Rabbits pose under new community building solar array during the annual retreat
Aside from marveling at the ice on the ponds and the snow on the hills, many things have been going on at DR during the past few months. A group of Russians visited for a few days; the community building is nearing completion; Ted and Sara have been cracking right along on building their house; Skyhouse got all the plumbing to their wood-fired boiler figured out and installed and got the boiler successfully fired up (a more impressive feat than it likely sounds––there must be something like 500 feet of copper tubing and 50 pipe joints involved in this setup); two of our number began teaching English to people in France via the telephone and computer; we had a December community retreat, a rocking New Year's Eve party, a controlled field burn, a huge Harvest dinner, and an ice-skating party on the pond.
Along with the accomplishments and good times comes the sad and bittersweet. One of the hazards of living in a community is that as surely as the sun comes up, some people will eventually leave. Sometimes a person's departure is known well in advance, for example when an intern or work-exchanger leaves. These people are only here for a few short months and we know that their stay will be temporary, but it's still sad to see them go. Work-exchangers Maggie and Liberty have left since the last issue of the Hare went out, and we all miss both of them. (Work-exchanger Laura also left, but prior to her departure she joined up as a member and will be returning in the spring.) Steph and Jillian, both former residents at DR, came back in October and were residents again for a while, but have moved on to other adventures. Jillian tells about her transient experience with DR in this issue. With other folks, it's not known so far in advance that they will be leaving, such as when a member decides to leave. Andra was a member for a bit more than a year when she made the decision to move on to other experiences, and she tells about that decision in this issue. She will be sorely missed by many.
But hey, it's not all sad and weepy stuff in this issue. Bob R. tells us a bit about his former life as a pilot and sail maker, while Rachel fills us in on the goings-on of the land at DR and what it's like to be a biology grad student.
Until next time, good health to you and yours from the northeast corner of the Show-Me state.
Laptop computers needed!
We’re soon moving into our new Community Building, complete with off-grid solar power, and we need to reduce our use of energy-hogging desktop computers for Dancing Rabbit work. Do you have an old laptop you could donate? Any laptop 200 Mhz or faster, Windows or Mac, would be helpful to us. We can even repair or upgrade partially working computers. Donations are tax deductible.
Thanks for all your support of Dancing Rabbit!
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