Strange Morning

I was sleeping quite soundly at about 6:20 am a few days ago when all of a sudden my dog, Olive, started barking wildly outside our window. I yelled at her to stop, but she kept barking frantically. Del looked out the window and said, "We've got a policeman in our back yard." My first thought was, "Crap! I haven't weeded my flowerbeds in the backyard! How embarrassing!" My second, more coherent thought was, "Oh no! We've had a creepy Peeping Tom or burglar and the police are after him!" Fortunately, I was wrong, but the truth was slightly more bizarre.

I wasn't about to go outside with messy hair, no makeup, morning breath, AND weedy flowerbeds, so I sent Del to investigate! When he came back inside after talking to the policeman, he said that there was a moose spotted running down the freeway. My yard backs up to the freeway, and apparently the moose hopped over the fence and into a backyard a few houses away and then ran through all of the yards along my street! It crashed through the bushes that separate mine and a neighbor's yards and then ran down several other streets! I wish I had seen it! Apparently, Olive did, and she didn't like it one bit! The only pictures we got of our strange visitor are these, which show a footprint next to the pear tree we just planted and a bare spot in the bushes. Darn!

Fortunately for us, our high-tech security system got a picture of the miscreant as it trotted by!What a strange way to start a day! We're thinking of posting a sign in our backyard to warn Peeping Toms and burglars of the potential hazards of sneaking around our yard. Moose can be quite dangerous, you know.