He just kept coming back all morning. We'd look out at the salt lick and he was there, then gone several times. At one point I went out to the bird feeder to add some craisins to it and I look up and there he is walking out of the forest, straight for the meadow -- and for me! I just walked slowly back to the cabin and he walked into the meadow.

He doesn't seem to be bothered by us at all. Now we are certain that this is the same young bull moose that visited us last year. He thinks of this as his home, obviously, so I guess we've adopted a moose. Names anyone? Should we have a poll?

He wandered over to the stump where we had a mineral block last year and licked it for a while. I guess we need a new one when we go into town tomorrow. 

After checking out the stump and finding nothing much there he walked back over to the salt lick and laid down, still licking. We finally gave up waiting for him to leave and took the girls out on leads in the opposite direction and went for a walk. Once away from the cabin area we let them off for some much needed excercise.

If you've followed this blog for very long, you know that I hate pack rats. For some background read eRATication.

Upon arrival at the cabin last Sunday, we were thrilled to see that no rodent had invaded the cabin interior. However, we were equally disgusted to find a huge pack rat nest on the front deck under our stacks of firewood.

You can see the edges of the nest poking out from under the wood racks in this photo.

There was nothing to do but laboriously move the wood and the racks and clean up underneath. It was unpleasant work, especially with the smell.

A nice warm, but smelly nest.

The pack rat had used some peppers from a ristra we had hanging on the deck to decorate his nest. There was also a cozy sleeping area made out of some kind of insulation--I have not figured out where it came from yet. And, the critter had eaten away at some of the log chinking and got to the foam core between the logs. That made nice bedding, too.

We used shovels and pick axes, along with brooms and mops to clean up. Lynne even took a scaper to the mess to get up what she could. I'll need to rent a power washer to clean up any further.

RIP RAT

At one point we were startled by the rat itself making an appearance. Don't let his cuteness fool you. Pack rats are evil creatures.  I'll let the story end there.

Up at 5:45 a.m. this morning. I opened the front curtains and saw something brown down by the salt lick. At first I thought it was just a tree, but then I saw it licking. Finally – a moose! I tried a few shots through the screen on the front porch but they weren't good, so I snuck up on him outside, sticking close to the side of the cabin. He wasn't bothered by me at all.

I think it might be the young moose we had last year since he's so raggedy. Maybe he has scabies? Or maybe it's an injury.

He was in no hurry to leave and we had just fed the girls and they needed to have their morning pee. We waited. And we waited. Finally I knew Hailey was crossing her legs so we put them on leads and took them out the back of the cabin away from Mr. Moose. 

He's gone now, on to whatever moose do with their days. If he becomes a frequent visitor we might just have to name him.