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Jean McDermott is a freelance writer and professional muscian.
My son Ole has had a beard before. He's tried the King Tut thing all the young men were sporting a while back. I think we were all glad when he shaved it off.
Ole the Norwegian Elkhound, however, doesn't need to shave his off because it will go away as soon as he goes inside.
Since I was paying him so much attention, he decided to tell me what was really on his mind.
What was that? Is there a problem?
Over there? There's a problem over there?
Is it a log or a dog? It is covered in snow. Hmmmm.
Aha! Sofie has the moose antler and she's chewing on YOUR spot! I see!
Well duh, Mom. An' also, I gots dese big radar ears. I bet I cud get us dat dog show on cable! And we don't gots cable!
It's at my house, that's where your moose is. At least this week. Let's see...it all started out like this....
Which was a little startling, at least the part where I was pressed up against the window, shooting video of the Mama moose when suddenly another moose (probably her calf) appears about two inches from me just on the other side of the glass! When I moved the camera to try to refocus, that's when he took off across the yard.
Notice how they totally vanish into a stand of trees. In Alaska moose attack dogs because to a moose, dog=wolf and wolves are one of their main predators. A moose, especially a cow moose, will pre-emptively attack and try to kill any dog. And my dogs are especially wolfy-looking, too. Sofie and I have been chased twice, once by a cow and once by a bull and I'll tell you, it's one of those ultra-adrenaline experiences!
My home is surrounded by trees. Those moose, those 2,000 lb moose and their calves the size of horses can be completely invisible just a few feet from the house! The dogs generally will let me know, once we get outside and sometimes from inside, too. Sometimes even I can smell them, the way the dogs do.
Just yesterday I was driving to work and now the moose about a block away and in the road.
After passing the mama moose, and knowing that I was now between her and her calf, plus with Sofie in full husky/coyote dog yodel (and Ole, getting a few Norwegian Elkhound ARPS in for himself) I was wondering if the cow would run up and whack us from behind. I'm very glad she didn't! Like I said in the video, I was only going about 15mph. I was ready and able to stop if necessary and I knew the calf would run in front of us.
However I didn't expect that when I came home from a long day of teaching, that Mama moose would be standing in my driveway munching away! Once again I slowed down, but it didn't help much. She was kind of sick of me. I bet she was thinking, "Are you following me around in that stupid car?" Her hackles went up and she started stepping toward me, so off we went down the road a bit to avoid making her mad enough to attack us. I was wondering where her calf was, for one thing. I bet that once again, I was between her and her calf. Sofie and her moose yodel weren't helping calm things, either!
Luckily, my neighbor and I share a U-driveway, so I sneaked around the back way and backed in as close to my house as I could get. I just sat there with the engine running, watching her eat willow. I honked the horn and she startled, but then ignored me. Sofie and Ole settled down and quieted down and for about 20 minutes we just idled in front of the house, waiting for it to be safe to get out of the car. Encumbered with two dogs, a backpack and a violin, and the fact that it was about -25°F, I had to plan our escape.
The good thing was that her calf wasn't in our yard. First I eased out of the car, got the front door open and put my pack inside. Then I ferried my violin inside the house and came back for the dogs. Next I grabbed the dog leashes and told the dogs to be vewwy, vewwy quiet, because we were NOT hunting wabbits or moosies or anything else! (I could still see the moose at the end of the driveway!) And miracle of miracles, they were completely silent and cooperative and ran right to the house and we all went inside. I closed the door with a sigh of relief.
Then I made myself a hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps. Ahhhhhh.
Of course the moose are still around. I'm going out and scouting as much as I can before I take the dogs out to their yard, or we stand in front, with them on long leashes and I pray no moose suddenly materialize. The moose will move on in a week or so, but seriously, you never know when and where you'll see one next! That's Alaska!
