Reunion Weekend Recap...just a few days late

I am well aware that it is Friday but I have been away, and I am finally back. Plus this past weekend was just way too good NOT to do a recap about it. 

After nearly 3,000 miles traveled over 5 days I am so glad to be back and so thankful for the upcoming 3 day weekend.  Where have I been? Let's start at the beginning.

Friday night was the THS football scrimmage. We got 4 minutes into the game and then the rains came. Well, a giant lightening storm. It really didn't end up raining very hard but they canceled the game anyway.  The good news is we were ahead 20-14. The bad news is the defense got to play just one play and the other team threw for a touchdown.  Not exactly how you want to start the season. Eric said it was first game jitters that would have worked themselves out as the game went on. At least our offense was on fire!

1. Coach Cagle doing his thing on the sideline.
2. Crazy storm clouds rolling in.

I can't say I was too disappointed the game was cancelled because it meant we got home at a decent hour because we were up and at 'em first thing Saturday morning so we could head to Memphis for my 10 year high school reunion......yeah I still can't believe I am old enough to have gone to it. We pulled into town around noon in time to have lunch with my parents. Dad and Eric golfed that afternoon while Mom and I went flower shopping. That night Eric and I headed downtown for the reunion. It was at a really neat reception hall right next to the river. It was great to see everyone, too. I know you see everyone everyday on Facebook, but for the people you really want to see it was nice to be able to! My BFF/neighbor/first friend in TN who lives in New York City was there. I haven't seen her since my wedding and I was so glad to get to hug her neck! She is a fancy fashion stylist in NYC and she's amazing! I have already decided I am going to visit her this spring. Mark my words....

1. Eric and I pre-reunion.
2. Amelia and I....BFFs forever =)
3. Old friends.
4. More friends. 

We had a decent turnout, maybe 50 or 60 out of 400+ alumni. From what I understand that it is a good turnout. It's crazy to see how everyone has changed, but still haven't changed that much.  The highlight of the night was our principal's special appearance. We had the most amazing principal who was ever a principal....ever. I went to a huge high school, around 2,000 students, and he knew every single student's name. Seriously. I have told Eric this before and he said yeah right, whatever, didn't believe me. That is until Mr. A was making rounds at the reunion and walked by me, turned around and called me out....first and last name. I know for a fact that I have not seen him since graduation day 10 years ago, and he STILL recognized me and knew my name. We chatted for a minute and after he walked away Eric looked at me and said, "You weren't kidding. He does know everyone!" Best principal ever!

We called it a night pretty early because we had to head back to Bama first thing Sunday morning. Eric had film for football and I had to unpack from Memphis and repacking for my next trip.....to HOLLYWOOD!

That's right, yours truly has been living it up in Tinseltown this week. And by living it up, I mean attending a conference for work at a hotel right off of Hollywood Boulevard...but that recap will have to wait for another day. 

Tonight THS kicks off their season against BTW and the boys are ready!  I am still debating whether or not to make the trek since I am feeling a little under the weather.  I'll have to see how today goes before I make a decision.

Happy Belated Birthday Hawk #dogmomfail

I dropped the ball on this one.  Our sweet Hawk boy turned 6 years old yesterday and with everything I had going on I completely forgot about it.  I guess that kinda stuff just happens when you put in 17 hour days...

So anyway.....Happy, happy, happy birthday to our ball-fetching, 

goofy,

pool-loving,   

silly, 

sweet boy.  

We love you Hawkey Dog!  Happy 6th Birthday!

Screened in Carport Plus a New Carport...CHECK!

I kind of thought that after we finished our laundry room makeover that we would be done with our home improvements for the year.  With football season getting under way we've run out of free weekends to devote to major projects.  However, my always eager to do something husband had other ideas.  One of the things on the back burner of our house-to-do list was do something with our back porch/carport.  We've know since we moved in that we wanted to do something with it, we just weren't sure what.   Earlier this  summer we decided that something would be to turn our carport into an outdoor entertaining area where we could grill out, hang out, and watch football games.  I was on board with one stipulation...we put up something to put cars under.  I am not a fan on parking my car out in the elements, and as a 28 years old homeowner I feel like I have earned a covered parking spot.

We finally got our heads around exactly what we wanted to do a couple of weeks ago and as of yesterday it's done!  Our outdoor oasis!  We still have the aesthetics to work out and Eric has additional plans for an outdoor kitchen are that will be a gradual process, but the major work is complete!

