Cats and Meetings

Another great reason for making it to those long board meetings at J Street:

Yes, that's right, a cute and friendly cat will curl up on your lap and fall asleep purring softly.  This is Coo, who has been a J street resident for a couple months, making him by no means the newest J street resident but certainly the envy of every Sunwiser (including those too allergic to live with such cuteness!)


Rumor has it that there's a lot going on in SCHA right now, building a new co-op and managing interns and outreach and all.  Apparently there's even a new fancy-smancy web-page being built: currently you can preview it at http://www.schadavis.wordpress.com before it goes live on the web at the official http://www.schadavis.org address; but you've all ready found the home of the real news in these houses.  Bike rides to Winters, picking and pressing olives for oil, and a Sunwise early thanksgiving all coming up.

Halloween and other happenin's

It's been an exciting Fall at the Sunwise Co-op, somehow haven't managed to sneak into the journal with some updates for a while.  Halloween is always a special time in the community -- when a young boy stopped Derek in the garden and asked for an encore of last year's vomiting pumpkin, Derek delivered in style:

This pumpkin is feeling a little sick....

Our three pumpkins greeted more children than we had candy, before they wandered off to join the Village Homes annual pumpkin parade of all the neighborhood pumpkins, amid kids and popcorn the following evening:

See more in the Derek's Sunwise photos from this fall, with narrative-style captions.

It's Open Access Week at Sunwise

Open Access takes on a brand new meaning at our house...
after we messed up the chicken coop combination lock and were unable to get in for a week, someone had to do the inevitable: take out the entire latch+lock! But...our historical latch was now unusable, and chickens are too smart not to get out from a semi-closed door...
What's more...someone put a juicy prize on the challenge of separating lock and latch (nothing less than a long-term title of king*, with open choice of what to associate it with). Lady Betta did not resist the urge to fight this important battle of honor and dubious practical reward, and armed with time-tested technology (top right in picture) restored the right order of things. Now peace and prosperity can reign over the lands. Let's rejoice.

* regretful sign of distrust in female leadership? John Knox, I'll kick your darn a*s.

First big OpCo work weekend spearheads the greenest - and most fun- retrofit in town!

After moving houses, pouring foundations, and sloowly lowering the houses to ground level, what shall we do? well, what about smashing all the walls and ceilings? besides being everyone's dream work day (don't do this at home now), that's what needs to be done to retrofit the houses with state-of-the-art insulation, and to reshape rooms
to meet the new household
design.

The long hours and the intense work-out did not deter the brave volunteers,
who hammered, pulled, tossed, scraped, slashed, moved, banged, sawed, and carried wheelbarrows with great skill and virtue. Long repressed frustrations vanished each time the hammed shattered the plaster. Growls, cheers, and songs filled the balmy air.

All interspersed with music, games, great food, and alien jokes! 43 volunteers were hammering away on saturday, about 30 on sunday. The result? interior walls stripped
to the studs, ceilings too, old insulation and wiring taken out. All waste materials were separated and recycled. Doors and trims were saved for reuse.

Thanks to everyone that came out, you made a big difference and we hope you had a great time. Stay tuned for the next event! In the meantime, I think we all earned a looong stretch of sleep, so good night!

Saga of Pete the Rooster

When Sunwise started raising four chicks this past Spring, no one knew what to expect.  No one, that is, except our neighbor Scarlet's little nephew.  You see, Scarlet was helping us raise the four chicks, and named each one of them according to their color.  Except her nephew insisted this little dark chick be called Pete, despite the supposed near-guarantee that they were all hens.  Well, he knew.

Little Pete grew and grew, and soon none of us could deny that cock-a-doodle-do in the morning or the way he strutted around the coop.  Roosters aren't exactly included in regulations, and his morning habits would soon prove a challenge to many.

We tried many things.  He was carefully boxed up in the coop each night, to be released only at a decent hour.  We spoke to local farms to see if they would take him, but none could promise that more than a stew-pot awaited.  We resigned ourself to his fate and scheduled a good friend to come over and give him the final rites of his kind.

Then on the same day, the student farm replied that they had recently lost their rooster!  Pete was saved! This morning, Derek took the lucky bird to his new home.  Derek writes:

The Pete saga (as far as Sunwise goes) is over. He has had many firsts today:

• first time being caught as an adult
• first time being put in a box
• first time in a car in a box
• first time in a moving car in a box
• first time he did not make any sounds for more than 30 minutes
• first time seeing his new home (Ecological Garden at Student Farm....who knows, maybe you'll hear him if you are on that side of campus)
• first time he gets his wings clipped (I have a feather for each of you)
• first time he takes a crap at his new home
• first time he meets the Student Farm hens
• first time he'll "Cock-a-doodle-doooooo"s on campus

Last time I mention Pete in an email...

Thanks for being patient with our rooster friend!

Concrete is poured!

Foundations are set... just a few weeks, and the houses won't be on stilts anymore and the interior works will begin. join the big work party on September 11-12!

Co-ops and Village Harvest cooperate?

Village Harvest, a Davis non-profit dedicated to harvesting fruit that would otherwise go to waste from trees of local homeowners, approached the board of Solar Community Housing Association to provide space for their harvest and tools on the new lot.  As a resident-owned cooperative, the ultimate decision belongs to the residents on how their space will be used.  Think this is a good idea?  Let us know your thoughts!