Home, Home On the Ranch....Drum Roll, Please!

So thank you to ALL who voted! 
It has been a roller coaster of a naming game, to say the least.
But we definitely couldn't have done it without each of you!

Before we unveil the new ranch's name, bear with me as I share
with you how I went about getting our last,
MOST important vote.

Me:  Let's make this simple. 
Copper Landing Ranch or Gusty Ridge Ranch?

Mini-Me:  Mama, I do NOT like the second one AT ALL. 
So, Copper.

Me:  OK.  Copper Landing Ranch or Rusty Apple Ranch?

Mini-Me:  I don't like Rusty Apple cause it sounds
like we sell rotten apples.

Me:  Alright, moving on then. 
Copper Landing Ranch or LatchKey Ranch?

Mini-Me:  So I don't want this to hurt your feelings, but I like Copper Landing cause this is where WE live, and that way it's about US.  Not your photography business.  But if you want to call it LatchKey Ranch so it's easier for your clients to find, then that's alright with me too.  I'll understand.

Me:  (trying to hold back the pride in how she's reasoning it all out & willing to compromise)....So, lastly, Copper Landing Ranch or Calico Spur Ranch?

Mini-Me:  Ooh, now THAT'S a tough one cause I love them both!

So, what's a proud mama to do?
Well, let's just say, Mini-Me got TWO votes!
I couldn't be so shrewd as to only allow one, especially since she was so willing to go with what was "best" for our situation.

....So, back to that drum roll, maestro...

And the winning ranch name is...





GUSTY RIDGE RANCH 
with a whopping 43% of the vote!!!




My sister-in-law, Adie, and I are in agreement on a cool feature that comes with this ranch name:  when we have a bad day we can just say GRR!  Mini-Me smiled & thought that was cool.  So she's chill with the winning name being the one she didn't like "AT ALL"....what a patient & forgiving kid.  I am definitely one lucky mama.

And the triumphant Mr LKP?  Yeah he's totally basking in his creative glory as I type this.  He's feeling very sure of himself.  I think this calls for an unsuspected pitcher of ice water in his lap.....>)  I'll let you know how it goes, IF it goes, and IF I live.  Hee hee hee!

And on another note, anyone looking to open
a new restaurant or winery?   
With our compliments, Copper Landing is ALL YOURS!
(Apparently it's well-liked & a keeper since it came up with 30% of the vote)


Ya'll Come Back, Ya Hear?!

ROCK THE VOTE!

I'M CURRENTLY HAVING TROUBLE WITH MODPOLL.COM, SO WE'RE GOING TO GO BACK TO THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY OF DOING THIS!  CAST YOUR VOTE BY COMMENTING BELOW.  YOU CAN VOTE AS MANY TIMES AS YOU'D LIKE UNTIL MONDAY MORNING.  THEN THAT'S FINALLY & OFFICIALLY IT.
(If you were curious as to how the other poll was going, here were the results up until modpoll.com freaked out on us:  Rusty Apple Ranch-8%, Copper Landing Ranch-58%, Calico Spur Ranch-17%, LatchKey Ranch-17%, True Blue Ranch-0%)

HERE ARE YOUR CHOICES, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

--LatchKey Ranch

--Gusty Ridge Ranch

--Calico Spur Ranch

--Rusty Apple Ranch

 --Copper Landing Ranch

(Vote below, anonymous comments are allowed for this.)

Wouldn't You Know It?

 (Photo by Sage n' Sun Images...thanks guys, absolutely breathtaking and home!)

How 'bout we complicate things, shall we?  

...Well, that's not exactly what Mr LKP said, but he might as well have.

It's windy where we live.  Extremely.  As in, Mr LKP thinks he should have a wind turbine installed on our 7 acres.  It's THAT windy.  In town that would've totally ticked me off.  But being out here, with the wind...well, just us & the wind, I'm kinda loving it!  Strange to say.  (This from the girl who HATED snow.  But after 3 years of Eastern Idaho snow, and well, now I'm in Washington missing that dreaded snow!  Crazy....but I digress.)  

