DANIEL HITS THE ROAD!

posted by Ellis and Daniel

After a lengthy discussion with Esme, I went to speak with our Daniel. The photo of Duncan and Dennison, stared at so long by Daniel, had been closed. So I began our conversation with questions about any happenings in the pasture, while some of us attended Malice. He answered, but without much enthusiasm..... Esme was right, it was clear we didn't need to wait til Duncan and Dennison were reunited with their brother back in the flock. Daniel needed to take the test to his brothers.

And really that had been our hope all along. Yes, Duncan and Dennison needed to adjust their negative behaviors of bullying and belittling their brother. Because if that didn't happen the behavior would be part of every interaction with every creature they came in contact with, in or out of a pasture.

But the real measure of success for the Mache Triplets lay with Daniel. So the time had come for us to allow our precious Daniel to face the challenge of his brothers. Whether or not Duncan and Dennison would chose to alter their bullying ways, it was up to Daniel to handle whatever he encountered. How would the story turn out. Would it end with the Mache Triplets being the brothers we wished? Or would they go back to shunning our Daniel? And whatever way they behaved how would Daniel react?

So, with serious concerns..... I finally put the question to Daniel. "Daniel.....would you like to travel to California and join your brothers in the Dennison pasture?" Daniel was silent for a bit and then with more confidence then he has EVER displayed, he answered the question.

"Yes...I would very very VERY much enjoy traveling to California. I miss my brothers so much. Although, I'm not certain if they have even thought about or missed me in the last 2 years, that isn't important. I miss them. So, what is important is that I see them again. If they treat me as brothers should, that will be great. And if they chose to behave as they always have, well there is nothing I can do about that. EXCEPT, to finally say to them that I am 1/3rd of the Mache Triplets. I am equal to either of them, not 'more than ' or 'less than'. If they wish and chose to treat me as an equal and with the same respect and love I have for them, GREAT."

"And if they try to test me with their old ways they will NOT find the same brother of 2 years ago. Based on all the love everyone in the" flock has given me I can now stand up for myself. And Duncan or Dennison....or anyone else will never take that away from me".

And with that Daniel went to say See you later, to all his playmates in the flock. I watched him first go to the side of the pasture where he sleeps. To his friends Woodrow and MetalHead he explained where he was going but that he would be back. Even Fuzzie, who was in the corner admiring himself in the mirror turned his head to listen.

Next he spoke to his best friend, Bobble as they stood side by side. Bobble seemed very pleased to hear Daniel was ready to take a chance by traveling alone. Knowing what he would do in California made Bobble bounce his head up and down. I think Daniel actually seemed taller when he told Bobble "I'll be back soon, so save my sleeping spot, right next to you."

"What about your brothers, when you all return won't you want to sleep together?"

"You are my best friend Bobble. This is where I will be sleeping, next to you. Duncan and Dennison can sleep on my other side, if they wish. If all of you allow it."

At that, all the Ovines in the pasture could be heard Baa'ha'haing with lots of Atta Boy Daniel and You Rock!

Finally over to the last of his playmates. Quilty and her boy were laying down but not sleeping, Gobbell and 1 Bag Full all listened as Daniel again explained where he would be.

As they all wished him a safe journey and quick return Daniel returned to where I sat. "Ready?" I asked.

Daniel quickly replied "I WAS BORN READY." {I must speak to Esme about what they are watching on TV. I couldn't recall where I heard I was born ready, but I was certain it was on the TV in some movie or other. Oh well, at least no foul language.....yet?}

Hm.....wonder if I should let Hannah, Emily, Mr Sparkles, Noah, Duncan and Dennison that Daniel is on his way? Maybe I'll just see if she reads it here before Daniel arrives. {Baa Ha Ha Ha Ha}

Still smiling, ELLIS THE RAM

DANIEL, A MACHE TRIPLET

posted by Ellis the Ram

My first task, per Esme, was comforting our Daniel, who it appears had been sitting in front of the computer looking at Malice Posts. But when he had come to the photo of Duncan and Dennison he went no further. And Esme said, there he had been for several hours. Not a Baa or a Bleat, just looking at the photo of his brothers. They had now been separated for over 2 years, which at first we had anticipated to be an absence of, at most, a few months......Perhaps the best way to explain the Mache Triplets was the letter I sent with the other 2 triplets, Duncan and Dennison. The letter which explained it all and accompanied them to our CBF, Elizabeth and Eleanor and our GFBFHD, Hannah and Emily~we post below...

Our Dear Human Friends Hannah and Elizabeth, Oh and of course, our Ovine Friends~ Emily and Eleanor,

We find ourselves dealing with a potentially disruptive force within our flock. Recently our HC Susan found, in an antique market at the very back and no doubt due to the issue we are now facing, 3 new young Ovines. She brought them home. They refer to themselves as the Mache Triplets, due to their resemblance in structure to paper mache. Well, 2 of them use the term Mache Triplets, the 3rd has become increasingly withdrawn.

