Moose versus Dog

Stolen off youtube....obviously.

It was late in the evening last night and i heard a distinct barking, the kind of bark that only means one thing: moose. I ran to the window and peered out to see. The wet snow had been falling pretty hard for about half an hour and the parking lot looked like it had a fresh coating.....except for where the moose and the dog were. Because i can't remember the boxer/pitt/lab mix's name, we are going to call him "Dog" for ease. Moose shall henceforth be known as "Big Girl". The owner, who will eventually appear, shall be called....nevermind i can't come up with an appropriate name that isn't sarcastic, rude or foul.

Dog and Big Girl were in the middle of the parking lot. Big Girl stood at least 8 feet tall and dog is a Medium large creature about 45-50lbs, We have met Dog before and Neah played with him. Dog is about the same age as Neah. So Dog was barking and puffing, acting tough and charging the moose. I watched this dance between Big Girl and Dog for a good 60 seconds before I began to wonder where on earth Dog's owner was. There's was no one calling for Dog. (Neah by this point had smelled the moose and begun to flip her ish in solidarity with Dog). I watched as Dog chased Big Girl across the parking lot and into the trees, a sort of two steps/bounds/hops forward three back affair, until they eventually disappeared into the yard that leads to the illegal gambling ring house.

Realizing i had stuck gold for the blog, i stayed at the window....still wondering where the hell owner was. Finally, about a minute or two after Dog chased Big Girl into the trees (they weren't far because i could still clearly hear the barking), owner sauntered up the sidewalk and strolled over to see where Dog had gone. Mind you, Dog is snarling and barking and clearly moving farther away. Owner yelled "Come" repeatedly---which i assume in dog language means "you go get that moose Dog!!" before yelling DAMMIT DOG COME HERE, tying his shoes and trekking into the woods after them--all of this in a truly laisse faire, i am sure the dog will mind me and come back here, non-chalant kind of way.

What ensued was 15 minutes of yelling, barking, and the sound of the yelling and barking getting more distant.

I began to fret that there would be no ending for this epic story---i mean, clearly i had to figure out what was going to happen so i would have a decent story to tell all of you. i remained glued to the window, peering between the slats like the creepy old lady who spies on the neighborhood children. Another 15 minutes of relative silence and then i saw a shadow come down the street.....holding its hat and muttering. It was owner and owner was NOT followed, although he kept lookin over his shoulder like he thought it would magically be there, by either Big Girl or Dog.

So far, no lost dog listing on craigslist...so i am hoping they found him.

"moose don't scare us, we scare moose!"

"that's a good one right?" he asks in response to my question about the title of this post. Adam is refusing to write it himself....so that means the story will undoubtedly end up much more exciting and enthralling than it really was.

he came back in the house (read: hovel) from a long walk with neah in the snow and low double digit weather and said, "um...so...". my heart kind of froze for a second, but i could see neah and hear adam, so i figured, whatever it was, they were still alive. first a momentary preamble, adam likes to let neah run around off lease up the street in this weird deserted turn around with a creepy cabin in the woods. it makes me nervous because its wooded and when she gets stuck on the opposite side of something that frightens her from us, she tends to run the wrong way. Anyways, he started again...so we found the moose.

Next to the creepy little deserted cabin in the woods, there's a turnoff that appears to be where the driveway plow push all the snow. if you walk down it, you are raised up on a small hill and can see all of southeast anchorage through the treetops. Clearly, the best view of southeast anchorage is from the top of the snowplow snow pile. So, loose Neah and Adam were headed to check out the view. the snow is super light and dry right now, so it makes a musical crunching noise--sounds pretty and really great for not getting snuck up on by anything. Anyways, Neah was leading the way and was about to start up the mound when, rising like a "moose out of the snow, a moose rose out of the snow just on the other side of the snow pile." This is maybe 5 feet from Adam and 3 feet from Neah. As Adam points out, where else can you accidently sneak up on a moose?!

Adam's not a good story teller, so here's my exaggeration of what happened next. The moose, having been rudely awakened and not quite yet all with the program, stared at Adam and Neah. Lucikly for Adam, Neah chases you if you so much as jog somewhere (herder instincts). So, when Adam turned and bolted, Neah chased along after him. Also, lucky for Adam because i might have sacrificed him to the moose if she hadn't. He ran, with Neah nipping at his heels like it was a great game, checking over his shoulder to make sure the semi-conscious moose wasn't giving chase too. Nope, moosey just wanted to go back to its nice peaceful nap....and here they were, back in the hovel, only slightly surprised and apparently no worse for the wear.

And thus ends our Sunday adventures. Hope all of you have an adventure filled day too ;)

Neighborhood Moose Watch

Last night Adam came in and said there was evidence of a moose outside. I went onto moose watch. I was like the crazy neighbor from neighborhood watch who peers eerily out the window, eyes freakishly scanning back and forth in seach of any movement. Alas. nothing. I was paranoid at 630....standing outside, looking for steaming nostrils amongst the trees. Moose do not like dogs. How close could i keep Neah so that if i had to grab her to save her from the hooves of terror, i could?? If anyone needed evidence the Bar exam makes for crazy people, we have case in point.

Then, this morning at 10am i found le moose. It was far enough away, the end of our driveway, that it didn't see me before i wrangled little miss i-eat-only-carpet back up the stairs. I went out with the camera but it had vanished. Then, it reappeared. Oh boy. evidence of a moose. a wild manical animal tat was no doubt going to eat me and the dog. Or ignore us both, but definitely the first because what kind of story would it be if there weren't death and demise.

Anyways. I thought it was gone. I resumed my freakish neighborhood-moose-watch. Finally my keen exray eyes located moose. She was lying just on the other side of these trees on the right in the pic above. Hmmm. Close enough to get a picture (20 feet or so), too wooded to get a great one. And some little random bird was hopping around chirping at her. Clearly, the bird hadn't seen the hooves.

Point is. Moosey is in the middle in all these shots.

 
 

Hole 17: Frisbee Golf

Date: October 12, 2010

Location: Kincaid Park, Anchorage, AK

Adam and Josh were on Hole: 17

Large Obstacles: 3

Solution: Skip hole 17