Memphis Democrat
November 13, 2003

Hi everyone. This is Alline filling in for Rachel.

First, my apologies for missing last week – the deadline came zipping up and was past before I even had my thoughts composed, so alas, there was no Memphis Democrat column.

What I didn’t get to tell you about was “Holler-ween” here at Dancing Rabbit, which was mostly an excuse to dress funny and eat lots of delicious snacks. Kurt and I were in our hot tub during much of the merry making, but since it was a clear night, we could hear practically everything from our steaming perch. The festivities began when Andra went around the town pounding on her big base drum. She stopped by to serenade us as we soaked, which was very entertaining. After she departed, we were visited by Jillian, Steph and Tamar who were dressed as a carpenter ant. Dressed all in black and decked out with tool belts, they were quite an impressive sight. After show and tell, they ran off and joined the rest of the revelers gathered down at Bluestem.

As we sat there gazing at the stars, it was fun to pick out everyone’s voices as they laughed and sang. We heard them all troop off to the houses in “the Holler” for trick-or-treating. This really was a trick to pull off, as the hosts were also part of the trick-or-treat pack. Penn ran ahead so that he could be in his house when everyone arrived. From our tub we heard twenty voices call “Trick-or-treat” and more laughter. Penn handed out candy, and then everyone was off to Sara and Ted’s after calling out “thank you!” I was just like our childhoods in the suburbs – Kurt and I couldn’t stop laughing. Sara and Ted had a fire going and served chips and salsa. The next stop was Liberty’s, where she served her soon-to-be-famous peanut butter-with-chocolate-frosting cookies. A trip to Tamar’s brought the opportunity to bob for lettuce (Tamar doesn’t grow apples, so she improvised). Rumor has it that Tony is an especially fine bobber. By this time Kurt and I were feeling like prunes so had gone indoors to dry off. We were delighted when we heard the crowd at our door caroling “trick-or-treat!” We got the chance to see everyone’s costumes. My favorites were Sara’s (the kitchen table) and Alyson (a tea cozy). As is often the case, the explanations were even more creative than the costumes themselves!

In other news, Alyson’s parents, Gaylen and Richard, have arrived for a visit. It’s been wonderful getting to meet them and we’re hoping we get to sample some of Gaylen’s bread. New members Stephanie and Arjen arrived from Portland. Before they left they were astonished by a snowstorm on November 2nd. This resulted in a drastic change of route with their moving van. Goodbye Donner Pass, hello Arizona!

The Common House gets a bit closer to finished each day. This week, in addition to more sheetrock application, the insulation was blown in. When the temperature plummeted the next day, the Common House stayed quite warm inside, which is a nice peek at things to come!

Both the Milkweed’s (Kurt and Alline) and Bluestem Eating Coop have running water from their cisterns – a first on our land – YEAH! The cloudy days have resulted in low, low power for our solar-powered houses. Lots of candle-lit dinners around the village. Dan has been working on the ceiling of the grain bin – he’s in the upper duplex. Sara and Ted put their first window in, compliments of their friend Chris who is here helping them build. Edwin Herr brought by a beautiful black walnut cracker for us to borrow. And last but not least Penn celebrated his birthday on Saturday with a trip to Pizza Hut in Memphis with Andra, Tereza and Tom. Whew!

There won’t be any more tours of Dancing Rabbit until spring. To read more information on Dancing Rabbit, please see our website at www.dancingrabbit.org.

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