Sunday Stills - Pets (and contest winners)

This week's challenge (for the the fourth anniversary of Sunday Stills) is 'pets'.   I know, every week is pet week around here right?  Regardless, this is what I came up with Saturday afternoon...

And for those who have been anxiously waiting to hear who the winners of my fudge giveaway are, Emma and Ramsey have made their choices.  We started with this...

I gave each little section a number, starting with 1 in the upper left and going clockwise to 14 in the lower left.  Then I convinced the chooser to come check it out.  Emma was distracted by her own breakfast and I had to convince my helper that he had an important job to do, he rose to the challenge admirably...

Looks like he has gone for the high end numbers.  I had a list of  60 names and they showed up in my PayPal account on three separate pages so I took number 14 from the first page, 13 from the second and 12 from the third.  What I came up with are:

• Mary Ann Y.
• Pamela R.
• Vicki W.  

Keep an eye on your mailbox folks.

But wait, we're not done yet, we need two more names from my list of comments.  Here's where the excitement really starts (in fact, the excitement must have been too much for the videographer, because she goofed up and took photos instead of video.  Oops).

This first result is quite clear, the nose is squarely on number three, which just happens to be  Michaele from sprout 'n'wings farm.

The second choice...hmm, it could be a toss up.  Looks like number five, but that upper lip looks to have crept over into 6...

Hold it, hold it!  Number five is Mary Ann again!!  That's it Mary Ann, I think you have got to send me a lottery ticket!  I guess I will have to send you an extra chunk of fudge:). 

With these somewhat questionable results however, we had better have a closer look at number 6...

Oh no!  Number 6 claims not to LIKE fudge!  (Hmmm, I suspect my friend Dougie Donk may be making a noble sacrifice, but who am I to argue?)  What to do, what to do?

Well, it seems fairly clear that Emma has caught onto this scheme and is headed towards number 7.  Lets go check....YES, 7 likes fudge!  Seven it will be, and who is lucky number 7....why it's sheepmom from Knee Deep in Sheep.

Whew, that was a bit tricky there at the end, but I think we pulled it off (I hope).  And Michaele, please get in touch with me so I can send you your prize.  I think I have all the other addresses and I will try to send everything out tomorrow (just as long as I make it to the post office in time).

And the winner is....

I don't usually have this much trouble coming up with names for my animals.  Tessa's registered name is Daisy's Irish Jig so, I guess calling her Daisy would have been the thing to do but, she just seemed like "Tessa" from the first.  Emma was "Emma" form the first moment I saw her and everybody just agreed.  It was like she just came with the name even though her previous owner had never given her a name at all.  Maybe donkeys are just born knowing their own names?

I have had the hardest time coming up with the right name for this horse though.  I think it is because I have sort of known him for a while and once someone has a name, it is very hard to change it.  This is why I am not a fan of naming children after their parents.  Not only is it confusing but, it leads to men in their forties still being called things like Junior, Bubbles, Beaver (hi Beaver!).....I think everybody should have a name of their own.

There were a lot of good names submitted that I had to reject for just this reason, Scout is Tanner's Brother's name so, definitely taken already.  Tucker was a fine horse who belonged to an ex-boyfriend and Shiloh was a mare I worked with when I was young. 

There were a few really interesting names and observations here.  I don't think I would ever have noticed the stingray on his right flank if Lindsy F Loyd hadn't pointed it out, I appreciate that one.  I found the name too much of a mouthful and Stinger just doesn't suit his goober personality. 

The musical references provided by EM were interesting but, "hopelessly inept" doesn't even begin to cover my lack of musical comprehension.  The words were intriguing but had no context for me (I am totally unable to hear music in my head).  I couldn't "see" them well enough with my brain.  You can tell just by that last sentence that musical references render me completely incompetent!

There were several names that nearly made it, only to be fatally shot down by one of my friends...Piper was the front runner for a while but my riding buddy (who will hopefully be riding "ole no-name" also) didn't like it at all.  Tinker took the lead for a bit but, "why would you name him after Tinker Bell?" just ruined the image for me.  Tonka, Finley....I liked these names but, they just wouldn't stick to him.  In fact, that is what happened to nearly all of them.  You guys provided quite a list of good names, most of them just didn't attach themselves to this horse. 

So, it has been a long and difficult choice but, say hello to Gabriel...

Thank you everybody for your wonderful suggestions and for reading this blog.  Julie, please send me an email at aerissana@gmail.com with your address so that I can send you some Fudge!