Hog Hunt - 2012

                              Hog Hunters - 2019

1980 Hog Hunters Reunion at Lake Livingston

PERSON TO FAR LEFT IS BUDDY CONNOR (FRIEND OF ABBER'S)

PERSON IN BACKGROUND, I BELIEVE, IS A FRIEND OF AL'S.

Some Hunters - 50th Reunion   October 2, 2010

A while ago, Harriett Eaker Adams threw down the gauntlet to the Hog Hunters to create our own 'Hog Hunter Memories" verses.  In that same email, she presented the following nostalgic poem, apparently as part of the prompt (prod) for us to produce.  We did, and the results are presented below. 

This is the poem about our past that Harriett found…

A little house with three bedrooms,
One bathroom and one car on the street.
A mower that you had to push 
To make the grass look neat.   

In the kitchen on the wall
We only had one phone, 
And no need for recording things, 
Someone was always home.   

We only had a living room
Where we would congregate,
Unless it was at mealtime
In the kitchen where we ate.   

We had no need for family rooms
Or extra rooms to dine.
When meeting as a family
Those two rooms would work out fine.   

We only had one TV set
And channels maybe two,
But always there was one of them 
With something worth the view.   

For snacks we had potato chips 
That tasted like a chip. 
And if you wanted flavor 
There was Lipton's onion dip.   

Store-bought snacks were rare because 
My mother liked to cook 
And nothing can compare to snacks 
In Betty Crocker's book.   

Weekends were for family trips 
Or staying home to play. 
We all did things together -- 
Even go to church to pray.   

When we did our weekend trips 
Depending on the weather, 
No one stayed at home because 
We liked to be together.   

Sometimes we would separate 
To do things on our own, 
But we knew where the others were 
Without our own cell phone.   

Then there were the movies 
With your favorite movie star, 
And nothing can compare 
To watching movies in your car.   

Then there were the picnics 
At the peak of summer season, 
Pack a lunch and find some trees 
And never need a reason.   

Get a baseball game together 
With all the friends you know, 
Have real action playing ball -- 
And no game video.   

Remember when the doctor 
Used to be the family friend, 
And didn't need insurance 
Or a lawyer to defend?   

The way that he took care of you 
Or what he had to do, 
Because he took an oath and strived 
To do the best for you.   

Remember going to the store 
And shopping casually, 
And when you went to pay for it 
You used your own money?   

Nothing that you had to swipe 
Or punch in some amount, 
And remember when the cashier person 
Had to really count?   

The milkman used to go 
From door to door, 
And it was just a few cents more 
Than going to the store.   

There was a time when mailed letters 
Came right to your door, 
Without a lot of junk mail ads 
Sent out by every store.   

The mailman knew each house by name 
And knew where it was sent; 
There were not loads of mail addressed 
To "present occupant."   

There was a time when just one glance 
Was all that it would take, 
And you would know the kind of car, 
The model and the make.   

They didn't look like turtles 
Trying to squeeze out every mile; 
They were streamlined, white walls, fins 
And really had some style.   

One time the music that you played 
Whenever you would jive, 
Was from a vinyl, big-holed record 
Called a forty-five.   

The record player had a post 
To keep them all in line 
And then the records would drop down 
And play one at a time.   

Oh sure, we had our problems then, 
Just like we do today 
And always we were striving, 
Trying for a better way.   

Oh, the simple life we lived 
Still seems like so much fun, 
How can you explain a game, 
Just kick the can and run?   

And why would boys put baseball cards 
Between bicycle spokes 
And for a nickel, red machines 
Had little bottled Cokes?   

This life seemed so much easier 
And slower in some ways. 
I love the new technology 
But I sure do miss those days.   

So time moves on and so do we 
And nothing stays the same, 
But I sure love to reminisce 
And walk down memory lane.   

With all today's technology 
We grant that it's a plus! 
But it's fun to look way back and say, 
Hey look, THAT WAS US!

The HOGHUNTERS rose to the challenge with this masterpiece:

HOG HUNTERS LAMENT

Twenty-one guys, not one who still hunts,
Gather each Spring amidst groans and grunts.
Begun in '80, with no more than ten,
We were few in number, with only one chin.

The bar is open but less often  used
The card games are shorter, so the hunters can snooze.
Fishing is great, which most can attest,
But CPAP sleeping is now part of our rest.

The groans are from sore muscles, joints, ligaments.
The grunts often come with disagreeable scents.
But the stories grow better with each passing year,
And the purpose of friendships becomes abundantly clear.

No man is an island, the poets often state.
It’s friendships and communion that make a full plate.
And if thinking of others is the real purpose at hand,
Then you understand the goal of this merry band.

Jokes and stories we tend to repeat,
and its been a decade since I've seen my feet.
We're now in our eighties and way over the hill,
our daily companion is that little blue pill.
Our youthful indiscretions we must not vet,
we're too old to remember--too young to forget.

The Hog bull is good, all colorful and infamous,
It seems that Hunters were once quite villainous.   
Hunters' minds are still sharp, but their bodies are frail,
Adventures are now meek and don't include jail.

Alas, the Hogs are safe and today,
no one even looks for their place to play.
Hunters we were, hunters we’ll remain,
though our prey's changed to glasses, pills, and a cane.

A few will fish, walkabout, or snooze,
while others are busy reducing our booze.
Some play golf, gamble or gab,
But a good time is always had.

These boys, these men, these once Adonii
Now deaf of ear and dim of eye
Who long for those days of long ago
But wouldn't re-start for a boatload of dough;
'Cause it's not friendships or devotion they lack
They know these guys for sure have their back.
And will, after all, be the ones they can call
If in the end things start to fall
And fall they will, if the past is prologue
They'll count on the friends who once hunted hogs.

One liners for this election year: 
If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates. 
~Jay Leno~
The problem with political jokes is they get elected. 
~Henry Cate, VII~
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office 
~Aesop~
If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these State of the Union speeches, there wouldn't be any inducement to go to heaven. 
~Will Rogers~
Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. 
~Nikita Khrushchev~
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it. 
~Clarence Darrow~
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.
~John Quinton~
Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you. 
~Author unknown~
Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. 
~Ronald Reagan~
 Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. 
~Oscar Ameringer~
I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them. 
~Adlai Stevenson, 1952~
A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country. 
~ Tex Guinan~
I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. 
~Charles de Gaulle~
Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks. 
~Doug Larson~
There ought to be one day -- just one -- when there is open season on Congressmen. 
~Will Rogers
 We'd all like to vote for the best man, but he's never a candidate.
~Kin Hubbard~