So what did we do?  We screened in our existing carport and had a new carport built on to it.  We also had the small patio area in the back covered so that we can grill when it's raining, and installed 4 new ceiling fan/light combos in the screened in portion. To say that we're pleased with the results is an understatement.  I have spent at least 30 minutes out there every afternoon (most days more).  The dogs love it, too.  Our backyard is not fenced in so we've never been able to leave them outside by themselves.  When we put the doors on we intentionally had them open in to the room so that we could put the dogs out there and not worry about them getting out.  I think Hawk thinks it's his own personal outside room (kinda like the pool is all his, too) because he stays out there all afternoon when I get home from work.  I try to call him inside and he just looks at me like I'm crazy to think he would want to leave his happy place. The other two were unsure of staying out by themselves at first but they've caught on quickly.

We hired professionals to install the new carport, but we did the screened in portion of it ourselves, with the help of some friends.  We have a friend who is an EXTREMELY talented carpenter who was there for the entire process.  If it weren't for him it would not have turned out as amazing as it did. We spent about a day and a half framing, screening, trimming, and putting up lattice.  We were not initially planning on putting lattice up, but decided that if we wanted to be able to leave the dogs outside by themselves we'd have to.

Here are some progression pictures.  I still can't believe it came together as quickly as it did!

 This is the left side of the back of the house.

 This one is the right side of the back of the house.

Here are some inside looking out progression pictures.  

You better believe I didn't let the guys have all the fun.  I was out there with them the whole time and I even got to use the nail gun!  It's the little things, I tell ya!  My major jobs were door handle installation and cleaning the ceiling.  We've been in our house for 3 and a half years and it was empty for 2 years before that, so I know that it has not been cleaned in at least 5 years, but then again who sets out to clean their carport ceiling?   Since the carport is now an "inside" space I decided it needed to be done and I spent the better part of 4 hours on a chair with Clorox and a rag wiping it down.  It was tedious, but every single person who came by that day commented on how nice it looked which gave me motivation to keep going.  It was nice to have something besides raw, red finger tips to show for it, too!

1. The ceiling before...you can't see from the picture but there was a layer of dirt on the entire ceiling
2. The ceiling after...all clean!
3. One of my sturdy door handles installed.
4. My poor baby fingertips...my pinkys got the worst of it!

I guess we can cross this project off our list now!  I will have updates as we carpet, furnish, etc., but I feel like the brunt of the work is now done and we can enjoy it!  Don't worry we have!

Lunch for 2 on the back patio?  Don't mind if we do!

The only thing left now is a name.  Because a space like this deserves a really good name, so the suggestion box is open!

Weekend Recap

We have lots of really fun weekends around these parts.  We like to have fun, what can I say...boring weekends just aren't our style.  This weekend was no exception, but every once and a while a weekend comes along where you realize that there's nothing else you'd rather be doing.  You get caught up in the moment and everything is right with the world.  This entire weekend was one of those moments for me.  Even though neither of us teach and we don't have kids heading back to school this week, it really felt like a summer send off.  Maybe it was the gorgeous fall-like weather we had that was messing with my head, but this weekend was great.

1. The giant steaks that were our dinner on Friday night.
2. Dachshund Wine...and it was Reisling.  It doesn't get much more perfect than that!
3. Meat on the Green Egg
4. My hubby the QB
5. Backyard football on Saturday night.  This went on for a good hour and involved about 15 kids.  We realized that among the football coaches there is only ONE daughter, the rest are boys. 

Since it's been so rainy here lately the school cancelled Tiger Night on Friday.  Honestly I don't think too many people were bummed.  There will be plenty of football games this year to go to. Since we had a free evening Eric picked up some steaks and we spent the evening with our neighbors cooking and laughing.  You really can't beat good neighbors, and we're so lucky to have some really great ones!

Saturday we were up early to get the day going.  We hosted a Rib Cook-off featuring 3 of the THS coaches putting their best out there for the rest of us.  I am proud to say that I had the house cleaned, plus cookies and a 10lb potato salad made by noon.  I even had some time to lay on the couch and veg before everyone got there.  By 5pm we had a yard-full of folks and it was so much fun!  Eric counted at one point and we had 15 cars in the driveway....crazy!  Eric's ribs ended up coming in 3rd.  But I don't think he was too disappointed.  He's spent the entire summer perfecting his Boston Butt and that turned out delicious so he didn't care.  After most of the food was eaten, all the games were played, and everything was cleaned up we collapsed in bed.  Eric asked me what time it was....and it was only 10:15pm, but it felt like midnight!  That my friends is how you know you had a good time.

