It’s almost fall up here in Alaska. Which means that the moose are moving around more, eager to snatch up the last of the green leaves/shoots/brush before the oh-so-cold and oh-so-dark winter slams down upon us.
There are a few moose that frequent our neighborhood. We see them when we walk the dog and run or even as we’re driving back and forth to the store. And while these moose aren’t what I’d call friendly they are habituated enough so that they allow us to have our space as long as we allow them to have theirs. This time of year the neighborhood moose love (love!) our yard. Because we have something that’s much coveted: ripe crab apples.
These two were hanging out on the bike path that runs behind our house, just lying around chewing their cuds and discussing whatever it is that moose discuss when they think no humans are around (who would the moose vote for, I wonder, Hilary or Trump?).
Before long, the smallest of them (a teenaged calf) wandered through a short patch of woods to our backyard.
And then over to our front yard and the prize: apples.
It’s odd to realize that most people don’t live like this, with these large and knobby-kneed animals lurching through their yards and crossing in front of them on the street (once, no lie, I saw a moose and calf crossing the street in a crosswalk, walking real solemn as if they knew they were exactly where they were supposed to be). In fact, my partner and I saw two moose on our run just yesterday. One was really near the trail so that we had to hug the brush as we walked past. This is commonplace for us. So how very odd to realize that millions of people live in cities, surrounded by concrete and tall buildings, and the only wild creatures they see are on TV. And though I might bitch and complain about Alaska–how it’s too cold, how the sun rarely shines, how it’s impossible to find a peach that tastes like a real peach, blah, blah, blah– on days like today, I truly feel blessed.
News: The ever-talented Kevin Brennan is hosting a two fer sale on Fascination, his latest book. Buy a copy for $3.99 and get a choice of any of his other books for free. Can’t beat that, right? Check it out here.
I’m loving Maureen O’Leary’s blog lately. The posts are homey, wise and wonderful. I especially loved the ones on mansplaining and rejection. Give it a go when you have time, okay?
Cinthia Ritchie 
Thanks for the shout-out, Cinthia! I feel like I’m in good company with your moose friends. 😉
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I think they want to be included in your next book, hint, hint.
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I love your post. I went all the way to Sweden to see them and did not see one! Living in the UK that was my only chance. They are such majestic but comedy animals. Your photos were great. Thank you for making me smile on a rainy day in England.
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Thanks, Lucy! Sorry you didn’t get to see any moose in Sweden (I guess they were all vacationing in Alaska, lol). But you did get to see Billy Joel, which is almost as good (and I’m soooo jealous, too, because he is also like my idol. His music has gotten me through a lot of tough times). Cheers and have a great week.
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From these photos it looks like you got both a sunny day AND moose. Double happiness!
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Totally. And trust me, it doesn’t happen as often as it should.
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How can you do this to me?!!?!?
Moooooooooooooooooooooooose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Hee, hee. P.S. Did you see any when you were up in Alaska? P.S.S. Our neighbor just got a moose (as in hunting) and was outside cutting up part of it earlier. Our dog went crazy, she really wanted a piece of it. We’re vegetarians so the poor thing rarely gets “real” meat. The smell of dead moose will probably keep the neighborhood moose out of the area for a while, sigh, sigh.
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No moose sightings while we were up there. 😦
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My running partner and I talked about that recently. We have deer all over around here and she mentioned that she goes hiking when she visits her brother, who is outside of L.A., and the other hikers nearly lose their shit when they see a deer on the trail.
I grew up with deer everywhere, but I lived outside of town, so I still marvel at how the wild animals wander around in town because *that* is a novelty to me. 🙂 I once saw a moose next to one of those drive-thru coffee stands looking like it was in line to order something.
Around here it’s mostly deer. The track where I do interval runs has a lot of deer around because there’s no fence and they water the grass on the football field. It’s not uncommon for me to run half a lap, spook one of the deer, and then it sprint almost alongside me for a few seconds. That’s still really cool!
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Deer are great. They are so graceful and fluid. I saw some when I was in Arizona last year, at the end of a trail run, about 15 of them suddenly emerged from the trees and it was magical, the way they ran and loped. I thought: I want to run like that, that smoothly, that effortlessly. Wouldn’t it be cool if the deer were watching you run at the track and thinking the same thing? Maybe that’s why they run alongside you for a few seconds, you know, a way for two species to interconnect and almost merge for a small slice of a moment.
Cheers and big hugs,
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Love the moose-eating-apples pic. Most of the folks I know who have big animals coming on their property really complain about the deer eating their plants or whatever. Nice to hear someone who appreciates it.
Although we live in the burbs of the “big city” we get a lot of small critters around here (coyote, raccoons, squirrels – even a bobcat once ) but never anything big!
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I never complain about moose visiting our yard plus, to be fair, we aren’t exactly big on landscaping. We have a garden and we appreciate our garden but we aren’t obsessive about it. So if the moose want to enjoy our apples, let ’em, eh?
P.S. Coyotes and bobcats aren’t exactly small, lol.
Cheers and take care.
P.S.S. Seriously stole a moose bone from the neighbor’s recent moose hunt. She jumped the fence and proudly brought it home. It was almost as big as she was and smelled really, really bad. The joys of having a dog, sigh, sigh
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Thank you. I needed a moose fix … love those photos!
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I would love to be able to see those guys in my yard! Living in the suburbs, I have to be content with birds and the occasional possum!
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Hi, Erin, thanks for visiting. Possums are pretty cool plus you don’t have to worry about them charging you when you’re trying to walk out to your car, lol. Cheers and have a great week.
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