I had what I thought was a unique experience today. I was sitting on the couch at the home where I care for the twin boys. They were playing on the floor and I happened to see a bird outside on the patio. The patio had a 5 foot stone wall at one end of it. This bird was on the floor and would hop up onto a metal lounge chair and hop up onto the rungs under the chair, then up to the seat, then up on the arm of the chair, then up a bit more until it managed to sit onto the top of the back of the chair. The top of the stone wall was about 10 to 12 inches above the back of the chair. This bird tried repeatedly to get to the top of the wall, but would fall back to the floor, then start all over again. I watched it for an hour then I got up and walked over to the glass door and watched it awhile. It didn't look injured in any way. I opened the door, walked slowly over to the chair where it was sitting, expecting it to at least try to get away. But it sat there watching me, turning its head this way and that way, peering at me. I slowly reached out my hand with a finger extended like you would to a parakeet, and it sat there watching me. I touched it on the breast and had to finally touch its feet with my finger, then it stepped up on my finger and I lifted it up onto the wall. It hopped back and forth a bit then hopped off of the wall on to the ground on the other side. I went back into the house and left it to its own little world. Here is what it was, so pretty:



http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/PhotoGallery/MigratoryBirds/8.cfm





And here is the recipe for those wonderful beans that I mentioned in my last post! Made your mouth water, huh?



Cowboy Crockpot Beef, Beans and Bacon



1 pound ground beef

3/4 to 1 pound bacon (I used 3/4 pound)

1 cup onions, chopped

2 15-ounce cans pork and beans with liquid

2 16-ounce cans Ranch Style or pinto beans, drained (I used Ranch Style)

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon liquid smoke*

3 tablespoons white vinegar





Slice bacon into bite-size pieces. In a skillet, brown bacon, ground beef and onions. Place meat and onions in a slow-cooker with the beans. In a small bowl, combine ketchup, brown sugar, liquid smoke and vinegar. Add mixture to the beef, beans and bacon in the slow-cooker. Stir well and cook on low for four to nine hours.

*Liquid Smoke can be found in the condiment aisle of the grocery store, near the Worcestershire Sauces, etc.





And this is how I cooked this. I sliced the bacon up into 1 inch pieces and fryed it and dumped it into the crockpot, then chopped the onions and cooked them in about a tablespoon of the drippings and put them in the crockpot and then cooked the ground beef and added it to the pot. While all those were cooking I drained the beans, then added them and the rest of the ingredients and mixed it gently so as not to mush up the beans too much. I cooked mine for 5 hours. Oh, so good! ( I only tasted it, but wanted to eat a big bowl of it). It would have been worth any (dare I say?) gas attacks!