The Elusive Moose

“When’s the best time to see a moose?”  That’s probably the hardest question to answer any time of the year.  The best time, unfortunately, is when the moose doesn’t know you’re there.  And that’s almost impossible.

See, moose have these huge, hairy ears that pick up the slightest noise.  They hear everything. Ask any hunter and you’ll get stories about a twig breaking, chewing gum snapping, a metal grommet clinking or even the infamous muffled sneeze.  And yes, in that brief second, that moose is gone.

I’m one lucky Vermonter.  I’ve seen “our” moose five times between 2006 and 2010.  The first time was Spring 2006 along route 7 in the Mt. Tabor area of the Green Mountain National Forest.  Brian and I were driving along and he said “Did you see the moose?”  Of course, I had missed it, being the driver and having to concentrate on the road, so we turned around and went back and there he was, a young bull moose, wallowing in the water, happily munching down all sorts of plants.  We pulled into the parking area, got out, and leaned on the car just watching him eat.  Within about 20 minutes the parking lot was filled up and the moose, instead of walking away, turned around and faced all of us in the parking lot.  This was when I first decided that “our” moose was a camera hound and had a sense of humor.   He stayed there eating, watching the people, “posing” for pictures, for a good 45 minutes.  When he left, he just sauntered deeper into the woods, taking his time, never even looking back to see if he was followed.

We felt very lucky to have seen him.  Other people were commenting that they had never seen a live moose before.  One fellow had lived in Vermont all his 75 years and this was his first moose sighting.  He had taken lots of photos and was going home to get them up on his Facebook page and send to his family.  I had seen tracks before, but never seen a moose in the wild.  Little did I know that the moose and I would have an interesting relationship in the future.

Apparently, the Silas Griffith Inn is right on the Moose Highway from Danby Mountain to the Green Mountain National Forest.  I would find moose tracks in muddy areas, moose scat on the trails, and occasionally strands of hair caught in the berries after the moose was helping himself to the newly ripened blackberries.  But one morning in May, around 4:30 AM, I was awakened by the dogs.  All three of them were barking at the window.  Then they stopped and I heard this unearthly noise and looked out the window.  There, in the field beyond the gazebo, was the moose, bellowing.  He stopped, and the dogs started barking again.  He shook his head, and wandered off.  Eventually the dogs calmed down, but I wasn’t able to fall back asleep.  I got up and started getting ready for the day.

All our guests wanted to know what that “awful noise” was in the middle of the night when they came down to breakfast.  I explained, and we went up to the field, where I showed them the tracks and fresh scat.  Everybody was excited, and some guests even set their alarms so they could see the moose.  But he didn’t bellow the next morning, and no one saw him in the moonless pre-dawn light, although he did visit, as evidenced by his fresh tracks.

A year later I saw him in my garden eating the baby peas.  I was not amused as I watched him munch down one whole section after another.  But I wasn’t going to argue – he was taller than I was and I could plant more peas.  That’s actually the only time I ever caught him in the garden, although he does eat from the apple trees all the time.  He’s a very picky eater and will sample apples, taking only a bite to see if he likes it, leaving the apple if it doesn’t meet his standards, and finishing it if he does.  I’ve found a lot of half eaten apples still hanging on the trees with huge, moose toothmarks.

Over the next few years he only woke me up twice more.  I think the dogs got used to him and just didn’t bother to bark anymore.  But he bellowed, and I looked out and saw him, a beautiful moose, king of the area, telling the world that this was his land and we were just temporary interlopers.  And when you’re 6 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh over 1,500 lbs, well, I’m not going to argue.

So, c’mon up to Vermont, where moose tracks abound.  Maybe you’ll be one of the lucky few allowed to see our camera happy moose.  But even if you never see him, just remember, he’s watching your every move.

The Thaw

Its finally here! After 8 weeks of snow, icicles from the gutter to the ground, 10 foot tall snow piles from the plow and needing to wear 15 layers to stay warm, The Thaw is finally here.

One the one hand, I'm ecstatic. The snow is melting just enough to make snowmen and snowforts again. The frozen lumps of ice the plow never gets are gone from the driveway. Its warm enough to follow the deer tracks, bird watch and even stargaze and watch for shooting stars without risking frostbite.

But on the other hand, I hate The Thaw. I've just gotten used to the cold. I automatically put on my long johns in the morning and then my boots. The paths are finally tromped perfectly and solid for walking. The sledding hill is fast and banked perfectly. With The Thaw, the sleds stick, the paths collapse and I'm too hot in my jacket in the balmy 34 degrees F. The crust is weak, so that dogs and humans now sink up to their knees in the wet snow. And now, we have a flood watch for the next 3 days, because the melting snow has no place to go. The rivers are iced over, the ground is frozen, the melting, running water melts more snow and becomes a raging river and will find someplace downhill to go, which is usually a few basements, the floodplains by the rivers, and a few roads.

