Village 2012

Monday, July 16, 2012

Day 10

short hair!

Our morning began with homesteaders getting their peeps off of the acre and out of primitive shelters. So far this has been fairly incident free. While we haven't had a peepocide yet, we do seem to have a wild hair eater/cutter. Fallon's peep, Lilly, lost both her hair and her time and space capsule; Sarah's peep lost her hair! Some homesteaders feel the real threat is not the squirrels but the slugs, "Mr. Adams was chillaxen in his primitive shelter, and then a slug was crawling up his arm!" It is not apparent if the slug did anything more than act slimy and gross.
Songs this morning included singing a new song about Mr. Dunn. Done or Dung... depending how you hear. Also sung were the Jeep song (incorrect randomness), Coffee Pot song, and Lean on Me. Dream share this morning included one about zombie deer. Oh my!

Goals for today:

drink as much water as I can, this is a contest
help with lumber orders
build a rocket
nail and paint my house
drink more water than Jesslyn
train employees (so I can do other stuff)
get 3 more articles done on the Newspaper
draw out lumber order on wood
finish lumber order
hire a banker
finish cardboard model
finish house
drink more water than Harley and Jesslyn
drink more water than anyone!
keep the radio station going all day

no hair!

chewed up time and space capsule

After goals, Jordan taught us a new word: vexillology
Does it mean the study of angry tortillas? No. Vexillology is the study and designing of flags. There are 298 countries in the world, all with different flags. Different colors carry different meanings. Why did we speak of this? It is time to create a flag for New Peepshire!

Moving along in our schedule, Werk Berzerk time! At this time we had homesteaders all over the place. Some were building houses, others working on their jobs, doing job interviews, lumber orders, and radio interviews! A little talk radio was incorporated into the morning radio show. Elianna interviewed Chris about democracies verses monarchies. If you have been following our progress you will know that New Peepshire is without a government. Last week peeps voted that they would rather have an elected government in place than a monarchy (which was proposed by Rolph). Chris, "Right now Rolph can take over until we have a government in place, we need government fast!"
Elliana, "In the real world elections are more about commercials and who has more money..." According to the radio show, even peeps in the red financially should be able to run for government positions. "Call in if you don't want Rolph." In today's radio poll 2 peeps supported Rolph, 3 peeps supported "other" and more than 10 supported the idea of democracy.

Also in our morning work block I saw the trading post manager reprimand one of her workers for disappearing during the shift! "If it happens again, you are fired!"

On to lunch and nice long swim.....

At proper town meeting the first topic was the flag. Fernanda was the only peep who bothered to make one. She chose her colors with these ideas in mind: We protect our freedom with determination and courage. If our homeland is threatened, we will use revolutionary measures and will find victory. Our justice keeps us from acting without provocation and our resources are abundant. The thread and needle symbolize the craftiness of the homesteaders.

A motion was made to accept Fernanda's flag as a flag for all New Peepshirians. The first vote failed to gain a two thirds majority. The motion was reconsidered and passed. Next on the agenda was the continuation of the government discussion. Chris proposed a direct democracy where everyone would have the option to make laws and attend meetings, but would have the choice not to. A lot of shouts of "Order! Order!" and "Off topic" later, the peeps decided to vote on a representative democracy with three reps. Other considerations were direct democracy, Emmett whispering to Jacques (and Jacques interpreting and sharing our rulers commands), and Emmett in a dragon costume assisted by Rolph. Representative democracy won. A motion was made to maintain a direct democracy until selectpeeps have been chosen. This measure did not garner enough support to pass. Chris then moved to change the rule requiring a two thirds majority to pass a measure to a simple majority. This measure passed with surprising ease. The motion to have direct democracy in place (to protect the community from peeps like Rolph) until select peeps are chosen was then reconsidered. This time it passed with a very narrow margin. Next it was moved that everyone should take a nap. This motion passed 9 to 7. Nap time began. After the nap, town meeting was recessed.

Another block of Werk Berzerk... very similar to above!

Then a sweet surprise for half of the Village- another team building exercise. The other half played frog detective and will do their sweet surprise tomorrow.

