Ready The Dutch Oven

OK I've decided I'm going to figure out how to use this thing. First I need to figure out what it is. I thought it might be a 12 inch deep. There are no markings as to brand. It was purchased in the camping section of Wal-Mart and, yes, they now carry the Lodge 12" shallow but this particular model was purchased back in 1999 or 2000. So they might have had other offerings back then. Gander Mountain carries both the shallow and the deep 12" Lodge so I stopped in there to measure them. I measured the shallow at about 4 inches deep and the deep has a depth of about 5 inches. So then I measured mine. It measures 12 inches across and slightly over 5" deep.
This could explain some of the problems I've had trying to follow recipes for bread and cakes. Maybe I should have been using a shallow or making adjustments for the deeper pan. I don't know.
Now to get the pot ready for cooking. Hmmmm this could be a problem! This is the first year that the DO has been stored in the garage for the winter. Apparently I thought I should have it oiled up to prevent rust in the damp garage. Sounded good at the time but now upon opening the lid I have discovered a waxy gunk has formed. Yeah... so today I thought I would try the method of burning it off on the grill. That may have worked if I didn't run out of gas in the middle of the process. Then I had to go to dance class and then to a program at school for the youngest granddaughter. So finally at 8:00 or so, hubby hooked up the new tank of gas and I decided to scrubby off the crystallized gunk, it was mostly gone anyway. I thought I'd just finish by heating it up good and then letting it cool enough to grease it up and finish cooling. Nope... of course it won't be that easy. I heated it up and was letting it cool enough to handle. Well, I got kinda busy and it cooled off quicker than I expected. Hey, it's cold out. So when I took it off the grill it was looking kind of rusty colored. I didn't like the looks of that so I looked up on the dutchovencooking yahoo group to see if I could find out anything about it. I did see something mentioned about condensation causing this. Well, I decided to take it inside. I scrubbed and washed and dried and it's all criscoed up and sitting in my oven as I type. Doesn't seem to be smoking the place up too bad yet. I'll be headed to bed now and leaving it to cool overnight and I'll see what I end up with tomorrow.