Memphis Democrat
October 30, 2003

Hi everyone. This is Alline filling in for Rachel again. This week Rachel is down in southern Missouri (right by the Arkansas border) spelunking. Lesser mortals (such as myself) would greet the opportunity to crawl around on one’s belly in a cave with a great big “eeeeuuwwww” but not our Rachel.

On Saturday Susan and Erik boarded Amtrak’s California Zephyr for a trip to Fresno to visit relatives. Bob R. and Laura are happily house-sitting for them – Susan and Erik have a wood stove that’s the size of a Volkswagen, and their house is always toasty warm. By the way, the stove was donated by our friends the Ciccelas – thanks again! Our wonderful work-exchanger Maggie, who was part of the Skyhouse construction crew, left for her home in Ohio. We were sad to see her go, and will think fondly of her big smile and bright blue eyes.

As always, when Rabbits leave there are always more to fill in the ranks. Penn, Alline, Alyson and Andra all returned from various trips. Alyson is relieved to have sent our Russian visitors on their way. While she had an amazing time and learned tons, serving as a simultaneous interpreter 24/7 proved to be exhausting. Alline was glad to get back to the Midwest, especially enjoying her drive home from the LaPlata train station through a crisp, clear, star-filled night. It was quite a contrast after leaving the San Francisco Bay Area with nary a star in sight.

We moved the Outdoor Kitchen indoors – we’re hardy, but not foolish. It was getting too cold even for us! Dan kept everybody hoppin’, carting cooking utensils, spices and lots of canned food. All those jars of tomato sauce, green beans, peaches (aka summer in a jar) looked beautiful on their way down to the trailer. Soon we hope to move it all to the kitchen in our common house!

Speaking of the common house, the crew installed all the bracing for the roof solar power system. They have also been working on sheetrock, and singing the praises of a sheetrock jack. Yippee! No more sheetrock installation with big boards balanced on their heads (while wearing knit caps stuffed with foam for protection). Ah, technology! Skyhouse is working busily, putting the finishing touches on their office – painting, wiring and more. Ted and Sara, with the able assistance of Bob C., continue work on their little Salt Box cottage – any day now, the roof will arrive!

Tereza and Jacque are wrapping up the final details of their new jobs. They’ll be teaching English by telephone. We’ll keep you updated on how this goes. Laura is busy planning her winter adventures. She’ll be returning to DR in March 2004 as a full member, and we couldn’t be happier. Liberty has really started to embrace rural life – when given the chance to go into Kirksville for the day, she chose to stay here and take a nice bike ride. She finds she hardly misses doing “exciting” city things anymore. Cecil is recovering from a broken rib. The incident occurred during our most recent game of Ultimate Frisbee. In what is reputedly a non-contact sport, Jacque “the Bruiser” Funk (aka Cecil’s “girlfriend”) blocked Cecil in what turned out to be a bone-crunching technique.

Colie, Jacque, the injured Cecil, Sara, Ted, Tamar and Jeffrey trekked to Kirksville for the Highland Games. Rumor has it that Colie went just to see the men in kilts. That evening they took in the Trinity Dancers at Truman State’s, completing a perfect Celtic Day. I am happy to report that no one ate haggis.

The Environmental Consciousness class from Truman State came by for a visit. Steph gave the tour and led them in tree planting. She was reminded that the first time she visited Dancing Rabbit was years ago as a member of the same EEC class. We’re so glad she came back (and back, and back…)! Former interns Kit and Emily, also known as “The Lady Bikers” stopped by. It was wonderful to see them, and as usual they had many hilarious stories to tell. This time they shared the 20 (!) rolls of film that they (Kit, Emily, DR’s Steph and Jillian, and other friends Liz and Holly) took on their coast-to-coast bicycle trip this summer.

We appreciated the last bit of Indian Summer while it lasted. Just yesterday Tony went running past me, full speed ahead. When I asked what he was doing, he shouted back “it’s so cold I have to run to keep warm!” I’m sure he has a jacket somewhere…

We hope you keep warm too. Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage has tours every 2nd and 4th Saturday. Please call first and let us know that you’re coming at 660-883-5511 – we want to be sure there’s a tour guide ready and waiting for you! For more info on Dancing Rabbit, please see www.dancingrabbit.org.

Back to list of Memphis Democrat Columns