It's a good thing we got to bed at a decent hour on Saturday, because we worked our butts off on Sunday.  Seriously.  We started at 7AM, and didn't stop until nearly 8PM.  But the results were completely worth it, because this is my new favorite place to be......

Don't you worry.  There will be a FULL explanation of this tomorrow.  The last part is being completed today so I want to wait to share it when it's all done!

And in case anyone is interested, today I am officially 28 and a half years old.  Happy Half Birthday to me!

6 Things on this Amazing Fall-Like Friday

It's here!  It's here!  I guess that week wasn't sooooo bad. I am so ready for our weekend festivities!  It's going to be a busy one, but then again our weekends are ALWAYS busy ones and that's how we like it!

Here's just a few things we've got gone on right now:

#1

That's a lot of beer.

I counted up our beer bottle tops this past weekend and we already have 200!  We had a bunch of help collecting them, so don't think we drank all of it....just most of it. =)  I actually have started setting a mason jar out when we have people over and our friends are now accustomed to saving their tops and putting them in the jar when they're over.  I am not sure how big I actually want the table yet, but I am estimating we have about 1/3 of the amount of tops we'll need.  I guess we need to get to drinking! P.S. This is what we're in the process of making.

#2

via

Today is the unofficial start to football season.  This little town of ours is kicking of the season with our annual Tiger Night.  It's a scrimmage game for all of the football teams in Tallassee that the public gets to attend.They're starting with the little kids and will finish off the evening with the varsity scrimmaging each other.  It's a neat little fundraiser for the athletic club and a fun kick off of the season.  You better believe I will have my happy butt in the stands cheering them on!

#3

via

This next one is what I am going to call it the start of football season miracle.  It's pretty common knowledge that Alabama is HOT in the summertime, August especially.  It's not uncommon to have stretches of 100+ degree weather in mid-August, just as football season is starting. We've had warm weather lately, but luckily nothing too unbearable.  Yesterday the weather changed.  Like you could literally feel the change in the air.  We had really nice cooler temperatures.  Like walk-the-dogs-before-dusk-and-circle-the-neighborhood-more-than-once cool temps. It's like the weather said Oh football season is starting? Here, take some nice cool fall-like temps! It may be short-lived, but I will take as much of it that I can get!  When I was walking the dogs last night all I could think was that I felt like I needed something pumpkin or spice flavored to eat.  I guess that means I am really ready for fall!

#4

One of my BFFs and I...sophomore year I think. I can't wait to see her next weekend!

The 10 Year High School Reunion countdown is down to it's final week and I am so excited about it!  I have been anxious about going, but this week it changed to excitement and I am so ready for it now!

#5

via

This fall is going to be a real season of change, and I am not just talking about the weather.  There are lots of awesome new things coming our way soon, and I am hoping that I can keep up with everything! From home improvements, to my job, to my "other" jobs (basketball and dance) I am going to be pulled in lots of different directions.  I am just hoping I can keep it all straight!

#6

via

I was going to stop this list @ number 5 but then I remembered today is my 6 year work anniversary.  On August 16, 2007 a 22 year old recent college grad started her first big girl job.  Six years later I am still here and am getting ready to take on a completely new role in a new department and I am very excited about it!  

English Toffee Cookies

According to Monday's post, I owe you kids a cookie recipe.  Not just any cookies recipe, but a new favorite cookie recipe according to Eric. Let me just say the fact that it has jumped into Eric's favorite cookie category after just one try is huge.  I think the fact that I made 48 cookies on Saturday morning and only a couple were left Sunday night speaks for itself....just sayin.  And no we didn't have a big cookout.  We took a few to the river but there were only 4 of us there to eat them and I am pretty sure I ate most of them. #sorryimnotsorry  

Any who I got this recipe from Mom.....NOT Pinterest....amazing I know, but there ARE other recipe sources out there. She got the recipe from the Best of Cottey Cooking Cookbook which has tons of pinterst-worthy recipes in it. She told me she'd made them the week before and that they were delicious. I have never been head over heels for toffee, but decided I would give them a try.  Let's just say you should ALWAYS listen to your mother because she DOES know what's best for you.

What you need:

1 stick of butter (softened)

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp packed brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract (I use Penzey's Double Strength Vanilla Extract and put the entire  amount it. I HIGHLY recommend it. If you aren't cooking with their spices and other products you are missing out.)

