Close Encounters of the Moose Kind

Vacation mostly means reading, not cooking, cleaning, but still writing for me. I'm not sure I can take a vacation from writing. My head just goes on doing what it does anyway, but with much better scenery and much better inspiration. I write western historicals and this country is full of history and evidence of that. And for poetry. Actually, this writer's haven.

So, pack up trailer and head up to the high Uinta mountains for fishing, hiking, spotting animals, looking at wonderful scenery, seeing cattle ranchers at work and nature, hearing the whispers of bygone days. Perfect. The fishing is mostly for my husband and I go along when he goes down at the shore of the reservoir, but when the fishing is slow, often I wander back to the truck to read.

I was deep into Kaki Warner's new book Bride of the High Country when for some reason I looked up and saw a few other fishers pointing behind the truck. Of course, I looked.
The black dot was a moose. Slowly I put the bookmark in my book. I didn't want to lose my place, then got out my camera. I slipped out of the truck, but left the door open, afraid shutting the door would scare the moose, and I started shooting.

He got closer.

This was my picture of when he stopped and looked at me. No, there is not a moose in this picture. I was trying to remember if he was one of those animals you do  not want to look in the eyes. I think he was trying to figure out if I was a threat.

I almost missed this one, too. I was busy trying to start my heart again.

Finally, a full picture.

Peace reigns and my heart is almost normal. I told my husband, if I had had my big camera I would have much better pictures. Yeah, right.