The Moose Relocation Project (Part III)

Packing tape, Sharpie markers, and that "all too much fun" bubble wrap are just a few of the tools needed when packing up a house to move. But when relocating moose across state lines, one also needs time capsules. 

On our last night in our Chicago home, while eating meatballs and pizza (two of our favorite domesticated food products), we reminisced about all the fun times we had over the years! There was also a level of apprehension and excitement in the air about moving to our new home and traveling in time capsules.  Each of us have a unique 'box' or 'bag' story as part of how we arrived at The Moose Room, but none of us had ever traveled in a time capsule before!

Moving day finally arrived and our once filled moose room quickly became empty and sanitized. Without all of us moose, it was just another room. 

Our time capsules were very carefully packed and labeled with love...

...and then something truly "moostifying" happened.

In what felt like mere moments, we were in our new home, in our new room in Jasper. 

Welcome to The Moose Room 2.0

(Note: Clicking on individual pictures will make them larger and easier to view.)

We've already added a few new domesticated food favorites to our list - Wiener Shnitzel from The Schnitzelbank Restaurant,  burgers from The Mill House Restaurant, and Porterhouse steak from Merkley Meats.

We are looking forward to making many new memories here in Jasper (and not just those having to deal with food)!

The Moose Relocation Project (Part II)

So, how many square feet are required to house 275 moose? The short answer is many...many square feet.  

Life is funny sometimes.  The house we all fell in love with (not just us moose, but our Poppy and Moo too) is the one house on the list that our Moo was not impressed with on-line. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, the pictures she saw on the internet did not impress her. Dara O'Neil, our real estate agent, suggested we go take a look anyway, if for no other reason than to rule it out. Boy oh boy, what a sound suggestion that turned out to be!  This house had everything we needed, everything we wanted, and much more.  We had ourselves a winner!

Dara helped us out every step of the way and before we knew it, we were setting a date for the closing, which coincidentally was the same weekend as Jasper's annual Strassenfest.  How lucky we were to be able to take part and see it first hand.  Food, drink, and fun was the overall experience!

The tapping of the keg! 

Mayor Terry Seitz greeting everyone at the start of the Strassenfest.

While at the Strassenfest, our Poppy and Moo met and spoke with Mayor Seitz. When they told him they were new to the area and would be closing on our house the next day, he already knew the story. He said he knows everyone who moves into his town.  :) (We found out later Dara shared "our beginnings" with him of how we came to Jasper and he found our story interesting.) So interesting in fact that Mayor Seitz came to the house closing to personally welcome Poppy and Moo and he had Amanda Chodnicki from Channel 44 News in Evansville come out to tell our story. Our Poppy and Moo were overwhelmed by the kindness and friendliness of everyone they encountered!   

Here is their 15 seconds of fame! 

As soon as the closing was complete, we headed back to Chicago because now the real work had to begin...packing up the old house and most importantly The Moose Room!

Pictures of the Chicago MOOSE ROOM

Stay tuned for Part III of The Moose Relocation Project to see how the moose were transported and the unveiling of their new room! 

You won't want to miss it..It is a beautiful sight to behold!

Pictures from Halloween Past...

We thought before we posted Part II of The Moose Relocation Project, we'd share some of our favorite Halloween costumes and pictures! Sometimes, it's hard to get costumes to fit us moose, but with lots of determination and creativity, I think we came up with some fun ideas over the years! Here are just a few...

Even though our Moo has a sign in her office that states, "The only domestic quality I have is living in a house" she did a great job at ironing our costumes!

007 Moose - James Moose

The Mighty Hunters

The Moose Menagerie with Elephant Moose, Pig Moose, Dolphin Moose and Hunter Moose

Moose McBride

BULL Moose

Rip Van Mooskles...Yawn!

Arrrrrrbbeee Matie!  The Pirate

Who wouldn't want to be a moose?!

Our last Halloween picture at our old house!

What do domesticated moose like to do on Halloween?

Tell scary ghost stories...

and bob for meatballs!

We all hope you have a safe and Happy Halloween!

The Moose Relocation Project (Part I)

We have had such a busy season, but now that our time capsules have arrived safely and we are settling in, I have a grand story to share!  This is Chris (the main moose)!

Back in "way back" time, which for us moose equates to about 4 months ago, both our Poppy and Moo set out to look for a new home for us. We loved our old home, but we were really starting to out-grow The Moose Room.  So, our Moo did a Google search and looked for the safest places to live in Indiana.  She had done this a few times over the years, and each time the city of Jasper appeared in the Top Ten.  If it's on the internet it must be true, right?!  No, of course not!  We had to check things out for ourselves.  Now, when we bought our Chicago home, I helped them pick it out, so it stood to reason I had to go on this trip as well.  My little brother Stosh and I packed a bag and got settled in for our trip.

Once we were there, we loved the place!  We rode around and took in some sights, we talked to some locals, and we did what all smart people do when they want to see what a town is about. We went and hung out at the local Wal-Mart for awhile.  Here are a few pictures. (No, not from Wal-Mart. There was nothing special to see there that day which was a good sign for us!)

A view from our hotel!

Around town!

Poppy and Moo after eating
dinner at the Schnitzelbank!

After doing our research and deciding to investigate further, the next step was to find a realtor.  So, back to the internet Moo went and she looked up a realtor she came across during her initial Google Search. Within minutes, we were at FC Tucker Realty and Dara O'Neil was the realtor that helped us. She was very kind, very thorough and at the time, didn't know that there would be moose involved in the purchase of a new home.   Of course, once Poppy and Moo described what kind of house they were looking for, the need for a moose room was soon revealed.  

Once our Pop and Moo did all the leg work, Stosh and I settled in to view some of the houses they found.  With lots of hard work, we helped them narrow down their search to just a few houses.

So many to choose from...

This room might be big enough for us!

Stosh, I think this might be the one!  

We were so pooped by the end of the night. We fell fast asleep dreaming of kitchens, basements, and square footage (since over 275 of us have to fit in the house).

Stay tuned for Parts II and III of The Moose Room Relocation Project and find out the following:

• Which house was the winning house
• How over 275 moose get transported into a different time zone
• Who was the surprise guest at our house closing 
• Pop and Moo's 30 seconds of fame

You won't want to miss it!