The peeps of New Peepshire

Today we liked:

who can drink the most water???

swimming
playing frog detective
the whole day!
getting a job
the fun, sweet surprise
almost finishing houses
drinking 8 bottles of water
making a bed for my peep
drinking 6 bottles of water
having a successful day at the radio
Chris and Elliana's radio interview
achieving goals
good songs on the radio
my new purple Harley
town meeting
not burning any sculpy in the oven

We wish:

no one fell down on the stairs
to see the surprise activity
Village was an overnight camp
it was less hot
more time for the surprise
for a chore organization system
songs on the radio were not cut off part way through
for apple pie with vanilla ice cream
to get further on houses tomorrow
the day were longer
there were more dogs at the pond, ridden by cats wearing 3 corner hats

Friday, July 13, 2012

Day 9

Day 9, Friday again...
We began our day with more dream talk. Some homesteaders have been dreaming about unicorns that explode and rain down cookies on everyone. Our first song was the Coffee song, the first run through was proper, the second run through was a change up for Rolph about alpaca poo! Jesslyn taught us a song about milk where we got milk each others teat hands. We also sang Mountain Dew and did Black Socks in a round. Owen tried to teach us a stuttering butter song but we had a hard time learning this one!

a gift of alpaca poo for Rolph, from Tom and Will

Some goals today were:

finish my house
finish printing the emmetts
finish lumber order
draw out house on wood for shop dog
drink 3 bottles of water
finish cardboard model
start home building
pay for lumber
drink 4 bottles of water
drink 5 bottles of water
drink 6 bottles of water
get started on the newspaper

It used to be that every time we told homesteaders to take a drink they would say, "Aw, again... I just had some." Now they say, "I bet I can drink more water than you!"

At our brief morning meeting we had a talk about equity verses equality. Homesteaders shared that equity is when people get what they need, equality means everyone gets the same thing. Jesslyn gave us some great examples of this to think about. "If everyone got a piece of cake and a sardine sandwich for lunch, would you feel like you got what you needed? What if you don't like cake? What if you don't like sandwiches? Some people would be full and feel good after lunch but others would still be hungry." Also Jesslyn used an example of foot size. Everyone stuck out their foot and compared it with the homesteaders sitting on either side of them, "What if we all had to wear the same exact shoes?" This was a nice way of making sure that all homesteaders are on the same page for everyone getting what they need.

After this: WERK BERZERK!!! Happenings in this time slot: cardboard models, lumber orders, paying for lumber, drawing out house pieces on wood, printing emmetts, radio station interviews, business at the trading post...!

Boys at the mint, printing emmetts

Another day another check to write! Will seems like a real
money bags since we always catch him writing checks!

Is that a 1 emmett bill or a 100?

The check mark means that it is authentic

Working on a lumber order

Working on a lumber order... doing math!

The radio station has some great DJ'S

Keeping track of emmetts at the trading post

Working on a cardboard model

A happy homesteader and a completed cardboard model!

Working on a lumber order

Drawing out plans on wood to be cut, these glorious circle pieces
were donated to Village by Whitney Bros in Keene. Thank you!!

Another happy homesteader and a completed cardboard model!

After another very busy and productive morning we always like to have a nice lunch and go swimming. Sunblock is an important part of this ritual!

Applying it generously!

Commissioners lend a hand to make sure everyone is covered

At town meeting this afternoon it was discussed and voted on to pay the town clerk, moderator, secretary and possibly the boys at the mint 60 emmetts a week for their efforts. The moderator once again had a little trouble keeping order. Rolph declared himself king, of the fecal kingdom. Tmon offered himself and his snakes a guards for the castle. The Painter did not like this at all, he declared that Rolph wasn't the king. Elliana said that Rolph couldn't be king because we didn't vote on it. Rolph clarified that you are not voted for as a king, you are born this way, "I am chosen to rule by God." This got Chris and Manbat involved. A motion was then passed to have government. Rolph then declared himself dictator. There were some murmurs that he was a tyrant. Again, the Painter had problems with Rolph's declaration. Near this point our afternoon entertainment arrived and meeting was recesses until next Monday. After the meeting Tmon and Tarzan both pledged their support of Rolph with gifts and offerings of service.

Our afternoon entertainment: Juggling with the famous juggler, Susan Lord!!!! Susan taught us how to juggle balls, socks, scarves, and potatoes!!! It was SO much fun!! Thank you Susan! The best part for me about juggling was taking the pictures, balls everywhere and very funny faces!

Our newspaper photographer catching
some action

Team juggling

Balls and potatoes everywhere!!

The newspaper editor met with a journalist to discuss
layout and content in the New Peepshire Times.

While that went on outside in front, some homesteaders wanted to continue a bit of WERK BERZERK.

The trading post is making a TON of emmetts!

I heard several advertisements for specials at the trading post on the radio today. Also I heard about several job openings. It costs 7 emmetts to run an ad in the newspaper and 7 emmetts to have a jingle on the radio, if you purchase your ads together, you get them for the low price of 10 emmetts! Too many songs were played today to list.