It's been a while since this column has appeared. I missed an early deadline once and then went on

vacation. Michael and I drove down to Texas on January 9th for a week's reunion with his relatives in the Houston area. We did some hiking in the East Texas pine woods and also spent a day at a state park closer to the Gulf. Michael got to see his first alligator at the park. We then headed back north to spend a few days at our place in Southwest Missouri.

Other Sandhill folks have also been on the road. Bekka left by train on December 31st to attend the Assembly of the Federation of Egalitarian Communities at Twin Oaks Community near Charlottesville, Virginia.These meetings are held twice a year and the last one was held at Sandhill and Skyhouse last May. Bekka also spent a day in Washington, D.C. on the way there and came home on January 10th.

Laird went east on January 8th and will be gone until early February. He is doing consultation work and also finding time to visit with Ann in Virginia and Sue in Michigan.

We had our annual New Year' s visit from our friend Geoph and former Sandhill member Lotus and her daughter Emma. They all live in Tennessee at a community called The Farm. Lotus and Emma arrived by way of St. Louis, where they had spent the holidays with Lotus' family. Geoph came up from Shell Knob after a visit with his mother. Renay and Emma are fast friends and always glad to have the time together. Geoph's birthday is on December 28th and he likes to spend it at Sandhill.

We had a great New Year's party with our friends at Dancing Rabbit. It had a south of the border theme. Cecil and Stephanie made some really yummy enchiladas for the hungry crowd and all the rest of the food and refreshments had a Mexican flavor, too. Their new Common House is a wonderful space for get-togethers.

Birthday season is starting up again in earnest. Mine is today (Sunday) and I hear that the party late this afternoon is going to have a Texas theme. This is in keeping with our recent trip and my twelve year residence in that state. I guess everyone will have to dust off their cowboy boots and ten-gallon hats. After supper we are going to Dancing Rabbit to help Alyson also celebrate her birthday, which is actually on Monday.

In spite of all the fun, we are managing to get some work done. Gigi has been making good progress on the remodeling work that we started on the smaller room at Sugar Shack. Wood cutting is a constant task, both for our domestic firewood and for sorghum production. We also starting to clear the sight next to the Sugar Shack where our new boiler will go. Michael and Gigi have been looking over garden plans and our seed orders have been sent in. The year-end accounting has to be done and tax season is not far off. There is always lots to do on the farm.