WHAT A DAY!

My dogs were going CRAZY barking this morning, so I went out in my pajamas/housecoat to see what was happening. (It was windy and cold, especially on bare legs and feet!) There they were, in the trees, charging a female moose. I got them to come up to the studio, and shut them in while I ran for my camera. As I went back outside, I realized there were 2 moose - a momma and her baby. I got as close as I dared (flip flops are not good for running away from a charging moose!), all the while talking to the momma, assuring her I only wanted a couple of pictures. This was the best one I got of the baby in the trees, with the darkness of the mother behind it.

click to enlarge images

After going inside again, I saw the moose come out of the trees and across the backyard. Here is the baby standing next to our greenhouse which is 8 feet at the peak. I took this one from INSIDE the house! (The mother was already jumping the fence to our neighbour's yard.)

And finally, a bit of a profile as the baby began to follow its mother.

This afternoon the dogs were barking again - but this time they were being challenged by several large deer. Glad it wasn't the HUGE coyote that is prowling around the neighbourhood, looking for our cats as snacks. The coyote is not afraid of humans - a very dangerous situation. It has actually circled people out hiking on Saturday, and ignored the clapping and yelling that usually scares them off. I'm not going out walking alone after dark for a few days!

Have a great weekend all!

Moosely True

click on pictures to enlarge

It is now dark by 7:00 pm. That is normal for this time of year... but I, for one, miss the long and light nights of summer. With early darkness come a few problems for those of us who live in the country and have dogs. One of those problems is porcupine that begin to move at dusk. Then there is the neigbourhood skunk who wanders about at night - usually not on our acreage I am thankful to say. And now there are the moose that seem to have taken a liking to our land.

A couple of nights ago the dogs were going "insane" barking up a storm. My husband went out to see what was the problem, only to encounter a huge moose. He got the dogs inside the garage, then came to get me. By that time, the moose had gone around the side of the house into the front yard.

We have a verandah across the front of the house, so we went outside and there she was - with her BABY... so sweet. We stood and talked to the mommy for about 5 minutes before they moved on and walked down the driveway. It was so dark we couldn't see them any longer (and I couldn't get pictures. They were just at the edge of where the light fell.).

This morning the dogs were barking furiously again - at 8:30 am. When I looked out the studio window, they were chasing this moose, which is a different moose, because she does not have a baby with her. So... I got the dogs in and ran for my camera. By this time she was on the road, so I am shooting the pictures from about 12 feet below her position. The sun is just coming up and hitting the grass and bushes behind her, while she is still in shadow.

Here you can see she has moved into a place where her ears are lit by the sun.

This is just before she jumped the fence on the other side of the road to move into the bushes. Moose are generally very shy and will leave an area where there are people and animals. However, these moose chase my dogs, and stay long enough for me to talk to them. Our neighbour's boy was complaining a few weeks ago that he couldn't go out on their driveway to shoot basketballs because the moose was there. Imagine! You can't play because of the moose!!! :-)

These tales are moosely true. Have a great weekend everyone.