Hole story took me back to childhood

After reading the story I just began referring to him as Prairie Dog Man. I’m talking about the guy living in the hole he dug on a vacant lot in Clovis.

This guy was living out my dream, if not my childhood.

Back in the days when my only independent mode of transportation was my trusty 10-speed bike, we designed a similar if not greatly less extravagant abode on a vacant lot in my neighborhood.

One day we noticed an old garage door in this lot. Nearby was a hole. Put the two together and we could have a pretty good clubhouse or hideout.

We rode back to the house for a shovel to enlarge the hole. After a good bit of digging we decided we needed another shovel. After some more digging we ran into hard ground, rocks and roots. We retrieved a grubbing hoe, pick and tamping bar. Soon we had a whole garage-full of tools out by our found garage door.

As soon as it was big enough to hold a couple of boys we flipped the garage door over on top and tried it out. Not bad but more room was needed.

We worked on the underground club for weeks as I remember. We dug it out deep enough that it was fairly cool on a summer day. We dug an entryway and pulled up another piece of wood that was lighter to move and get in and out underneath. Cubbyhole shelves cut into the walls gave us all the storage we needed.

We shoveled enough dirt across the top to camouflage the dwelling from the street and alley. There was enough grass and elm tree sprouts around to easily conceal your bike while at the club.

We never roomed there overnight or anything but it did provide a great place to drop out of sight, whether it was parents or little sisters we were escaping. We didn’t have a prairie dog town around us but that would have really been cool.

I think we can all relate to Prairie Dog Man and want to be able to just drop out of sight at will. Get beneath it all without the hassles and responsibilities of life. Fly beneath the radar, maybe learn to talk to prairie dogs and owls.

Most of us are nowhere near as good at dropping out as Prairie Dog Man. I still can’t believe he went without much notice for well over a year in his soddy on the lot in Clovis. I felt good stealing a few hours a week underground.

Prairie Dog Man was committed to the lifestyle so much that once it was discovered what he was up to he dropped out somewhere else.

Peace to you Prairie Dog Dude.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: [email protected]