Memphis Democrat
March 20, 2003

It's been awhile since you heard from me. Alline has been having such good time writing the column and doing such a good job. I couldn't get in the way of all the fun. But she was gracious enough to let me write this week, so I can tell you about my sandhill crane adventure.

If you read this column even occasionally, you've figured out by now that I like birds. This is an exciting time of year for bird lovers, as each day seems to bring a new species back from its winter vacation down south. Well, Tony, Tamar, Jacque and I joined Truman professor Pete Goldman on an expedition to Nebraska to see the crane migration. These four foot tall birds migrate from Mexico and Texas up to the arctic. But they stop to refuel in Nebraska's cornfields. We got to see thousands of cranes flying, eating, and doing their charming little mating dance. They pick Nebraska not only for the food but for the Platte river and the wetlands. Turns out, hundreds of thousands of geese and ducks make a pit stop in the area for the same reason. It was pretty spectacular to look up and feel like I was in one of those little plastic snow globes, with thousands of snow geese swirling in the air.

The warm weather is getting the Dancing Rabbits active, too. Tamar and Don have been planting seeds. Folks have been staking out the locations of their new buildings and garden beds. And just a short week and a half after the last sledding expedition, folks played a game of ultimate frisbee. They got so warm playing that they attempted to go for a swim in the pond, but they had trouble breaking through the ice.

We welcomed back both Jeffrey and Susan from their respective travels. Luckily, both brought digital cameras with them and will be treating us to photos of their trips. Jeffrey came back from his winter in Europe very excited to jump back into life in northeast Missouri. He got the opportunity the very next day, when he attended the SCBPA meeting in Memphis as a featured speaker. We heard the big news was that they changed their name to Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce.

This has been a bad time for the Dancing Rabbit Vehicle Cooperative. We own our cars cooperatively, so we can own fewer and share them easier. Sometimes it seems like they are all working beautifully. Then suddenly its hard to find one working car out of the three of them. Why does that happen? Our little red Jetta was just driving along when it went "bang" and died. Rest in peace, red Jetta. You gave us many years of loyal service.

Cecil, Jacque and I visited Joe Neese the other night. We enjoyed looking at his pictures, especially of the house his family built when they first moved to this area. They made and fired those bricks themselves! And we think we're doing things the hard way.

Kurt has been walking around in overalls, toolbelt and a big smile. I asked what he was doing and he said he was putting plumbing into his house. Now don't get impatient like me and expect running water later today. But when he gets it done it will be pretty exciting, because it will be the first house with running water on the land.

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