Sue Duncan Retiring from Big South Fork

 

Sue Duncan (center) with her Angora rabbit.  On left is Barbara Stagg - on left is Mike Harris.  Photo by Mara Trumbo

 

A surprise ceremony was held upstairs at the Commissary during Thanksgiving Marketplace to thank Sue Duncan for her many years of interpretive programming at Historic Rugby. She is retiring from the National Park Service on Dec. 1. Although Friday was her last time to demonstrate as an NPS employee, it is hoped that she will still be involved at times here at Rugby. 

Folks in the community wanted to recognize her for her many spinning and sidesaddle demonstrations.  Barbara Stagg said Sue was also a mainstay educator at the week-long Elderhostels that Historic Rugby held here in the 1980s-90s. 

Some photos were presented to her and Mike Harris gave her a framed certificate on behalf of Historic Rugby.  

Sign Goes Up for New Shop

Carman Roberson and Lisa Donegan have been working hard to get their new shop open - the sign just went up.  Their Facebook page says the shop will be opening the night of Dec. 8

 

BIRTHDAYS 

November 28 - Walter Young 

CALENDAR

Rugby is in the Eastern time zone, just barely.  

Dec. 1 - Christmas By Candlelight High Tea Dinner at Grey Gables. Mike Jones entertaining. 423.628.5252

Dec. 8 – Christmas at Rugby – 4 p.m to 9 p.m. Eastern. Visit beautifully decorated candle and lamp lit historic buildings. Enjoy live music and witness the magic of actors portraying early Rugby colonists. Join in with the carolers singing beside the fire while sampling Hot Wassail, the favorite holiday drink of Rugby. Browse Christmas treasures at The Shops of Rugby. Keep an eye out for Victorian Santa. Experience a delightful Four-Course Victorian Dinner at the Harrow Road Cafe (Reservations Required) Call toll-free 888-214-3400 or 423-628-2441.

Dec. 8 – Christ Church Christmas Concert – 4:30 – 5 p.m. and 7 – 7:30 p.m. This is included as part of the Christmas at Rugby event but all others are welcome, as well.

Dec. 24 – Christmas Eve Service at Christ Church – 5 p.m. followed by a potluck. All are welcome.

December 31 – New Year’s Eve Dinner at Harrow Road Café. Reservations required. Call 423-628-2441.

Ongoing Activities Quilters’ Group - Wednesdays and Saturdays, 2–4 p.m. Eastern, at the Friendly House behind Christ Church Rugby Yoga – [Suspended until construction work is complete on the Friendly House] was Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m. Eastern, at the Friendly House. Christ Church Episcopal -- Sunday morning services, 11 a.m. Eastern, year round; all are welcomed

 

NATURE NOTES

Possum Trot

By Linda Konig  

You've probably all heard the joke about possums being born dead on the roadside.  Well, only this last week, I finally learned why so many of them wind up dead in the roads. I used to think it was because they couldn't see good or maybe because they were just terminally stupid or suicidally depressed. It turns out that carrion is one of their main menu items.  They go into the roads at night looking for road kill to eat. 

So, at least they have enough brains to know where, but, unfortunately, it doesn't seem to occur to them that they could wind up being road kill themselves. Also, they're just natural wanderers, seldom living in one place for very long, so they probably cross roads a lot at night. Isn't it ironic? Properly known as opossums, they're earth's oldest surviving mammal and were roaming about during the age of dinosaurs, but have more trouble surviving 20^th Century road traffic.  Another reason they wind up as road kill is that, when threatened by an approaching car or other danger, they fall unconscious in a state of shock instead of running. 

You've probably heard that possums carry rabies.  Actually, you're more likely to contract rabies from a dog or cat. Possums have the lowest body temperature of any mammal, only 94 degrees or so, and rabies virus usually can't live in those temperatures. The virus prefers the temperatures of a human, cat, or dog. 

Other interesting facts about possums: they're immune to most snake venom! Possums only have thumbs on their hind feet. By the way, all those human-drawn pictures you may have seen of full-grown possums showing them hanging by their tails simply aren't true to life. Only the babies can do so. By the time a possum is grown, it’s much too heavy to hang by its tail. They're famous for playing possum, and when they do this, they're actually unconscious, not play-acting. They usually stay unconscious from about 40 minutes to 4 hours. During this time, not only do they look dead, they even smell dead -- oozing out a greenish fluid with the smell of carrion from their rear end. This naturally discourages any predators who are after fresh meat.

 

While in the American South, we usually call opossums possums, there is another kind of marsupial in Australia called the possum. Technically ours are really opossums.  Opossums don't win any beauty contests. It's hard to find a photo of a cute American one, but I found a picture of a mother and her babies at www.humanesociety.org/animals/opossums

 

This Week’s Editors: Rick Murphy and George Zepp