Moose amore

This big guy finally came to eat the pumpkin innards we threw in the yard for him and his friends. Bob beat him to to the punch the first night and ate his fair share of pumpkin guts. Surprisingly, I didn't wake up to the charming sound of him regurgitating the latest treasure he ingested onto my carpet as I usually do. I'd read that pumpkin can be soothing to a dog's stomach and it seems to be true in this case. Thank goodness.

I love the way moose have to get on their knees to eat things off the ground. Those long legs are a bit of a hindrance when the prize is ground level. His head only reaches to about the second floor. I suppose this is why their natural diet consists of bushes, branches, and things that stick out of the snow.

It also seems their natural diet includes my flowers. At least they waited until they were dead this year.

After his snack he peered in the window to see who was spying on him. I was still out on the porch watching him watch us.

My friend Lori that was visiting had left a mere 12 hours before this bull showed up. She had been waiting to see a moose. We saw a cow and her calf earlier but I was bummed that she didn't see this handsome guy. 

He came back later that evening with lady friend to finish off the jack o'lanterns that had been sitting there frozen since Halloween. No need to worry about our pumpkins getting rotten and moldy this year. They froze and hour after we stuck them outside and stayed that way. This bull was feeling pretty amorous towards his lady friend and I seriously thought we were about to witness some birds and bees moose action on our front walk and was worried that they would crush the bench that they kept running around. That would definitely be a first. Lady friend rebuffed his advances, or at least had the good sense to find someplace more private where they weren't being spied on by a family of four and their two watchful dogs, and wandered off into the woods with him close behind.

I hope it works out better for you next time, pal.

BFFs

My gorgeous friend that I've known since she was born came to visit. She and my father share a birthday. Our parents were out to dinner celebrating my dad's birthday when her mom went into labor. So when I say we've known each other since birth I'm being literal.

She has come to visit me in every state that I have lived in. No small feat considering I've lived on the Gulf Coast and the Gulf of Alaska and in between. Many many miles she has traveled to see me. She's one of those lifelong friends that has helped me get into trouble as many times as she has helped me get out of trouble. She's the one who convinced me that her parents were ok with us smashing all the eggs from the chicken coop. Really, we could throw them against the wall of the coop to see what happens, she says. We found out what happens.What happens is that her parents were not ok with that.

 But she is also the one who bought me a pregnancy test and forced me to take it and held my hand and let me cry and drove me to the health department when I found out I was pregnant in college. She told me everything would be alright. She was right. Now I have the most beautiful family in the world.

 I flew home six months ago to be in her wedding. I've never been more excited for a wedding than I have been for hers. I'd never seen her happier in my life. Her joy was my joy and no one deserves that happiness more than she. We are very different. We spent much of our childhood arguing the way sisters do, but we have the common bond of shared childhoods, joys, and heartaches. She conjures up a fierce sense of loyalty in me that I have reserved only for family. Which makes sense because she is not just a childhood friend. She is Aunt Lori to my kids. She is family.