Tara's Taken

The Colonel and his Lady are in the middle of what is hoped (but somehow can't be believed) will be the last time they ever pack up all of their worldly possessions, strike the tent, and force march to another battlefield. Fifty-seven acres at the shallow northern end of deep southern nowhere is the march objective, and they anticipate establishing our hilltop patrol base there by the end of this month. Although the designation, "Landing Force Objective Alpha," strikes the Colonel's fancy as the perfect name for the new property, the comely and kind-hearted Miss Brenda has exercised her seldom used, but nonetheless authoritative, veto power, and they are mulling over names from a somewhat less martial genre.

Tara is already taken, dear.

Rebel's Roost has a nice ring to it. Though, in that neck of the woods (on the same 1:50,000 map sheet as Ole Miss), the name Rebel is not exactly unique.

Nana's Place is out! What's next, dear? Quilting Bees on the front lawn? The Colonel thinks not!

The Colonel's Corner ( Tract, Holding, Land, etc. suffixed to the prefix descriptive possessive "Colonel's") doesn't pass Miss Brenda's "less martial" test.

Halcyon Hill? Nope, they would spend way too much time explaining that word to the kids and neighbors.

The Colonel likes "Argentina." For a long time now, he has threatened to emigrate to some foreign land to escape all of his... (bet you thought he was gonna say "family" here...but he'll let you fill in the blank). The emigration threat acquired Argentina as a convenient target several years ago, but the Colonel has always maintained that Argentina was a metaphor. Of course, then he had to explain to family and friends the meaning of that word... If the Colonel hung a sign over the gate with Argentina on it, he would probably cause a lot of consternation amongst the Tallahatchie Tribe, so that's probably not gonna make the cut.

An acquaintance of the Colonel's calls his country place "The Dirt." Miss Brenda just grabbed her veto pen.

Can't call the place, "Eden." That's a bit too presumptuous.

Rebel's Retreat is out--"retreat" is not a word jarheads hold in much esteem.

Guess we'll just have to put naming the place on the back burner for now. Something will probably come to to him while the Colonel is supervising Miss Brenda's unpacking chores.