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups (8oz) chocolate English toffee pieces

How to make them:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl (KitchenAid Mixer), cream together butter, shortening, and sugars.  Beat in egg and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.  Gradually add dry mixture to creamed mixture on low speed until batter is smooth.

Stir in toffee pieces.

Portion dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet* 2 inches apart.

Bake for 6 minutes, rotate pan 180 degrees and bake for another 5 minutes.  Take cookies out of oven and transfer them to wire racks after about 2 minutes (give cookies them time to set).

Store at room temperature in an airtight container.  You might want to hide them from yourself or others so they don't disappear like ours did.

 *I use an all-purpose 1.25" scoop that we use for hush puppies...you know the kind that has a little scraper that goes across the scoop when you squeeze the handle and I ONLY cook cookies on my Pampered Chef baking stone because you can't burn them on it. They are both pictured below. =)

These are good to have on hand when making any cookies........

scoop                                                                                                    baking stone

Enjoy!

Weekend Recap: Our Last Free Friday

I didn't realize it until last night, but this past Friday night was our last free Friday night for 6 months.  I am going to let that sink in for a minute.....for the next six months we will have either a football game or a basketball game to attend every Friday night (except for the random holiday week, possibly).  But no worries!  I am actually looking forward to it because that means we always have something to do!

We made sure to make the most of our last non-planned weekend.  Since Eric had practice I treated myself to a little retail therapy on the way home from work because that's what girls do when we have unoccupied time, right? After Eric got home we went for a late dinner at one of our local Mexican restaurants with some friends.  It was an early night because we had to be up bright and early on Saturday morning for football program pictures.....the joys of being a coach's wife.  Especially when that coach informs you at 8pm on Friday night that pictures are at 8am on Saturday morning.  Boys just don't understand that it takes time to pick out the perfect outfit!  I managed to decide on one, although I am hoping that they don't opt for color pictures this year.  Last year I tried to color coordinate, only to realize that the pictures were in black and white when I saw the program.  I wanted to wear my coaching polo and some khakis so Eric and I would match, but he nixed the idea....lol.

After I was done with pictures I headed back to the house to make some cookies.  Mom sent me an English Toffee Cookie Recipe so of course I had to try it.  It was amazing and will be making an appearance on the blog later this week.  Saturday afternoon we headed down to the river for some R & R.  Eric brought a grill so we cooked and ate dinner on a sandbar.  I have pretty much decided that the river is one of my most favorite places to go.  It's absolutely beautiful down there.  Because it's really shallow in some parts there aren't many people down there which makes it even better.  We spent 5 hours on the river on Saturday and saw 3 other boats the entire time.

1. Sangria Margaritas were on special at the Mexican restaurant...new favorite margarita!
2. English Toffee Cookies....another new favorite!
3. My sweet Peanut ready for bed.
4. Hawk and Hollow on the other hand were more content playing.
5. Eric caught me taking a nap with Hollow.  I didn't put him there, he crawled up under the blanket and popped his head out like that.
6. Grillin on the sand bar.
7. Fresh watermelon off the vine.
8. The "new" boat.  He's had it for several months, but this is the first time I've been out on the river on it.  That canopy is the best!  

Sunday we slept in which was totally on accident on my part.  The dogs usually wake me up around 7am regardless of the day, but we were all sleepy so it was 9:30 when I finally rolled over and looked at the clock! I am just glad my church has a late service now! After church we went to Eric's grandma's house for a delicious home-cooked lunch.  After lunch Eric went golfing and I decided my flower beds needed some attention.  On a whim I decided I wanted to plant some Mexican Heather in a bare spot I have in the garden, and miraculously the only place that has flowers in town had a ton of it!  I really couldn't believe it.  I got a couple of plants and a pot of pretty zinnias and headed home to plant them.  I took the little monsters out with me so they could play outside, too, which they loved.  It was so nice out that I even ended up WASHING MY CAR.  Seriously.  I was shocked, too. But Sammie is super shiny now!

9. More river sights...This place is beautiful!
10. My bebalm!  I thought it had not bloomed again this year but I found it crawling up the holly bush and pulled it out so it can show off!
11.  No that's not a gator.....it's our watermelons.  The river is always really cold so we chilled them in it.
12. Pretty flowery front portch.
13.  Deer burgers on the river......delicious!

We finished off our weekend with a BBQ nacho night with the neighbors.  I know we said we wouldn't eat BBQ for a few weeks after our BBQ tour last weekend, but who can say no to BBQ nachos?!  Not us!

We're in for a semi-busy week.  It shouldn't be too bad, but you never know what might pop up!  At least I have Tiger Night to look forward to on Friday!