Yet the worst part of The Thaw is yet to come. February. Eventually January will be over and the Vermont Mid-Winter-Summer will be done. Those hardy folks who have been skiing in shorts and t-shirts will once again bundle up 15 layers deep. We'll huddle under blankets, throw another log on the fire, and count the days until March and Sugaring Season. We'll watch the woods for those tell-tale signs of spring - the colored tubing for the sugar lines that "sprout" in late February. And, if we are lucky, February will bring enough snow to refresh the paths, refreeze the lake and give us a beautiful Spring Ski Season.

But for now, I'll enjoy the tropical heat wave and start planning the garden, because sometime, somewhere, someday, it will be Spring in Vermont, someplace.

Happy New Year 2010!!!

While 2009 started out just fine, it seems that I couldn't wait until I saw it end. With the economy, war, terrorism, freaky weather and everything else its hard to remember the good things about 2009, or if there were any good things at all. But let's see what happened.

Up here in Vermont, we again had one of the wettest years on record. The rain started in April and went all summer, all the way through September and into October. The good thing about the rain was we had an awesome Leaf Season with color lasting almost 6 weeks, and temperatures in the 60's almost to Halloween. We had a true Indian Summer for once.

The rain also was great for some vegetables. We harvested over 200 lbs of zucchini and about 100 lbs of summer squash in our little garden out back. Peppers did well, as did all the herbs and the quince bushes. But the wet was bad for the Rye and hay crops. And for tomatoes. We had 4 beautiful patches of tomatoes in the beginning of summer and lost 2 of them to the blight. I saw with my own eyes proof that the blight was wind born. 2 of the patches were in the open and they were totally decimated by the blight in a mere 24 hours. 2 other patches were shielded from the wind and did not get the blight at all and we got lovely, huge all natural tomatoes out of both patches.

Looking back at my gardening notebook, I'm amazed we had a garden at all. June 1, 2009 gave us a killing frost at 22 degrees F. We lost everything we had planted and had to start all over. Luckily my niece and I had planted 2 batches of seedlings 3 weeks apart so we had plants to go in, but many people were not that lucky.

We also experienced first hand the bee problem. Our corn grew to a wonderful height of over 7 feet tall, but did not get pollinated so the ears never developed. So, this year we will either borrow a beehive or learn how to pollinate corn ourselves.

The best part of 2009 was hosting wonderful people at the Inn. We are very lucky and have many guests who return year after year and we are very thankful and appreciative. We also met many new and wonderful people and their families and hope to see many back again.

We also hosted couples and families from Switzerland, Sweden, England, France, Norway, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, China, Japan, India, and Jamaica. Thank you to all of out International guests for sharing traditions, stories, and spending part of your vacation with us.

On the Nature front here at the Inn, we had 3 pairs of hummingbirds this summer. Sitting around the pool you could watch them dart in and out of the lilies and bees balm, and one of the Ruby-Throated males even would come down and hover by guests, as if he was introducing himself. Watching them zip and zing all over was wonderful fun. Other birds identified this year include the Pileated Woodpecker, the Red Eyed Vireo, Ruffed Grouse, Golden Eagle, Wild Turkey, and although I never saw it I found tail feathers from a pheasant in the field.

There is a young moose who lives in the neighborhood and he made his way through the yard every morning all spring. I saw him twice in 2009, and saw his tracks and scat every week. We also have a family of White Tail Deer in the area, and the fawns last spring were adorable. Daddy White Tail Deer has learned which garden sections are his and which are mine, thanks to a strategic walking path I take with our Australian Shepherd.

This year we will continue work on the walking paths through the field. We are also moving a few large rocks to make an outdoor sitting area by the apple tree grove for relaxing and picnics. My quest to identify all the wildflowers here at the Inn continues. I never knew there were so many different species of goldenrod!

So, I guess 2009 wasn't all that bad overall. We've managed to reduce costs by replacing almost all the bulbs with compact florescent bulbs, increased our recycling, increased our composting to include applicable paper waste to enhance the soil in the garden. We also discovered an old garden area in spring 2009 when lots of iris started poking up out of a rubble pile in the back area. Spring 2010 will see that area either restored or the plants relocated to a better area for everyone to enjoy.

We are still working diligently on restoring this wonderful old Inn properly, which takes time, sunny weather and lots of hard work. The clapboards were all made in the 1800's by Silas Griffith's lumber mill, as they are stamped on the back with his business stamp. This means hand scraping and painting when they are totally dry so the paint doesn't peel right off due to moisture buildup in the wood. So, section by section we will paint. We also found several more original storm windows in the barn and repainted, re-caulked, repaired and reinstalled them in their proper places. Each of those windows was individually made and only fit 1 window. I felt like I was doing the world's largest 3-d jigsaw puzzle at times, but we found their proper places finally.

So, thank you everyone! Your comments in the books in the rooms have been uplifting and helpful. Thank you to those of you who reviewed us. We appreciate the time you took and are truly grateful for your comments and criticisms. We've learned alot this past year and look forward to applying our knowledge to the years ahead.

Happy New Year!