Bye bye, Mister Moose! *snif*

Finally, the shirt is dry and I can get him dressed, with his new little red socks to match. We've got a brand new box, we've got bubble wrap, and we've got packing tape. Let's do it!

Farewell, Mister Moose. I'm going to miss you, little guy!

Well, it's done. He's in his little nest of bubble wrap, all snug and comfy, and the box is addressed to Tricia in Wisconsin. Tomorrow during lunch, I'll run him up to UPS.

It was a pleasure hosting Mister Moose, seeing and experiencing things through his eyes. I know Tricia and her family are going to have a blast with him! Have a good trip, Mister Moose - I miss you already!

Waiting for the shirt to dry

As I was gathering Mister Moose's belongings together, I realized that I had a few things to add to his "luggage". Item 1 is a small, Mister Moose-sized rubber ball, which I found on the cruise ship. There were these little alcoves in the elevator bank that you could step into and look down upon the promenade. Well, I stepped into one of them one day, and there was the ball, right there on the floor. There was not a soul around, so there was no one to whom I could return it. I decided to give it to Mister Moose. He doesn't play catch very well, but if you ever need someone to just sit there and hold a ball between his front hooves, Mister Moose is your man!

We're still waiting on the shirt; it's got those knitted cotton bands that take forever to dry, around the sleeves and the waist. OK, around the bottom; Mister Moose doesn't really have a waist to speak of. Anyhow, above we have Mister Moose all lined up with his possessions. Look, he's got something new!

As mentioned previously, Mister Moose collected some sea shells on the beach yesterday. I gave them a nice bleach bath and rinsed and dried them well, then put them in a little Mister Moose-sized jar.

Mister Moose Prepares To Travel!

Well, all good things must come to an end, and Mister Moose's company has been a GOOD thing! Today is the day we get him ready for travel and pack him and his belongings carefully for shipment. Above, Mister Moose displays his moosely physique; his Mickey Mouse shirt is in the dryer at the moment.

Mister Moose needs to freshen up some, so after ascertaining that no one in Tricia's house is allergic to Febreze, I give him a couple of squirts. Well, he was pretty damp after that, so below, you can see that he joined his shirt in the dryer for a few minutes. He came out all fluffy, warm and fresh. Also dizzy.

Mister Moose Freezes On The Beach

We've been having a cold front come through here in Southwest Florida. I awakened Mister Moose VERY early so we could meet some friends who were taking advantage of recent high seas brought on by the cold front, combined with an early morning low tide. Above, Mister Moose rides in the bucket as we trudge up the path to a beach on West Gulf Drive. After a while, Mister Moose tucked himself inside my jacket, partially because the bucket was now filled with dead sea urchins, but mostly because he was damned cold!

Mister Moose was happy to play in the shells while I ran around looking for treasures. He made some marvelous finds in this little pile.

The rest of the day, my friends and I were traversing some rough terrain, and Mister Moose decided to stay in the car, burrow under the towels in my beach bag, and catch up on his beauty rest. He's gearing up for a long journey....

A treat for the traumatized

I decided that after so much drama this evening, Mister Moose needed a treat. So we rifled through a display of mini-beach bags until we found one that was a little on the "manly" side. I do believe it will hold Mister Moose's growing sock collection, and maybe his shell collection, too!

He had quite an evening, didn't he? I just heard that pretty soon, Mister Moose will be traveling to the wilds of Wisconsin, to stay with Tricia and her family for a while. Over the next few days, I'll be busy collecting and packing Mister Moose's duds and finding a nice comfortable box to ship him out. Perhaps we can squeeze in ONE more adventure before he departs, but I'm not sure... stay tuned!

First that @#$% bird, now this!

Well, I guess he wasn't paying very close attention to "When Animals Attack" after all, was he? Mister Moose encountered this rather unfriendly fellow inside the shop. Once again, he was rescued before any real harm was done. When asked whatever he was thinking, he said, "Well, it looked so EASY when that guy on TV did it....". I think we are going to have to curtail Mister Moose's TV-watching going forward.

