Hogan Journal: Getting Acclimated

By Dennis Lantz

5/17 – A dim gray morning sky held the promise of rain. We grabbed a few last minute supplies from the house and enjoyed the sprinkling of showers when they came. We cleaned up a lot of the debris from around the hogan, making it look much nicer and a bit more inconspicuous.

We went to Burger King. The whopper and fries seemed to be a delicious energy boost. Later we organized all the items in the hogan. We brought in chunks of wood for candle rests or small tables, emptied all of our bags and placed the items on the “shelves.” Our shelves were jutting sections of the logs on the back wall of the hogan that were created because I didn’t use straight logs.

We exercised by running up the short steep hill east of the hogan, jumping rope, doing push- ups, etc. Mark did much more than I did because I am completely out of shape. I’m a terrible physical specimen, methinks. We practiced throwing sticks as if we were using them to hunt. We set up three small targets and shot our sticks at them from ten or fifteen paces. We weren’t extremely accurate, but every bit of practice helps. Our supper consisted of macaroni out of can (who knew they made such food) and peanuts. We decided to take the day off from cooking.

The dunk in the creek after exercise was refreshing!

We went on a walk, slowly, to the south, along Shaffer’s line and west, circling around Hilliker’s pond. We scared up a nice sized turkey from the roost. At the pond we admired the handiwork of the beavers.

Notes: We ate a bit of cattail shoot. I weigh 208 pounds now when my ideal weight, or at least what I would like to weigh, is around 175 pounds. We watched spiders, centipedes, seeds, seed casings and more on a small plot of ground. Then we spread a few milkweed seeds and their downy heads around for the birds to use or for them to grow. We sat outside and talked of Jon's and my trip to see Tom Brown in New Jersey. I need to finish a letter to the Pennsylvania governor about earth friendly living. Carved more on spoon. I am happy that we started to take a closer awareness of nature.

I do not know if I have ever written about evolutionary creationism or not. Why must we think that they cannot co-exist? Life definitely evolves by adaptation. The variety of shape, color and size of just a single plant is amazing. There are many types of golden rod, ferns, etc. God created an ever changing system that man is a part of, not the sole inheritor. The system is magnificent and flawless because evolution is a part of it. Creation is not over! It is going on around you! Open your eyes and see how change is occurring. The greatest thing God gave to man is freedom to choose. Even these path choices, on a larger scale, fit into the evolving nature of the system.

5/4/2020 -  The interesting part of posting old journal entries is to see how my thoughts about life have evolved. I remember telling people that we went to Burger King or that we ate macaroni and they reacted as if it were a sacrilege. "That's not living in the woods." "The Indians didn't do that." I never once told anyone that we were trying to emulate any ethnic group, Native American or other, but the topic came up frequently.

Throughout these journal entries I am certain to find disparities between my 1995 beliefs and my current thoughts.Perhaps some of my naivete will be obvious. If it is important to me, I will point them out. 

The image I am posting was taken in August of 2016. I could write about low carbon footprints or how the earth will reclaim most human endeavors. (except for amazing constructs like the Egyptian pyramids, Great Wall of China, etc.) But the truth is that this is practically the only image I have of the hogan site. When Mark, his daughter and I went down last summer, the decay was even more noticeable. Gentlewoods had healed any scars we left.

The piece of rubber roofing covered the skylight when it rained. After I removed it, the site of the hogan became far less obvious.

Until next time,

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