I hesitate to say it, but I feel fall coming! Not because the heat has subsided - it hasn't - but because summery thing are coming to a close! The students came back last week, and classes started on Monday. Living directly across the street from campus, and in the heart of fraternity-ville, we can definitely tell a difference. It's actually pretty fun to see/hear so much activity (never a dull moment!), but I could do without the bumpin' music and loud trucks/motorcycles at all hours of the night. Oh well - I think I've learned to sleep through most of it.

Really though, I'm excited for the weather to cool, runs to be less sweaty, sweets to be more pumpkiny (YES THIS IS HAPPENING THIS WEEK). I feel as though I skipped summer, as I was avoiding tan lines (and therefore any tan at all) and prepping for the wedding, but looking back I really had a great one. We had a bunch of fabulous trips, spent a LOT of time outside, and had (what I consider to be) the BEST wedding ever. I'd call that a successful summer! All while growing our businesses, making new friends, and exploring new parts of Montana.

Last year our first freeze was around September 10 - a date quickly approaching - and I had to bid farewell to my tomatoes at that point. This year I've had much more success with the tomatoes, despite moving them mid-season, but I'm still not quite ready for a freeze. Cooler days and yellow leaves: yes. Dead garden? No.

These chili dogs are a bit of an in between for me: totally summer, in that they remind me of baseball games and barbecues and days so active it doesn't matter that you eat meat-on-meat for dinner. At the same time, chili means fall: cooler weather, warmer food, and something to stick to your bones. I guess chili dogs are a shoulder-season food! On the topic of chili: I'm a big fan of beany, vegetable-rich chili: but not on chili dogs. Chili dogs are about MEAT. Lots of it. So, this is the meatiest chili I know - and absolutely atop a hotdog!

This recipe is simple: take my favorite skyline chili recipe, throw it on a hotdog, and add your normal favorites (obviously cheese, onions, and jalapeños). I like mine warm, but with cold cheese to contrast on the top - but honestly, these are darn good cold! You could even add oyster crackers and hot sauce if you wanted... Yum!

And I'm not kidding about the pumpkin recipes: I'm planning on cracking open some cans of pumpkin this Friday. HUZZAH!