We will explain...Yes, they are triplets. And one would think bonded together genetically. But this bond seems to have developed a 'crevice'. The 1st and 2nd of the triplets are extremely close, rather more like twins. But for some bizarre reason the 2 seem to shun the 3rd triplet. Why? We aren't privy to why. It is just blatantly obvious and the 'crevice' is getting wider every day.

A few examples. 1 and 2 do everything together. Eat~Sleep~Frolic. The 3rd is always left out, although he will stand quietly near. Painful to watch. When they move about the flock he always walks behind them and if they engage in chat with others in the flock they block him out,. Or interrupt when he attempts to speak or degrade what he is able to utter. {The flock has come to avoid 1 and 2 but feel badly and wish to include 3. But he simply follows his brothers about}. When we asked what their names were the very first day~the first piped up with 'DUNCAN' and the second quickly added 'I'M DENNISON'. {They hadn't had time to interact with the flock so how they chose the names of you, our friends, baffles us}. We waited for the third to tell us his name but instead the first and second bgan shouting

.......DUMMY.......DUMPSTER........DUFFUS.......DEADHEAD......DENSELY..... Well, I quickly stopped that nonsense. Then, I kindly asked the third directly what his name might be. Finally he stammered D.....D......D.....ah DUH. At which point the 2 broke out in a huge Baa'ha and Duncan yelled "Yea, that his name....DUH!". The poor thing hung his head and mumbled, "Yes, Duh will be fine".

We, Esme and I, do NOT THINK THAT IS FINE. We think it is not fine at all. What we have here is a full blown case of bullying. And we must put an end to it and very soon. Well~~IMMEDIATELY. Obviously, these 3 brothers belong together and we think D, 'D' is how we will refer to our precious 3rd triplet for now, really does need his brothers. But no doubt being introverted by nature and the bullying he is being subjected too by his brothers is crushing his spirit. And as the older and kinder ovines, we feel D doesn't have the requisite skill set to stand up for himself. Therefore to become all he is capable of being. So after much discussion and thought, Esme and I have decided to seek your help. Well frankly we aren't asking you at all. We are acting upon our decision.

Therefore we are sending this letter along with Duncan and Dennison, to explain the problem and what we wish you to do to assist with this sadly dysfunctional behavior.

We have decided that we need to separate the Mache Triplets for a short while, if they are to flourish and live in our flock, or in any flock. And this doesn't simply mean separating D from Duncan and Dennison. We feel Duncan and Dennison also need to be apart, in order to correct their inappropriate behaviors. So with that idea in mind and due to the strange incidence of what they 'claim' are their names......we are sending to each to their namesakes, Elizabeth DUNCAN and Hannah DENNISON.

While we work on D's low self esteem and build his confidence, we wish you both to take your namesakes in hand. While we provide the positive and full support for D, we hope you can put your fertile and inventive brains toward breaking down the rather 'too high opinions' these 2 have of themselves. Teaching them the value of working together, proper flock etiquette and positive family interactions, all traits which are based on respect. Knowing you both are busy with jobs, writing and family, we know Eleanor and Emily can tackle the hands on day to day work, based of course, on your guidelines.

It may sound harsh, but we believe that 'tough love' is the only hope for these 2 bullying brothers and the only hope for our D is acceptance and love from all of us in the flock. We think a little over a month should do the trick for all 3. So as Malice Domestic is about a month from now, perhaps Duncan and Dennison can accompany Eleanor and Emily when they travel to Malice with you both.

After such rigorous personnel work on themselves the triplets will have earned a holiday at this elite and fun conference. The triplets being in the company of the 'E' quads of Au Gres at ~Ellis/Esme/Eleanor/Emily ~ while at Malice Domestic can also monitor their behavior to ensure they are all 'with the program'.

Our faith in the 4 of you is well founded and together we feel a wonderful and mature new Mache Triplets will enhance our flock and yours.

ELLIS, ESME AND OUR ENTIRE FLOCK

Well, unfortunately the month became a year. At which point we all agreed a year hadn't resolved the problem. So Duncan and Dennison returned to Canada and California. D had really progressed extremely well remained with us, although the test would be when the Mache Triplets found themselves together again. Hopeful again, this year Malice arrived. Duncan had made a complete change and was ready and anxious to return home. But Dennison seemed to have reverted the last month prior to Malice and had been giving our Hannah and Emily a great deal of difficulty. Sadly it was decided Dennison was still incapable of joining his brothers at home. D, who now has declared his name to be DANIEL, was heartbroken but resolute. He had worked very hard on himself. And after 2 years Duncan proved he had also worked very hard on himself. But not Dennison.

