Memphis Democrat
July 25, 2002

Sunday was officially Southerner Appreciation Day. We accepted two new members: Gare from South Carolina and Penn from Mississippi. We have people here this summer from almost twenty different states and countries, but the South was sorely underrepresented until this year. We're really excited the both of them decided to stay. Gare jumped in the very next day by beginning work on his housing for this winter, which will be a converted grain bin.

Kurt and Alline left to attend some Sierra Club meetings in California. Megan returned from her trip out east where she was a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding and had a nice visit with her family.

My friend Denis, who makes movies in Los Angeles, came with his mother, as a side trip while he was visiting his parents in Indiana. He is working on making a movie that includes some footage of Dancing Rabbit. We're going to be famous!

A friend of one of Cecil's friends stopped by to visit on her way from California to Chicago. Imagine their surprise when she showed up and she and Cecil discovered they were cousins.

Things have been really busy in Skyhouse. They rented a floor sander and sanded the floors in the two bedrooms that are almost finished. The floor is old thick tongue and groove wood from a factory that was demolished, but it cleaned up pretty nice. Those two rooms look almost ready to be moved into. And now that they have worked out how a system, the other four bedrooms are going much faster. They also finished wiring all the solar panels to the batteries, so they are getting plenty of electricity.

I took advantage of the sander renting trips to Kirksville to participate in a little bluebird research. I helped the ornithologist from Truman State band baby bluebirds and record the behavior of the ones that are old enough to fly. Those young birds are so cute. They are used to being all cramped together when they are on the nest, so when they leave, they sit on branches all piled on top of each other.

Our interns have been working really hard this summer and Tanya will be the first one to leave, this week. We have been having intern appreciation events, including a roller skating party at the Kahoka Roller Rena. They let us DJ our own party, but we still did the traditional limbo competition. Non-competitively, of course.

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is a nonprofit and a residential community that demonstrates ecological sustainability in Rutledge, MO. We give a tour every Saturday at 1pm. Please call first before coming by, at 883-5511.

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