Love Is In The Air

Listen to this while you read the rest of this post.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the bees are buzzing. There is love in the air. Its warm, springtime weather.......

Except its not.

Its overcast. The birds are all hunkered down (which reminds me, I need to put out birdseed later.), I haven't seen a bee in awhile, and Thanksgiving is later this week. BUT.......There is love in the air.

Just yesterday, this girl was just a baby.

Her name is Harley and she was sweet, cute, obnoxious, hyperactive, and beating up on this guy.

His name is Festus and he is literally hiding from her. He's a big lug. Not smart enough to realize he's not hidden in my lush, trumpet vine. Except its not. Don't judge my poor trumpet vine. We had a horrible drought this summer. In its defense though, this IS the lushest its been all summer.

Just yesterday, for real, I came home and saw a few strange dogs hanging around. I thought, 'hmmm...that's weird.' and Festus looked like we was guarding her. He was circling her with low growls coming from his throat, following her every movement. hmmmm....curious. Usually, he's good heartedly trying to get her off of him while she's pouncing on him.

Robbie was already home. When I walked in he said "I think somethings wrong with Harley. She looked funny." I immediately walked outside, worried,  to look at her and saw Festus licking her and rubbing his head on her like he was hugging her. Uh-Oh. She growled at him and he immediately backed up and sat down very attentively. Uh-Oh. That's different.

I walked back in and said "I think Festus is in love."

He doesn't leave her side. They are very cute little lovebirds.

(They've been swimming in our stock tank. They usually look much cleaner than this. Nah, not really. They are ALWAYS swimming in the tank.)

And I don't even KNOW who this little Casanova that just started hanging around is.

Since its not springtime and even though love is in the air, its cool out and a girls gotta feed the family! Its chilly outside and that made me think of chili.

Lucky for you, I'm posting it, cuz its gooooood!

You need:

1# of ground beef (grass fed of course)
1/2 chopped onion
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can beans (any beans will do. just pick your favorite)
1 container of V8 Bold and Spicy
2T buckwheat flour (you could use any flour or thickening agent or none. Its up to you)
1/2 C water

spices to taste:
garlic
salt
pepper
chipotle chili powder
ground red pepper
cumin

In a semi large pot, brown ground beef (if you use grass fed, you won't have any grease to drain.) and saute the onion with it. Add everything else, except the flour and water, in the pot and let it simmer about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mix the flour with the water to make a roux. Add into the pot. stir it in and simmer, stirring occasionally until its the thickness you want.

Eat it while its hot.....like my dogs.

....Too far?

Yeah, I thought so.  Oh well, try the chili while I mourn the loss of my dog's innocence. It really is like having a teen aged daughter. Except its not. But, how would I know. I have boys. There's probably a girls mom somewhere right now blogging a picture of my son with a mustache calling him a casanova.....deep, huh?

This is linked to Sunday Night Soup Night, Barn Hop, and Monday Mania.  Check em out!