I'm wondering if this "being OK" with the wind here is because it reminds me of growing up out on our little farm as a kid.  Could it be?  I mean the difference between then & now is pretty much that now we're kinda in this lower trough (the house sits on this little ridge, within the trough), and as a kid our place was on TOP of a hill/ridge.  I guess what I'm saying is that the snow didn't stop us in Idaho, the wind didn't stop us on our little hill.  

And it won't stop us here.

In honor of not us against the wind, but more like a celebration of us WITH the wind, Mr LKP suggested "Gusty Ridge Ranch" this morning.  WHAT?!  We're ONE day away from the poll closing....not to mention TEN days AFTER we started the 1st poll!  Now we have this suggestion?!  And seriously, DANG IT ALL TO BITS, it sounds really good!  

What do I do now?  We could be naming our place for years at this rate.  I'm wondering if I should scrap the current poll, re-situate with its top ones & the new suggestion from Mr LKP.  (Did I mention that this is like his FIRST contribution to the naming game here?  So that seems like another reason I shouldn't discount his idea.  I mean he's gotta live here too, right?)

Oh bother.  

Perhaps the name's already been taken.  Let's see, we'll mosey on over to Google & check it out....don't mind me....just moseying...talk amongst yourselves, I'll give you a topic.....lol....How d'ya like that?!  Not taken.

They've got: Elk Ridge Ranch, Storm Ridge Ranch, Angel Ridge Ranch, Saddle Ridge Ranch, Cedar Ridge Ranch, Hurricane Ridge Ranch, Shake Ridge Ranch...No Gusty Ridge Ranch here at all.  Huh.

Well, I'll put it to you.  What do you think?

(Don't mind me if I toss the name in the poll, or if you see a new poll to the left of this post!  Just want this to be right.)

Three-Schmee!

 Towards the top of the left sidebar, is the most popular results from our Top 10 poll this past week for ranch names!  I know we'd said we'd take the 3 faves as finalists, however....#3 was actually a 3-way-tie.  So, instead we have our Final 5!

Take a moment to choose your most favorite one...keep in mind its the name that'll not only stick, but be immortalized in metal, by a plasma cutter, and hung on our arch at the entrance to our property!  I'm so excited, I'm all giddy inside cause:

I can JUST SEE IT!  =)

Remember the advice of the Last Crusader in the third Indiana Jones movie?  "Choose Wisely."

(Cause I can't seem to!)

Voting officially closes Sunday, the 23rd.

No extensions this time...Happy Voting!

(P.S.  I'm personally torn between Calico Spur & Copper Landing.  Help a girl out?!  Thanks, you're a gem!)

The Top 10 ***UPDATED***

I can't go much longer with a nameless homestead.

And apparently this decision cannot be solely left up to this Libra.  So, not to steal ideas from Miss America or American Idol or David Letterman, but let's whittle this down already!

Here's the poll.  Please vote for your most favorite ranch name.  We'll eliminate the field to the Top 3, and then have one last final vote.  Voting closes Friday.

***VOTING EXTENDED UNTIL SUNDAY!***

(Thanks oodles, in advance!)

Ranch Naming Continues

Okay, some creative juices ARE flowing-that's good!  Thanks Tauna, Cherie, Lisa, & Heidi for all the suggestions thus far.  Still needing more though.  (What can I say?  I'm a Libra, we're notorious for being indecisive!)

