fortnerfamilyhappenings: Old Blue and the Hog Hunt

The older Holt gets the more he and his DD can do together. They have always been buddies and Holt certainly has a way of making his DD do things that no one else could. I can remember being at Pam and Paul’s house when Holt was around a year old and he would get on the floor in the den and rap his fingers on the carpet and look at Paul with a look that said get down and play with me. As soon as Paul was on the floor, Holt was up and running around. He knew, even then that he had him. It has been fun, over the years (yikes - using the plural there makes me want a pause button) watching their friendship mature. This year was fun for them both, as Holt got to go dear hunting with DD. Well this spring, just when I thought all that could be hunted was either dead or out of season, Jonathan informs me that he an Dad were going to take Holt Hog hunting with Uncle Allen (Paul’s brother) and Blue (Allen’s dog). Apparently, Hogs are a menace and always in season (oh joy). That night, when Jonathan and Holt got home, you cannot imagine the joy painted all over Holt’s face. He came in the house with words spilling out like lava. I had to make him slow down to tell me about it. What followed would have rivaled any Stephen King novel out there in gore and thrills. Holt began his story with an explanation of loading the ranger and riding out to the field, then running the hogs out of the woods, then came all the bloody details about blue chasing the hogs and shooting them and then how they hauled them to the ranger, etc. I couldn’t help but think of Lord of the Flies and how if Holt was one of the boys on the island these skills would surely come in handy.