When we were looking for our forever place, we worked hard at obtaining two different properties where unfortunately the deals fell through. The first was a former hunting lodge on 14 acres of property alongside a creek and included a large pond with a nesting island. The 'shack' on the property was a large hunting cabin with a huge old Franklin woodstove in it. Fell in love with the place. It was well shaded and we were quite disappointed when we weren't able to finalize a deal on the place that to this day we still refer to as 'Shady Shack'.
The second was in a small waterfront community alongside a canal and plenty of wetlands in the nearby Conservation Land. There were always geese and ducks around and the shack on the place needed to be torn down and rebuilt. The owners who hadn't used the property in years, did not want to part with it though. We had rough plans drawn up for the property that we nicknamed 'Ducky Dive' because it needed so much work.
Many years later, we have finally moved into a place that has about 14 acres of trees behind us. Lots of wildlife - deer, wild turkeys, coyotes, owls, etc. We started calling this place 'The LaSalle Branch' which was the town name where it was located and was our second home for a while during renovations. Whenever I needed a tool, it seemed it was always at the 'The LaSalle Branch' and not at our other home 45 minutes away. When friends would ask, where we'd be at any given time, it finally got shortened to just 'The Branch' As we get more settled in, I think we'll find a better name that fits the property better.