The Big Eddie on the river.  Can't I just work from here one of these days?!  

Memphis BBQ Review...AKA the Best Idea of the Weekend

I make no secret that I think Memphis Barbecue is THE BEST barbecue in the whole wide world (aside from my hubby's of course).  I know that barbecue bias is regional and Memphis's style happens to be my favorite one. What is Memphis Barbecue?  They are most famous for their ribs, especially the dry ribs.  I am not a huge fan of ribs, but I love love love some pulled pork shoulder with some sweet Memphis style barbecue sauce.

One of my favorite ways to eat pulled pork shoulder is on Barbecue Nachos (pictured above).  If you've never had some you're missing out. I grew accustomed to having them all the time in when I lived in Memphis and was shocked when I moved to Alabama and everyone looked at me like I had 3 heads when I talked about it.  Lucky for me good old Huntingdon College liked to serve barbecue on the same day they had a nacho for lunch in the caf.  I credit myself with introducing the entire women's basketball team to the delicacy. I continued to enlighten Alabamians with this amazing dish when I found Corky's Pulled Pork in the freezer section at the grocery store...and just about lost my mind.  That's how I introduced Eric to it.  We were in college so he was not quite the grill master he is today and well we were much to busy to be concerned with smoking a pork butt all day long.  Eric loved it, as did his roommates.  Let's face it if you are in college and you're cooking for your boyfriend you also end up cooking for his roommates.

Now that we're grown-ups (I use that term lightly) we like to barbecue on the weekends and one of Eric's favorite things to smoke on his Big Green Egg is a Boston Butt. We love to eat it fresh but we really just look forward to barbecue nachos the next day. =)  Lately we've been skipping right to the nachos and have enlightened almost all of our friends and neighbors.  I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like it.  The best part?  It's soooo easy to make: tortilla chips, pulled pork, cheese dip (not queso, just plain jane yellow cheese dip), Memphis-Style BBQ sauce, and jalapenos if you like that sort of thing.  Pile those on a plate in that order and zap it in the microwave and sprinkle a little BBQ seasoning on top.  I promise it's the best thing ever!

So yeah back to the BBQ we ate last weekend.  We went to what I would consider my top 3 picks for Memphis BBQ: Corky's, Charles Vergo's Rendezvous, and the Germantown Commissary and decided to do a little taste test to see which place we liked the best.  Disclaimer: this review was conducted by myself, Eric, Mom, and Dad and is in no way scientific.  We aren't food experts by any means, but we probably should be!

Up first was Corky's:

Corky's has been around for nearly 30 years and is one of the more popular BBQ joints.  They've been voted #1 BBQ in Memphis 22 times, have the most locations (9 in 4 states), plus you can purchase their ribs, chicken, pulled pork, and BBQ sauce in grocery stores around the southeast.  It has been featured on Food Heavens: Barbecue Wars on the Travel Channel, and if you drive by their original store on Poplar in Memphis you can smell the BBQ pit smoking several blocks away.....

Next we headed downtown to Revdezvous:

Charles Vergo's Rendezvous started out as a basement restaurant in a back alley that served ham and cheese sandwiches. One day Mr.Vergo found a charcoal pit in while cleaning out part of the basement and the rest is history.  Today the Rendezvous is one of the most famous BBQ places in Memphis.  Yes you read that right....in a back alley.  If it weren't for the crowds of people standing around in the alley you would not even know it was there.  They are known for their dry ribs and their unique vinegar-sweet cole slaw. We found out they make a mean brisket when we were there, too.  They've been in the same location since 1948 and some of their staff have been there for nearly that long.  They actually have several generations of families working there. They have also been featured on the Travel Channel's Food Heavens: Barbecue Wars, as well as Ribs Paradise. You can find their sauce in select store around the southeast and they will ship meat all over the country.

We finished up the weekend with some Commissary:

The Germantown Commissary is probably my favorite of all three.  I have a little bias because it's where we always ordered from when we lived there.  It's also the first place my parents ate at when they went down to look at houses.  They sat at a little table with maps trying to figure out where the heck they were going move us that summer.  Oh yeah and their BBQ is fantastic!  They've been in Germantown (right outside of Memphis) for just over 30 years in a store that's been there for almost 100 years. They have great ribs, pulled pork, classic coleslaw, baked beans (the kind with meat in them), and that sauce...I could drink it.  They've been featured on the Travel Channel's Food Paradise: Barbecue Paradise 2.  Their sauces and seasoning are harder to find in stores, but you can surely purchase it at the restaurant.