But an idea? We conferred with our HC, Daniel and Duncan, and Hannah and Emily.....and a new and final plan was developed. Duncan would accompany Dennison back to California with our confidence that Duncan would maintain his new Open and Accepting frame of mind. Perhaps this would be what Dennison needed at last. But now here was our Daniel. Sadly sitting in front of the computer looking at his brothers. Esme and I will need to discuss what is next for our Daniel and ultimately, the MACHE TRIPLETS.

In support and hope,

Ellis the Ram

NOAH AND MR SPARKLES

posted by Ovi at Campaign Headquarter {CH}

Malice was over and on Sunday afternoon we all Baa'd our farewells til next year, joined our HCs and went our separate ways........Well sort of.......

It appears that Dennison {l}, of the Mache Triplets, wasn't quite finished with being a bully and making difficulties. Duncan {r} seemed to have adjusted himself quite nicely in his 2 years at the Duncan flock. So Hannah suggested Duncan accompany them back to California, in hopes he would be a good influence. So we went home with neither Duncan or Dennison. But if Duncan could learn so could Dennison so worth a bit more time away from the pasture.

Apri Cot had been adopted by Danielle.

And during the weekend Noah and Mr Sparkles discussed whether Mr Sparkles would fill the position of Campaign Manager. The campaign would begin soon and Noah needed a manager who was both reliable and could 'think beyond the fleece'. By Sunday, Noah and Mr Sparkles, had agreed to become the Campaign Manager for Noah's run for Easter Creature. As they lived on 2 different coastlines much would be done via emails but a good start was best face to face. So Noah and Mr Sparkles would travel with Hannah to her next literary event and then on to the Dennison Pasture. When the plan for the campaign was underway Noah would return home. And that is where they were, as seen in the first photo of this post, in front of Hannah's name card halfway between the coasts.

All in all there was much work to do. Whew! Managing the front desk at the pasture was becoming a much more complex task. But its all about teamwork, RIGHT?

Reporting from the front desk at CH,

Ovi

UNBELIEVABLE WONDROUS SPECTACULAR FLOCK~TASTIC MALICE DOMESTIC

posted by Ellis the Ram & Esme the Ewe

The event dreamed of finally arrived, as did those of us in the flock. With our HC's MPU Polly, we settled into our terrific room and prepared to go downstairs to get ourselves checked in to Malice. A new bag full of books for our HCs {and once they are piled in TBR piles WE will take custody of the bag.} All of us decided it would be such fun to go when we wished and to events each thought interesting. But for Esme and myself our first priority was to find our great friends Hannah Dennison and Elizabeth Duncan. Authors EXTRAORDINAIRE! Duncan of the Mache Triplets would be arriving from Canada with CBF Elizabeth. We were assured his 'anti bullying' training has gone well and perhaps he would be rejoining the pasture in Pennsylvania. Also Dennison of the Mache Triplets was accompanying our GFBFHD, Hannah. Dennison has not been quite as successful with his anti bullying training and lately has been giving Hannah an increasing amount of trouble. To think he had progressed last year much much further than Duncan. But this year a complete shift. We would need to speak to our Hannah to determine what will be next for our Dennison. But first the priority was to find Elizabeth. Yes, Elizabeth who left her flock behind....so we knew she would be terribly lonely and homesick for the Canadian flock. Elizabeth was so happy to see us after a long year apart and just as we hoped?????

SLEEP~OVER!!!!!

Imagine, for the night Esme would be sill-sitting in our CBF's room and catching up. Esme would accompany CBF to the Banquet the next night. But when we found CBF Elizabeth I knew she was in need of not only Esme at the SLEEP~OVER, my presence was also needed. So the first night that is where we HLB'd. Sullivan would take charge of the flock in our HC's room so all would be well.

Sullivan, Piper aka Eggplant, Callopie in her RED TEA POT, Ovi comfy in his bed and Marty Grau and KOO, now in Esme's cozy bed and our Noah, the next EASTER CREATURE!! all happily in room 420 while we snuggled in room 112. The next morning each of us would get a turn 'smoozing' with all our old friends and making new friends. Lots of photos will be snapped and new friends introduced. And Noah is very anxious to ask Mr Sparkles to accept his request to be his campaign manager. Mr Sparkles is very adept at presenting himself and unafraid to put himself 'out there'. That was something Noah knew he would need over the next year during his campaign. Mr Sparkles? A unique and 'performance' oriented Ovine from the Dennison Flock. First thing on Saturday morning............With hopes of a good night sleep both in room 112 and room 420,

Smoozingly yours,

Ellis the Ram and Esme the Ewe