The span of one breath

The span of one breath is all it takes to move from thrill to mortal danger.
This truth was never more real to me than three days ago, when I almost lost my dear husband.
We recently adopted a sweet young chocolate labrador (Ruger), and Ash took her out for an evening walk.  He returned sooner than anticipated, shaken, with quite a story!  He and Ruger were quietly enjoying the suburban landscape, the silence broken only by their frosty breathing.  Suddenly out of the dusky darkness a monstrous shape charged at shocking speed towards them, crashing to a halt directly in front of Ruger, a mere five feet from Ash.  Realizing with horror that it was a female moose (seven feet tall at the shoulders and around 1200 pounds), his sensory awareness quickened to detect a calf behind the mother.  Ash instantly called Ruger to him, and tightly grasping her collar, the pair slowly backed away from the menacing mother.  After  the immediate danger had passed, they quickly returned to the safety of our home.
Being recent plantings in Alaska, we have considered moose quite a novelty, chuckling at our friend's stories of various encounters.  We ran out of doors to watch them walk down our street, and tried in vain to capture them on camera.  Having a moose in our neighborhood seemed a grand amusement.
 The reality, however, was shockingly less amusing.
So in conclusion...
always kiss your husband before he takes the dog out for a stroll...
keep your awareness around you, no matter how benign the environment appears...
teach your dog, and your children, how to calmly and immediately escape danger...
and never underestimate a moose!