That is what one of our Elderberry members threatened last weekend in her role as
Miss Euphemia Andrew, former nanny and Mary Poppins’ predecessor.
Mickey threatened and sang her part in the local theatre production while her Elderberry
family applauded and considered how long they will call Mickey “the Holy Terror”!

The next night Meg from Elderberry and Marge from our sister cohousing
community Pot Luck Farm again delighted and inspired us as they sang in the
Common Woman’s Chorus in Durham.  

Meanwhile, Rosemarie was coordinating the logistics for the weekend
regional meeting of the Sierra Club.
 
All this activity barely gave us time to do a full community work day,
monthly meeting and tour for visitors – as well as prepare a great potluck supper. 
(By the way, we always make time for visitors – so please let us know if you’d
like to see what our busy life is like here in Rougemont, NC.)

Riley is a great little dog, but she was of uncertain parentage. 

So, Mary, with whom Riley lives, sent in a sample for DNA testing. Of course at Elderberry
this means an excuse for a party — and for a pool to guess Riley’s ancestry.
Check out the party photos on the November 3 blog.

This was not just a simple pool. People paid $5 and put down the names of 6 breeds
in the order they thought most likely to be Riley’s DNA. This data was then entered through
a statistical program into an Excel spreadsheet. The most points were given
to people who guessed the three main breeds, taking into account the different percentages
and different order of guesses, as well as smaller number of points for guessing
a Spitz breed or one of the herding or terrier breeds that made up the other 50%.
(This is probably the time where we reveal that Mary’s son is a statistician.) 

Most scores were in the 100s. One person’s estimate was made by a committee —
it scored zero. The two top winning scores were Cheryl with 258 and Rosemarie with 259.1.
Both of them guessed 2 of the 3 key breeds! But Rosemarie also guessed
two of the herding breeds and so she won the $105. Did Rosemarie go out and have a
doggone good time with her winnings? No, she donated it to help the dogs in
need resulting from the recent hurricane. 

(By the way, there are five other dogs at Elderberry, at least one of whom clearly lacks
 a pedigree — so stay tuned for the next DNA REVEAL party and pool!)