Moose: Tasty

We have eaten the moose! And it was good!



Chris made yummy mooseburgers last night (more pictures of the process, including exciting shots of raw ground moose patties, here), and now I can finally put a check mark next to the name of yet another of our earth's beautiful creatures, thus indicating that it was tasty.

Moose is a lean meat, so you have to add some fat to it to make a decent burger -- Chris added pancetta, so there were undertones of high-class bacon in the burger, but I could also taste the moosiness. It was pretty mild, actually (and not that different from beef, to tell the truth, but who cares).

I also saw another (live) moose across the street yesterday while I was out walking with Soren. It looked like Baby Shark. I couldn't see Mama Shark anywhere, which made me uneasy, so we didn't stick around too long.

Another Thing that Came in the Mail

The latest copy of Parents magazine arrived today, and inside were some exciting super bonus stickers:



The first and second rows make sense, but what exactly does the third row mean?

Mediocre job!
I'm slightly worried about you!
Mommy loves you, but you're a little scary sometimes!
You're adorable but also slightly pathetic, like a puppy with three legs!

Best. Names. Ever.

Some of you know that I have a running list of the Best Names Ever. There are plenty of names that are funny or stupid (a lawyer named John Lawyer; an L.A. Kings fan's daughter named Silver Ann Black; any of the names on the Best Utah Baby Names list; &c), but only a select few truly awesome names make it on my list. I am very discriminating. I don't know if I can remember all of them right now (they're written on some Post-It Notes back in Rhode Island), but here are some of them:

Eddie Fightmaster
Dick Stretch (Chris's 7th grade gym teacher)
Rich Person
Vance Studley
Manchu Poon
Lockhart Steele

Today, dear friends, was a very special day; another name was added to the list. I just opened up the mailbox, and there it was:



It's a thing of beauty.

Insights into the Toddler Mind

Soren's vocabulary is growing every day, and I think it's just the coolest thing. I love knowing what he's thinking about.

The funniest thing he does at the moment: he throws his arm into the air and announces "DONE!" when he feels it's time to move on to a different activity. It started as a way to tell me when he was finished eating, but now he's expanded its use to try to put an end to diaper changes, shopping trips, naps, and visits to friends' houses (sorry, AlaskanMama! Nothing personal, I'm sure!). He says "DONE!" as soon as his butt hits the changing table. Nice try.

He's in his crib right now, saying "Done. Mama. Done. Mama." However, I haven't heard any actual napping going on yet, so I'm going to ignore him. If I ignore him for five minutes or so and he still wants to get up, he'll get truly desperate and start asking for Daddy.

He's been a total wuss about going outside lately, which is bugging me because I would like to see the sun occasionally during my six-hour window of opportunity, and I can't really go for a walk without him. I bring him out anyway, trying to play up the fun and excitement of tromping around in the snow, but he's not buying it. He puts up with it for about 8.5 minutes before starting up with "House. House. Book. Lap. Book. Lap." Which, okay, is really freaking cute. My little boy is telling me that he'd rather be in the house, sitting on my lap and reading a book. I love that. It almost makes up for his bizarre distaste for sledding.

In other news, we went to a craft bazaar gift extravaganza thing last weekend and got two excellent Alaskan souvenirs: a cribbage board made out of a caribou antler, and a hammered iron fire poker with a little Dall sheep head on the top (not a real sheep head... it's also made of iron... just wanted to make that clear).

OH OH OH AND we have some real actual moose meat in the freezer! Chris managed to pick some up on his trip to Fairbanks! Plz send moose recipes kthx.

Along for the Ride

Here's how Soren generally looks while he's riding in the sled:



And experiencing the joys of eating snow (he didn't feel like wearing his gloves... big surprise):

Sledding: Not So Bad

I've taken Soren out sledding a couple times, and he seems to be OK with it -- it's not laugh-out-loud excitement yet, but he at least seems enthusiastic about climbing the hill for another run. It doesn't take too long before he starts saying "house," though, indicating that he'd like to go home.

I'll have to get a picture of him riding home in the sled (I tie my scarf to a handle and pull him home). He just lies flat on his back, arms out, staring at the sky.

Snow Big Deal

It's like some fundamental law of the universe that a blog post title must be witty. Or, you know, be an attempt at wittiness. I'm not sure I'm always successful.

Anyway, it's snowing! For real this time! It's snowed a few times before this, but yesterday was the first day that there was any meaningful amount of snow left on the ground after it stopped falling from the sky, and it started snowing again last night. It looks like it's pretty much done for the day, but there are a few inches on the ground! Yay! Now I can try and force Soren to sled again.

