The City of Whetpebble: Home Sweet Home
Homes in NW corner by Patterson Run:
You live in a peaceful coniferous forest on the side of Drypebble Mountain. The wildlife and scenery are beautiful, but sometimes it's a lonely location since you and your family don't have electricity. A wood-burning stove keeps your little cottage warm in the winter and Patterson Run provides drinking water. Without a telephone or television, a portable radio is all the communication you have with the rest of Whetpebble. The forest provides lots of tasty and free foods. Having free food is very important since no one in your family is employed. Whetpebble is a small town with only 1 gas station, pub, and general store so many people living nearby are unemployed too. However, the children don't mind running around barefoot since all the neighbors do the same! Perhaps someday Whetpebble will have enough money to buy a bus and send your children to school in the county nearby.
Although you and your family sometimes wish they had more, the forest ecosystem provides everything you need to live a healthy life. Protecting it is very important to you.
The City of Whetpebble: Home Sweet Home
Homes in downtown Whetpebble
You and your family are fortunate enough to be employed by one of the three businesses in Whetpebble; a gas station, a pub, and a general store. Your income is steady, you live a comfortable lifestyle, the children are fully clothed, and you feel very lucky to be working at all considering most families in Whetpebble are unemployed. You are also fortunate enough to have running water provided by Patterson River, electricity, and indoor plumbing. Saving pennies for gasoline each month allows you to drive kids to school in the county nearby, another luxury most children in Whetpebble don't have.
Due to Whetpebble's remote area, food is expensive so the town depends on Patterson River for fish and other tasty critters to ofseet food costs. In the summer, swimming and canoeing in the Patterson provide a cool alternative to the humid heat. The kids play on the banks all day long, catching frogs and crickets. Farther downstream, the river empties into Lake Hopper, a small source of tourism that brings a substantial number of customers to Whetpebble's businesses every summer. If it wasn't for Lake Hopper, Whetpebble businesses would go bankrupt!
The City of Whetpebble: Home Sweet Home
Homes in NE Whetpebble by Cassius and Mills Creeks:
Northeastern Whetpebble is situated in a valley to the east of Drypebble Mountain with gently sloping hills and fertile soils. Your property is prime agricultural land, but due to Whetpebble's remote location, there is no one to sell your crops to! You grow fruits and vegetables for your family and livestock, but the only time you make a profit selling your produce is in the summer. Tourists come to Lake Hopper and gobble up your fresh fruits and veggies at stands along the side of the road. While you provide food and shelter for your family, your children are jealous of toys and schooling children living in downtown Whetpebble receive. Hopefully someday you can give them those things.
Drinking water comes from Mills and Cassius Creeks, wood-burning stoves provide warmth in winter, and you are saving money to install a septic system so that you can enjoy the comforts of indoor plumbing. A small windmill on the edge of your property provides a limited supply of electricity.
The only businesses in town are a gas station, pub, and general store. The nearest school is in a nearby county. Unfortunately, the children can only attend school in the winter because they are needed to help on the farm the rest of the year. School is so far away, they don't have enough daylight to get to and from school every day after working on the farm. You hope that some day Whetpebble will expand enough to have a school of its own.
The City of Whetpebble: Home Sweet Home
Homes in SW Whetpebble by Banks Brook:
You and your family live in a deciduous forest to the south of Drypebble Mountain. The forest provides a substantial amount of food for your family. The children enjoy fishing in nearby Banks Brook in the summer. However, in spring, many parents worry that their children will fall into the fast-moving brook that overflows its banks annually with runoff from the spring showers in the nearby mountains. Although your home has never flooded, an exceptionally large amount of spring precipitation could someday destroy your property.
Life is somewhat frustrating for you because the quiet, beautiful forest provides food and shelter for your family, but the only source of income available is cutting down and selling the same trees that protect you! From time to time, small timbering businesses come to Whetpebble in search of folks who will sell them valuable hardwoods such as Black Walnut, Cherry, Oak, and Hickory; all trees that are abundant but necessary for a healthy forest ecosystem. You love the beautiful scenery the forest provides, but your children need shoes and logging is the only way for you to make money. There are three businesses in downtow Whetpebble; a gas station, pub, and general store. Except for downtown citizens, most of Whetpebble is unemployed and uneducated. The nearest school is in a nearby county, but you cannot afford to buy gas to drive your children there.
The City of Whetpebble: Home Sweet Home
Homes in SE Whetpebble by Lake Hopper:
The shores of Lake Hopper are your home and you love it! It provides delicious fishing, beautiful sunsets year-round, and a profitable tourist attraction in the summer. By renting boats, canoes, clearing campsites and selling live bait during the summer, you and your family can make enough money to last throughout the year with tight budgeting. Lake Hopper gets its waters from the enarby streams that empty into the Patterson River and Cassius Creek. You completely depend on this thriving aquatic ecosystem for survival.
Although a small cabin by the docks is all you need for shelter, your ome is consistently threatened in the spring from elevated water levels and it has flooded twice in the past ten years. The cabin was not structurally damaged, but you worry that increased logging in the area will decrease the amount of rainfall absorbed by the land and increase runoff into Lake Hopper, posing a dangerous threat to the strength of the cabin. You and your neighbors hope to never wake up in the middle of the night to find your house floating out into the lake!
You own several boats, but no car. Therefore, you have no way to transport your children to school in the neighboring county. This is unfortunate because 3/4 of the year you and your family are unemployed and the children have plenty of time to get an education. Whetpebble needs a school bus!
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