So which one was the best???  It all depends on what you're looking for.  Let me just preface this by saying that all three places have amazing food and delicious BBQ.  We were not disappointed by anything and if you go to any one of these restaurants you will be pleased with your meal.  We just wanted to see what we liked best from each place.  Low and behold we actually preferred a different thing from each location.

Best Ribs

Our favorite ribs were from Charles Vergo's Rendezvous.  They were seasoned with dry rub and cooked to perfection.  They were hands down our favorite ribs.  

Best Pulled Pork Shoulder

The top pulled shoulder honors went to the Germantown Commissary. I hate to say it but I knew this going in, but I kept my biases to myself until after we'd sampled all three.  They have the perfect smokey flavor and the meat is super tender.  I had at least 5 pulled pork sliders (on Hawaiian Rolls) on Sunday and would have eaten more if we had more meat.  

Best Sausage

By far the best sausage came from Corky's.  To be honest this was my first time having sausage at a barbecue place but it will certainly not be my last.  This smoked sausage was bursting with flavor and was really delicious.  It was probably the most lopsided contest of all with Corky's way out in front of the other two.

Best Sides

I had to throw this one in for fun. Once again each place had a side that was tops.  From Corky's it was the rolls....duh. From Rendezvous, the slaw.  They have a really unique tasting slaw that is sweet and tangy and delicious.  We figured it's some combination of BBQ sauce and apple cider vinegar that makes it so good.  And from Commissary. it was the beans.  Their beans are very saucy and have meat mixed in with it.  We also gave them bonus points for their slaw.  As far as "classic" coleslaws go, theirs was great.  

Best Sauce and Seasoning

We loved them all.  They are all really similar in taste, so if you like Memphis-style BBQ just pick one and you will be happy.  We picked up several while we were there. 

So to sum it up, it doesn't matter which BBQ place you go to because your taste buds will do a happy dance at whichever BBQ place you pick. Just make sure you go eat some!  =)

1 Year of our Hollow Puppy

I know I said that I would recap our BBQ experience today, but I realized yesterday that we have an anniversary/birthday to celebrate today, so BBQ will have to wait until tomorrow....I promise.

Today we're celebrating this little guy:

Today we have officially had our sweet Hollow pup in our lives for an entire year.  To think we've had him for an entire year is nuts.  It certainly doesn't seem that long.  But one year ago today a little scruffy pup and his sister came tearing through our backyard trying to play with Hawk and Peanut.  They'd been hanging around for a little while when Eric, not me ERIC, suggested we feed them.  I asked him if he was sure about it because everyone (except for my husband apparently) knows that if you start feeding a dog they usually don't leave.  I reminded him that once I get attached to something I don't let it go easily so I asked him one more time if he was sure he wanted to feed them......

That night they got a rug under the carport to sleep on and from then on they greeted me at the back door every morning waiting for their breakfast.  After they ate they'd take off and play in the woods all day, but they were usually lounging in the yard when I got home every evening.  We eventually started letting them inside in the evenings, but they always slept curled up together in their "house" in the carport.  This went on for about 5 months until Hollow's sister was hit by a car one day (she had a bad habit of chasing cars).  That day Hollow came inside for good.

Hollow curled up with his sister.  This was right after they started hanging out at the house.  

I am not saying that it's been easy on any of us.  His affinity for chewing up remote controls and the occasional shoe was nearly his demise.  But he always manages to win us over again with his crazy antics and his puppy snuggles.  I think he has been good for Hawk and Peanut, too.  They are both turning 6 this year which is middle age for dogs and having a puppy around the house seems to have increased their energy or at least their willingness to play.

We still have a way to go with our silly little boy.  He's still not comfortable with anyone besides Eric or I getting close to him, but we are seeing improvements.  I am pretty sure that if I was able to socialize Peanut, I will be able to succeed with him.  We've gone from hiding in the bedroom when people are over to playing in the living room with Hawk and Peanut while people are over.  I think it's only a matter of time before he will realize that people want to love on him.  Once Peanut figured out that people only wanted to love on him and scratch his belly he never looked back.  My once shy fur-child will now go up to random people at my house and bark at them so they will pick him up and pet him.

So to our hyperactive, food snarfing, somersault rolling, under the cover-sleeping, cuddle-loving, tv-watching, burrowing, daredevil, Hollow-Man.  We love you so much and we're so glad you decided to let us be your family.

Never a dull moment with this one!