While I'm here, I'm going to have to change my attitude about snowy days. In Rhode Island, everyone makes a fairly big deal about snow (cleaning all the grocery stores out of bread and milk is something Rhode Islanders like to do in preparation for two inches of snow). So on a snowy day in RI, chances are good that you'll get out of work early, and no one will really expect you to go anywhere after that, so it's a great excuse to sit around and watch TV or maybe take a walk around the neighborhood. In sum, snowy day = slothfulness.

In Anchorage, though, people spend good money on studded tires, because it's a given that there will be snow on the roads pretty much constantly between November and May. So a snowy day is... just another day to go out and live your life. Go to work, go to school, go to the grocery store, all that fun stuff. So much for my slothfulness. I guess I'll have to start practicing driving in the snow.

Come to think of it, I don't even know if they have snow days in Anchorage schools. I'll have to look that up.

Wheeeee/Waaaah

We drove up to Glen Alps on Saturday to see if there was any sledding to be done -- boy, was there! They must have had eight inches of snow. There were a ton of people up there with skis and snowboards.



We bundled Mr. Baby up in his brand-new snowsuit, busted out the brand-new toboggan, and got ready for the hilarity and excitement to begin!



Unfortunately, I think there were too many brand-new things going on, because Soren's attitude toward sledding was... lukewarm. And by lukewarm, I mean tearful.



Oh well. I'm sure he'll love sledding eventually. He'd better! I love sledding, and I need a cohort!

When You're a Moose You're a Moose All the Way

The moose excitement just hasn't let up! Yesterday evening, Soren and I were witness to a full-on moose turf war on our street. It was totally SWEET. The family of three (I will call them the Sharks) were chasing a lone male (I will call him Mr. Jet) through the neighborhood. Mr. Shark actually knocked Mr. Jet down at one point, and then Mr. and Mrs. Shark took off down the road after him. Baby Shark was trailing behind, looking a little confused. Maybe someday he will broker a peace between the two moose gangs. I believe that calves are our future.

The Sharks must have found some nicer grazing grounds this morning, because I got a video of Mr. Jet (I think) chilling on our neighbor's lawn. There was a moose sleeping on their lawn last night, too. I guess their place is the moose community center.

Note to Self

Do not go on walks without camera.

Soren and I took a little stroll on the coastal trail and found ourselves about 20 feet away from a family of three moose (maybe the same ones that were in our neighborhood the other night). They were downhill and on the other side of a high railing, so we weren't in any danger, and they were completely blasé about our presence anyway! Dang it, I really wish I'd been able to take a picture. Maybe we'll see them again tomorrow.

Happy Halloween from Big Oil

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween yesterday! It pays to have connections in this town -- Soren got to show off his bluebird costume at the ConocoPhillips Halloween party. A friend of a friend was willing to invite some people she didn't even know (i.e. us), so we got to see how the corporate types and their kids like to party down. It turns out that a multi-billion dollar company knows how to throw a party. Well, it wasn't super-swanky -- there was just a lot going on, and lots of free food. The party was spread over four floors of the building (we only made it to two floors because Soren was getting tired), and there were all kinds of games, balloon animals, a juggler, face painting, two real owls, and really good cookies. Soren was impressed, and so he wouldn't stand still for me to take his picture.




By the time it was dark enough to trick-or-treat (after Soren's afternoon nap), he was pretty much all done with the costume-wearing, so we stayed in.

Does anyone want some candy? We only had two parties of trick-or-treaters come by last night, so I'm left staring at a bowl full of Butterfingers, almond Snickers and Nestle Crunch. Stupid candy. Almost as tempting as the internet.

Country Moose, City Moose

I've seen a few country moose since we got here, but no city moose -- until Tuesday night! A friend came over and announced on her arrival that there was a family of three moose in the neighbor's yard. I said a quick goodbye to my darling husband (he's in Rhode Island right now, and we miss him and all, but come on! THREE MOOSE!), and ran out with my camera to try and get a picture. By most standards, I failed, but here's the evidence anyway:



The moose in question were munching peacefully on the neighbors' landscaping. Hopefully they'll come back during the daylight hours so I can get a better picture.

Speaking of daylight, I'm almost looking forward to the end of daylight savings, because sunrise is currently at NINE-THIRTY. Yeah. On the other hand, we only get a little bit of a break when the clocks are turned back, because sunrise will creep back up to 9:30 by November 24th.