Mister Moose Rides A Flamingo

After dinner, we decided to drop in on a friend who was preparing to close down shop for the night. Outside the shop was a wonderful and gracious flamingo, who readily agreed to pose with Mister Moose.

That was excellent!

We gave our dinner a thumbs up! If Mister Moose had thumbs, his would be up too. As is our custom, we try to eat only half of what's on our plate, because restaurants feed you too damned much anyway.

Tempting the moose

One of my friends tries to entice Mister Moose with a FRIED coconut shrimp. However, she seriously underestimates the willpower of Mister Moose. He steadfastly refused the offer, and stuck to the broiled grouper, rice pilaf, and steamed veggies we had ordered.

They wish to remain anonymoose

My friends think I'm out of my mind, taking pictures of a moose, and don't wish to be featured on Mister Moose's blog. They proceed to hide behind their menus. Perhaps I should lure them to The Lodge, where they can be assimilated into the borg...

Mmmm, seafood!

The fillet mignon is excellent here, but we're watching our cholesterol. Therefore, Mister Moose and I will be ignoring the "turf" section of the menu, and concentrating on the "surf" section.

Timbers Restaurant, Sanibel Island, Florida

We've arrived at Timbers Restaurant. The ground level is parking, underneath the building, and the restaurant is a flight of stairs above, with a wide porch. Mister Moose snuggled on the railing so we could get a shot of him with palm trees all lit up for the holidays in the background.

The Mauling of Mister Moose

The red arrow shows Lexi's powerful and mighty claw, as he attempts to drag Mister Moose off to his Lair of Doom. We stopped rolling film at this point, and Mister Moose was rescued by Gary before any real damage could occur. Sufficiently traumatized, Mister Moose retreated to the bottom of my purse, where he threatened to remain for the duration of the evening.

I mentioned that we were about to go out to one of Sanibel's finest restaurants, and that Lexi wasn't coming with us. He perked right up. Mister Moose does love his fine dining experiences.

Uh-oh....

Mister Moose sits up just a little; you can tell cause you can see his eye now. Lexi unfurls his menacing headress, and strikes a threatening pose...

Confrontation!

Gary decides to try and speed things along. "Look, it's a nice moose; it won't hurt you." Mister Moose, long-suffering and patient fellow that he is, plays along for the sake of politeness, but I can tell that he's almost had enough...

Moose plays possum

While I was laid up on the sofa being sick, Mister Moose had the benefit of exposure to several episodes of "When Animals Attack". He knows that he must remain still and calm while Lexi goes through the motions of stalking him...

Hmmm, what have we here?

Lexi is not so sure about this Moose guy, and will only check him out from the perimeter of the kitchen's center island.

Mister Moose Meets Lexi

We arrived on Sanibel Island circa 6:00 PM this evening, and drove straight to my friend Gary's house. Gary is papa to two very pretty birds. Here, we are introducing Lexus, aka Lexi, to Mister Moose. Lexi's sister, Lotus, sits quietly in her cage in the background.

Where has Mister Moose been?

Well, poor old Tink *~*~* caught a good old fashioned Noo Yawk rhinovirus, which hit her hard circa 10:00 PM on Christmoose Eve. Ever since then, Mister Moose has been tenderly taking care of poor old Tink *~*~*, trying to nurse her back to health. He even sat on her lap during the arduous plane ride back to Southwest Florida. He patted her arm and said, "There, there!" a lot during the flight. OK, so he can't talk, and he can't pat either - but I just know from the soulful look of sympathy in his eyes that he WANTED to. Anyhow, we've been languishing at home lo these many days, waiting for poor old Tink *~*~* to be better.

Today was the day we were going to hit the beach at Sanibel Island. Alas, it POURED, and it's not even rainy season. We did end up going out to dinner on the island with friends this evening. Mister Moose certainly deserved a night out, after toiling over Tink's *~*~* sickbed for a whole week. Will post some photos momentarily!