Here are some other ideas that have surfaced in the last day (I've just got to jot them down, feel free to pipe up some more of your inspirations as well):
...LATCH KEY RANCH*...
...TRUE BLUE RANCH*...
...rusty pear ranch...
...patch of heaven ranch...
...rusty trigger ranch...
...packsaddle ranch...
...RUSTY APPLE RANCH*...
...rusty belle ranch...
...belle spur ranch...
...whistleberry ranch...
...bootjack ranch...
...CALICO SPUR RANCH**...
...centerfire ranch...
...rusty chute ranch...
...copper cricket ranch...
...dappled hills ranch...
...dappled apple ranch...
...double eagle ranch...
...rusty fiddle ranch...
...copper fiddle ranch...
...rusty fork ranch...
...rusty gait ranch...
...copper gait ranch...
...grease pot ranch...
...dry powder ranch...
...COPPER HONEY RANCH**...
...honey spur ranch...
...RUSTY LANDING RANCH*...
...COPPER LANDING RANCH*...
...copper crescent ranch...
...rusty badger ranch...
...rusty rowel ranch...
...river's keep ranch...
...SAVVY SPUR RANCH*...

...and I'm still mulling thoughts around, so keep the ideas coming!

*I'm really liking these specific ideas the more they roll off my tongue.  What do you think?

S.O.S.

Alright, so we're full-blown with the moving. This is the most expensive potential I've ever even considered, let alone bought! (And no, husbands don't fall into that category. lol!) So, boxes are going in the new place...stuff's coming out of the old place. Why am I here then and not helping? Well, first of all, we're between trips now (hence the picture above). Second, the ranch is still nameless. So this is my S.O.S. This time around, though, I've got some words I'm loving but I'm not sure that they go together well. Rusty & Spur. Can you think of a good name utilizing one of them? Needs to be 3-4 syllables tops. ...Rolling Spur... ...Wild Spur... ...Rusty Pearl... ...Rusty Gem... ...what do you think? I've got a feeling we're almost on to it!

Got the Nod

Things are a-go.

Looks like we'll close by April 30th on my own
wee patch of heavenly dirt: our little 7 acre ranch!

That means we can start moving in May 1st.  So many things to go through....and pack...and put on Craig's List.

Which brings us back to my earlier dilemma...what to name it?
It has a fabulous ranch-gate archway over the entry to the driveway,
one which deserves a very fetching title on iron suspended from it.
A friend suggested the other day of just going with the obvious "LatchKey Ranch."  Still feeling that one out.

With a great name there will need to come a great branding iron...cause ya know, it's only natural that before too long, we will need to have herds of cattle...and horses...and chickens...well and we already are apparently started on the herd of dogs.  And they'll all need to be marked.  Well, ok, maybe not the chickens...and our dogs might not thoroughly enjoy being branded either.

This is kinda what's come into my mind....the key makes the L....perhaps the key will have to become more rudimentary in style....but that's my thought so far.  But I want MORE of your ideas!
So, don't hold back.  Knock my socks off!

Daydream Believer

Calling all wordsmiths out there!
 
Even if you have an affinity for Scrabble, Boggle, crosswords, a good game of H-O-R-S-E, or even teaching english/Language Arts, your skills are severely needed in my head.  That's right, I need you, Mr or Mrs or Miss or Ms Walking-and-Breathing-and-Living Thesaurus!

(Nobody freak out on me over this, OK?)
So, there's a little patch of dirt with a cute little dwelling on it that I've fallen in love with.  It's not official, it's just something we're looking it to at this time.  (no coveting involved) But you see, I'm the visual, daydreamin', like to imagine it kinda gal.  This patch of dirt is 7 acres.  So, you brilliant word people come in here. 

Supposin' it were to work out that this patch of dirt were to be obtained by Mr LKP, it needs a name.  It needs something that will be amazing in a big ol' metalwork sign at the entrance to the property.  It's kind of a ranch/homestead type of a place.  Atleast that's the feel I get when I'm there.  Doesn't have any livestock on it, however it very well could in the future...easily.  So, I like the place and I almost like "LatchKey Ranch."  I've even toyed with "Bailey's Acres" after my old radio persona, however I'm also suffering from a severe case of daydreamer's block!  (Needs a good flow to it.  Where it rolls off the tongue with ease.) 

And who knows, maybe it never works out...::shrugs::

But, if so...what would you call this little chunk of Heaven? 
Leave your suggestions, please!