Memphis Democrat
October 13, 2008

Juan here. I'm back on the team of writers that bring you thehappenings at Dancing Rabbit. It's been a while since I flexed theseparticular muscles, and they're a bit stiff, so please bear with me.Our big Land Day celebration followed by meetings with our Board twoweekends ago has meant that this past weekend felt unusually light onthe big organized activities. This is not to say that nothinghappened this week. Quite the opposite, in fact.

For starters, we had a number of celebrations, with Duncan and Janboth getting to wear the birthday cape. For those of you who aren'taware, there's a simple, multicolored cotton cape that rabbits canchoose to wear to remind the world that it's their birthday. There'seven different sizes for different-sized folks. It's a colorful wayto make sure nobody forgets to wish you a happy birthday, and it'seasier on the teeth than a cake (although we tend to have those too).Tuesday night was our weekly potluck dinner, with a bit of a twist.Apart from eating our fill of delicious meals along with a birthdaycake the Carletons baked for Duncan's birthday, there was a great dealof conversation around the upcoming election. You may remember thatTuesday night was the most-watched presidential debate since Carterand Reagan went at it back in 1980. Dancing Rabbit got into thespirit of things as well. A lot of people from all three communitiescrammed into Skyhouse's dining room to watch the debate streamed overthe internet. We may not have cable television, but we are far fromuninformed.

Speaking of which, on a more local political level, Wednesday morningsaw a large group of rabbits, Red Earth Farmers and Sandhillers joinour local neighbors in meeting with the county council. The councilrecently repealed our one county statute regarding confined animalfeeding operations (CAFOs). The group was there to discuss thereasoning behind the repeal, and express our general displeasure aboutit. I've heard rumors that Northeast Missouri has been targeted tohave more than 150 CAFOs in the coming couple of years, so folks areunderstandably nervous about being unable to control the flow in anyway. More to come about this, I'm sure.

As the temperature drops and our gardens wither, rabbits start to talkabout our upcoming yearly Retreat. As such, a lot of our localcommittees start discussing plans and goals for 2009. Thursday sawthe third in a series of discussions with the group hosted by ourVisitor Team and Membership and Residency Committee. Intimidatingnames aside, these two groups of volunteers are the main interfacewith people who want to visit and/or live here, so they start earlyfiguring out what next year should look like.

Friday night, despite not wearing the cape at the time, Jan hosted a"Jazz Night" in our common house to celebrate her birthday. Folks gotto just hang out and chat whilst holding various beverages anddebating the merits of various forms of jazz playing on the stereo.We've had several visitors this week. A member of Twin Oaks communityin Virginia named Puck has been staying at Sandhill, and he came tospend this last week with Skyhouse. He helped out building Brian'shouse and gathering fireweood for Skyhouse, among other tasks. Now,every time I take a hot shower, I'll remember Puck's contribution.

Speaking of interesting visits, this past weekend saw the temporaryreturn of Rory & Panda (or as some have taken to calling them,Panda-Rory-um). It's always nice to see people who used to live herecome back for a visit. We hope to see them again soon.

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