For some reason I can't move down to enter text.  Just one of many problems with posting from the Frontier Town of Fernley Nev.  WIFI here at the RV park is not just slow, it is glacial!  Too many people on at the same time I am told.  I have tried different times of the day, (and night) but it is pretty bad.  I decided to use my Verizon MIFI and it works better, but I managed to foul it up also.  I changed my hard drive backup site and needed to do a complete backup.  Big mistake.  Before I had 1/2 backed up, I was close to the end of my October allowance.  I only have 2 GB left for the month.  Repeated tries on the park WIFI would not even load 1 GB in an hour and then kept dropping off and starting over. 

 

Started Amazon last Saturday.  Quite an experience.  This place is not just huge, it is just beyond description.  I am a "Stower".  Merchandise comes in, I stow it on shelves.  10 hours a day.

 

 

Due to my connection dilemma, post will be limited until Nov.8 when Verizon rolls over.  Suffice to say, there will be plenty of casseroles and "take your lunch" items for a while.  More later when I can post.

 

 

 

Roger's Easy Au Gratin Potatoes

Here is an easy recipe for pretty good Au Gratin Potatoes with just ingredients that you probably have on hand already.

Preheat oven to 400F

1  Disposable aluminum baking pan

6-8 medium potatoes.  Use russets if you can, as redskin, Yukon Gold etc, take longer to cook done.

1     medium onion, cut up

10 oz Velveeta cheese cut in to 6 slices

1   can cream of mushroom soup

1 soup can milk

1  envelope Ranch Dressing Dip Mix.  (you can use the salad dressing mix as I think they are the     same)

Blend the potates, soup, milk and dressing mix in the baking pan.  Cover with Velveeta slices.  Cover with foil and bake at 400F about 20 minutes until cheese is soft.  Blend thouroughly again.  20 minutes more covered and another 20 minutes uncovered should do it.  If potatoes are not to your liking, give it a little more time.  I like them soft.

Pretty hard to photograph potatoes.  These are Yukon Gold potatoes.  A little firm for this application but they are what I had on hand.  My personal preference are the russets as they cook down to soft for these dishes.  I only used 1/2 can milk.  I believe that a full soup can of milk would give better consistancy.  The Ranch Dressing mix gives a great flavor. 

Leftovers great with eggs in the morning!