As I prepare to move south, I find myself thinking back on my last couple of years in the northeast. It really has been a fantastic adventure, and there are certainly some aspects of living in the north that I will miss: one being the opportunity to see moose.
A few weeks after moving to Vermont, I was sitting in my den with the back door open. I liked being able to feel the wind and watch the mountain. There was a graveyard and a river between the mountain and me . The view was lovely. As I sat there that day, my attention was drawn to the graveyard when I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye. When I looked up I saw a horse! I wondered what in the world a horse was doing in the graveyard. But as I looked more closely I saw its big ears and began to realize that it wasn’t a horse, it was a donkey. Being the southern girl that I am, it took me a few seconds to realize that it wasn’t a horse, and it wasn’t a donkey, it was a moose! This southern girl was in awe.
The moose was huge and gorgeous. She walked out of the graveyard toward me, though she did not see me. I, of course, grabbed my camera and ran out the back door in her direction–stealthily. I had heard that they could be dangerous so I wanted to be respectful. I was able to move in close enough to capture some images of her.
When she finally turned back, she headed for the fence of the graveyard. It was a good four feet high and I was very excited to watch her jump over it; but she didn’t jump over it—she stepped over it! Not even a hop. Just a step. She truly gave me a thrill.
Moose are magnificent animals, and it was always exciting not knowing when I would have the honor of witnessing one of these creatures next. And even though northeast PA doesn’t have moose, Vermont is still close enough for a visit. Georgia, on the other hand, will be quite a hike from Vermont!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi, Carla!
Ohhhhhhh! Nothing scared me more than moose when we lived next to the Yukon River in Alaska. They can be VERY unpleasant. The thing we feared most was encountering a moose on the trail in the winter face-to-face. THEY like the snowmachine trails, too. In fact, so much so that they can create a very dicey situation. Fortunately, for us, the one time we encounter a somewhat belligerent moose, we just sat on the snowmachine, contemplating which direction we would jump (in the 3-foot deep snow!)(the trail was actually 3 feet DOWN from the surface of the snow) when the moose decided to turn around and go back the way it had come. Talk about a sigh of relief! One doesn’t want to mess with mooses!!
(( Elora
WOW!! Nothing like being in the right place at the right moment. They are such majestic animals..and – I too – have been lucky enough to come across them in the backwoods of Vermont!