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.