Moose Crossing

Things have been a little busy, so I've been slacking off a little bit on this blog. I have been so busy taking pictures at school lately, that I haven't taken any for myself. I thought I would share these that I took last winter in front of our school. I was parked beside the school, waiting for Brandon to come out, when this Mom and calf decided to stroll through.

It always makes me a little nervous when they walk so closely to the vehicles, but despite their massive size, they are very gentle creatures. This is not uncommon in our area. They make regular announcements on the school intercom before they release the kids concerning moose sightings. They will tell the kids to not take certain routes home, because there are moose in that area. In this case, the moose were right in front of the school, so they held the kids a little longer and "shooed" the moose away.

Unfortunately, the moose refused to go very far this time, so our Principal and some volunteers walked the kids safely around the wildlife and up into our neighborhood. Just another day in Alaska.

Outsmarted By Moose

I know moose get a lot of bad press for being rather unintelligent animals. Even though they are the largest member of the deer family, they are thought of as closer to a cow. Lets face it, they just walk around and chew on leaves and grass, and look at you as if they are trying to tolerate you. Pretty cow-like, you have to admit. Well, now I am starting to think that they are much more devious than they appear. The local moose love my trees. I have two crab apple trees, one in the front yard and one in the back. The last few winters, the moose have come and visited me throughout the chilly days, delicately eating the leaves. Well, Hannah and her son Morris are delicate. Bob pretty much clamps down on the the branch near the trunk, slides his mouth down the branch to remove all the leaves at once, and then chomps away on them. I normally sit on my porch and take pictures of them. They have tolerated this pretty well throughout the years. Apparently they have reached their photographic limits. Now they are sneaking into the yard between 10 pm and 5 am to eat. I know this because there are tracks in the yard, but I never seem to see the moose. Sneaky little devils. I have hopes of catching them in the act soon. Until then, here are some pictures from last winter. Handsome Bob, Gorgeous Hannah, and hunky little Morris. They are a good looking group, even if they are camera shy.
Oh, wait! I forgot to mention that the high today is 1! Whoohoo! Spring is on the way! Warm weather! (Kind of pathetic, I know, but it's the little things in life that make you really happy!)

Frosty Friday

Here are a couple of pictures that I took yesterday near our house. Things are rather monochromatic this time of the year. Everything seems to look cleaner with a nice coating of snow.

Brandon is hoping for a big blizzard to hit some time today or tomorrow. A nice, thick blanket of fresh snow would be awesome for the sledding hill. Nothing says Christmas Break better than shooting down a steep bank on a slick piece of plastic. Jess, on the other hand, is hoping global warming will kick in and bring a heat wave of around 85 degrees. The forecast shows sunny and a high in the 20's, so neither kid is going to get their wish. Those are the breaks.

I'm throwing in this picture of Bob in the front yard as a bonus. I took this last winter, but I haven't seen him lately and missed him. Maybe this picture will bring Bob home.