Moose, Moose, Moose

It seems the colder it gets (usually in the 10s and teens these days), the more moose come out of the woodwork. Let's see, there was the bull moose standing at the entrance to the hospital parking lot, just daring someone to get out of their car and gawk. There was the unfortunate female struck by a car (not ours, thank you) while we were driving to work. Brandon had three, a mother and two babies, loitering at his work and eating the willow bushes. The mother was wearing a big yellow tracking collar. One of the babies relieved himself of his breakfast in front of an employee entrance. There was another yesterday morning near the highway, which prompted a couple motorists to pull over and point. The best, though, was the one Brandon got all to himself. Well, for a few minutes anyway. He dropped the Subaru off for a service on MLK day. It was about 9am, and 14 degrees outside, which was actually pleasant. He decided to walk the couple miles home. Excercise never hurts. After about 30 minutes, he came upon a small park, and standing in the trees nibbling on some bushes was a fully grown female moose. Since it was morning, and a holiday (and 14 degrees), nobody was around. She checked him out for a while, and kept one eye on him as she went back to her breakfast. They were about 30 feet apart, and she couldn't have weighed less than 1000 pounds. It was amazing. And to top it off, when Grizzly Adams got home, he had an ice cube for a beard. We wish we'd taken a picture.

As you can see in the photos, Chloe is walking. She can do it by herself, but she prefers to hold hands. We're really happy to have her walking more and crawling less. It's wonderful to watch, and it keeps the pet hair off her clothes. Malcolm also loves to play dress-up. If you think the cowboy outfit is cool, wait till you see him as an airline pilot. We've also had some good snow over the past few days, and were out in it today. And as you may have heard, our very own Mount St. Augustine has been exploding a bit lately. No waves of lava in Anchorage yet, though.

These days it's snow, work, school, movies at home (mostly Wallace & Gromit) and the frequent and ever fascinating moose. And if you've ever been curious how BIG they are, or you think we're exaggerating a bit, imagine a horse, but taller. And wild, instead of domesticated. And often protecting their young. And sometimes with a rack six feet wide. And looking at you as if to say, try it, schmuck.

We miss you all.